"Janese Aultmon, you have until the count of five to get your little behind down here." Vickie Aultmon called to her daughter. Janese was in here room staring in her closet trying to decide which shoes to wear with her navy blue and white skirt and sleeveless matching blouse.
"1!" She heard her mother begin her counting and her eyes scanned her shoeboxes quickly. "2."
"I'm coming, ma! I can't figure out which shoes to wear." Janese yelled down the steps.
"You need to hurry up. I told you that I was ready to leave at eight o' clock." Janese grabbed her white Keds and ran down to her mother.
"Ma, why do we have to leave so early when grandma only lives forty-five minutes away?" Vickie watched her daughter put her shoes on. When she stood, Vickie fixed Janese's long jet black hair and held her face in her hands.
"Because there's nothing for you to get involved in but trouble and I want more than that for my baby girl." Janese smiled and gave her mother a kiss.
"I love you, ma. Let's get this show on the road." Janese and Vickie walked out of their four-story townhouse and into Vickie's 2003 Lexus. Janese's father wasn't around and hadn't been since before she was born, but Vickie managed fine without him. She had met a guy named Richard about two years before and Janese liked him a lot and wanted them to get married. The way their relationship was going it sounded very possible.
Janese was going to spend the summer with her grandmother in North Beach. Her best friends, LaToya and Justice moved their a few months before but they remained close friends. Mother and daughter rode in silence until Vickie broke the silence.
"What are you thinking about?"
Janese looked at her mother and shrugged. "Nothing much. Just Toya and JuJu." Vickie nodded her head and they drove the rest of the way talking about girl stuff.
"Dad can I talk to you?" Jett asked approaching his father, Wood Jackson, on the couch. Wood put his paper down and patted the cushion beside him.
"Sure, what's on your mind, Jett?" Jett sat down and crossed his legs Indian style.
"This summer I would like to go spend time with Aunt Gloria and Uncle Will in North Beach."
Wood looked at his son and could tell he had been thinking about this for awhile. "Do they know that you want to visit?" He asked. Jett shook his head. "Well, if they say it's okay, we'll drive up tomorrow afternoon."
Jett jumped off the couch to the phone. After a couple of minutes he came back with a grin on his face.
"I take it they said yes." Wood acknowledged, glad to see his son smiling again.
"Yup." Was all Jett said before going up to his room to pack.
Janese finished packing and sat down on her bed at her grandmother's house. Vickie finally left after hours of talking and night had finally come. Janese slipped her pajamas on and relaxed under the covers in her queen sized bed. She had plans to see LaToya and Justice as soon as she woke up and she drifted off to sleep.