“I am guessing this is the place?” I asked stepping out of Mrs. Porsha’s black van with Aaliyah. In upper manhattan where most of the life of New York seemed to dwell in. The building was a pretty nice looking black and pink building that already had a line of people our age waiting outside, judging from this line it seemed more popular with girls our age with a few boys mixed in. There was a red carpet that led from this dropoff point, down the sidewalk and right up to the front door. Writing in dark pink cruises right about the large black double doors was. “Club Serenity.” A velvet rope was running down the block, separating this long line of kids and allowing others to still walk across the sidewalk. A friendly but stern young man, maybe as old as Joshua was standing in front of the line, with his large hold firmly on another rope that could be attracted to let people from that line inside. Another boy with lighter skin was standing beside the door with a clipboard in his hand.
“Um hum.” I turned back to see Mrs. Porsha shaking her head a bit. “This is the place alright, making a day club for kids but treating it like a nightclub just seems like a waste of time.” Her eyes looked over my shoulder and I followed her gaze towards the hopeful looking preteens in line. “Some of those poor kids don’t even get in cause they don’t look the part. It’s wrong to do that to kids, it could bring some of their confidence down as they wonder, why couldn’t I get in? Shit makes me sick sometimes.”
“You swore again?” Aaliyah mumbled under her breath but then jumped as Mrs. Porsha called out firmly.
“You know I can still hear you mumbling even though you don’t know how to whisper.” She than added with a small smile. “And I am an ass grown woman, so I can curse when I want too.”
I watched my new friend roll her eyes a bit causing me to stiffen a laugh. “Are you coming in Mrs. Brown?” Turns out that her last name was actually brown, but she had been fine with me calling her Mrs. Porsha.
The older woman shook her head. “I used to but I got tired of those snotty momma coming upstairs and starting trouble. So give me a text when you are ready to come home early, Aaliyah. Regardless, I am gonna be outside at 8 o'clock.”
“Maybe, nine…” Aaliyah attempted to suggest weekly.
Mrs. Porsha gave her daughter a firm look as she stated. “If you are not out of that building by 8:15, I will leave and you can call your daddy to come get you and explain why you weren’t outside when I said so. Am I understood?”
“Yes ma’am.”
Mrs. Porsha was starting to remind me of my own momma back home. Fun and kind, but also knew when to put her foot down and keep it there regardless of what whining we could come up. Just thinking about my momma back home sent a mix of guilt for my actions and fear for the punishment for those actions spilling up my spine. “And take care of Verona while we are there, or should we call you Cindy?”
I had decided to go with a fake name while in the city. I have a brand new look but I was using my real name that kinda made it all pointless. “I’ll take care of her, mom. I promise.”
After wishing us one last goodbye, Mrs. Porsha took off into the busy New York traffic and disappeared behind a corner. “Come on,” Aaliyah started taking me by the hand and walked down the red carpet that led up to the main doors. “Luckily for me I am still on the list so I don’t have to wait and you are my cousin from…” Aailiyah lowered her voice to a whisper. “Where did we say you are from again?”
“Spain,” I answered back with a smile.
“That’s right,” she sounded a bit nervous.
“Don’t be nervous,” I told her softly. “Just let things go naturally and I will do what I was sent to do, I am not gonna get you in trouble… and probably will forget what I was here for to just have fun with you today.” We had been spending the last three hours together and honestly she was very quickly becoming my friend. We like the same books and movies, we both liked anime and I had promised to send her some of my old manga from home. We had even agreed to get similar outfits, skinny jeans, blue shirts with the same white stars on the middle and matching blue jean jackets. The only difference, aside from race, were the shoes we had on, where she was rocking a pair of blue nikes, I had on a pair of white ones that I was terrified of getting dirty. Joshua had bought them for me and I didn’t want to dirty a gift the first day I got it.
“Welcome back, Aaliyah.” The boy at the door greeted me. “Who is this?” He asked, looking down at me with a questioning but warm smile.
“This is my cousin, Cindy. She is staying in the city for a while and I wanted to show her the best place to hang out at.”
