I was not going to cry.

I know my father was only looking out for me. Being a "good" father. Old people just did not trust young people to live their lives for themselves. He knew I struggled with my grades all my life. Yes, I was accepted to a prestigious school, but I am sure it was because Angel greased someone's hand.

Did he expect me to become a straight-A student or something?

I loved my daddy. He was my world. Right now, he made me question why I decided to come home for the weekend. Why couldn't he just be happy to see me and leave everything else alone?

I did not give myself a pity party, but I went on my phone and texted Todd.

How are you?

Other than my parents annoying me because they think I'm not focused enough. GREAT!!

OMG! Same! Whyyyy are 'rents like this.
We're in college. You make all As. My dad would throw a parade if I had your grades.

I told them I was struggling in one class and they flipped. Geez!

What class?

The health requirement class. It's totally lame. I know the stuff the class is just a bore

I think I'm taking that next semester. I for sure will need your help

Did you tell your parents about your AG test grade?

No. I should have led with that. I just knew my dad would nag on me about all my other classes

It's still early! At least come down on you after midterms.

I know!

I smiled and continued texting with Todd because he got how I felt. Even a straight-A student had trouble pleasing his parents. How did good grades matter when it came to job hunting? I knew how to make sound business decisions, and Angel knew that. Getting a degree was just something I personally wanted to do. With the money Angel gave me, I could start a business with that and work for myself.

What if I dropped out and did that?

A knock on the door. I sat up in the bed. I'm sure it was my father to apologize, well, I didn't want it.

"Can I come in?"

It was Angel. I got up to unlock the door then walked back to my bed and laid down. Angel walked in and stood there a moment before she walked over to the bed with me. She sat down and rubbed my hair.

"You know your father is just looking out for you."

I huffed and turned away from her. I didn't want to hear that.

"Why would you say that to your father? You know he is nothing like he was when he was younger."

"But he can wild out and go crazy but I make a simple bad grade on a test and he's on my ass...I mean, case." I sat up in the bed. "I'm doing the best I can Angel, why isn't it good enough for him?"

"It is! He is so proud of you honey. He brags all the time about you attending college. He always talks about how mature you are at your age, versus how he was. Heck, you're more mature than I was."

"I am?"

"Listen, don't tell your father I told you, but at your age...I was running around with the wrong guys...a man I should never have been involved with, and I regret it every day of my life."

I did not know much about Angel's dating history. She never talked about it to me. I knew she was married before, and I overheard that when I heard her mother and father talking about "that no good Matthew" that was her first husband.

"Your first husband?"

"Huh?"

"Yes, I know about that."

"What do you know about that?"

I shrugged. "That you had one. Name's Matthew, right? What happened to him?"

"You don't need to know the specifics. Just...I made a lot of mistakes at your age, and your father, nor I...nor your mother wants you to make those same mistakes. That's why he is tough on you."

"But if you made mistakes...and he made mistakes...and my mother made mistakes, why can't I? I don't live in a bubble. I know sex before I am ready is wrong. I know sex unprotected can lead to a baby. I don't want that right now so I am not doing that. I know boys...my age, want those things. Sex. I think that's why I'm scared to date."

"Oh honey, you can date and not have sex. Or you can if you choose. Don't feel bad about either decision. And your father is not dumb, he knows you will have sex one day."

"Huh! He wants me to stay single and a virgin forever."

Angel chuckled. "Probably. All fathers want that of their daughters, to stay so innocent."

"Angel..there are some...people that I like. Guys, a girl. How am I supposed to know if I'm meant to be with them?"

Angel laughed at me again.

"What? What's funny?" I said, playfully pushing her.

"Honey, you gotta kiss some frogs. And I don't mean that literally...don't go around kissing everyone, that was just an expression. It simply means you will meet some boys that maybe you like, you get to know them, and they are all wrong. That's okay. Meeting and falling n love and staying in love with the first boy you ever meet is rare. Truly rare. The frogs help you grow and learn what you like and don't like."

"Matthew was a frog?"

"The biggest!"

I felt better after talking with Angel. The next morning my father said he was sorry for jumping on me before I had a chance to chat with him about how my college experience was going. I told him just enough of what he needed to know. My grades were fine, school was cool, and that I was focused on learning. I did not tell him there were any boys I was interested in. That was on a need-to-know basis.

Then I drove into the city to see my mother.

I texted her to let her know I was stopping by, she did not like surprises.

Soon as I walked into the door, I regretted ever stepping foot into her house.

"Mph! Look at you, already looking siddity like her," my mother said.

