Cinder- Hoodie by Jenna Sexton


Once upon a time in a dark, dingy, and cold corner ally in New York
City, lived a teenage  girl named  Khesia. Khesia  had stringy,
blondish brown dread locks with bold blue eyes. Khesia had always lived
with her mother until one night a tragical event changed Khesia’s life.
 Wanda, Khesia’s mother, was driving home on a late winter night. That
night Khesia received the phone call that her mother had been shot by a
large group of dangerous guys. After three days of grieving with
friends, the state forced Khesia to live with her father. Khesia faced
a dire problem she had only seen her father once in all her fourteen
years. Her father left the day she was born and left  her mom feeling
lonely and abandoned. Her father was a business man so once Wanda had
Khesia, he felt tied down. After Khesia was born Her dad moved to
California to work for a lawyer. He had just moved back to New York a
few years ago. She moved to the suburbs of New York to a big, bulky
white house with skinny red shutters. There lived her father, Kevin,
her step-mother Tanya, and her two daughters Tina and Taylor. Tanya was
skinny and always wore expensive clothing. Her two daughters were the
same way. They thought themselves to be perfect. The day Khesia arrived
she was greeted by her father and Tanya.  With a smile and open arms
Tanya ran to Khesia “Oh hello there. Khesia it is so great to finally
met you.”
“Thank you,” said Khesia not knowing exactly what to expected. After a
week of friendliness, such as fixing Khesia’s breakfast and washing her
clothes, started wearing off from Tanya, Tina, and Taylor. She started
feeling all alone.  Her father was at work 24/7 to make money so that
Tanya could have whatever she wanted. Everyday after breakfast Tanya,
Tina, and Taylor went out and laid around the pool in the sun.  During
this time Khesia was cleaning the house and doing the laundry. Inside
the house, Khesia had to clean the bathrooms with a toothbrush and wash
the 42 windows by hand. She used a thin, worn out sponge. The laundry
was piled up almost to the ceiling leaving a hideous odor in the room.
The summer had past and Khesia was glad because instead of cleaning all
day she could go to school.  The night before school started, after
dinner, Kevin took Khesia by the hand and led her into his office. 
“Khesia, I want you to know how sorry I am about your mother. I know
how much you loved her.”
“Yes, I did. Very much. I miss her so much.” Khesia started to feel
very lonely. She started to reminisce about the times she spent with
her mother. 
“I know. Maybe school will help take her off your mind.” He handed her
a five hundred dollar bill. “Take this and buy you new school clothes.”
Khesia did not know what to do. She had never seen that much money. She
wasn’t sure if she should be happy or angry because her father had all
this money but never offered to help her mother take care of her. The
next morning Khesia woke excited. She ran down stairs to find that her
father had already left. “What are you so excited about?” asked Tanya
with a smartly voice. 
“I get to go shopping today!” exclaimed Khesia with joy.
“With whom?” asked Tanya.
“With you, Tina, and Taylor,” said Khesia still jumping.
“Not unless you get all you chores done in an hour.”
“But, uh uh,” Keshia said confused
“But what?  I guess you better get going.”
Khesia did not bother eating breakfast.  She started cleaning right
away. At ten o’clock the girls were leaving as Khesia ran to catch up.
Finally, Tanya stopped and she jumped in the Cadillac .
“Did you get the laundry done?”asked Tanya.
“Yes, of course,” replied Khesia.
A few minutes later they pulled up to a Good Will store.
“Do you have money?” Tanya asked as Khesia pulled out her five hundred
dollar bill. Right then Tina jerked the money out of her hand.
“Hey, she took my money,” yelled Khesia in anger.
“No, my money. Here is five dollars. By something in there,” as she
pointed to the Good Will store. “We’ll be back in about five hours. 
See ya then,” Tanya said laughing while Khesia got out of the Cadillac
Escalade.  After a couple of weeks at school Khesia had made a few
friends and met a lot of people.  One person Khesia had became very
fond of was Greg.  He was a very cute, blonde with dark green eyes.
