Chapter 2

"Yo, lemme holla at you."
"N-Nah, I gotta get home."
"Stop trippin' come here, girl."
"I-I-I gotta g-get home. I-I ain't 'sposed to be out here."
      The stranger grabbed Kandace by her wrist and she swore it was broken. He continued to drag her to his car where he mutilated her body over and over no matter how hard she creamed and yelled he continued as if her screams were non-existent.
     Kandace sat straight up in bed trembling. Ever since she told Kamille about her being raped she repeatedly dreamt about the horrid night. She couldn't help but to think "Why me?". She stood up to go look in the mirror. You are beautiful. You are smart. You aren't perfect, but God understands your shortcomings. You are beautiful. You are smart. You aren't perfect, but God understands your shortcomings.You are beautiful. You are smart. You aren't perfect, but God understands your shortcomings.
      Kandace repeated this every time she felt too low to go on, but it never seemed to change anything. She started to second guess everything she was once so sure about.

                                   ***
Kammy: Jay!! Baby, wake uppp!!
  Damn, do this girl sleep? Jay thought as he rolled over in bed to check his messages.
Jay: Yeah. I'm up.
Kammy: I have good news. Just guess what's going on.
Jay: You finally gonna sleep in and let me get some damn rest?
Kammy: Lol, nope :p. It's almost 3 anyway! We're having a baby, Jay. We're having a baby.
       Jay jumped up and woke his room mate Shad up. "Yoooo, Shad I'm about to be a daddy, brother! My girl is pregnant, I'm about to be a daddy!"
  "You done got yourself a baby. Dang, congrats bruh."
  "Thank you, man. Thank you. I'm excited too, man. I really do love Kamille and couldn't think of anyone better to call my wife, yet alone the mother of my baby."
"Woah, woah. Wife? You tryna get hitched already?"
"Yup, I was contemplating on it and this just confirms it."
"Damn, well congrats again.'
"Thanks."
Jay: You, Kandy need to meet me at Red Lobster at 7 tonight. I'm not gonna answer your calls until then, so don't bother calling.
    Kandace stared at the text over and over. She prayed to God that Jay wanted the baby as much as she did. She loved Jay to no ends, but she'd be damned if she sacrificed her child for him.
    She texted Kandy and told her where to meet them and where. "Danggg, Lexy cancel that. I gotta go to Red Lobster with my sister tonight. She says its important so I'll talk to you a lil later.
          Kandy got to Red Lobster at 6:55 with five minutes to kill. She walked in to the reserved table and looked up. Only other person at the table was a light skin boy who looked to be about 19. He had the prettiest smile she'd ever seen and she instantly fell in love. When she stopped admiring his face she looked up and saw him staring at her just as hard. "Sorry, love. What kind of gentleman am I? My name is Shad."
   "Hey, my name is Kandy, I mean Kandace."
   "WHAT? You Jay girl? Oh, sorry for lookin' so hard, ma. Didn't mean to disrespect you or my man Jay. And congrats on the baby"
  "No, silly that's my sister Kamille."
       Kandace and Shad sat there and talked for almost half an hour. He asked her why she had such a worried look on her beautiful face and she told him how she had been raped and that was all that she ever thought about. "Look ma, don't ever think you're any less beautiful, or any less smart because some dumb bafoon couldn't keep his hands off you. I gotta slide tho, I got a class at 8. I can give you a ride home, if you'd like."
"I'd like that."
        Kandace walked through the door of her house feeling loved. That was exactly what she needed. Dang, Kandy. You gotta do better. How you thinkin' bout love on the first date.

Chapter 1

Kamille gripped the steering wheel and rolled her eyes as she pulled up to Newton Height’s High School. She despised the school mainly because whenever she had to make a visit it was because her out of control sister was in trouble again. She parked her 2011 all black Charger with Black rims up next to the receptionist’s car and opened her door. She took her slipper’s off and stepped into her 5 inch cheetah print stiletto’s. She wore a white off-the-shoulder belly shirt that showed off her newly pierced naval. The shirt was accented by the word “LOVE” in Cheetah print. She dragged into the school’s office and took a seat in the principal’s visiting chair. She had sat there too many times. “Hello, Kamille. Nice to see you.”

