After I was finished with the rest of my classes, I decided to go home to see my mother. I hadn't been home in a month because the Christmas break was just too much time at home. I loved my mother dearly, but I often found myself wanting to get back to school during the break. College just brings freedom that your parents don't understand.

Pulling up in the driveway, I noticed my sister's car parked in front of the house. My parents had three beautiful girls: Maya, me, and Makayla. Maya was the oldest with me being second. She was currently finishing up her last year at John Hopkins University. Then she is off to Duke for medical school. She is also engaged to her fiancé, Brian, who is also studying medicine. They were a cute couple and I knew that my father would've adored him.

Walking up to the burgundy door, I removed my key from my handbag to unlock the door, but it swung open before I could stick it in.

"Hey baby sis!!" Maya greeted excitedly, pulling me into a loving embrace.

Welcoming her warm hug, I exhaled lightly. "Hey sis!"

We stayed in each other's arms for at least five minutes. I hadn't seen her since Thanksgiving. She had spent Christmas with Brian's family in Maryland since he'd spent Thanksgiving with us. She pulled away, moving to the side to let me in. My heels clicked loudly on the dark hardwood floor as I noticed a few things were moved around. My mom had been watching HGTV again.

"Mother is in the kitchen." Maya announced as she took in my appearance, seemingly impressed. "You're beautiful as always."

I blushed a little. "You're the beautiful one."

She waved me off. "I'm a reflection of you, Queen."

She said that a lot whenever someone complimented her, especially black women since we're often deemed ugly or angry. So, that's how she uplifts us. I'd vowed to do the same.

I followed her into the kitchen, also taking in her appearance. She dug into her bag of fashion as usual with her oversized black poncho, black tights and tall, black knee high boots. I had matched her style except with my main color being brown. The winter allowed us to get away with these neutral colors even though they were my favorites.

Once we were in the kitchen, I noticed my mother hovering over the stainless steel stove. She reminded me a lot of my father when she did that. My dad was the chef of the family. My mother is a great cook, but my dad was flawless.

I took in her gorgeous features. She wore wrinkle free, caramel skin that Maya and Makayla inherited. I took the color of my very brown-skinned father. However, I was a tad bit darker. Although she was in her early fifties, she didn't look a day over twenty. Her free flowing hair tumbled over her shoulders. She had pretty good height, yet she was small weight wise.

She looked up from her pot and her chestnut colored eyes landed on me. They twinkled with gleam.

"Malia, honey, you're home." She gasped, walking over & giving me a long, tight hug. She placed a loving kiss on my cheek. My mom always enjoyed when her kids came home. It doesn't matter if I was here yesterday because I was going to get the same reaction from her.

I moved her hair out of her face and returned the kiss. "Hey mommy, how are you?"

"I'm fine sweetheart. How are you? How's school?" She rambled on as she started back moving in the kitchen.

"It's great, actually. I missed you." I said walking over to the stove, glancing at the menu for tonight. She was fixing steak, stuffed baked potato, and green beans.

"That's great to hear. And I missed you too sweetheart. Maya and I were actually just talking about you." She said as she went through the cabinets.

I turned from the stove to look at them two. "What about me?"

Maya looked up from the magazine she was reading. "Nothing bad. Just explaining how proud I am of you." She gave me a wink.

I smiled. "Thanks Maya. I really missed you too."

"I miss you always. I sit in that big apartment and cry myself to sleep every night wishing you would call." She said sarcastically.

I stale faced her which caused her to giggle.

"If you two are not going to help, get out of my way." My mother demanded.

"Yes ma'am." Maya stated as she quickly moved into the living area with me right on her heels.

I furrowed my eyebrows at the sight of my missing little sister.

"Where is Makayla?" I looked over at Maya.

"Ballerina practice, lovebug." She said looking up at me.

"I don't know why she wastes her time doing that." My mother chimed in.

