The Diary of Aaliyah Anderson Read online

  I smiled and gave D a huge hug. “I swear I love you, D! It seems like you’re the only one that keeps it real with me. You always know the right things to say at the right times.”

  D smiled. “That’s my job. Now, are you good?”

  I smiled and nodded.

  “We need to both go on and go to sleep. That’ll be the best thing for both of us,” D said.

  “That’s sounds like a plan. Good night, big head. I love you.”

  “Alright, ‘Liyah, love you too.”

  We hugged again and I gave him a peck on the cheek. D is the best big brother anyone could ever have and I thank God that he’s in my life.

  I swear, the first thing I’m gonna do when I get to school is ask ‘Kiyah or Dasia about a girl named Faith Johnson. They know about anything, anyone, and everything about Clarkson. D’s right on this one. I really should be happy that I do have a sister out there instead of beating myself up for the mistakes my “father” made. All I can do is be the best Aaliyah Anderson that I can be, and the rest will fall into place. I can’t worry about other people that won’t get with the program, even my siblings.

  Sincerely,

  Aaliyah Anderson

  ❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤

  Faith Johnson

  August 23, 2012, 11:25 p.m.

  When I first saw my half-sister, I honestly was in awe. The late bell had just gone off and I was walking out the lunchroom with ‘Kiyah after breakfast. It was around 7:30. I had just told ‘Kiyah about the whole entire situation and planned to tell Dasia and Allison later on Tuesday morning.

  I just couldn’t keep it in. As I expected, Dasia and ‘Kiyah knew exactly who Faith Johnson was. They only knew her by face and reputation though. Surprisingly, Allison was the one that ended up telling me everything about her.

  Faith is a well-known 7th grader that has classes in Cluster 7-3. She’s a member of the cheerleading squad. From what Allie told me, she’s the best out of the 7th graders and one of the best on the whole squad. My sister could be better than Latasha! Even though she’s a talented cheerleader, Faith is more known for her down-to-earth personality, good looks, and intelligence.

  She’s never gotten into any drama or fights in her whole life. Not even close! That’s definitely something I can’t say! Because of how she acts, combined with her beauty, she gets a lot of attention from boys of all grades at Clarkson. That sort of reminds me of how somebody else was back in 7th grade, but I can’t put my finger on it…

  Allison also informed me that she’s real tight with Theresa. They’re basically best friends. I thought that was great because maybe, after the favor I’m going to do her on Saturday, she could introduce me to her.

  But not too soon, I thought to myself. I need some time to think on what I’m gonna say to her.

  At the time, I just couldn’t imagine telling Faith anything. I needed to think and rethink how I was going to break the news to her. I didn’t wanna make a mistake or make her angry.

  At lunch I sat at my normal place, a booth on the far left side of the lunchroom. Today, I decided to give Deangelo some space. Besides, I needed some time to think before anyone came over to sit with me. As I always do when I’m in deep thought, I took out my sketch notebook and started drawing.

  D texted me and asked, “Is everything good with you right now?”

  As I was sending him a reply back, Theresa came over with a friend. When I looked up and saw her, I smiled and said, “What’s up, Theresa?”

  “Hey, Aaliyah! Why are you sitting over here alone?”

  “Because I don’t wanna eat that nasty prison food. Plus that line is entirely too long! Allison would be here, but she probably hasn’t even gotten her food yet.”

  In actuality, Allison was in the library with Dante. From what I heard, Dante pretty much has Allie’s heart in his hands. It’s obvious he’s trying to take it slow so he doesn’t seem too desperate. But I don’t think Allison really cares about all that. Allison isn’t trying to play around. She wants him bad!

  Anyway, Theresa asked me, “Can we sit with you until she comes?”

  “Yeah, that’s cool.”

  Her friend was completely silent. I mean, she wouldn’t say anything! I thought it was odd. I’d never seen a girl as pretty as her be so quiet, especially with one of her friends. As Theresa talked, she just stared at me.

  I didn’t want her to feel like she was the third wheel, so I eventually said to Theresa, “Why don’t you introduce me to your friend?”

  “Oh yeah! That’s like one the main reason why we came over. My main bestie right here wanted to meet you.”

  I was surprised! Usually, people wanna meet D or my mom. They’re the superstars of the family.

  Then, the shock came…

  “Faith, this is Aaliyah Anderson. Aaliyah, this is my main homegirl Faith Johnson.”

  I almost fainted when she said “Faith Johnson”!

  I quickly surveyed my half-sister to see what she was working with. Faith had pretty, flawless brown skin, something similar to mine. I guess that’s one thing that we have in common from our deadbeat father. She was wearing her hair natural in skinny, neatly-organized dreads in a style something similar to Brandy’s back when she was on Moesha. As a matter of fact, that’s who she favors! She looks like a shorter version of Brandy from back when she was a teenager doing Moesha. All in all, Faith definitely was a beautiful girl.

  I sort of played it off like I didn’t know who she was. “Hey, Faith. How’s it going?”

  She smiled. “I’m okay for right now. I just can’t believe that I’m meeting you! You’re like a legend around Clarkson.”

