Start it off
Sleeping softly in her bed, she lightly tossed and turned, laying her head down on the soft, goose feather pillow. A smile was on her face, smelling the fresh scent of linen and cotton while the small warmth of the sun in early March danced through the window panes and into her room. The soft colors of purple bounced off the sun. Purple cotton drapes hung over the windows, blowing in the morning air; smoke rose out of the chimneys of the other apartment residents’ homes. The gray- now fading to light blue- sky was begging to come out when the alarm clock went off.
BEEP! BEEP!
Goooood morning! This is John Caster- bringing you your 7:00 morning news! Today’s weather will feature the sun, warming up Aces of Diamonds, Flori-
Her hand slapped on the ‘OFF’ feature as she rolled away from the annoying device.
‘Guns, porn, and alarm clocks are some of the worst inventions ever made…’ Her thoughts became deceased as her phone rang. ‘What is it with waking me up early?!’ She groaned, sitting up and rubbing her head; her arms stretched out as her other hand scratched lightly over her stomach. Reaching over, her fingers brushed over the lid, covered with a star removable cover case. Flipping open, she pressed ‘TALK’ and answered with a hello.
“Hey Cami girl!” the other voice rang, awake and happy while Cami…was tired and irritated; slightly.
“Can I help you Julia?” Cami asked, yawning in the middle of her sentence.
“I think I know where you can get a job; me too!” she added quickly.
“Another job you can get me fired at Julia?” Cami asked, squinting her eyes and shielding them from the sun. Cami placed a light brown foot out of her bed and onto the cold floor, walking over to the window. The morning frost still hung with dew on the grass and a breeze blowing in from the south. Clouds overhead were moving lazily as green buds were beginning to sprout back onto the trees. Cami waved, seeing her neighbor, Mrs. Jenkins, and smiled down at her through the glass; Mrs. Jenkins kindly returned the same gestures.
“…so what do you say?” Julia asked, flicking something from under her nails. “Please girl? Give your friend another chance?” Cami knew she was pleading. Because just last week, Julia had- once again- gotten Cami fired.
‘I do need a stable job…so I can start paying for this apartment myself and all…’ Cami thought, going back and sitting on her bed.
“What time Julia?”
“8:30,” she replied, clasping her hands; Cami could hear the bracelets; a gold bangle or two with her favorite yin and yang bracelet cling together. Cami smiled, looking out the window again.
“I think I can make that,” she replied, smiling to herself and saying it to herself more than anything else really.
“So…I’ll see ya at 8:30 right?”
“Yes Julia; bye.”
Cami hung up her phone, going through her lists as usual and checking for messages. A voice mail from her sister- ‘What does she want?’ Cami asked herself- two text messages from Ayah and Yvette. Sighing contently, she got out of bed, her stomach growling, and walked over to her mirror.
“Good morning Cami!” she called to herself and began to burst out in giggles. Lifting her head to the sound of a bark, she walked out of the room, her feet padding on cold wood and soon carpet to the kitchen where she met cold hard wood again. Looking around the kitchen, she went to the refrigerator and pulled out a can of dog food. Going to the back, she smiled, looking down at her dog who sat in front of the back door. “Morning Alfons,” she greeted, stooping down to pet her Jack Russell terrier. Alfons’s tail began to wag as he stood up, barking and jumping on her knees.
“H-Hold on Alfons!” Cami cried, laughing at her dog’s enthusiasm for eating food. As she sat down the food bowl for her dog, filled with fresh dog food, she grabbed his water bowl, cleaned it out with hot water and dish soap, filled it with cold water from the tap and placed it down beside Alfons’s eating dish; he seemed grateful for it because as soon as she sat it down, he lapped up water to send down the food. A few moments later, he came up, barking and panting. He came up to Cami, demanding that he would be held. “Alright, alright,” she replied, playfully rolling her eyes as she picked him up; she scratched his head, watching his tail wag even harder.
“Want to go outside buddy?” she asked, looking over at the door. Alfons’s only response was a bark and more panting of his floppy pink tongue. “I’ll…take that as a yes,” Cami replied, smiling and taking him outside. Before she had a chance to set him down, Alfons already leaped out of her hands and began barking again, running around the yard in a joyous manner and barking. Cami just smiled, placing a hand on her hip and looking up; she squinted at the clouds. ‘…something’s going to happen today,’ she finally decided, heading back inside to change and freshen up.
Walking back to her room, she stopped in front of her cat, watching him roll on his stomach and meow with a lazy tone.
“Good morning to you too Arti,” she replied, petting him lightly on the head. Stopping to the level of the bed, she began to play with his feet; he simply closed his eyes, trying to ignore it. When he couldn’t stand another minute of her tapping or lightly tugging on it, he retreated his feet back, meowing again and resuming a sleeping position. “Well…” she started, standing up and looking down at him with her hands on her waist, “You always were the laziest of this family. With that, Cami pulled out her clothes to meet Julia:
A woolen yellow hoodie over a white shirt that said “I am happy when I walk with him…”, trimmed in black on the collar and sleeves while having a picture of Mickey Mouse on the chest. A short, light washed denim skirt that would hug her hips nicely, reaching up to her upper thighs, a yellow head band to match the hoodie, a small white purse with a fat yellow stripe going horizontally across the purse and green trim around the edges with green straps, and pure white pumps.