Maya and I looked at each other, rolling our eyes instinctively. My mother has always criticized Makayla for dancing. It wasn't like she was horrible at it. She had a God given talent and I could tell that she was extremely passionate about it. My mother was all about the academics, though.

With our mother being a Microbiologist, she expected her daughters to follow in her footsteps in someway. Or even our father since he was in the marine. At first she didn't like the fact that I wanted to be a lawyer, but she eventually gave in since it was a good profession. Maya was golden, of course, since she studied Medicine. However, dancing was a no no. Makayla was doing the unthinkable.

"Oh motherrrrr, Makay is really good. You should come to one of her recitals one of these days." Maya reasoned.

My mother didn't look up from the cutting board as she cut the potatoes causing me to look at her with shock. I knew she hated Makayla's love for dancing, but I didn't know she wouldn't support her for doing so.

"Wow, mom. You haven't went to any of her recitals?" I looked at her

She looked as if she was hurt by that statement, but shook it off. "I just believe that she could do something better with her time. Dancing isn't reliable."

Before I or Maya could say anything else, Makayla walked through the door. She hummed as she placed her things in the closet beside the door. Once she turned around and landed her eyes on me, they lit up.

"Malia!" She squealed, running to give me a hug.

"Makayla." My mother warned referring to her running in the house.

"Sorry mom." She called as she squeezed my waist and looked up at me. "I missed you sooooo much."

"Aw, I missed you too sis." I said kissing her forehead.

"Nobody missed me huh?" Maya interrupted.

Makayla's head snapped in her direction. "Maya King?!"

"Makayla King?!" Maya squealed back.

Makayla went over, greeting Maya like she was a famous celebrity. They started talking about her dancing which made my mother clear her throat.

Makayla looked up, giving mom a half smile. "Yes?"

"Go wash up. Dinner will be ready in a few minutes."

I closely watched the exchange between the two and it was clearly different from when I was at home. Once Makayla retreated upstairs to her room, Maya and I followed on instinct. Walking into Makayla's room, I smiled because it still showed her innocence. Although she'd be sixteen next month, she still had pink walls and boy posters on her wall. Things will soon change, though.

Maya and I watched as she furiously threw her bag onto her bed and took out clothes so that she could shower.

"Makayla, are you okay?" I asked gently.

"I'm fine." She looked up to give me a reassuring smile. However, I wasn't buying it and she knew it. I was a future lawyer for crying out loud.

"I'm just.." She thought about it for a minute. "Exhausted..tired."

"Tired from what? Dancing?" Maya asked.

"No, never." Makayla shook her head. "Tired of mom."

Maya kicked the door closed immediately and took a seat beside her. I pulled up a chair, sat my purse on her dresser and sat down.

"Talk." I said.

She sighed, playing with her fingers. "I know this is wrong, but.."

"But what?" Maya asked.

"I'm starting to hate mom." She blurted.

Maya and I sat with wide eyes, staring at her. I don't know why we were so surprised because we knew it would come sooner or later. However, Makayla was more reserved with her feelings more than us. Maya was outspoken, I was to a certain extent, and Makayla was just quiet.

"Why do you feel that way babe?" I placed my hand gently on her leg.

She didn't say anything for a long time, which kind of scared me.

"She doesn't support me like she supports you and Maya." She looked up at me with teary eyes. I had to fight back tears myself.

"Yes she does, Makayla. She loves you which means she'll support you regardless." I explained.

She shook her head. "That's a lie and you know it, Malia. She doesn't attend any of my recitals. You've seen what she did down there? Once Maya and I started talking about dancing, she cut it short. However, if you or Maya were talking about your law classes or medical aspirations, she'd be all ears."

"Have you sat down and talked with her?" Maya asked. "We all know how stubborn mom is and she doesn't seem to assume things well. She needs to know how you feel or you will continue to feel this way."

Makayla shrugged. "You don't know how many times I've tried. She wants me to focus on my academic studies, choose a 'reliable' career and major it in college."

"Have you thought about other options?"