“I hope we live up to your expectations.” He said, opening the door to the two of us. “Welcome to club Serenity.”
The first smell that hit my noise was the fresh smell of lavender and cities that spread over us like a warm blanket. The first floor of this building was absolutely massive in size, way bigger than it looked outside. The inside was dark but lit brightly with neon lights ranging from pink, purple, and green. The ceiling had white designs written on them, of spiraling shapes that seemed to be telling some sort of story. All of these designs led right to the middle piece of this ceiling art, a young girl that seemed to have long braids like me, and while it didn’t have a full design of this girl. I had a feeling that it was supposed to be Trinity. There was a large bar on the east part of this club that already had workers busy making fruity drinks and chilly milkshakes and smoothies. A door off to the side opened revealing two workers leaving with trays of pub style food that smelled amazing. There was a large walkway that led to a stage in the far back, there was a large electric sign that had a list of what I was assuming singers would be preforming from it. The dance floor stood in front and around of this walkway and stage, already a few people were lightly swaying to this upbeat music that was playing for now.
Through an opened square corridor was a more relaxing area with a few tables and chairs, but mostly had comfy couches and seats that could be used. And in the far back I could already see the girl I was here looking for, and I had to say she looked like an egyptian pharaoh if I was being honest. She was wearing a white dress with a gold belt wrapped around her waist, she had one gold bracelet that ran down half her forearm. On the center of each bracelet was a large ruby that was in the shape of a star. She was wearing black sandals and had her nails painted a dark gold. As she stood up, she was wearing a dark golden cape that seemed to be connected to her bracelets. She looked younger than she did in the brief picture I was shown by Joshua.
“Aaliyah!” She shouted out cheerfully as she rose with the grace of the pharaoh outfit she was wearing. She climbed a few steps that lead down into this more private area and threw her arms around my new friend. I could smell her perfume from here and it was sweet like honey, but had some kind of berry fragrant mixed in.
“Hi, Trin.” Aaliyah greeted as she hugged the girl back.
Trinity's head turned to look at me and she raised an eyebrow in confusion. She broke the hug for a moment and took two steps to get a closer look. “Aaliyah who is this?” She questioned with a warm smile but there was something odd about her eyes. She was definitely a jepei user like me, she had dark red eyes like rubies, and even though these neon colors were hiding it, I could see the dark red smoke spilling off her like smoke off a flame. Her hair was an odd mix of dark brown with streaks of red spilled in. “You didn’t tell me you were bringing a guest.”
“Sorry it was kinda last minute.” Aaliyah explained. “This is my cousin, Cindy. She is visiting from Spain and my momma thought it would be nice for her to see more of the city. As well as my favorite place in the entire world.”
“The family of Aaliyah are friends to me.” Trinity stepped forward and shook my head. “My name is Trinity Wallace, welcome to club serenity.”
“Nice to meet you,” I greeted warmly. As I shook her hand, I felt her grip increase just a bit to make me wince, not wanting to be outdone I increased my own grip slightly. She looked at me curiously but said nothing else of this slight challenge. “You are lucky to have this,” I said, doing a small spin to gaze at the room once more.
“I am,” she stated. “My daddy got it for me for my 10th birthday.” Trinity turned around and as she walked by Aaliyah I heard her whisper. “Your cousin is weird isn’t she?”
“She is not weird,” Aaliyah defended.
“Just keep her in line, or I will kick you both out.” When I turned around to face her, I could see her gripping the hand she used to shake mine. “Understand?!” She questioned with a sharp and sudden anger.
Aaliyah deflated a bit as she sighed and softly added. “Yeah, Trin, she will be fine and I am sure that you will like her.” Aaliyah waved for me to come closer and we stepped through this large archway and down a few steps. This more private area was clearly meant for Trinity to be the most comfortable and most seen in this entire club. The entire thing was made of dark gold and black colors. The benches that rested against three of the four sides of this square were the most comfortable thing I had ever sat on in my life. The pillows here felt like they had angel feathers inside of them. While the entrance was open, around us were a series of light black cloths that could be pulled open in the middle for workers to come in with refreshments. There were six other girls my age inside as well as two admirably handsome boys.
