TOMBOY 2

🏀 Prologue

The kitchen possessed an eerie silence as Myda and Mona wiped down the counters and put the leftovers away. An hour and a half passed since dinner ended, however the stale aura of the room remained.

"It's getting late, where is she?" Myda shook her head frustratedly, glancing down at her watch.

It was the first thing that had been said since Sasha rushed out of her aunt's home in a sea of tears, still not having returned. Myda attempted to pretend that she didn't care where her troubled daughter went, but the more time that passed she grew worried.

Mona rolled her eyes over as she placed the dry dishes in the cupboards. "Why do you care, you just told her she wasn't your daughter."

"Seriously Mona?" Myda retorted, "Despite what I said, she's still a child. My child; And she's not grown therefore she should not be out this late."

"Oh I get it, you just like to be in charge. I'm the parent so I say so, you're more like mommy than you think."

"I am not like that woman, trust me."

Mona's laugh fell into a sigh as she continued to tidy up her kitchen. Her big sister was the definition of in denial and had been for as long as she could remember. When they were younger, Myda had always been a stick in the butt, as Mona called it. She was always trying the absolute most to be rewarded for her behavior, to be told that she did things the "right" way, the way that God wanted. They came from a strict Christian household; Bible study on Saturday, church on Sunday as well as a few times a week just to stop by and pray.

Myda always craved her mother's attention and approval, which made sense as to why she grew up to be just like her.

"Trust me, you are." Mona told her, "Now that the kitchen is clean, did you want to help me prepare for Christmas? I still have a few gifts to wrap, but I can help you wrap the kids' gifts afterwards."

Myda shook her head, "I actually didn't get the kids anything this year, they'll be okay."

"Myda you have to be kidding me, christmas is like the most exciting time of the year for kids. Especially Mikey and Jr's age."

"Well I didn't have the money, I told you Joseph stopped coming around months ago. He didn't give me the money for the kids even though I asked, and by time he left it was too late."

Mona squinted her eyes at Myda who sat carelessly slurping away at her tea.

"So you're telling me all these years of being married, you haven't saved up your own money?" She asked.

"Joseph paid for everything" Myda argued, "How was I supposed to save anything? Mona, look I really don't need this right now." She sighed, standing to her feet as she officially had enough of her sister.

"Well I think right now is the perfect time to talk about everything, actually." Mona folded her arms over her chest.

"Everything like what?"

"Like your plan, your options. Myda you have five kids that are depending on you and you're sitting here telling me that you have nothing to show for all these years in a stable marriage."

Myda snapped, "What do you want me to say!? That I spent twenty years with a man, catering to his every need just to be thrown to the side? Is that what you want to hear, lo and behold you turned out to be the one with the better life in the end! I did everything right!" She cried, "Now look where I am."

Mona moved her fingers through her hair stressfully, "Is that what you got from this situation? That's not what I'm saying Myda, I'm simply stating that -"

Suddenly a knock at the door came, interrupting their conversation. Mona moved her house slippers towards the front room with her sister close behind her.

"Where have you been?" Myda spat the moment Sasha stepped through the door.

Sasha gave her mother a cold look without responding, only heading up to the guest room.

"I'll tell you one thing sis, you may have lost your husband, but what's really going to hurt is when you lose those kids." Mona stated with a shake of her head.

Myda didn't want to hear it, although her sister was indeed correct. She didn't see that, because what did Mona know about raising kids? Five at that. Who had to change their dynamic from a complete family to a broken one. What she did agree with, was the fact that she had no plan for the future. She only had two weeks to undo twenty years, and she didn't know where to begin.

Meanwhile, Sasha was having a meltdown of her own. After closing herself in the guest room, she plopped down on the twin sized bed and stared up at the ceiling. How could she have not realized that Chris liked her all this time? Was she that naive or did she choose to not see it? Either way, she knew for sure that she didn't feel the same way.

"I'm sorry, I didn't know." Sasha frowned as Chris stared right through her.

"It's cool" he shrugged, "Plus when you were here you didn't talk about dating at all, so it was kind of hard to tell you. And now...you're with Lux. Guess I waited too long."

"I mean, technically we're not together. But either way, I don't think I like boys Chris." Sasha chuckled, "I just don't feel that way."

"Well how do you know?" Chris asked.

Sasha dribbled the ball between her legs, "The same way you know that you don't like boys. Or do you?" She raised her brow.

Chris kissed his teeth, "Very funny. I guess what I mean is, you went from not ever dating or even liking anyone to just boom, in a relationship with a girl. You should at least try and see if you feel anything for boys."

"Doesn't matter, I love Lux. And me and you, we'll always be best friends."

"Fine, I guess I'll take it." Chris playfully rolled his eyes.

Sasha rolled over on her side as she let the recent memory drift away. Would her and Chris's friendship ever be the same? She wasn't sure, but at a time like this she definitely needed someone to talk to. Her at home situation was stressing her immensely - she was drowning in emotions that she couldn't even figure out.

"One hundred days left." She whispered to herself.

Sleep fell upon her as time passed by, all her worries fading for now. This was the middle of her senior year, and only time would tell how everything would fold out.