"Best Friends" 👧🏾👧🏼

Reneé was trying to hurry up and get out of the shower. The rule was to not take longer than thirty minutes in the bathroom because there's eleven people in the house. Fantasia and Taraji took their showers earlier so she didn't have to worry about them. However, she didn't want the other girls to bitch and complain, so she tried to make it quick.

Reneé found peace in the shower. It's where she could be alone and shut out all the noise. Even though sometimes the voices in her head could be very loud. The music she plays while in the shower blocks those voices out though.

While in the shower, she had thought about the time she ran away from home when she was ten. She wanted to find her biological mother. Her dad said her mom left them when she was seven years old. But Reneé didnt believe that. She was the apple of her mother's eye. So why would she just abandon her overnight.

It was the spring of 2018 when ten year old Reneé hopped on a random city bus in Houston. She didn't know where she was going. She just wanted to find her mother in hopes that she could live with her again. Her father was always traveling on business and leaving her with her stepmother. Who Reneé absolutely hated and wanted to never see again!

The bus was full of rowdy high school kids of all races. One of the teenagers yelled out...."Hey! Little girl! What you doing on the bus by yourself?!"

"Boy, shut up! She's probably coming home from school like everybody else, dumbass!", a female student said to him.

"Shit, my bad! I thought the younger kids don't catch the city bus. When I was in elementary I caught the school bus", he stated.

Reneé just wanted him to be quiet! She didn't want the bus driver to get suspicious. But luckily the bus driver didn't give a damn about what was going on. It was his last route of the day and he was ready to get it over with and go home.

Reneé rode all the way to the last bus stop and got off. There was a park near by where kids were playing. While looking for her mom, a girl her age asked if she was lost.

"Why do you ask?", Reneé questioned nervously.

"Because you look lost, girl! And as you can see, ain't no other white kids out here but you", the little girl stated.

"I'm not lost. I'm um....just visiting family", Reneé replied.

"Yeah...sure you are...anyway, what's your name?", the little girl asked.

"Jane. What's yours?"

Reneé gave the girl her middle name since she was on the run!

"Coco. You want to play tag?", she asked.

"Yup! You're it!", Reneé said as she hit Coco and ran off.

"Hey! That's not fair! I wasn't ready!", Coco yelled as she chased after Renee.

The two ten year olds laughed and play for about two hours. Then, Reneé fell and hurt her knee.

"Owww!", she cried out.

"It's ok! Let me help you", Coco said.

Coco closed her eyes and placed her hand on Reneé's knee. "Be healed in the name of the Ascended Master, Jesus Christ", Coco prayed.

"Hey....it doesn't hurt anymore...how did you do that?!", Reneé asked.

"I said the magic words! My grandma taught me. She said me and my sisters are healers", Coco said proudly.

"I wish I had a sister. Or at least a best friend", Reneé said.

"I'll be your best friend!", Courtney volunteered.

Reneé smiled. Then looked over to where the grass was. She ran over, picked out a dandelion and handed it to Coco.

"For you! Just because you're the nicest and prettiest girl I ever met. And because we're best friends now", Reneé said.

"Thank you! You think I'm  pretty for a darkskinned girl, right?", Coco asked.

That's what she was used to hearing from other kids and even some adults....

"No....I think you're pretty just because you are", Reneé said.

Coco blushed and told Reneé she's pretty too.  Then her older sister came over and told her they had to go.

"I have to go now. Will you come back to this park again?", Coco asked.

"I have to find my mom and then I know she'll let me come back and play with you. Bye, best friend", Reneé replied.

"Bye, best friend! I'll give you the number to my grandma's house. I'm usually there a lot because my momma is going through some stuff", Coco said sadly.

"Ok, I'll call you...."

After the two girls hugged each other goodbye, Reneé was back on her mission. She really wanted to find her mom now. Because she knew her mom would let her come back and play with Coco. But her evil stepmother would never!

"Hey! Excuse us! Are you Reneé Rapp, sweety?!", a female police officer asked. She and her male partner were walking towards the child. Reneé began to run but of course she didn't get far. The two officers took her back home.

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"You stupid little ungrateful bitch!", her stepmother yelled as she slapped Reneé across her face. Causing Reneé to cry.

"Is this the thanks I get for taking care of you?! Your daddy works hard and I stepped in to do the job your deadbeat ass mother should've done! Instead of running away from her responsibilities like a fucking coward! She didn't love or want you, but I'm here for you every fucking day! You should worship the ground I walk on, you ungrateful ass brat! Just for that, I'm not giving you any dinner tonight! Since you decided to run off like your whore of a mother, you won't get dinner, dessert or breakfast in the morning either! Now march your ass up those stairs and go straight to bed!", her stepmother yelled.

Reneé ran up stairs crying and slammed her bedroom door. That really ticked her stepmother off. She charged into Reneé's room like a monster!

"Do you pay bills here, you little ungrateful piece of shit?! That's it! I'm going to teach you a real fucking lesson now!", her stepmother threatened.

That night, little Reneé was beaten terribly by her stepmother. Her stepmother was physically and verbally abusive to her. But her father was clueless about it because he was always away on "business". In actuality, he was having an affair. Just like he was having an affair with the stepmom when he was married to Reneé's real mother.... who magically disappeared without a trace....

Reneé's stepmother also took her cell phone away. So she couldn't call her best friend Coco. When she finally got her phone back, Coco's number was deleted from it....She never saw her best friend again...Well, at least that's what she thought.....

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"Hey, Courtney! I think crazy ass Reneé just came out of the bathroom", Rihanna said.

Courtney grabbed some towels and made her way towards the bathroom. When she entered the bathroom, she heard a knock....she opened the door. It was Reneé....

"I forgot my shampoo in here....", she said to Courtney.

This was the first time Reneé looked directly into Courtney's eyes. There was something magnetic about them to her. Something angelic and more specifically, there was something very familiar about Courtney's eyes....

"Oh um....I'll let you get it....", Courtney said nervously.

The words of the other girls concerning Reneé and Normani still had her on edge....

Reneé almost forgot where she left her shampoo because she was trying to figure out where the hell did she know Courtney from....But once she snapped back into reality, she grabbed the shampoo and headed out the bathroom. She made a mistake and hit her wrist on the door though....It hurt like hell!

"Ouch! Fuck, that hurt!", Reneé exclaimed.

Being the caring person she is, Courtney immediately touched Reneé's wrist....in her head she silently prayed...."In the name of the Ascended Master, Jesus Christ, be healed...."

Of course Reneé couldn't hear Courtney's thoughts. But her pain disappeared....

"Does it still hurt?", Courtney asked.

Reneé couldn't believe it....the pain left her wrist instantly!

"How did you..."

"Y'all good?!", Fantasia asked.

"Oh um....yeah! Reneé hurt her wrist but she's OK now", Courtney replied.

"Ok, good. Go ahead and get your shower, Courtney. So the other girls can get their's", Fantasia said.

Courtney went into the bathroom and closed the door....

"You ok, Reneé?", Fantasia asked.

Reneé nodded. "That girl....Courtney.....do you know if she's been here in Houston all her life?", she asked.

"I believe so. Why?"

"Nothing, was just wondering....", Reneé responded.

When she entered her room, she noticed Megan and Normani's beds were pushed together. Megan was cuddling Normani and telling her she was safe....

"We have to sleep with a night light on for her", Reneé informed Megan.

"Ok. Thank you for letting me know", Megan said.

Reneé turned on the night light and then turned off the big lamp for Normani's sake. She pulled out her sketchbook and turned to a picture she drew of her little friend Coco and said to herself....

"Is it you, best friend.....?"