i. Little One {9}

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Omniscient.

Sunday,

October 2006.

Cateleya's House 📍

Laanville, Mississippi.

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Sahari walked up to Cateleya's front door and raised her hand to knock, but quickly dropped it. She was nervous. She's never knocked on a door and not know who could open the door.

After staring at the door for a while she never got the courage to knock and turned to walk away. She mumbled "I'll just do it at school" to herself and started to walk down the stoop, but she turned back around when she saw the flower she dropped on the doormat.

She bent down to pick it up and the foot door opened, and Sahari immediately smelled an overwhelming smell of beans. She slowly looked up and saw Cateleya's mom in a maid uniform, digging into her black purse that was hanging off her shoulder.

Cateleya's mom was a lightskin, curvy, 32 year old newly single mother. She was purely Colombian, born and raised. She had a hard time fitting in because she didn't know English but also the older women shut her out when they found out she divorced her husband to come to the states.

Sarahi thought Cateleya's younger brother was a spitting image of their mother where so Cateleya only had her bushy eyebrows and thick long hair.

"Ah- we no cookies" was the first thing Cateleya's mother said when she noticed Sahari. "Sorry- I'll leave" Sahari quickly replied, not bothering to correct that she wasn't a Girl Scout. When she turned around she immediately heard a voice that made her stomach drop.

"Mami esp-" Cateleya's words got caught in her throat as she saw Sahari. Her first reaction was to eye her, taking in the orange ruffled dress she had on. Her lips started to curv when she saw that she was also wearing orange barrett's. Her little orange.

"Sahari" Cateleya said in a tone that Sahari couldn't tell if whether she was mad or happy to see her. Her heart started to race at the thought of both.

"Quién es?" Cateleya's mother asked looking back and forth to them. Her mother wanted to ask Sahari herself, but she knew the young girl didn't speak Spanish. "Ella es una amiga de la escuela" Cetelela answered, unexpectedly feeling a little shy. "Ella es hermosa me encanta us vestido. Te verías hermosa en uno también hija" Cateleya's mother replied, flashing Sarahi a smile. Sahari felt awkward because she could tell they were talking about her, she just hoped they weren't being mean.

Cateleya ignored the last thing her mother said and quickly asked if she could have the last tamale her mother made last night. Which she replied yes but to share with her youngest brother which Cateleya agreed knowing she wasn't going to. Her mother waved bye to Sahari and Sahari shyly waved back.

Cateleya waited till her mother hit the corner to again size Sahari up before asking "what are you doing here?" When Sahari started to stutter Cateleya smirked, finding it amusing. She looked back to make sure her brother was still situated and sitting on the couch watching SpongeBob before she stepped fully outside and left the door cracked.

"Eres adorable. No puedo mantenerme enojado" Cateleya mumbled then smiled at Sahari. Sahari didn't understand but somehow it still made her feel fuzzy inside.

"I'm sorry I wasn't minding my business. I thought I was helping but I hurt your feelings. I'm sorry" Sahari apologized, hoping she recited everything her and Juno practiced. "So you won't give me anymore weird looks cause of my ropa?" Cateleya asked and Sahari eyed her. Cateleya was wearing a white beater and plaid pajama pants. "I won't. I just want to be your friend" Sahari answered and Cateleya's gaze softened then she looked at the floor for a few seconds.

"Friends" Cateleya looked up and smiled and Sahari couldn't help but to also smile. "Really?" Sahari asked, just to make sure she wasn't joking. "Mhm" Sahari tried not to get too excited, but then she heard Juno's voice in her heard telling her not to be ashamed. "Can we hug?" She asked, she knew there was a chance her eczema could scare her away. Cateleya looked surprised, but still opened her arms. They were the same age, Sahari was a couple months older but Cateleya had the height of a middle schooler.

Their hug was interrupted by kissing noises. Cateleya looked back at her brothers with a hard glare. Sahari pulled out the hug and gave the siblings a confused look. "Estúpido nino. Go" Cateleya semi yelled and the boys laughed and quickly run into the house. "Should I leave?" Sahari asked, taking their laughter personal "no- I'll be quick. Stay" Cateleya quickly replied, she also missed her friend.

Cateleya sat on the stoop and lowly sang the Hannah Montana theme song as she stared at a bug that was struggling to climb up. "You can sing?" Sahari jumped as Cateleya sat next to her. Cateleya snicked and gave her a low "sorry" "of course I can. I'm a church a kid" Sahari smiled as she repeated what she heard the older kids say before.

"You can't?" "I'm not iglesia kid. My mama-" Cateleya stopped to think "no come until we got here" Cateleya explained. She didn't hate or love church, she just hated how the ladies weren't nice to her mom.

"I learned how to fight" Sahari randomly announced as she noticed Cateleya getting lost in her thoughts. "You did?" Cateleya looked both amused and surprised "mhm. You said I needed to start sticking up for myself" Sahari shrugged like it was no big deal, but she was actually still really surprised about it herself.

"Punch me" Cateleya put her arm out "wha- no" "Sahari punch me" when Sahari was about to decline again until they made eye contact and Sahari sighed. Sahari raised her fist and punched Cateleya's arm. "Not bad" Cateleya nodded while softly smiling, proud of her friend. "Should you punch me to be fair?" Sahari asked, holding out her noddle arm. "No" Cateleya immediately shook her head.

"Why not?" "Sahari I have two brothers. La luchar them for breakfast, lunch and supper" Cateleya shook her head "but you're a girl" Sahari replied, confused. Her grandmother told her a boy should never hit a girl. "You tink brothers care?" Cateleya laughed "Sahari you tan inocente" "am not" Sahari defended even though she didn't know what was said.