'That should be fine…’ Cami thought to herself again, going into her bathroom. Almost turning the hot water on, she waited a moment and stopped to look at herself in the mirror and smiled, looking at her teeth. Finally! After having braces for three years- and with professional dentist cleaning- she had what she now liked to call the “perfect” teeth. Looking into her eyes, she was thankful that her eyelashes were naturally long; she shook her head at the thought of mascara. Looking down at the marble counter top, she sighed, opening the eye boxes and pulling out two contact lenses; she placed each one in with two drops to follow. Taking a look at herself again, that same sigh came out of her lips as a frown appeared.
‘I never did like showing my eyes,’ she told herself, moving back some of her brown hair and looking into them. ‘Maybe…if you look hard enough, you can see the real colors…’ With that out of the way, she pulled out her tooth brush with her toothpaste – Hello Kitty Princess Fruit Bubblegum flavor- squeezed some on a began to brush. Walking out of the bathroom while brushing, she walked over to her closet; it had mirrors on the outside doors. Again, Cami looked at herself, pleased with her work.
About four months ago, Cami had weighed 175 lbs. She never liked that; so she decided to get rid of it by working out and doing a healthy diet. Yes…she did cheat a little every now and then and also used a few diet pills (but retained from them because the last time, there were some…iffy side effects), but with her trainer, she had finally been able to fit back into size thirteen.
‘And even size twelve!’ she sang to herself, twirling around. When her teeth were fully covered in pink foam, she dashed back to the sink and spat it out, taking a paper cup out of her plastic cup dispenser and let the tap fill it up with water. She rinsed her mouth. Throwing away the cup, Cami squatted down to the cabinets under the sink, pulled out the gargle and swished some in her mouth for thirty seconds. Spitting out the cool green liquid, she wiped her mouth off with her wrist, turning the tap this time to warm water. Cami took out a wash cloth, lathered it up with some Dove soap that sat in her soap dished and washed her face. She also applied on some Clean and Clear Blackhead prevention formula, for that is what her dermatologist recommended for her.
Yes, she had also been fighting acne for a while- who doesn’t?
Finishing up with all that, she headed over to the shower and pulled back the shower curtains. Her hands felt the knob and turned the water on and to HOT to begin and heat up. As she was stripping herself of clothing, she turned on her CD-Stereo set, hopped into the shower while singing ‘Sweet Child O’ Mine’ from Guns N’ Roses.
Taking her poof ball (…whatever they are called…), she began to lather up soap with her other Dove bar that sat in the soap holder in the shower. Enough lathering, Cami began to scrub her body, loving the feel of the warm water- on massage motion- over her body and the soap; oh how was that a comfort! Smiling, she closed her eyes, lightly humming and re-living her dream of last night. About a minute in la-la land, Cami had snapped out of it, making her sugar brown skin go red from the….ahem… ‘lovely’ thoughts from her dream.
‘But those hands…’ she began to ponder, looking down at herself. She could see her toenails- painted all white with hand made Hawaiian flowers. It took her forever- but she finally got the technique down. ‘It…it felt so real on my body. That DREAM felt so realistic. And those hands…Gosh they left such a burning sensation…’ She furiously shook her head, splattering Mizani shampoo over the walls and the curtain. ‘Ok THAT is…Eww! Definitely going to tell Julia about this…’ She looked down at the sponge that was in her hand, dripping with water and soap and watched it go down the drain.
Along with invisible tears. Thoughts began to cloud over her.
“…why couldn’t that have been real?” she finally asked herself. The ring of her home phone brought her back to reality, no tears added. Cami finished up with the conditioner in her hair, came out of the shower with a white cotton towel on and ran to the kitchen, picking up a black, cordless phone. She answered again with a steady voice.
“Cami speaking! Who is this?”
“Me!” Julia screamed into the phone; Cami had to hold the receiver end a few inches from her ear to prevent coming deaf. “So you still comin’ girl?”
“O-Of course I am. Why wouldn’t I?” she asked, walking back to her room. On her way there, she spotted Alfons at the glass doors, waiting patiently and wagging his tail- his pink tongue flopping around as he panted- so he could be let in. Cami obliged, smiling and opening the sliding doors.
“Just…cause I feel a little bit bad for making you loose your job again,” her friend replied after a silent moment. Cheering up immediately, Julia added with “Well, make sure you don’t eat anything; I’m buying your breakfast okay?” Cami nodded, liking the idea of a strawberry and blueberry parfait with cream cheese, whipped cream, and walnuts.
She licked her lips.
‘This is going against my diet,’ Cami thought, a devilish smile appearing.
“Although this is the FIFTH job you have fired me from…” Cami waited, hearing her friend’s breath hitch. Smiling, she happily replied, “But you can always make it up to me with free food.”
“Now that’s what I’m talking about girl. See ya in a bit; bye!”
As Cami hung up her phone, she was already in her room, removing the cloth and applying on lotion and a few swipes of deodorant (“So I can smell nice,” Cami said to her pets as she caught both Alfons and Arti staring at her; the two of them normally shared the bed with her without problems.), a small amount of lip gloss, VERY light amounts of eye liner and blush and finally! Cami placed that yellow head band and strung her favorite necklace on: A small butterfly necklace that was said to be made of nothing but silver and diamonds, costing over hundreds- so said the woman who gave it to her.
‘God rest her soul,’ Cami said to herself, closing her eyes and praying a short prayer. “Please look after me Miss Shizoku,” she murmured. Looking back up with her eyes opening, her ever bright smile returned to it’s righteous spot back on her face. Turning to Arti and Alfons, she waved “Bye guys!” she called, blowing them a kiss and running out the door…
…not before picking up a Quaker Oatmeal’s cereal bar.
Ok so this is my first chapter of my story. Kinda short and showing how many o Cami's days start out. 3nodding
