“Mm mm mm. Your daughter has grown up to be a fine young woman. She's already sixteen, Ivory." Crenda said to Ariel's mother, Ivory. "I know. Lord, she grew up way too fast. It feels like yesterday when she was saying her first words, and now she's gonna be graduating from high school soon." Ivory slightly sobbed."Girl, don't start crying on me. Come here." Crenda hugged Ivory and patted her back as Ivory sniffled."I'm sorry. I know I shouldn't be crying, but I'm just so proud of her." Ivory said as the hug was broken and fanning herself.
Ernest made it back home and started searching for his key. After searching for about a good minute, he realized it probably dropped in the water. He let out a frustrated groan and banged on the door as loud as he could. The door swung up to reveal a frustrated middle aged woman on the other side."Excuse me, but- Oh my God, Ernest! What happened to you?!" Ernest's mother, Amy, said."I slipped over Deadmans bridge.." He mumbled, making Amy gasp."My God, how did you get out? You can't swim." Ernest started to feel annoyed at his mom for pointing out the obvious, but also annoyed that he still couldn't quite picture the face of the girl who saved his life."I was lucky enough to fall close to land and pull myself up." He lied. "Mom, I'm okay, really. I just really need a
"Ariel, what are you doing back here?" Ivory asked, but Ariel made sure she stepped forward enough so she wouldn't see the two white boys in the backyard."Nothing momma." Ariel motioned her hands behind her back to let them know it was their chance to leave. Michael snorted and Ernest bit his lip to avoid laughing. They hopped over the fence and left."There, you said thank you and found the girl. Now can I copy your homework?""Mhm." Ernest said as he stared at the number on his arm."Are you really going to call that girl?" Michael asked."Yeah. I wouldn't have asked for her number if I wasn't." Michael shook his head at Ernest."Whatever, I have nothing to do with this. Just g
Ernest let out a groan as his alarm went off; he groggily sat up and felt his phone underneath his hand. He picked it up and saw that it was on a phone call; he put the phone up to his ear and smiled as he heard her soft breathing.So cute, he thought."Wait.. Doesn't she have class?" Ernest asked himself. "Ariel, wake up." Ernest said loudly, making Ariel snort and sit up abruptly."I'm up momma.." She said sleepily, making Ernest muffle his laughter."I'm not your mom, Ariel." Ernest said, making her gasp."Oh my God, I'm so embarrassed.." Ariel said. "I'm so sorry, Ernest.""It's okay. We all have our moments. I just wanted to wake you up. Don’t want to miss classes." Ern
When class ended, Ernest snuck out of class as quickly as possible to make it out of the school."Mr. Rivers, where do you think you're going? You have detention." Mrs. Baxby said."Mrs. Baxby- dear God.." Ernest said with a dropped jaw as his best friend was running down the hall screaming in his underwear.He asked for a distraction to get out of detention, but he wasn't expecting this.While Mrs. Baxby was distracted, Ernest made haste and rushed to Deadmans bridge.Ernest felt his world spin each step he took. The air seemed thicker than honey and his legs were wobbly before he started running. He was admittedly nervous and had no idea how to get rid of the feeling.But what w
Another dreadful morning for Ariel as she woke up once again to go to school out of all places. Ariel sat up and stretched before getting up to take a shower. During her shower, she couldn't help, but think about Ernest. He seemed to constantly hurt himself and that worried Ariel. She hoped he made it home safe last night.When Ariel got home last night, she checked the lamp to see if it worked and it did. She fixed it up and made it nice and sat it in her backpack for the clumsy boy she met at Deadmans Bridge.But overall, he's nothing how her mother described him to be. She always told her to stay away from white men because of how dangerous they are, especially to people like Ariel. Ernest wasn't like that all, in fact, he's more of a danger to himself than anyone else, really.After Ariel finished her shower, sh
"Well.. He is kind of cute-" Polly let out a loud gasp."Oh. My. Goodness." Polly exclaimed. "This is a sign, Ariel. You haven't found any guys cute for two years. You save this guy and become his Princess Charming and you think he's cute? He has to be the one, Ariel. He must be." Ariel shook her head."He's cute, yes, but I can compliment a guy without romantic feelings being involved. It just means I have eyes." Ariel said before taking another bite of her mashed potatoes."You're totally lying, but whatever. Where are we meeting them?" Polly asked before taking a sip of her water."At Deadmans Bridge. We're going to meet his friend and make a gift trade off. I'm giving him a lamp and he's giving me a necklace." Polly smiled, but Ariel quickly changed the subject to ho
Ariel wouldn't stop yawning throughout her whole time getting ready for school. Her and Ernest had stayed up really late talking about anything and everything.Ernest said he was very unsure on what he wanted his career to be and Ariel explained how she'd love to be a surgeon. She loved the idea of saving a life with her own hands and she believed that she could achieve this despite the obstacles she knew she would face. If Dorthy Lavinia Brown can do it, so can Ariel Nicolette Smith.Both Ariel and Ernest fell asleep on the phone pretty late, leaving both him and Ariel to lose a lot more sleep than planned. Ariel let out a long and large yawn as she started brushing her teeth."Ernest and I need to stop talking so late.." She grumbled with a toothbrush in her mouth and suds falling into the sink. After Ariel finish