"Yuh are a meanie" Sahari playfully said when Cateleya didn't tell her what it meant. Cateleya laughed in response and even harder when Sahari started to fake pout. The pout didn't go away until Cateleya kissed her cheek.

"I need help wit English homework. If you each me English ones, I each you Spanish ones" Cateleya suggested, slightly embarrassed that she had to ask in the first place. "Okay" Sahari excitedly agreed. So that's what they did for the next hour and both girls ended up loving it as they made it into a game. They finished Ceteleya's homework then she had to go in to make her brothers some lunch.

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Days Later.

Church playground 📍

"How many can you do?" "50" "no way" "swear" "show me" Cateleya smirked and they both walked to the monkey bars. Sahari begin to count as Cateleya slowly pulled herself up. Sahari was in shock when she made it to 30 and sped up. Sahari clapped when Cateleya did 51. "Had to show off" she smiled as she panted.

"That was amazing, where did you learn that?" Sahari asked "it was un juego for us" Sahari tried to use context clues "a competition?" Sahari questioned but Cateleya didn't know the word. "Maybe" she shrugged and both girls chuckled.

"Do you wanna try?" Cateleya asked "stop playing" she playfully glared at Cateleya as she laughed. "I'm serious, I'll help" she put her hand out and Sahari hesitantly grabbed it. "I'm going to push you up by your catala" Cateleya explained and Sahari nodded. She reached for the bar and they began to laugh at how Sahari legs were hanging.

"I'm going to emp-push you now" "okay" Sahari tightened her grip on the bar and Cateleya pushed her up by her butt. "I did it" Sahari semi yelled excitedly "again please" so Cateleya did it until Sahari got to 6. When they were getting her down they kept laughing and ended up bumping their heads knocking them both on the ground but that only made them laugh harder.

"You gotta kiss it" Sahari pointed to her forehead and Cateleya kissed it then pointed to hers and Sahari kissed it. When they finally sat up they weren't expecting to see Ariel and her minions.

"Is Sorry bothering you Leya?" Ariel asked and Cateleya immediately noticed Sahari going back into her shell at the sound of Ariel's voice. She didn't like that at all. "Um no?" Cateleya replied confused because the two were just talking and laughing together. "You shouldn't be seen with her" Ariel made known as she looked around like they were going to be caught doing something bad. "Que?" Cateleya replied confusing Ariel and her friends.

"She said what" Sahari explained after Cateleya looked at her for help. "Nobody was talking to you" Ariel replied, trying to hide her embarrassment. She tried to move closer to Sahari, but what she didn't expect was for Cateleya to move and stand in front of Sahari. She didn't like the look in Ariel's eye. The act confused Sahari and Ariel.

Ariel stomped her feet and folded her arms tightly over her chest, she let out a little whine. "You can't be friends with both of us. You have to choose?" "Really?" Cateleya asked thinking she was joking. "Yes" Ariel nodded and glared at Sahari because she was so sure Cateleya was going to pick her.

"Okay.. Sahari" Cateleya easily decided. Ariel looked distraught and like she could cry. Sahari knew she shouldn't find enjoyment at the idea of Ariel crying, but she did. It made her happy to finally be on the other side of things with Ariel for a chance. "Fine you can be disgusting dykes together" Ariel rolled her eyes and walked away.

The insult didn't hit like she wanted it to because Cateleya didn't know what either words meant so she just shrugged and mumbled "extraña" then turned around. Her bushy eyebrows were furrowed when she saw that Sahari wasn't happy. "What's wrong?" "You shouldn't have done that. Now she's going to be mean to you too" Cateleya shrugged. "Do you wanna try the monkey bar again?" She asked, but Sahari was too much in her head to reply.

Cateleya eyed her then grabbed her arm and dragged her back to the bar.

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Dennys 📍

"You're awfully quiet, more than your usual" Claretha pointed out while cutting her pancakes. "Did something happen? Maybe I shouldn't have let you go off with your friend so soon" she continued and dropped her knife. Which made Sahari quickly look up "wait Nona Cateleya defended me" Sahari explained and Claretha smiled as it humored her when she noticed how Sahari tried to force the accent.

"I have to tell you something" Sahari mumbled and Claretha's smiled dropped as her mind went into a bad place. But then she noticed the look on Sahari's face and it was pure guilt. "You did something bad?" She asked and Sahari had to stop herself from saying yes. She had to remind herself that liking a color that God made wasn't wrong and she shouldn't force herself to ashamed. She doesn't want to hurt people like Juno did.

"B- Blue is my f-favorite color" Sahari announced and she noticed her grandmother's face turn pale which was hard with her darkskin. "We had this talk already. God said- "I'm sorry for interrupting but why would God make the color blue if he only wanted boys to like it? That's not fair. Sometimes I look at the sky and cry cause it's so beautiful. How can God hate that?" Sahari questioned, she felt guilty for questioning God and her grandmother, but she NEEDED the answers.

"Fine Sahari. Fine. But I'm not buying you anything blue, I'm not supporting it" Claretha replied and picked back up her knife. "Yes ma'am" Sahari nodded, hiding her excitement. She didn't let her grandmothers backhanded support stop her great feeling because she knew Juno and Jayla will and would continue to buy her blue things.

"One more thing... I also wanna start wearing p-pants"

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Hii. I know y'all are like why the constant mention of blue but just wait until "blue" has a name 😉

04/8/2024