“Please take a seat,” Trinity said as she took position in the center of the middle couch and folded her legs underneath her. “Want something to drink or eat, it is on me tonight.”
“Thank you for your kindness,” I replied with a small bow of my head. “What would you recommend? This is your palace, it seems, what makes the queen happy?”
Trinity looked at me with even more curiosity but the slight anger and annoyance that was once of her face changed into one of joy. “You were right Aaliyah, I think I am gonna like your cousin a lot.” She ran a nearby bell and a moment later four workers spilled into this area. “Get my friends drinks please, whatever they want, however they want it. As for her.” And she nodded at me. “Get her what I am having, get my favorite and make it more special.”
“Yes Ms. Trinity.”
“That is all, get to work.”
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When Aaliyah’s momma told me this girl was spoiled, that was an understatement, she was a brat in every way you could name. It was clear that everything had to be about her, we only spoke about subjects she brought up, everyone seemed to agree with her on stuff that she believed. That was made clear when she said something disrespectful about Saya, a nice girl that was wearing a dress and a light pink hijab around her head, religion but Saya couldn’t defend herself. She talked meanly about Aaliyah a few times about her weight, called some of the boys ugly. Yet they could only take it on the chin or laugh it off. She even fired one of the workers when she tripped and nearly split one of their drinks. It was honestly very hard to hold my tongue and not risk getting us both kicked out. I don’t really see how anyone was having fun or maybe as the saying goes. It was better to be on the right hand of the devil than in his path.
Once she had finished politely talking about everyone else. She turned her dark red eyes onto me. “What was your name again?”
“Cindy,” I answered, not bothering to look her in her eyes.
“How are you related to my best friend again?”
“We are cousins, distant cousins but family nonetheless.” I answered.
“Are you sure you are related to, Aaliyah, I mean no offense but you are thinner while my best friend is more rounder.” I bit down on my tongue as Aaliyah looked away a bit disheartened from those words. “I mean there are other things that make you two so different. I mean aside from your friend being a jepei users like me.”
That got all eyes in this area to look at me. “I am, I actually lived on that island there near Florida. It’s a beautiful place, a lot more accepting and not so fake than the mainland can be sometimes.”
Trinity's gaze hardened a bit at that. “I’ve always wanted to go and see that island, Tarun right?” I nodded my head. “It sounds beautiful but my daddy says it is not that good of a place to live. Kinda boring, the people are weird and love to fight each other like dogs.”
“We learn to defend ourselves.”
“What my daddy says is that almost any job or title can be fought for, kinda barbaric if you ask me.”
“Well you should know how our people feel about certain things. The strong should rule and the weak should not.” I responded plainly, trying to keep my cool at her starting to bad mouth my home. “If I can be so blunt, I am sure your daddy has probably taught you a few moves or so right?”
“Well of course he has to teach me how to defend myself. This city can be cruel and creepy to people our age.”
“That is why the island teaches us how to fight, to help us learn to defend ourselves. Because the world can be cruel and creepy to our people.”
Trinity smirked at me for a moment. “I like the way you think about things and that makes things more fun.” Before she could say another word, a taller man poked his head into the room and whispered something to her. Her expression changed for a moment as she quickly stood up and smoothed out her dress. “I will be back, I need to start the entertainment.” She walked out of this private area and followed behind two security guards towards the main stage. “Come on, Jesslyn and Sarah, you are my back up tonight.” Jesslyn and Sarah I had quickly learned seemed to lick this girl’s boots.
As soon as those three were gone I heard a few sighs of relief fill the area. I looked over at the small group of teenages here and since they looked ready to speak freely I asked the one question on my mind. “Why do you all just let her talk about you guys like that?”
“Excuse me for a minute,” Aaliyah rose to her feet and quickly headed towards the exit, a few tears in her eyes. “I’m okay, I-I promise.” She added as I reached out to take her hand.
One of the boys, bright eyed and blond haired, Malcolm spoke first. “I mean it’s hard to say anything, when she will throw you out on your butt and make a big scene of it.”
