Lola

|17

1 WEEK LATER

Lola threw her phone onto her bed in frustration. Everything went downhill since that party. People started looking at her like a victim and like she was a little girl, especially since she was always being rescued, most times by Michael.

Now her boyfriend was barely talking to her. She had called him several times and tried to FaceTime him too, he just wouldn't pick up.

But ever since the game, the principal and a few other teachers had joked about her joining the cheer squad. She was on the fence about that since many of the girls never seemed to like her and there were Khloe's friends on the squad too.

She went downstairs and started making some food for her and Shamika who was upstairs cleaning her room.

"It smells good down here" Shamika smiled as she entered the kitchen in her Nike slides. "You're really wifey material" she said being nosey and hovering over Lola.

"Move" Lola laughed bumping her with her hip. "And yo ass stinks"

"I didn't realise how messy my room is" Shamika shrugged smelling her armpits. "And your dad didn't clean it out properly. There was some stuff left in the cupboard."

"Where'd you put it?" Lola asked as she drained the water out the spaghetti.

"I left it in my room." Shamika said sitting down.

"I thinks it's your moms stuff" she said after a while.

"What?" Lola said lowly.

"I didn't mean to be nosey but it looked interesting" Shamika said as Lola headed for the door.

"Watch the food!" Lola yelled as she ran up the stairs.

She swung Shamika's door open and looked around. The curtains were wide open and the floor was spotless except for a pair of trainers near the cupboard. On her bed a small box was surrounded by scattered papers and letters.

She sat down and picked a letter up. It was to a Jaida Fallon but there was a large red stamp on the top of the address that read RETURNED.

She tore the letter open and read the letter, her hand shook slightly as she read her dads messy handwriting.

'She started crawling yesterday. You would be surprised by how many times she bumped her head and got back up, and everyday, she looks more and more like you.'

Lola stopped reading and wiped the tiny tear on her cheek.

She took another letter and opened it up too.

'It's her first birthday. Did you remember? She's getting more and more active which makes it hard for me. One minute she's playing in her room, the next she's rolling down the stairs. I still haven't figured out how she works the baby gates but she's always laughing when I find her at the bottom. Her smile is beautiful too, really big. It makes her eyes squint and makes me happy too, just knowing our baby girl is happy.'

Lola breathed out heavily and stared at the ceiling to stop the tears. Her lips quivered and she clenched the bed sheets.

"Lola" Shamika whispered coming into the room.

She turned to face her cousin and burst out in tears making Mika rush to her side.

"I'm so sorry" Mika said rubbing her back as Lola cried on her shoulder. "You don't deserve this"

"She sent all the letters back" Lola whimpered. "She didn't even care"

"You don't know that" Shamika reassured her.