Twelve

                               ~Kunmi~

It was Aminah's birthday and I was in front of the vanity mirror in my room with mom's makeup artist doing my makeup. This morning when I reminded mom that I was attending a friend's birthday, the first thing she did was to call her makeup artist. When I insisted that I did not need a makeup artist, she said.

"Kunmi, come on, it's a party. You have to dress to kill. Don't allow other girls there to kill your shine."..

"But mom....."

She put her second finger out to shush me.

"No arguments Kunmi, Tara is already coming over. You're going to go out there all beautiful. You should be like your sister. She'd never go to a party without dressing up."

I bit the inside of my tongue to stop myself from replying. The worst words from my mom's mouth were Unlike your