"Elora! I haven't seen you in forever." Phoebe walked over to Jericho. She has on Jericho's shirt and very messy hair.

But I didn't even have to ask.

"Did you guys have sex?" Khascian asked.

"No."

"Yes."

Phoebe glared at Jericho, and he shrugged. "What? It's true," he sighed. "We just got done."

"Ignore him. He's being unfiltered." Phoebe giggled. "It's nice to see you guys again. Selene and Helen came yesterday."

Elora smiled. "Yea, we planned it. We didn't want to all crowd your house and make it suspicious. Mom is looking all over for you."

Jericho shrugged. "It's fine. I dare one of our parents to come to my house and disrespect Phoebe or me."

I shook my head. "I'll go straighten it up with mom tomorrow. I want to tell her I'm divorcing Derek."

"Oh, hallelujah!" Jericho shouted. I told him that Derek slapped me two years ago, and he got into a fight with Derek, broke his nose, and left him with bruised ribs.

Then I got in trouble for 'lying,' but Jericho knew I wasn't, but he couldn't do anything because I would get in trouble as well.

He obviously doesn't care if he's in trouble. He abandoned the family a long time ago.

"You could do so much better, whether it's a man or a woman."

I chuckled. "Well, I found a different man. He treats me way better."

Phoebe clapped excitedly. "Yay! I hope it's ok that Jericho told me what was going on."

I smiled sheepishly. I didn't take offense because Phoebe is basically Jericho's wife and part of the family.

I understood.

"It's fine." I pointed to Jericho. "If you're gonna disown your family, you need to marry Phoebe."

"I can't disown our parents. We have younger siblings."

"So, maybe I should," Khascian spoke up. "Keenan has disappeared to wherever and he keeps in contact with me, but he doesn't trust me enough to tell me where he is."

"Why is everyone leaving?!" Elora groaned.

"I'm not gone!" Phoebe giggled.

"What is so damn funny?" Jericho asked. "Over teheeing and everything, I want to giggle too."

Jericho was always rude and disrespectful. This is the nicest he has been in all my twenty-six years of knowing him.

Phoebe rolled her eyes. "I'm gonna start calling you Jerry again."

"And I'm going to start fucking the shit out of you again."

All of us gasped. "Um, come on now, is that appropriate?" Khascian said, furrowing her brows.

"No, no, it's not," Elora answered.

"I think he knows," Phoebe glares at him. He just shrugs.

"Whatever, I'm going to make some ramen for you." He gets up.

"Aww–"

"A'roya shut the hell up."

"My bad," I murmured as he went into the kitchen.

When Jericho was out of earshot, Elora leaned in. "Soo, boy or girl?"

Phoebe smiled. "Girl, Jericho's excited. He doesn't want any boys."

"Do you want us to say anything to your mom....or?" Khascian asks.

"Yes, I love Jericho, and I'm twenty-seven, I am also pregnant, and if she can't support me, then I don't need her. Jericho and I will get married, and we will have a family, and I will do it all, with or without her support."

Elora wiped a tear. "How you've learned from me."

"Elora, you haven't done anything. Your mother still controls you." I deadpanned.

Elora rolled her eyes. "Whatever," she dug into her bag and grabbed two plane tickets. "I heard about your anxiety, and I asked my boyfriend to get two extra plane tickets to Jamaica."

"To Jamaica?!" Jericho took the tickets. "Bitch please, he got us economy too?! We def going."

Phoebe shook her head, giving us a tight hug, but Khassy and I had nothing to do with it.....we just gonna go with it. "Thank you, guys, so much."

"Don't worry about it." Elora waved her off.

"And please, no more stressing out and worrying. It's not good for the baby."

"Yeah, for real," I said. "Um, is the ramen done? I'm hungry."

Jericho glared at me. "A'roya." He said demeaningly. "Be serious."

I smirked. "I'm being very serious."

•┈••✦ ❤ ✦••┈•

"Elora, drop me off at my mother's house. I need to talk to her."

Elora nodded.

We just left Phoebe and Jericho's place. They're planning to elope if they don't have our parents' support, and since I'm on my way to my parents for my own reason, I'm going to tell them about Jericho and Phoebe. I'm happy for them. They're having a little girl, they're financially well off, they're both adults, and they've been together for ten years.

Khascian has apparently cut her parents off a long time ago, after our big talk, this girl was not real. She couldn't tell us that she had made that big decision.

Keenan's moved out. He's somewhere Khascian doesn't know. He left, he doesn't care about his parents' support, and frankly, we all need to be like him. Jericho's like him, but Phoebe wants to at least give him a chance. To my knowledge, Keenan's a tattoo artist, and he's living his best life.

I need to have the confidence that Jericho, Phoebe, Khascian, and Keenan have. And that's what I'm going to do.

"Remember, we're all grown adults, we have jobs, lives, if our parents can't accept that then we don't need them. They've been nothing but toxic to us and this is their last chance." Khascian encourages me.

I smiled and nodded. "Thanks for dropping me Elora, and thanks for the life coaching, Khassy,"

Khassy chuckled as Elora nodded. "Of course, girl, I could never forget that Derek uses your car."

Derek isn't a bum. He just doesn't use his money because he forces me to let him use mine.

I get out of the car and walk to the red door. 9875, Gillford's Road, townhouse with the red door on the right. I haven't been here in three years, and it's a lot scarier than I thought.

I knocked on the door and waited five seconds before it opened.

"A'roya!" My little sister, White, hugged my waist. "I missed you!"

I laughed, walking in and closing the door. "I missed you too, Witty."

"Let me go call the rest of them. Mama and papa are in the kitchen."

I nodded as White ran upstairs, walking down the small narrow hallway that once occupied eight people. I remember playing tag with Jericho; he actually threw me downstairs once because he was frustrated at my nine-year-old self for not playing hide and seek right. I was only nine, jeez.

I laughed at the thought before heading to the kitchen. My dad saw me first, immediately walking up to me and hugging me. "ابنتي الجميلة" (My beautiful daughter.)

My dad always spoke another language. I don't know why. My mother didn't like it, but he didn't care.

"Jackson, let go of her." My mother's stern voice said sternly. He let go, his smile disappearing. "A'roya." She acknowledged me.

"Mom," I curtsied a little to show respect.

"What are you doing here?" She said a little harshly, but I ignored it.

"I need to talk to you guys," I said. "It's important."