what about us|aaliyah

twelve

aaliyah

"ok, so?" i asked as my dad talked about how my mother used to be.

"i'm saying that she was the definition of a hard working black woman. she knew what she wanted and she always strived for the best." he said as he pulled the chair out for me to sit down at his kitchen table.

"well, somewhere she got fuck-i mean messed up." i told him as he nodded

"you got that right." he said, shaking his head as we heard the front door open.

"hi baby, me and the girls are ba-" his wife stopped her sentence when her and the kids came into the kitchen.

"daddy, who this woman?" the brown skinned girl asked. she looked as if she was about 15 and the younger one looked at least 10, with a basketball in her hand.

"this is your half sister, aaliyah. baby remember ?" he asked, facing his wife

she nodded quickly and walked over to me. "hi sweetheart. i'n rochelle, but call me ro." she smiled as she hugged me

"hi." i said lowly, slightly hugging her back.

she let me go and turned to her kids. "speak. i taught y'all better than that." she said, forcing a smile on her face.

"hi big sister." the youngest one said, dapping me up. i could tell she was a tomboy. "i'm nicole."

i smiled and dapped her back up, as the oldest rolled her eyes at me. "i'm camilla." she said as she looked away.

"uh, you two go upstairs and do your homework." she said to the two girls. they sighed loudly and walked up the stairs.

"babe, i'll be downstairs in my studio." she said as she quickly left the kitchen.

"studio ?" i asked my dad

"she's a uh artist." he said as he rubbed his temples "don't mind camilla, she's going through that teen attitude stage."

"it's cool." i said, nodding at him. "i got something." i said reaching into my bookbag, pulling out my mother's old notebook that i'd found.

"so in here i read about how y'all met." i smiled "it was really cute." i said as my eyes shined, while looking at him.

"yeah." he chuckled lightly "i still remember that day."

"she even wrote about how she lost her virginity to you in the ninth gra-"

he cut me off  "ok ok." he said as he laughed

i closed it and looked at him. i can't believe he's really here. he is my actual twin, it's so scary.

"aaliyah." he said snapping his fingers in my face.

"uh sorry." i smiled shyly.

"so do you want to tell me more about how it was living with her?" he asked

"u-uh i'd rather not." i said shrugging slowly.