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Life was turned upside down at a drop of a dime. One moment, they were living the life, living in a super nice house where everybody except for the twins had their own room and bathroom, and the next, they were moving into their old home where everyone shared one bathroom, and Mya found herself sharing with the twins.
The worst part was, “I heard that your dad lost his job, so you’re not getting anything for Christmas this year.”
Mya froze, looking up at Kiara, a girl she ’d always held an off-again, on-again friendship with, depending on what the other girl could get out of the relationship. She held up her hand to look at her nails as if Mya’s daily beauty care routine would be one of the other things to go out the window, the same way she always pulled on the scholarship kids who attended their private school.
“Are you even going to be able to afford this school next year?” Kiara asked. “Or is it the inner city school for you?
Mya sat down, rolling her eyes, wanting to scream at her father, who wasn ’t there to lose his job despite the fact he’d done nothing to warrant losing his job—in fact, he’d done everything to warrant keeping him.
“Not surprised, given R&B is losing popularity, so it makes sense for WMLE to switch to pop and a DJ who better reflects that style,” Kiara said, still looking smug.
She ’d mention something to her Aunt Jo later, but under the agreement, her aunt wouldn’t tell her father, particularly since Mya couldn’t trust her father to turn the situation around. “That sounds like the worst of it, but it sounds like this girl is jealous of you.”
“Of what?” Mya said. “We don’t have anything anymore.”
“About what you had and what you still have,” Aunt Jo said.
“You mean the things I used to have?” Mya asked.
“And don’t forget that you’ve got a steady home life despite living in a single-parent home. Your daddy always saw to that.”
“Uh, sure,” Mya said, not feeling it, at least until she went looking for Jamal when her older brother took off and met with Roxy, some of the neighbors, particularly a woman doing hard work so her two little ones could have a good life, which was what her dad always wanted.
And she thought for a moment she wasn ’t going to get anything for Christmas, which in her mind now was far worse than not getting Prada when her father pulled out her gift. This unwrapped jewelry box contained her mother’s sapphire necklace, which was absolutely gorgeous. So while all her friends were sharing things like Prada, she was the only one with a sapphire necklace.
“Did your dad rob someplace?” Kiara responded and wrote, “My mom says that a sapphire necklace is inappropriate for someone our age.”
This felt a bit weird, given some things Kiara ’s mother bought her. Mya responded. “ It belonged to my mom, so I ’m getting her necklace as my dad feels it’s time I inherited it. ”
And—it felt good standing up for herself, while she wondered, now that her dad and Roxy were getting WBQL up and going, if Kiara would try to cozy up to her while understanding what her Aunt Jo meant. “ She is jealous of what I have, both the things and my family. Because would her mom really have said my necklace was inappropriate? ”