“Nice to see you too, Mrs. Jacobs” Kamille stood up and gave the middle aged woman a hug and peck on the cheek.

“Often times, when I call you into my office, it’s because Kandace’s behavior is over the top. This isn’t one of those days. Kandace came to me and told me she has something to tell you, but she is highly afraid of what you’re going to say or do.”

“What are you saying, Mrs. J?”

“I’ll let her explain.”

Kandace walked into the office and her eyes were incredibly red and puffy.

Kamille stood up immediately and embraced her sister tightly. She cooed into Kandace’s ear, “It’s alright, baby. It’s okay. Whatever it is, is okay.”

                Kandace sobbed like a small child and Kamille just wanted to hold her and hug her and tell her that everything was alright. Kamille sat Kandace down and told her whenever she was ready to talk, she could.

“K-Kamille, do you remember when you told me not to go to that party in Newark that night?” Kandace said through tears.  Kamille nodded and told her to continue. “Well, I went anyway and when I got there I waited for Cherrise to come, but she said she couldn’t come. “

“Okay, and?! Kandy tell me what the hell is going on!”
“Miss Davis, please let your sister speak,” Mrs. Jacobs chimed in.

“Well, since Cherrise said she couldn’t come I was gonna come back home, but then a boy from somewhere in Newark saw me and told me to come chill with him. I told him no and tried to walk off, but he kept right behind me and then he grabbed me..”

                Kamille’s face flushed with anger, pain, and regret as she fell to the floor crying. She felt that she had failed Kandace horribly. Ever since their mom had gotten sick, Kamille was Kandace’s part time mother. She had failed her sister, her mom and her late father. She pounded the principal’s floor and wept histerically. She thought Kandace was acting up because her mother was always sick and in and out of the hospital, but in reality, she had been raped at the tender age of 17. Kamille dried her eyes as the last piece of sadness left her and all she felt was rage. She wanted to kill the bastard that touched her sister and she wanted to kill everybody at that party that did nothing to help her.

                Mrs. Jacob’s sat Kamille back up and let Kandace finish her story.

“To top it all off, Kam, I think I’m pregnant.” Kamille’s head started spinning and she fell to the floor crying. This whole time she thought her sister was just giving herself away, her innocence had been snatched. She hadn’t had a choice to use protection, the choice was made for her. She didn’t have a choice of waiting or not, it was made for her.

                For another hour or so, Kamille and Kandy sat and hugged and cried all over each other.               Kamille stood up and grabbed her sister’s hand as she walked out of the front door of the school. In her mom’s state of mind, Kam was all Kandy had and she intended to be there for her.

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 Between Kandace, school, her boyfriend, and checking on her mom, Kamille had no time for herself. Luckily, Jay, her gorgeous dimple-faced boyfriend, was a gentlemen. A true Gentlemen. Standing at 6’4, dark chocolate, and having the prettiest smile a lady ever could ask for and the biggest “package”, Jay was a blessing. At 21, he was a law student and Kamille was lucky to have him by her side. Kamille was 3 months from obtaining her cosmetology license and she couldn’t wait. Once she could get her own shop, her and her family would be set. She shook the reverie out of her head and sped to the doctor’s office. Kamille wanted Kandace to get professionally tested to see if she was pregnant, and to make sure she didn’t catch a STD.

“Kam, I’m scared..”

“I know, baby girl. How about I take one, too?”
                “But Kam yours is gonna come out the same either way, I don’t know about mine.”

“Okay, well if ours are the same, then we go out to eat where I want. If it’s different then we go eat where you want, deal?”

“Okay. Maybe, me being pregnant will be a good thing. I’m craving some chipotle. After the doctor administered the tests, the girls sat and chatted it up until he came back.

The tall caucasian man slipped back in the room with a big smile on his face. “Well ladies’, I’ll be seeing more of you two.”

“Please don’t tell me I’m pregnant doc. Please.”

“No, you aren’t, thank God. STD free, too.  BUT congrats to YOU Miss. Kamille. You are pregnant.”

“What?!” Kamille yelled. She was not expecting that. Nor did she know if she was ready.