  I was flattered that Faith already thought highly of me. She even considers me as a legend around Clarkson. I wouldn’t say all that! D and my cousin Victoria, who was the award-winning captain of the cheerleading squad last year, fit that title a whole lot better. But still, I was glad that she already had good impressions of me. I wonder if that’ll change after I eventually tell her the news…

  “Wow! Thanks for the compliment. You seem like more of a legend though. I heard that you’re one of the best cheerleaders on the squad.”

  “I do okay. Besides, we’re a team. I’m only as great as everybody else on the squad.”

  Theresa smacked her lips. “Don’t listen to her, Aaliyah. She’s just being humble. This girl knows she’s about the best cheerleader on the team. She’s even better than Latasha!”

  “There’s nothing wrong with being humble, Theresa. D told me that a person overconfident in themselves usually is hiding a major insecurity. It takes a lot of maturity to not be too cocky.”

  Faith smiled brightly and her dimples started showing. “Thanks, Aaliyah. That really means a lot coming from you.”

  I smiled. Talking to Faith had me thinking I was Alicia Keys or somebody!

  She then asked the normal question all girls ask. “Speaking of D, how does it feel to be his sister? It has to be cool, right? You know, to be related to somebody so talented and known.”

  That question took me completely off guard. Technically she knows how it feels to be D’s sister; she just isn’t aware that she knows!

  I decided to give her the normal answer, to make sure I didn’t give away too much. When I told Faith, I wanted it to be special. Maybe in the park, Lake Everett on the northside, even the ghetto, ratchet mall on the westside, but definitely not in Clarkson’s dead, diseased food-having lunchroom!

  “It’s pretty good. D’s different from all these other big sports stars though. He isn’t letting the popularity and females get to his head. It’s so easy to talk to him. He always gives me good knowledge, advice, and game on everything. Our family situation isn’t all that good right now, truth be told, but D and I still try to stay close.”

  “That sounds special. I understand things aren’t going good with your family, but you have it better than me. I wish I had a family situation in general. It’s j
ust me and my mom, and I barely get to see her because she’s always working. Being a lawyer isn’t the laid back job you see on TV Then she runs her own business on the side, too. I swear, it gets lonely being the only child in a single mother household, but that’s just how it is. It’s not like we’ve fallen on hard times though. We live up in Brentwood and I get spoiled with whatever I want 24/7. But that really doesn’t make up for what I don’t have, which is a person outside my friends to spend quality time with.”

  I swear, I felt like crying right then and there! Even Theresa looked sort of shaken up by her confession.

  “I’m not trying to get too much into your personal life, but do you know your father?”

  “I don’t know him at all. If he walked into this lunchroom, I wouldn’t be able to recognize him. All I know is that he was a minor league football coach when he and my mom were together. That’s all she’ll let me know anyway.” Her demeanor changed after she said that. “But everything’s cool though. That’s just how things are. Life still goes on and it’s too short for me to miss by focusing on something I can’t change.”

  I smiled. Faith is so strong! I couldn’t imagine myself saying something like that. I still blame “him” for everything wrong with the Anderson family. Faith, on the other hand, seems to have forgiven him. I see why everybody likes her now. She’s so calm, mature, and cool. It’ll be great to have her in my life.

  But that’s the problem!

  How do I tell her that we’re sisters after all she’s been through? Boy, after hearing her story, I got even more afraid to tell her the truth. Honestly, I’m scared how she’ll react to the truth that I’m giving her…

  ♠♠♠♠

  Feeling Guilty

  For the rest of the day, I kept thinking how to tell Faith that we were sisters. I swear I couldn’t think of anything else. Personally, I felt guilty for how she was feeling. Even though I was unaware of us being related a day ago, I feel bad living in my father’s house. It’s unfair to me. Faith can go to a Howard-Jones football or basketball game and not even know that Coach Anderson was her father, but even though we have absolutely no interactions, I live in his house.

  This is even more of a reason that D and I should go live with Momma. I would say Jeff and Elijah too, but they’re barely even home and they have no common sense. We don’t need Momma getting in trouble for some b.s. that she didn’t even do, especially with her being a huge public media figure and everything.

  It was the end of the day and I was walking to car riders from Miss Jones’s 4th period Literature class, my absolute favorite class of the day. The whole situation with Faith and our “father” was still fresh on my mind. Ironically, I bumped into Faith again as I was passing the 7th grade hallway.

  “Hey, Aaliyah! I’ve been looking for you ever since lunch ended.”

  “For real? What’s up? Is everything cool?”

  “Yeah, things are good. I just wanted to ask you about your tutoring service. Theresa was talking to me about how you helped her finish her book report in one day. According to her, she presented her report and got two one hundreds for the content and doing it early.”

  “Wow, that’s great! It took me forever to motivate her to even do the report and she got two one hundreds? I feel so accomplished right now!”

  Faith smiled. “You really should be. Theresa completely hates reading and then, after you worked with her, she did that well on her report. If you can help her that much, I know you can help me. I need tutoring in honors math and honors reading. This year I want to stay focused and get all A’s, but the work is extremely hard. I can’t just play around and get good grades like I did last year. How much do you charge for tutoring?” She then started digging into her Michael Kors shoulder bag and pulled out a pretty, pink leather wallet.