“Or worse you risk angering her daddy,” Saya spoke up, her hands gripping the edges of her hijab self consciously since Trinity had mocked it. “Mr. Wallace isn’t really a nice guy sometimes and since he runs so many things. I worry that if she becomes an enemy he might buy and take my families business. That is the only reason I put up with her.” Hey eyes softened a bit as she added. “Aaliyah takes a lot of Trinity’s polite teasing as she likes to call it, since she thinks that Aaliyah is okay with it.”
“I wish she would stop doing it,” another girl named Allison, she had long flowing blond hair and now that Trinity was gone it seemed like her bright blue eyes were shining brighter. “She takes out her own insecurities on Aaliyah who has never minded what she looks like, but when your close friend says those things it can hurt a lot.”
A dark haired girl with dark skin, named Tatiana, reached over and took the reminder of her drink. “Much like Saya, I am only here to keep her happy, because if you are friends with her then her daddy will do anything for you. Spoiled bitch is what I want to say to her sometimes.”
“Where is the little pharoah anyway?” I asked.
“Probably getting changed for her opening performance.”
“Performance?”
Tatiana nodded her head. “She gets local entertainers and always manages to get one superstar to sing here. I think it’s Estelle today. However, she always opens with her singing.”
“Can she sing or is it like nails on a clarkboard?”
“No she can sing, one of her only redeeming qualities if you ask me.”
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That caused most of us to laugh a bit and I was glad that all of these other people weren’t as snotty as Trinity and those other two girls. Around ten minutes went by and right as I was gonna go and look for Aaliyah who had been gone for much longer than I thought. All of the neon lights that once lit this place began to blink on and off, throwing us into small spills of darkness. Then all of the lights went off and while no one could see it, I knew that Trinity had taken the stage, cause I could see her dark red aura splitting through the darkness. I could make out her basic outline and she seemed to be floating through the air. The lights slowly lit up filling the entire space with a mix of dark golden and light golden light. “Aaliyah?” I asked as my eyes adjusted to light and I could see my new friend sitting on a two seated throne beside Trinity. They both were wearing similar dresses, much like what Trinity had been wearing earlier, but now it was black with a red belt around their waists. The gold bracelets had been replaced with dark red, with white gemstones in the center. Aaliyah had been given a small red crown, while Trinity now had on a large golden headdress that pharaohs used to wear. The golden light of this room sparkled across the many gemstones that were embedded in the center, and around her neck was a netrix gemtone that was dark red and from this distance I couldn’t tell what type of animal it was, but I knew it was a serpent's head.
“And as usual,” Tatiana spoke up. “This is how Trinity usually makes it up to her, they perfume a duet together, and as usual, Trinity is gonna get the best parts while Aaliyah sings back up. It’s her way of making it up to her only true friend that she still has.”
Once the cheering had died down from this entrance. I watched truly memorized as the two began to sing a cover of the song, Listen By Beyonce. They were absolutely amazing together, Aaliyah's softer yet powerful voice was the perfect back up for Trinity’s much stronger but amazing sounding voice. It was so beautiful that I found myself making my way through the crowd to stand on the side of the large runway style stage for a closer look. As the song came to a strong end, I think my cheers might have been the loudest of the night. As I clapped so hard my hands stung and turned a bit red. The duo took a small bow and hugged each other, not one that seemed forced before, but this one held true affection from both parties and I could have sworn I had seen Trinity whisper to Aaliyah.
“I’m sorry, it won’t happen again.” A promise that I had a feeling she would not keep.
As I turned around to head back to our more private section. My eyes wandered up top to the second floor, where a few adults were leaning over the side and cheering as well. For a brief moment, a fraction of a second, my world came to a complete halt. My eyes grew wide and they focused on one person that I had not seen in nearly five years now. Her hair was long and combed over to the right side of her head, she was wearing a skinny violet dress that matched her dark eye color and hair color. Her claps were slowly, her head held high and proud, she stood taller than the other woman, and while she held a smile her eyes were bored.
The Violet Liger.
Katherine Blackthorn.
My Birthmother was here.
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