Greg and Khesia had gotten to know each other in Algebra because Khesia
was good at math, and Greg needed her help. They always hung out
together at school but every time Greg asked to call Khesia, she would
not give him her number. Khesia also had a new friend, Amanda; she
seemed to be her guardian angel. This was because each time Tina and
Taylor made a mean comment at school, Amanda always had a better come
back. The school homecoming dance was coming up and at home that was
all that Tina and Taylor talked about. They had gotten new dresses,
which of course Khesia did not. The Monday before the dance Greg
nervously asked Khesia, “Do you have a date for the dance Friday night?”
“No,” Khesia replied with a bit of hope in her voice.
“Well, hum, if you’re not going with anyone, maybe you could go with
me.  I mean only if you want to and don’t have a date?” Greg said.
“I would love you go with you,” Khesia started trying not to show her
excitement.
That night when Khesia had finished cleaning up dinner, she sat down
with her dad, step mother, and step sisters and told them the good
news.  Taylor and Tina laughed as they pretended to be happy for her.
The next morning, her father, Kevin, was leaving on a business trip and
he would not be back for two weeks. After he left, Tanya sternly
threatened Kheisa. “You won’t be going to that dance. You have too many
chores to do. You don’t have time for, a boyfriend ,or the money for a
dress.”
Friday at school everyone was talking about the dance, but Khesia
dreaded telling Greg she couldn’t go. Before she talked to Greg, she
told Amanda what Tanya had said.
“You are not going to let her run you over like that. Go home, do your
chores, and as Tanya leaves to take the ugly twins to the dance, sneak
over to my house.”
“ I don’t know.”
“Girl, come on. You can’t let her run your life forever.  You have to
take up for yourself.”
“Okay, I’ll see what I can do,” she said hesitantly
Around five o’clock, Khesia had to help Tina and Taylor get ready for
the dance. The girls were dressed in fancy party dresses.  Khesia
wondered to herself, “What will I wear that looks this nice?”  They
were finally ready at seven, and as they drove off, Khesia ran to
Amanda’s house. When she walked into Amanda’s room she saw two
beautiful dresses.  One, a bright purple, and the other, a bright blue.
“You pick first,” Amanda said smiling.
 “No way. They are your dresses. You pick.” Khesia replied.
“Okay. I pick the blue because purple is your color.”
The girls did each others make up and hair.  Khesia said to Amanda as
they left for the dance, “Thank you.  You are like my very own fairy
god mother.”
“No, I am just glad to help a friend,” Amanda expressed happily.
At school, the dance had started, but Greg was waiting outside for her.
 As the two went in, everyone turned and stared.  Tina and Taylor could
not believe it was Khesia and were filled with jealousy. At the end of
the night after everyone had voted for homecoming queen and king had
been elected. The school president stood on the stage and read the
winners. “Our queen is Khesia Lyalls and our king is Greg Thomas.”
Everyone cheered.  The two went out on the dance floor as a slow love
song played.  At this point Greg leaned in and gave Khesia her first
kiss. The night was over and Khesia did not want to go home knowing how
mad Tanya would be. Greg walked Khesia home. Tanya met them at the door
yelling. “What do you think you are doing girl?  I told you not go to
that dance and that boy had better get out of here!” 
“Tanya, what do you think you are doing talking to my baby girl like
that?  Why did you tell her she could not go to that dance when I told
her she could?” It was Khesia’s dad.
“Oh daddy.  I am so glad you are here and know how mean she is to
me,”Khesia cried.
“Oh, Kevin, honey what are you doing home” Tanya said in fright knowing
she had be caught.
“Tanya, get your stuff and daughters and get out.”
Kevin was very upset. He knew he had made a mistake by leaving Keshia
under the care of Tanya.
“I am sorry Khesia. I shouldn’t have left you all alone,” Kevin cried.
After that wonderful night, Khesia finally had a chance to start
learning about her father.  He was not always on business trips.  Greg
and Khesia had started dating.  She still had to some of the house work
but she did it to help out her father.