  I stopped her. “Faith, it’s cool. You don’t have to pay anything.”

  She was shocked, “Are you serious?”

  “I’m very serious. As long as you’re serious about getting all A’s, it’s free. You’re serious about getting all A’s, right?”

  “I am, really. I wanna be on the all-A honor roll this year.”

  I smiled. “Then tutoring is one hundred percent free. We’ll work out the days to meet later.”

  Come on, I couldn’t charge my sister money for tutoring! I feel guilty enough! Plus, I see the same type of drive and ambition in her that I have. In our year and a half of doing Beautiful Sistahs Inc., we’ve never had a student come and request to be tutored of their own free will. Usually, the parents call us and make them do it. Plus she was willing to pay money for it too? I swear, Faith just did something that I’d do. It’s no doubt that we’re sisters!

  She gave me a huge hug. “Thank you, Aaliyah! I swear, this means so much to me. I owe you big time.”

  After that, I felt so satisfied. That was a moment that definitely eased my mind. I helped Theresa get two fantastic grades and now I’m tutoring Faith. Nothing could take away my natural high at that moment.

  But that feeling changed quickly after I talked to Momma.

  ♠♠♠♠

  Momma

  One good thing that came from my Momma coming to pick me up, other than seeing her for the first time in a while, is that I finally got to see her house. She lived on a street that I’ve never seen in my many times coming down to Brentwood. The street was named Brunswick Drive and the houses on that street were huge! Momma’s house is like Allison’s family house plus one.

  Seeing Momma makes me amazed at how much we favor each other. When I look at her, it’s like I’m looking in a mirror! She has the exact same skin tone and facial features as me. Her hair was styled in dreads that were wrapped around in a bun. At 5’7”, she has a perfectly fit, shapely body frame that showcased the benefits of healthy eating and working out to the world. Her good looks combined with her talent make her the epitome of a media superstar.

  When I walked inside the house, I was once again amazed. We went to her mini library and sat down to talk. She had tons of books, especially from black authors. I know for a fact D would love it in there! It was such a quiet place. I could imagine D finishing up his story he wanted to publish in that room.

  We sat in two comfortable purple sofa chairs with a yellow outline. Momma saw me looking around the room and smiled.

  “How do you like the house?”

  I smiled. “Momma, this place is beautiful! I wasn’t gonna ask, but do you think D and I could move in with you? You don’t even have to say anything now; just think about it.”

  “Alright, ‘Lili, I’ll think about it. I’d love for you and your brother to live here, but you know that’ll be hard to pull off.”

  “That’s all I need you to do, Momma. Speaking of living down here, I got a chance to meet Faith today.”

  “Really? What happened? Did you tell her the news yet?”

  “I didn’t. I just couldn’t bring up the courage to do it. I was already feeling guilty today.”

  “Guilty? Guilty for what? You haven’t done anything, baby.”

  I sighed. “I feel guilty for just knowing that man that’s called my ‘father’. Did you know that Faith has never met him? She doesn’t even know who he is. Does he even know?”

  “Sadly, he does.”

  “How could he do that to our family? How could he just abandon his daughter like that - then, on top of that, lie about it? What makes it even worse is that he didn’t do that to me. I live in his house! Faith goes through so much pain mentally, but she’s so strong-willed. She at least deserves to know who her father is. How could he hold a secret like that from us for so long? You even said that you found out by a complete accident. Actually, that’s a question that’s been on my mind all day. How did you find out?”

  She led me into the living room and we sat on the couch as she told the whole story.

  “Faith’s mom and I connected through business. Her mom is part owner of an event promotion and planning company. I wanted to throw
a huge party after the first episode of my talk show. I had my assistant call her and we went down to their offices to give them the particulars on where we wanted to have the party and what we wanted to do with it. I met her and I instantly recognized who she was. Her image was burned in my memory.

  “I first saw her when your father took her to game six of the NBA Finals game all the way in Los Angeles back in 2000. He thought it would be the perfect place to take her because he didn’t expect for me to be there. Then, he lied and said he was going on a scouting trip for the Willowsfield Knights Arena league football team. He was the head coach for them at the time.”

  Momma smiled and shook her head. “It was a pretty convincing lie. He actually had me fooled too. But it turns out that I got a call from Shaq, saying that he wanted me on the first flight down to see him win his first NBA title. He was for sure the Lakers were taking home the championship and he wanted everyone important to him to see it. We became friends after he came through V103 during a road trip in Atlanta and I interviewed him. He got me a place in the VIP press box. I happened to see your father and Faith’s mom all hugged up and leaning on a car he had rented after the game ended.

  “I swear I could’ve killed her, but I didn’t say anything. I didn’t even confront him at that time. I just decided to stay cool. Everybody was happy that night because the Lakers won their first championship since the days of Magic Johnson. I guess I was the only one disappointed - but not as disappointed as I was a few weeks later when your father came and told me that she was pregnant.”

  I was amazed. “So how did your conversation with Faith’s mom go when you finally met her face to face?”