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ChApTeR - 1

Zadia Hamilton hated her life, in fact, she despised it. Not because she didn't value it, but because her life simply sucked.

There was nothing interesting about her life, she did the same thing every day, at the same time. She had a crappy job, lived in a shitty apartment and had a worthless Nissan Altima. Zadia blamed her parents for her poor upbringing, seeing as they were filthy rich and decided not to help her... at all. They did this because Zadia chose not to pursue a college education but instead pursued her art career, which really wasn't a career since she barely had the time to paint or even draw nowadays. As soon as she told her parents her decision, they kicked her out, disowning her in the process.

From there on, Zadia has been on her own ever since. No family, no friends and sure as hell no lover. No one in her family would talk to her because they thought it was pure stupidity that she chose a dream, instead of college. Her use to be friends, thought they were way too rich to be in her company and she simply had no time to develop a relationship with any male specimen.

Sometimes Zadia resented herself. A part of her wondered if art was even worth living like this.

Zadia blinked and a lone tear fell from one of her eyes as she laid in bed, staring deeply at the canvas on the stained carpet. Truth be told, she thought about burning the canvas, that and her shitty apartment. She wanted to watch as the flames rise and slowly burn everything in its path. The smell of the fire growing bigger and bigger, burning the tissue in her throat in the process.

She shook the thought out of her head, before taking a deep breath and letting it out. She couldn't burn the canvas, it was something she worked so hard in, in the ninth grade. It was the first thing she ever painted, and her art teacher loved it so much that she thought that Zadia should enter it into the schools nationwide art show. The canvas came in first place, which was what sparked Zadia's love for art.

The timer that Zadia set for three in the afternoon ringed, causing her to roll her eyes shut. "Time to go to hell." She mumbled to herself, slowly sitting up. She released another breath before standing up and walking to her closet. Grabbing her uniform, she began to put it on. Zadia hated Starbucks uniforms, she even hated working for them. The pay was barely enough to support her financially and her co-workers weren't shit. They irked her nerves, always saying the sickest shit. In her mind she knew that they were racist, hell it didn't take a lot to figure it out.

Every time her boss would criticize something she did, he always made sure to add, "And I love black people." Which always caused Zadia to frown. She didn't get what loving black people had to do with work criticism. Walking to the mirror, Zadia licked her lips before putting on some cocoa butter lotion. She looked in the mirror, barely noticing her own reflection. There were bags under her big chocolate brown eyes, her Nubian nose wide at the bottom. She had a full set of lips on her, her cheeks tinner than usual.

Zadia grabbed her scrunchie and placed the top part of her dreads into a ponytail. Glancing at the clock on the wall, her eyes widen. She quickly ran to the other side of her room, putting on her black sneakers. Grabbing her small book bag, Zadia took her keys and ran towards the door. Walking out, she made sure to lock the door behind her. On her way down the stairs, she accidentally bumped into one of her neighbors. "Sorry." She said, feeling her cheeks getting hot. She looked at the Spanish woman sadly. "My fault."

"It's fine." The woman said. She had a thick Spanish accent, which made it a little hard for Zadia to understand what she said. They looked at each other awkwardly, not knowing what to say. This was the first time they ever spoke to one another. Zadia didn't know much about the woman, only that she moved in about eight, probably even nine months ago. The woman lived across the hall and had a baby, a baby she never heard cry. The woman was as unproblematic as she could be.

Looking down, Zadia noticed the all-black baby car seat in the woman's hand. The woman caught her sight of vision and quickly cleared her throat. "I should get going, have a good day."

Zadia nodded her head. "You too." She said, continuing her way down the stairs.

"Yo Hamilton." Zadia heard a breathy voice yell from behind her, just as she was about to walk out of the building. Turning around she came face to face with her landlord.

"Yes, Henry?" She asked, lowly. He was a middle-aged white man, that had a hawk-like nose. He was a pretty chill guy, just a lousy landlord. For example, he doesn't fix anything in the building that needs to be fixed.

Zadia was trying her best to avoid him, she already knew what this conversation was going to be about. "You're five days late on rent." He said, looking her in the eyes.

Zadia avoided his gaze and bit down on her lips. "Y...Yeah. I know." She responded, looking down at her shoes. "I'm just waiting on my paycheck to get here, and then I'll pay the rent."

Henry looked at her up and down, before nodding. "Okay, just make sure you pay soon. I'd hate to have to evict you, you're one of my favorite tenants, you never complain."

Zadia mentally rolled her eyes. "Alrighty." She said, giving him a tight lip smile. She slowly backed away, before completely walking out the building.

The scorching air of Phoenix, Arizona moves fiercely throughout the city, causing Zadia to sweat almost instantly. As she walked to her car, the sun blazes down from a cloudless Alice Blue sky. "This fucking heat." She mumbled, getting into her car. It was even more hot in there. Sticking her key into the ignition, she turned it to start the car, but the car struggled to start. "Oh come on, not now! Fuck!" She cursed banging on the steering wheel, which caused her horn to blare. Pinching the bridge of her nose, sighed heavily.

The car most likely wasn't starting because of it's Fouled Plugs. She knew this, because the last time she took her car to the shop, the workers told her. It was a total of nine hundred dollars to get it fixed and seeing as how she didn't have that kind of money, she just got an oil change instead and then left. Taking the keys out of the ignition, Zadia opened the car door before stepping back out into the heat. She decided it would be best to just walk to her job, even though it was a total of ten blocks away.

