After a quick shower, Arnessa rubbed lotion over her entire body. She sprayed her favorite fragrance, Happy, behind her knees, on the back of her neck, and behind each ear. Arnessa slipped on her thermals and put on her jogging pants, then exited her room, trying to catch Cenise before she left for school. “Yo, Neesie,” Arnessa called out.

“I’m in the kitchen,” Cenise responded as she stood over the counter eating a bowl of Farina.

“Here’s the money for your tuition,” Arnessa said, laying a stack of thirteen one-hundred-dollar bills next to Cenise’s bowl. “As you know, a G is for the school, and three hundred is your pocket money for the week. And a week is seven days, not five. So make it last.”

“Don’t I always.”

“If you did, I wouldn’t be telling you now.”

Rolling her eyes, Cenise continued eating.

Arnessa opened the refrigerator, “I’m leaving for Baltimore in a little while. I’ll be back late tonight. If you want to have company, Nomie is the only person allowed in here while I’m gone.”

“Why is Nomie the only one of my friends that can come over?”

“’Cause I said so. Now stop questioning me.”

“You know, you’re not my mother.”

“I’m the closet thing you got!” Arnessa snapped, slamming the refrigerator door closed, “You little ungrateful bitch, and if you want your mother, go find her crazy ass and see if she wants you! If she even gave half a fuck about us, she would be here.” Arnessa got in her sister’s face. Looking into Cenise’s eyes was like looking into her own. The slanted shape of them was the only sign that they were sisters.

Rebellion flickered in Cenise, but she held it in while Arnessa continued to rip into her with her words. “I’m out here throwing bricks at the penitentiary so you can have nice shit and go to the best schools, and all you know how to do is get fresh at the mouth. I should have let BCW take you when they came three years ago!” Completely pissed, Arnessa retreated to her bedroom.

Cenise just stood there, unable to move, trying hard to fight off the oncoming tears. Slowly, she moved her feet, grabbed her book bag, and left for school, crying all the way.

Arnessa refused to cry as she dug into a bag in the bottom of her closet. It seemed like the more she did for Cenise, the less Cenise appreciated her. She pulled out six neatly wrapped eight balls of crack and stuffed them into the inside pockets of her coat. Arnessa threw the coat back across the bed and went back into the kitchen. Opening the freezer, she pulled out a box of frozen broccoli. She opened the box and poured out what looked like six little fat carrot pieces. The little pieces were actually heroin balloons. They were wrapped in an orange plastic coating that made them undetectable to X-ray machines. Arnessa stacked them together, then wrapped them in duct tape, creating a penis-like shape.