Taylor grabbed a plastic storage container from the cabinet—the one that was stained from heating red sauce in the microwave—and filled it halfway with water. She placed four of the five credit cards she owned in the container and set a rock on top of them. Snapping the lid on, she walked over to the freezer and placed it next to a bag of frozen broccoli.

“There,” she said, dusting her hands for good measure.

She’d used the initial payment from Jamar to cover this month’s rent and to pay off one of the credit cards, with a vow that she would pay off the rest over these next two months and never get into this kind of financial trouble again. Putting the credit cards on ice was symbolic. She could still access them through apps on her phone, but she wasn’t going to. She would keep one card in her wallet for emergency purposes only.

And when she said emergency, this time she meant a real emergency. No more “emergency” sales on tennis shoes or “emergency” sushi because she deserved to treat herself after a long day. She was going to start living by an actual budget, and she would not allow any stupid you only live once nonsense to entice her into making irresponsible choices.

Ugh. She was starting to sound like a grown-up.

“About damn time,” Taylor muttered.

She took a pint of store-brand strawberry frozen yogurt from the freezer—part of her new adulting was forgoing the expensive one she usually bought—and grabbed a spoon. She perched against the kitchen counter and started eating straight from the carton.

She used the remote to turn the volume up on The Princess and the Frog. It had become her Saturday morning ritual to pop in the DVD and listen to it as background noise while cleaning her apartment. Until Tiana started singing “Almost There.” Then it was time to belt it out like a contestant on The Voice. Well, whatever was the equivalent to The Voice for people who couldn’t sing a single note in tune.

Lack of musical skills aside, when Tiana sang about how she worked real hard each and every day and now things for sure were going her way, Taylor felt that in her spirit.

“Preach, girl!” she said, waving her hand like a deaconess in church. Her hustle would pay off in the end, just like Tiana’s. Except she wasn’t kissing a frog.

Her phone dinged with an incoming text message. She glanced at it over on the counter and couldn’t stop the ridiculous smile that instantly stretched across her face.

Hey, Drill Sergeant. Do you have a minute?

Taylor put the yogurt back in the freezer and lowered the volume on the TV before picking up the phone.

Taylor: U get 1 minute. Do u always txt in complete sentences???

Jamar: Yes. And proper punctuation. Commas are our friends.

Taylor: Nerd :)