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.