Page 65 of Butterfly 6, Phase 1

“Your phone is charged, and you have your portable?”

“Daddy, yes,” Bella sighed.

Reluctantly, he yielded. “Okay.” He kissed her forehead and then kissed Morgan’s before heading back inside.

Aria turned to Bella, eyes wide. “Oh, that was some bullshit! Not you pushed me into the deep end without a life vest.”

Before Bella could answer, Morgan piped up. “Straight bullshit. Have you lost your mind? Bella!” Morgan fussed. “You talking about a campus visit! Upstate? You will be on punishment for your whole life if you get caught!” Morgan warned.

“I won’t get caught,” Bella said. “Because you aren’t going to bust me out. I’m not doing anything wrong. I would ask them to take me, but we’re all going through a lot right now, Mo. Daddy’s got his hands full, and you do too. I can do this part on my own. Just trust me.”

Morgan sighed. She had made her fair share of bad decisions over a boy, so she couldn’t say she blamed Bella. She knew how determined a young girl could be when she was in love.

“I do trust you, Bella,” Morgan relented. “I just don’t want you trying to follow behind Henny, trying to prove you’re loyal. You’re too young for that, but I also know you’re going to do what you want. You’re about to be 16, Bella. Take it from somebody who is still dealing with bullshit that I caused at that age; every decision you make will stick with you.”

“I’m not you, Mo. I’m not going to jump off a cliff with no parachute behind a nigga, but Henny does matter to me. He doesn’t have anybody else, and I’m not going to give up on him. If he’s willing to do the work…”

“What work, Bella? He’s in jail,” Morgan reasoned. “And not juvie. They sent that boy to an adult facility. He will not be the cute little charming kid you fell in love with. You won’t even recognize him when he gets out. He’s gone, Bella.”

“I know he’s gone, and it’s your fault, Mo!” Bella shot back.

A wave of dread swept over Morgan as she realized that Bella blamed her for Henny’s circumstances.

“That’s not fair, B,” Aria interjected. “Henny made a choice. Nobody forced him into the game. He had drugs in his car, Bella.”

“You don’t know him. None of y’all know him the way I do.” Bella was ready to defend him tooth and nail.

“You’re right, Bella, but Henny knew the risks. Every dollar he made came with a risk. These are the consequences of calculated risks he made.”

“What about the uncalculated risks she made,” Bella fired back, her eyes burning with conviction.

“You know you’re my girl, and I’m with you when you’re right, but you’re wrong, Bella,” Aria said softly.

“What’s wrong is Henny growing up with a drug-addicted mom. What’s wrong is him having to sleep under bridges and in abandoned houses because he had nowhere else to go. What’s wrong is expecting a boy like that to turn away from cold, hard cash when there are no other options. Nobody noticed that he was in trouble. Not his teachers. Not any of the other grown-ups in his life. Nobody cared, but me. I’m not gonna stop caring now. Yeah, he made a choice, but did he really? What else was he supposed to do? Starve? It didn’t help that you had the police pulling up to the house. He got caught up in your mess.”

“Ethic offered Henny a way out. The moment you brought that boy home, his world opened to other options,” Morgan defended. She was hurt by Bella’s placement of blame.

“By the time Daddy got to Henny, it was too late,” Bella said. “I’m going whether you like it or not. I’m not saying he’ll be my whole world, but I do need to see him. Give him real options this time. Before I give up on him, I’m going to give him a chance. He can still be saved,” Bella declared.

“It’s not your job to save him, B,” Aria added softly. Aria thought of Isa, and she was even more sure of the decision she had made. Bella was too young to be in this position. Her considering this was so far out of pocket, that Aria almost didn’t want to participate. “Save yourself first, Bella.”

“Can we just go?” Bella asked.

They knew she wasn’t open to hearing them. It was a finicky age, and Bella was standing on the threshold of young womanhood. It was hard to warn a teenage girl about the pitfalls of love. The only way to teach that lesson was through lived experience. She would be sixteen soon, and that was the age when hormones and courage made young girls feel like they knew it all. It wasn’t until their mistakes left scars that came with emotional wounds that the lessons came. Morgan hated that Bella was entering the era that would lead to heartbreak. She knew it too well, and she would do anything to protect Bella from the downside of loving a boy like Hendrix.

“You know I got her, Mo,” Aria reassured.

Morgan sighed. “Okay,” she gave in. “I’m really sorry about Henny. I never meant for him or anyone else to get hurt.”

“You never mean it, Mo. Hurt just follows you. It follows this whole family,” Bella murmured. Morgan wrapped her arms around Bella, hugging her tightly, and then she turned for the house.

“I never want my bullshit to touch you. I know it has. I know my entire existence has affected you. I want to be the sister you think of and smile. I want you to be proud of me.”

“I do smile when I think of you, Mo. You’re my sister. I just want you to stop being Raven Atkins’ sister and start being mine. Raven’s gone. She was your protector, and she’s gone. Now, you’re supposed to be mine, but you’re so busy being her little sister, you can’t be my big sister. You’re more Okafor than Atkins, Mo. You just have to act like it.”

Bella’s words stung and glorified Morgan all at the same time. Morgan clung to her last name because it was all she had left of an era of her life that was filled with belonging. She was too young to remember anything other than a devoted family. She placed her father on a pedestal, and his legacy meant everything to her. Ethic had raised her, however, and she had been under his tutelage longer than she had experienced her biological family. Ethic met her as a baby girl, so he always treated her like one. He hadn’t given her the responsibility of being “the oldest.” He doted over her like she was the baby, because in her clan, she was. Bella was begging for Morgan to stand up and take the lead, a lead she could follow, and Morgan heard her loud and clear.

Their hug lasted a full two minutes, and nothing else needed to be said for them each to know that love had erased all transgressions. Bella pulled back and glanced towards Aria, who was waiting near the car.