Chapter 8: Bad Gurl Talk 1 of 2

Keya P.O.V

It was June and school was finally out! No more waking up early, rushing to class, missing breakfast, or doing homework... that is till September comes. But whatever it's summer and I'm going to the Puerto Rican Parade and Carnival today woohoo!

I put food out for my kittens, I'm glad that they have gotten much bigger and are very healthy. And I keep them up to date with their shots. Grammy says that I can only keep one because we are not supposed to have pets here, I'm sad I have to give them up. But I'll find good homes for them soon.

After eating some breakfast, I take a shower and get dressed. I put on a form-fitting, lilac-colored strapless dress that came to just above my knees with splits on both sides up the front of my thighs. I wore some boy shorts to not feel so exposed and some comfy purple flip-flops. I also polished my nails in 2 shades of purple, one dark, and the other light. One nail would be light the next one dark then I overlaid it with glitter.

I wore a charm bracelet I had made at camp some years back; my half of my best friend's necklace and my 4 gold rings that individually spelled out, K.E.Y.A. I grabbed my wallet, a towel, water bottle, some money, and my cherry lip gloss and put it in my purple teddy bear backpack, I named him Oasis, then headed downstairs.

Grammy saw me saying, "You looking good gurl, spin around for me." and I did a little twirl, she whistled and I giggled.

"You look like you're tryna find you a man Keya. I ain't mad if you do," she chuckled.

I chuckled, "Thanks Grammy but I'm good, I just want to experience some me time, free time." No siblings to look after today, no school, it's Saturday and I plan on chillaxing, you know chilling and relaxing? Oh yeah, I make up words all the time lol.

"Ok, Keya I'll see you later tonight. Or tomorrow if you snag yourself a man, gurl." she giggled. I amusingly shook my head and rolled my eyes.

"Ok Grammy!" Yeah right, me finding a man wasn't impossible, just disappointing. Most guys tell me I'm too dark for their liking, you know, like I had a choice in the matter smh whatever I love me. And maybe one day a guy would come along that does the same.

I give her a peck on the cheek and head over to my friend Sondra's house to get my hair done, she lives a stone's throw away. She wants to be a beautician, so I let her experiment with new styles on my head. Today she helped me dye my hair deep blood red and it came out great.

My hair has gotten much longer, it comes down past my nipples now. Sondra zigzag parted it down the middle and designed braids in different shapes and sizes into two ponytails and left out my curly afro puffs. It was soooo cuute, I just loved it!

I asked Sondra if was she going to the Carnival and she said yeah but later on, as it was only noon now. I plan to be out most of the day today. I made sure to cook enough food, so that my siblings would have something to eat later before I left the house. And did the same for Sondra. I pay her in food lol.

Then I headed to Humboldt Park, but on the way, I saw my friends Sarai and Yahaira, two Puerto Rican girls from school.

"Hey y'all what you're doing today? I'm on my way to the parade."

They said they were too, so we went together. I had never been to a parade before so I had no idea what to expect. The streets were packed full of people. Sidewalks were as well it was hard not getting lost in the sea of people, I'm really glad I didn't have to bring my younger siblings.

It was so much fun, the music was blaring and everyone had their flags hanging from their trucks, cars, ATVs, or bikes, yelling "BORICUA!" I'm not sure what that means, though. Everyone was blowing their horns. It was really loud but exciting!

We were out there for a few hours before Sarai wanted to go home and change before we went to the carnival. So we went to her apartment, Sarai was 15 and ran away from home to live with her boyfriend who was 26. They had been together for three years. He worked for a moving company and she didn't really go to school anymore but worked part-time at the local Burger King.