"Business. So I can open my own dance studio or something like that." She wiped her face.

Maya shook her head. "That's a great plan. I don't understand why mom is being like this."

Makayla grabbed her clothes, standing up. "Me neither." Sighing, she put her head down. "I miss daddy."

The room suddenly fell silent as we all were in our own little worlds. Daddy was the balance beam in our family. Although our mother was hard on us, we could look at daddy for an escape. He was a great listener and a person who could solve conflict with no problem.

"Let me shower before she starts fussing." She said, breaking that silence.

We watched as she went into the bathroom, closing the door behind her. I looked at Maya who had a disappointing look on her face.

"What?" I asked.

She flickered the emerald eyes, that she inherited from our father, on me. "I see where this is headed. Mom is going to lose her if she continues to be like that towards her."

I nodded, agreeing. I got a feeling once she left for college in a year, she wasn't going to look back. Her phone rung, breaking our silence. The smile on her face gave me a pretty good indication of who it was.

"Hey babe." She greeted warmly.

Bingo.

"No, I'm sorry honey. I'm at my parents' house." She glanced at her watch. "I'll be back in about two hours... Okay, love you too."

She hung up, placing the phone back into her pocket. I looked at her expecting her to give me the details because I was nosey.

"You're so nosey, girl." She chuckled.

"Nothing new." I smirked.

"Brian's parents are in Maryland for the weekend." She said.

"Oh okay. How are the Daniels?"

"They are very different, I tell you that. They're just like mom and dad though. Just..different." She shrugged.

"Whatever that means."

She moved the lone piece of hair out of her face before speaking.

"Any boys caught your attention, yet?" She questioned as she threw her leg over the other one.

"No." I retorted.

My mind instantly went back to Khari and the situation earlier. The look of rage, anger and aggression on his face terrified me. It didn't seem to be directly towards Elgin, however. I think Elgin just opened his smart mouth to the wrong person.

"Your face tells me otherwise." Maya said interrupting my thoughts.

I cleared my throat, regaining my control. "Seriously, I haven't. I went on a date last night and it was horrible."

"I see." She started. "But you've met a guy since."

It wasn't a question. It was like she read that off of my face. That was something Maya was just too good at. She could always read people. I didn't know if that was good or bad.

I narrowed my eyes at her a little. "I hate when you do that."

She giggled causing my heart to warm a little. "Come on sis. You cannot hide anything from me. What's his name?"

I sighed. "I mean. It's not like I'm interested."

"Clearly." She said sarcastically.

I narrowed my eyes again causing her to laugh once more. I shook my head at her, finally giving in. "His name is Khari. He's from New Orleans, Louisiana. I just met him today. I really don't know much about him except the fact that he's an rude individual and a fighter."

"Explain." She said looking at her nails.

"He's just rude and today he broke one of my friend's nose."

"Bad boy." She looked at me. "Is he cute?"

For some reason, I blushed. I couldn't lie like he wasn't cute. He was more than cute. His light skin was free from any acne and his muscular build gave his just six foot frame justice. He wore a goatee which made him look older than his age. The mohawk with the blonde top was something new for me. It fit him well. That deep voice with that gorgeous Creole accent and those lips of his almost made him irresistible.

I shook those thoughts from my head, but it seemed that Maya had already read them.

"Malia's got a crush." She cooed.

"I do not."

"Yeah, whatever." She waved me off. "It seems as if he made a bad first impression on you, but don't let that deter you. Get to know him. He's probably not even that bad." She looked at me.

"Um, no." I quickly shot that down. "Did you not hear when I said that he broke my friend's nose?"

"If it was Elgin, he probably deserved it." She shrugged.

I couldn't argue with that one. Makayla stepped out of the bathroom ending Maya & I's conversation. We both watched as she put away her dirty clothes and straighten up her room a little. Once she was finished, she turned to look at us.

"Shall we eat?" She said in an artificial, perky voice.

"We shall." Maya said leading us out.

This should be interesting.

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