Living in the Careless World (Tyga Story)

Clothes Matter!

That night, I couldn't sleep. I was literally up all night dreaming of those shiny, golden tickets and those two backstage passes. When I saw them in the box, I screamed and hugged Camilla as hard as I could. She was right when she said I'd love her forever for giving me that gift. 

Now, as I sat here at the breakfast table in my house, I smiled to myself as I stared at the backstage pass around my neck and the golden ticket in my hand. Yes, I was already wearing the pass. But so what? I was going to see Tyga!

I hadn't touched the breakfast on my table. When I heard footsteps coming into the kitchen, though, I started to stuff pieces of waffle into my mouth. I knew my mother would go ballistic if she saw that she'd given me breakfast nearly ten minutes ago and it was still all there.

It was only my older brother, Keron. When he saw me with my stuffed  mouth and maple-syrupy lips, he snorted. But then I saw his gaze fall down to the backstage pass around my neck, and his eyes widened.

"That's a fake pass, right?" He asked in disbelief. I'd have the same reaction myself if I walked into a room and Keron had a pass to Tyga's next concert.

"Nope. I'm going to see Tyga next week--the day of my birthday, too." I said proudly. Keron shook his head.

"I can imagine the things you stole to get that. Does Mama know?"

"Mama does not know, and I won't be telling her until I figure out how to say it." I replied sharply. "And I didn't steal anything, Camilla got the tickets for us." 

"But she didn't get any for your big brother? That's cold, man." Keron joked. I laughed at him, then rolled my eyes when I saw him open the fridge. Without exaggeration, he eats about twice every five minutes.

"Anyway, I just want to know how you're going to go to a concert on your birthday when Mama is planning a huge surprise party for you." Keron added. I raised one eyebrow. Surprise party? I'd only seen things like that on television.

"A surprise party? Since when do people have surprise parties in the ghetto?" I asked. I'd given up on my waffle; I was making my way to the garbage to throw it out.

"That's exactly why Mama's throwing it for you. She wants it to be something to remember." 

I leaned against the counter. I knew I'd probably have a small get together, with Mama, Keron, Camilla, and maybe my aunt and Camilla's mother. And I knew I wouldn't be missing out on a lot if I didn't go to that. But a huge surprise party? It'd be hard to tell Mama all her hard work was going down the drain for 'some rapper', as she'd say. I could imagine who she'd invited already--probably the whole neighborhood.

Keron left the kitchen with a cup of diced pineapple in his hand, popping two into his mouth. I followed him down our short hallway, but we went into different rooms. His room was the first in the row, mine was second. Mama's room was in the middle.

My room wasn't very small, just narrow. The walls were painted a urin-like yellow, and there was an old stained gray carpet. My bed had a plain white quilt on it with flat pillows. My room looked a lot like a cheap motel we'd stayed in once in Compton.

I lived in the Westside in LA. It was really hot here in the summer, but on nights like this it almost felt like Winter.

I lied down on my bed, staring at the ticket that was still in my hand. I laughed a low, short laugh--no way was I going to miss what would probably be the biggest event of my teenage life for some whack birthday party.

                                                         3 Hours Later...

"This mall is tight, Jaydi! Why don't I always make you drive me here?" Camilla was saying. We were both inside a mall that was far from our neighborhood. Camilla had called me and told me we needed to drive here to pick up some outfits for the concert.

"Because there was never a reason for us to come all the way here when there's a mall on the Westside." I remarked. People passed us by as we stood looking at all the big stores. 

"Well, we're going to go into every store we see until we get some outfits that those people backstage will remember!" Camilla yelled. She pulled me further into the mall, and we started running like two little girls.

There were so many stores! Joyce Leslie, Victoria's Secret, Aeropostale, Hollister, American Eagle, Macy's, and a lot  of others.

We went into a store called 'Square One' first. Some Pop song was playing, and Camilla snapped her fingers to it while we were walking through the store. A woman gave her a sideways look, and she rolled her eyes at the woman. I laughed.

"See anything you like? This isn't my type of store; I'm just here for you." Camilla said. I was about to tell her we could leave when I spotted some dresses at the front of the store. One of them caught my eye; it was a pale denim bleach-washed pinafore dress. There were silver buttons at either side of the dress.

"Oh, that's nice. You should buy it." Camilla realized what I was looking at.  I walked up to the rack that the jackets were on and pulled the dress off of its hanger. There was a large mirror beside me. I tried it on. It fit perfectly--it hugged my waist, and the top didn't make my chest look too large. I liked it that way.

"I'll buy it, but if I see something cuter in another store we'll return it." I said finally. Camilla nodded in agreement.

We bought the dress and left the store.

Next, we went into a store called 'The Prowl'. Everything was tight--the skirts were short and the tops' necks were low. This was definitely Camilla's type of store.

She picked up a black velvet tube dress. It had spaghetti straps and it shimmered. It fit her perfectly, and she didn't mind that it was tight. She bought that and a cream-colored shawl, saying she had some cute flats the same color with the shawl that would go perfect with the outfit.

Now I was the only one with an incomplete outfit, and I felt really crappy about it.

On our way back down to the first floor to search the stores there, we saw a girl standing next to a booth that claimed they were selling cute shirts for under five dollars. Most of them looked cheap, but one was undeniably cute. It was this yellow, sleeveless crochet striped top, with two small stitched-in leopards at the bottom.That would totally be an eye-catcher at the concert.

At the end of the day, I came home with the dress, the shirt, a light brown handbag, and a pair of beige sandals.

I could picture myself already--backstage, wearing that outfit, and Tyga looking right at me.