This Time Around

Contents

Acknowledgments

Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Chapter 3

Chapter 4

Chapter 5

Chapter 6

Chapter 7

Chapter 8

Chapter 9

Chapter 10

Chapter 11

But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you

—Matthew 6:33.

Acknowledgments

First and foremost I would like to give all the glory and honor to God. It is He who has made this possible for me because without Him, who knows where I would be right now. I would like to thank my parents for always keeping me levelheaded and on the right path. No matter what I did, they always loved me just as parents should. I would like to thank my big brother Eric for loving, supporting and dealing with me for all these years. Your support alone has brought me very far. I would like to thank my cousin Mysel for being such a great role model to me. Your daily words of encouragement have truly inspired me to never give up. I would also like to thank my other cousin Linda for just being herself all the time. Girl, we are practically sisters. The bond we have is unbreakable. I would like to encourage my younger brother Edwin to never give up and always reach for his dreams. You are a very intelligent young boy and have such a bright future ahead and do not let anyone tell you otherwise. I love you all very much from the laughs we shared and the tears we shed together; yall keep me going.

I would like to say a big thank you to all of my other family. My sisters; Nana Yaa, Maame Serwaa and Maame Brago, I love you all. My cousins in Ghana; Enoch, Freda, Bridget and the rest, I can feel the love and support all the way over here in America. My cousins in London; Daisy and Jo-Jo (a.k.a Ren), you all are just as talented and I cannot wait until yall are internationally known. My other cousins in Maryland; Harriet, Cordelia and the rest keep doing yall thing and putting God first always. I love yall so much.

Lastly but definitely not least, I would like to thank all of my friends. You helped me with this book more than you’ll ever know. A big thanks to Shyniece, Tiana, Courtney, Derek, Jaykel, Christian, and the rest just for being there to talk to whenever I needed and not losing contact with me. Everyone and anyone that has ever made me smile for whatever reason, shout outs to you too ha-ha. All of my church family, especially at PIWC, thanks for your words of wisdom. Also, anyone that I have ever worked with, my dance partners, classmates, my little sister, Yusonah, from Big Brother Big Sisters of America etc, I know I am not the easiest person to work with so a big thank you to yall as well!

Chapter 1

"Hmmmm, look at that cutie right there!" I said as I was walking past the high school on my way home. Union wasn’t a very big city; almost everyone looked the same, so seeing a guy that stood out in a crowd was like a boy being faithful to his girlfriend. Ha-ha, what are the odds of that in this city?

"Cassie!" I heard someone yell down the street.

I slowly turned my head hoping to not see someone I didn’t want to see. It turned out to be my homie Brit from my high school. We were cool, but not the best of friends. There was something about her I had to figure out. Brit was the same height as me and about the same size as me as well. Out of the three years I’ve known her, I’ve never actually got to see her real hair because she always wore a weave. She said it was something about her not having to do it in the morning when she woke up. She called it smart, but I called it lazy.

She always wore her hair in braids, and because of that, everyone in school believed her hair was very short. She didn’t care though, and that’s what I actually liked about her. She always had her own mind and never allowed anyone to manipulate her.

Hey, girl, I greeted her as she came closer.

We didn’t hug or anything because that’s just not my style.

Where you on ya way to? she asked me.

Why you so concerned, my friend? I asked in a sarcastic tone.

Hmmm, you going to that boy’s house, aren’t you?

What boy? I asked as if I didn’t know who she was talking about. "Ha-ha, but no, I’m actually going home first, then I’m going to his house."

Don’t do anything I wouldn’t do, she said as she walked away.

I giggled and kept moving. By that time, I was getting aggravated; it seemed like my walk home from school got longer and longer each day. To pass time, I usually just thought about what I would eat once I got home. Aside from dancing, eating was like my passion, but no one could tell because I weighed 120 lbs at five foot eight. Some people call it skinny, but me, I call it perfect. My motto is, if it’s more than a handful, it’s just a waste.

Finally, I made it home and of course no one was there. I dropped off my books on my bed, took off my Timberland boots, and headed straight to the bathroom to wash my hands. After a long day at Union High you never know what kind of people you’ve touched, especially with the staph infection going on. Ya girl, Cassie plays it safe!

As I was drying my hands, I heard my phone ringing. I already knew who it was because of the ringtone. The song was Bump N Grind by R. Kelly. Yea, it was obvious that’s all he wanted to do.

Hellooo. I tried to sound sexy with it. Yea, boo, I’ll be there in a minute.

Even though I knew he only wanted to have sex with me, it was something about Smokey that turned me on. But the one thing I hated about him was that he smoked way too much . . . But I guess that’s where he got his name from. Smokey was around five foot eight to five foot nine (not that much taller than me), light skinned, with dark brown dreads and burgundy tips. His dreads weren’t too long, but I don’t think he would’ve looked cute if they were. He always wore some Timberlands no matter what kind of weather we were in or even where he was going. It could’ve been ninety-degree weather and Smokey would still have his Timberlands on while heading to the beach. In a weird way, it kind of turned me on. It made him look even more thuggish. I was always a sucker for thugs.

OK then, see you soon. I hung up with a smile.

I grabbed some of the cookies my mother made for a snack, put my Timberlands back on, and headed for the door. The good thing about seeing Smokey was that he lived down the street. I got to his house within five minutes. He had told me to just walk in because he was home alone. So that’s exactly what I did. I walked straight up to the attic where he stayed. His little room was shorter than both of us were, so I had to walk with my back hunched over. I don’t know how he could deal with that every day.

As soon as I sat on his bed, he began to rub on my thighs. I already knew what he was thinking. I wasn’t a virgin, but having sex with random guys wasn’t a turn-on for me. I just met Smokey through his cousin about a month ago, and it was too soon to get into that with him.

So how was school? he asked as if he really cared.

It was cool, I replied, looking down at his hands.

By that time, they were between my thighs. I tried to move them, but he kept rebelling. He began to kiss on my neck softly and then intensely.

Well, it has been a long time, I thought to myself.

I lay back to let him have his way with me. He started to unbutton my shirt slowly, like he wanted to take his time with me. He flipped me over for me to be on top, and before he could do anything else, I took out my nipple and put it in his mouth.

Hmmm, I let out a soft moan.

He was sucking it just right I didn’t want him to stop. I grabbed a handful of his dreads as he was pleasing me and pulled them softly. He continued for about two more minutes and then placed me on my back again for him to be on top. He got up on his knees and started to take off his shirt, and I just lay back, watching the sweat drip all over his body. He grabbed my belt then . . .

"Boom! Boom! Boom!"

Oh shit! He hopped up, and then I followed while fixing my clothes. Some crazy lady stormed in looking like she had just caught someone sleeping with her husband.

Damn, Aunt Dee! he said in an embarrassing tone.

Who told you to bring girls in my house? What is she doing in here? I want her out of my house, she yelled out.

Shoot! She didn’t have to tell me twice. I grabbed my purse and hauled my ass out that door.

So apparently little Smokey wasn’t supposed to have girls in his house. Here I was thinking he was a grown man. Sure fooled me! I just had to tell my cousin Brandy about that one. She was the one I told all my gossip to. It was a good thing she didn’t live in Jersey with me because she and I together were double trouble. She was the Bonnie to my Clyde and the Mase to my Puffy. Of course I was always the cool one. Brandy was a year older than me, but when we were younger, people thought we were twins. In my opinion she had a beautiful shape, but of course I couldn’t let her know that. She would’ve gotten a little more conceited if I did tell her that. She had nice hips, thick thighs, was a C-cup, and had a cute