I looked down at myself. What? How did I look siddity? I was dressed in shorts and a T-shirt, not glammed up in fashionable clothes at all. I was coming to see her after all, I knew better than to dress like I was a supermodel.

"Hey, mom."

"You got some money you can lend me? Going to that expensive ass school, I know that lil witch stacking you up nice."

No, I did not tell my mother about the trust fund, and I would never. If I did, she would always have her hand out. But she was my mother. She could never keep a job for long. Currently, she worked where my other grandmother worked, Homer G. Phillip's retirement home, across the street just about, from where we lived. My grandmother was a nurse there, while my mother worked on the janitorial staff.

I wasn't ashamed of my mother's job. At least she had a job, because plenty of times while I grew up, she did not work, did not want to work, and never tried to work. Her mother supported us. And whatever my father gave her.

I dug in my purse and pulled out two twenties and gave it to her.

"That's all I have mom, where's Jalon?"

"This all you got? I know they are giving you more than this. Since you're eighteen now and your deadbeat ass father not paying me support money, he thinks I don't need money. Boy bye."

I was confused. I was eighteen, I did not live at home anymore. Why should my father continue to pay her child support? I don't know what she was getting for my little brother Jalon, I'm not sure if his father was in the picture, I never saw him. But I stayed out of her personal business much as I could. She may get some kind of support from him, but I never asked.

"I can ask my dad if-"

"Don't tell him I told you to ask. Just say you need money, college is not cheap. They wanted you to go to college, not me, so let them pay." She sat on the sofa and lit up a cigarette. "Sit down girl, you hungry?"

"No. Where's Jalon, where's Grammy?"

"Go check upstairs. That lil bastard is probably on the video game like he stays glued to. Your gram probably laid up with some dude."

Yes, my grammy was like that. She was a young grandmother herself, so why not? My mother is thirty-four, and my grammy is fifty. She had been married three times that I knew of.

I was not going to my grammy's room, I will let her come out when she was ready.

I went to my brother's room, which was my old room. Sure enough, he was sitting in bed, controller to a Nintendo Switch in his hand, playing Mario.

"Hey, bro!" I tried to hug him like I did AJ, but Jalon went angsty and pushed me away before I even got close.

"Stop! Go doo-doo head!"

Now if I strangled a five-year-old, I would go to jail, right? I said nothing but sat in the bed with him. He needed a hair cut and his covers needed to be washed. My mother was not too keen on housekeeping.

I grabbed a controller and added myself to the game. This was what we did many times at home alone while I watched him and my mom and Grammy were out. If we got too bored, I would gather him up and take him to my granny's house around the corner.

Speaking of, I needed to see my granny sometime today. After playing with Jalon for a while, he finally relaxed and was happy to see me.

"Have you eaten yet?"

"Nope."

I gathered him up in whatever clean clothes I could find. Then I grabbed a trash bag and filled it with his covers and some clothes, so I could wash it for him.

First I took him to get his favorite, McDonald's. Then I took him to get a haircut. Then we headed to my granny's house, who he also called granny, although she was not.

"Hi granny!" he yelled, hugging her soon as he saw her.

"Look at you looking all fresh and clean."

"Hey gran, can I wash some of his things over here?"

"Go ahead start the wash and come sit with me a while."

My granny was everything. She was only a bit older than my Grammy, they were good friends. Gran was happily married to my grandfather Dwight. She was tough, and strict, and never held back what she was thinking. She loved my mother...hated Angel. I didn't know why.

"Gran, you look good, lost some weight?" I asked her when I came back in the living room and she was sitting there, smoking her cigarette while she let Jalon watch CoCoMelon on TV. My granny was not down with the video games. If we wanted to play over there, we had to go to Uncle Alonzo's room.

"Hush child. Ain't nothing wrong with my weight." Gran was a big woman. Probably from all the good food she cooked. "You look a little thin. That fancy school not feeding you right?"

"Gran, they have lots of great food. And I have a kitchen...well, no oven or stove. I have a microwave."

"Child, what kind of cooking you gonna do with that? Let me send you home with some good food."

"No Gran, that's okay, I-"

"You know we're grilling tomorrow for the holiday, instead of Monday. I'll send you home with enough meat to feed that whole dorm place."

At least my gran knew a bit about college life. Her only daughter attended Howard University and still lived in D.C. I only saw her a few times over the years and only on holidays. She was openly gay and my gran was not cool with that.

I wondered if I came out as gay would my gran still love me?

A/N: More on the mother you guys loved to hate from Hook an Angel. Don't worry, more of her to come later.