"You're late!" Her boss commented as soon as she clocked in. She was late, but only by five minutes. It didn't seem much of a problem to her, seeing as some of her coworkers usually come in later. Zadia bit down on her lips and remained quiet, knowing if she said anything she'd most likely get fired. "And you're sweating like a pig for Christ sakes, you think our customers want some sweaty person serving them coffe."

And just like that, Zadia lost her calm. "Sir, with all due respect the only reason why I'm sweating is because I had to walk ten blocks to get here and yes, I know you can care less about that fact but seeing as there are people here who clock in way later than me, all the time, I'm sure it's in your best interest to get off my back!" She snapped. "I'd hate to have to call corporate."

Her boss looked at her, taken back before quickly regaining himself. "I'm letting you off with a warning, now get to work." He said, before walking away.

Zadia couldn't help but roll her eyes at the brown-haired man. She didn't understand how someone with such beautiful grey eyes, could be such a dick, but then again, she could. Shaking her head, Zadia made her way to the bathroom. She locked the door and took some napkins before dabbing her face. Her legs were sore, all she wanted to do was sit down and catch her breath. But she knew she couldn't. Once she was done with cleaning herself, she got to work.

When she first started her job, she was horrible at making anything coffee related. But now, after working at a coffee shop for nearly a year, she knew everything about making coffee-related drinks. "What can I get for ya?" Zadia asked the teenage girl.

The girl started to speak, but then stopped. "I'll get a—-" she trailed on, looking at the menu. Zadia hated customers like this. She didn't understand why they didn't look at the menu before getting in line, it was bad enough the place was always busy. "Let me get an iced mocha with three pumps of red-eye."

"Alrighty," Zadia said with a fake smile. "That'll be five dollars and seventy-two cents. Also, what name should I put down on your cup?"

The teenage girl pulled out a twenty-dollar bill from her back pocket, before handing it to Zadia. Zadia accepted the bill and gave the girl her change. "You can put the name down as Tiff." She said before, walking away.

Zadia's day continued on as she took the orders of various people. Her body felt like it was cramping up, so when it was finally her break she quickly dashed through the doors of Starbucks and went straight to the nearest Barnes and Nobles. It was the only place in downtown Phoenix that wasn't packed. Zadia figured it was because most people nowadays didn't like reading. And the fact that it was easy to just read from your phone or anything else that was technical.

"Zadia? Is that you?" She heard someone call from behind her.

Zadia's eyebrows knitted together at how familiar the voice sounded. She decided to ignore it and keep her focus on the cracked Samsung galaxy six that was in her hands. The phone was very old, seeing as how the latest version was the ten. She thought about getting an update, but then slowly put that thought to rest since money was tight. Eventually, she'd get a new phone but only after her rent and car insurance was paid off.

"Zadia?" The same person called again.

Zadia sighed, giving in. Her line of vision averted from her cell phone, to whoever that was calling her. Her eyes widen, seeing who it was. "Sam..." She said, taken aback. This was the last place she was expecting to see him. "What are you doing here?"

"Meeting a friend." He responded simply. He looked at her in question. His eyes glued to her Starbucks apron. "You work at Starbucks?" He questions. "That must suck, the pay is so low over there."

Zadia bit the inside of her cheeks, suddenly embarrassed. Sam was the last person she wanted to see, and she sure as hell didn't want him seeing her in her uniform, nor knowing where she worked. "Umm... yeah. Kinda, sorta." She cleared her throat, wanting to leave. "It's time that I leave." She said, standing up. Her eyes landed on his well fitted dark blue Dolce & Gabbana suit, before moving down to look at the all gold Rolex on his risk.

Sam chuckled a bit, it looked like he just got a haircut. He had a fresh low fade, along with waves at the top. "I can't believe I'm seeing you like this right now, you look so different. So much skinnier." He said, which caused Zadia's face to heat up. "I'm in law school you know, about to graduate."

"That's great..." Zadia said, not really knowing how to reply. "I'm happy for you." She smiled, but the smile didn't reach her eyes. "I should go now."

"Cousin." He called before she even had a chance to move. He pulled out his wallet from his pocket. "You should take this." He said, pulling out two one hundred dollar bills. "From the way, you're dressed and that crappy job you have, I can tell you need it." Zadia looks down at the cash and gulps. Did she need the money? Yes. Would she take it? Hell no. "You know, it's never too late to go to college, I'm sure Auntie Angie and Uncle Keith will take you back. It's better than being homeless."

Zadia felt her heartbeat rapidly in her chest. She could feel her anger rising. "Cousin." She said with tight lips. "For your information, I'm not homeless. I have a roof over my head and I sure as hell don't need your money." She licked her dry lips. "Take it and shove it up your ass! And since I already know that you're going to call my parents and everyone else in that stupid family to tell them about us seeing one another, be sure to tell them that I said kiss my black ass." With a huff, Zadia walked away leaving her cousin speechless.

She made her way out of the bookstore and back outside. It wasn't as hot as it was before. The sun was going down and soon she'd have to make her way back to work.

Zadia felt a bitter taste in her mouth as she walked. Her head began to spin, causing her to feel a little woozy. Wiping at her face, she realized that she was sweating... a lot. "Fuck!" She mumbled, realizing why she was feeling this way.

She forgot to take her insulin.

Alrighty, I've decided to release the first chapter of this story to see if it peaks anyone's interests. If it does, then I'll continue on with it. If it doesn't, I'll stop writing. I know that I have other stories that need to be updated (I'm working on it) it's just that this story has been on my mind for the past two months now and it's been driving me insane.

Anyways, enjoy 💁🏾‍♀️

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