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Khalen Cannon

Simone Smith

Jalicia Addington

    "Jada!! It's time to get up for school, your bus is going to be here any minute now!" Jada's mom yell's as she prepares to walk out the door for work. 

    "Your brother has gone to the neighbor's house to catch his bus, and James is outside waiting on you." 

    As Jada get's ready for school, she takes a second to just breathe. Jada was tired from not getting enough sleep last night and living in a noisy neighborhood didn't help either. 

    Jada's family didn't live in the best neighborhood. It consisted of majority African American people, and it was also a low-income area. 

"Hey Jada! You ok? You look pretty tired," says James as he sees Jada approaching the bus stop. 

"Hey James, yes I'm fine, just a little tired. I didn't get enough sleep last night because when I got out of basketball practice, I had to do my homework and watch my little brother until my mom got off work. So I'm exhausted!" 

    As Jada and James arrive to school, they both began to head to class. Jada notices that James isn't as talkative as usual and decides to check on him the same way he did her at the bus stop. 

    Jada asked James was everything ok with him, but he didn't seem to say too much besides, "just family problems." She didn't think too much of it and told him she'd see him later after school. 

    Just when Jada was about to be on her way to basketball practice after school, she got a text from her mom telling her she had to miss practice because she was not able to be at home to get her little brother off the bus. 

    This instantly brought tears to Jada's eyes. "Every day it's something!" Jada said to James. 

    James tried to calm Jada down but she wouldn't listen. It's almost like Jada begin to take her anger out on James and he didn't like that. James told Jada, "I understand you're upset, but you're not the only person going through things!" and stormed away, leaving Jada wondering what was really going on with James.

    James was so upset once he got home, he just went to his room and cried. No one knew that he felt invisible to his family. He felt like he was never acknowledged by them and felt like he had to deal with everything on his own. 

    Although he was still upset with the way Jada treated him, he still decided to check on her later and make sure her and her brother made it in safely. 

"Hey Jada, sorry how I stormed off like that. I'm just dealing with things myself and I was just trying to calm you down. I hope everything is ok." -James, delivered

"I'm sorry for how I came off on you James, it was never in my intentions to hurt your feelings. I've been so worried about the things I deal with daily, that I never even thought that you may could be dealing with things also. I'm not happy at all and I feel like I have no one to talk to. I think we should meet up later and discuss our problem's, if that's ok with you?" -Jada, delivered

"Yes, let's meet up once your mom is home from work. Meet me at the corner of my house. I'll be home waiting." - James, delivered

"Hi James, I'm so happy we could meet up!"

"Hi Jada, I wanted to talk to you about earlier. First, if you ever need to talk to someone I am here. We have each other. You always have someone to talk to about anything! Do not ever feel like you are alone."

"I was dealing with my own issues earlier. Sometimes I feel disconnected from my family. I want them to acknowledge and appreciate me but sometimes it seems like just because I am guy, they feel I shouldn't be so emotional."

"You should just talk to them! They love you and will hear you out! If you ever need someone to talk to I am here!"

"As for me, growing up in a single parent household and a low-income community gets rough. I also feel like I have the responsibility of looking after my brother while my mom is at work. It gets very overwhelming and I feel like I don't have a life of my own. I'm still a kid myself and I just wish I had the time to enjoy my younger years just like everyone else. 

"Even when I try to explain to my mom how I feel, it's like she doesn't care. She says "you're a child, there's nothing wrong with you." I didn't know kid's weren't suppose to have feelings.

"I'm so happy we had this conversation, we both go through things but what's important is how we deal with them!"

"You are right! We have family and friends. There is always someone we can talk to and resources if we are ever feeling alone or depressed."

"Ok! lets go, my mom just brought a brand new jar of vanilla ice cream!"

"Yes! Ice cream at James! ahahha lets go! I'm so glad we're friends!"