"Hey buttercup, you just getting home from school?"Angie asked from the kitchen.
"Yes ma'am." Damita smiled and walked over to hug Angie. "I missed you."
"I missed you too honey. Are you doing okay?"Angie asked with Damita still in her embrace.
"Yes ma'am." Damita replied, looking down at the floor.
"Let me see your arms."Angie requested and Damita pulled back the sleeves on her jacket, exposing her forearm.
"They're going away." Damita smiled and looked down at her arms.
"I'm proud of you buttercup. You know if you need to talk to me, I'm here. No more cutting."Angie said, holding Damita's hand in hers. "Do you have homework?"
"Yes ma'am. I need help though."Damita sighed and dropped her backpack on the table.
"What kind of homework is it?"Angie asked, walking over to the stove.
"Algebra. I understand it, I just need a little refresher on what to do." Damita explained, pulling a bag of chips from her backpack.
"Ok. Well go do your homework, I'll send Latoya upstairs to help you."Angie replied making Damita close her chips and roll her eyes.
"I don't want her to help. I'll just try to do it myself." Damita sighed and grabbed her backpack.
"Don't be like that buttercup, she's good at math. Plus she's still in school so she could help you better than I can."Angie said in a very reassuring voice. She knew that Latoya and Damita couldn't get along if it killed them. They never did. When Katherine brought Damita home from hospital, she cried when Latoya touched her.
"Whatever." Damita scoffed and rolled her eyes. She grabbed her backpack off of the table and dragged it behind her as she walked up the stairs to her room.
She pulled her homework out and spread it across her bed. She looked over again trying her best to understand it because she really didn't want Latoya's help.
"Angela told me that you need some help. Let me see it."Latoya said, catching Damita's attention.
Damita took an anxious sigh and handed her the paper. "It's algebra."She breathed and rubbed her hand across her face.
Latoya looked over the paper and Damita's work beforehand then started to smile. "Ah, I see where the problem is."She chuckled and sat the paper down, grabbing the pencil out of Damita's hand.
"When you get to this part, you have to distribute the numbers to the other side and multiply them. That's how you get the first answer. Then you divide."Latoya explained but Damita still looked a little lost. "Let me show you what I mean."
She started to do the problem step by step making sure she explained everything she did to Damita. "You try to do one."She instructed and handed Damita the pencil.
She grabbed and tried to input it the way Latoya did, but she still messed up on that one step. "Stop. This is the part you keep messing up on."She pointed and she explained it to her again. This time she had gotten it.
"Let's try one more."Latoya instructed.
Damita nodded and pulled off her jacket and started to write. Latoya was watching her work , but she noticed the old healing cuts on her arm.
"Wait. Stop."Latoya demanded,softly.
"I'm doing it right. I'm doing it like you showed me." Damita combated with a slight attitude.
