Sugah & Spice (2 page)

             
The words began to flow and when Sugah realized it, she had several chapters of her first book. She intended to write something pertaining to her blog, but her mind took over and she was now well on her way to becoming the best-selling author she dreamt of. “The blog will just have to wait”, Sugah told herself during a much needed bathroom break. She ran into the bathroom like a track star before she wet herself. “I have got to stop drinking so much water while I write”, Sugah said as she barely made it to the toilet.

As she washed her hands, her mind wondered back to how she met Professor Love and how her life changed completely. Sugah didn’t think she would ever get her confidence back to face him but somehow she had and now she was a college graduate, with a successful blog and a job that paid her to write about anything she wanted. Life was good, she thought, walking down the hallway back to her home office. When she sat back down, the words continued to flow and Sugah welcomed them. The title of her book was called “When Opposites Attract”. She smiled because the title couldn’t be more precise a
nd so true. Sugah took a trip
down memory lane to
a special time in her life. The time when
she discovered her college professor was also one of her employers.
A time she tried so hard to forget, but refused to let go. If not for that period in her life, Sugah
w
ouldn’t be the woman she was now, doing the things she loved, with the person she adored.

******************************************************************************

When Sugah graduated from high school, she was in the top five percent of her class. She received a scholarship to college but it only paid for 80 percent of her schooling and books were not included. Her mother didn’t have the money because of her disability, so the check she received each month only covered their basic needs. Sugah worked part-time during high school to help out, but now that she was going to college she needed a plan B. Each night, Sugah would cry herself to sleep wondering how she
c
ould get enough money to take care of herself, as well as her mother. Her father died when she was five
or so she thought,
and she didn’t have any siblings
, so
Sugah was on her own.
It was just her and her mother.

Before Sugah left for school, she worked
part-
time at the mall in two stores. In the morning she worked in Saks F
ifth Avenue and in the evening
she worked
at
Macy’s, in the
ladies’
shoe department. She was able to buy clothes at a discount
price
for being a mall employee, so that was one l
ess thing she had to worry about when thinking about school
.
Sugah loved to look nice. She owed it all to her mother because when her mother was employed, they would go shopping together every Saturday, spending
the entire day together. Sugah missed those moments with her mother. Now all she wanted to do was stay at home and feel sorry for how bad she thought her life had turned out.
Didn’t she know that someone else had it worse than them? Someone always had it worse.

One day a group of pretty girls came into her department at Saks to buy some new clothing. They looked so put together, fit and straight out of a fashion magazine. Sugah was in awe of them. They bought so many things Sugah’s commission check would pay for more than half of her books. One of the girls, older than the others, seemed to gravitate toward her. They hit it off right away and Sugah admired the woman. They discussed what her plans for the future were and when Sugah told the young woman of her plans to attend college, her interest peeked even more. Before they left the store that day,
one of the other women with them
placed a card directly into Sugah’s hands. “Call anytime you want to make some
real
money,” the woman told her as she and her friends walked out of the store and got into a Bentley Coupe Convertible.
The one who had engaged Sugah into a stimulating conversation winked at her as she put on her Chanel
sun
glasses. But just as Sugah was
turning around she felt eyes on
her. The last woman was penetrating her soul with her eyes. She looked devious, evil. Sugah quivered as a chill ran up the length of her body. Then suddenly, the woman smiled a wicked grin and eased into the backseat of the car.
They drove off with the top down, laughing without a care in the world, while Sugah stood looking and holding the card
up
to her chest.

Later that night as she lay in bed, Sugah looked at the card again. “Gentle Ladies
employment Agency
”, she
spoke softly. “
…
Entertainment and Consulting Firm
” the rest of the card read. Sugah didn’t know what to think, but she was suddenly interested in finding out more. That night she couldn’t sleep because her mind was wondering about the content of the card. “I don’t want to know,” Sugah kept telling herself, but in the back of her mind she knew that that was a lie.
Deep down she wanted to know just what kind of entertainment the ladies did, and how to become
a part of it. She saw the way t
he
y had
n’t look
ed
at prices, or seemed to care that their totals were
well
over a few thousand dollars. In fact, the more they spent, the more they smiled. Sugah wanted that feeling for her and her mother. Maybe her mother’s smile would return.
Because lately, all she seemed to do was frown.

A few weeks passed and when it came time for her leave for college, a state away, Sugah tucked the card into her purse and decided it wasn’t something she wanted to pursue.
But why couldn’t she just throw the card away? The thought never crossed her mind to get rid of it.
She would just continue to work and save her money. She would work weekends and holidays at the mall where her school was and send money home to her mother. How hard could it be, she kept telling herself. That statement went out the window after a few months into the semester. Sugah was so overwhelmed, she lost several pounds from not being able to eat or sleep. She looked amazing, but she felt like crap.

Her classes weren’t so bad. Sugah got all the classes she wanted, at the appropriate time except for one, so she would have to take it the following semester.
As she walked from class one day, she saw him. Him being the most delicious looking man she had ever laid eyes on. She couldn’t take her eyes from him
,
and he caught her watchin
g him and smiled. Quickly avoiding
eye-contact, Sugah pivoted on her left foot and went in the opposite direction as her sexual radar. He was trouble with a capital T and she couldn’t afford to get involved with anyone. All of her time and energy was focused on school, work and taking care of her mother. Sugah knew that if she gave in to those mesmerizing eyes, she wouldn’t stand a chance.

After returning to her dorm room from a long day of classes and work, Sugah crashed. She
still had
lot
s
of studying to do but it would have to wait. When she woke up, she pulled out her books and something fell to the floor. Sugah reached down to pick whatever it was up and to her surprise it was the card from the young woman. Sugah put the card in
t
he top drawer
of her desk
and went back to studying. That night she went to sleep reading
. The next day
she missed class for the first time. Her mind, body and soul were exhausted. Sugah didn’t know how much longer she could keep up with the schedule she had. Going to class all day and working until ten, sometimes eleven at night was really
taking a toll on her. Thankfully she had someone in each one of her classes who allowed her to make copies of their notes otherwise, Sugah would have been lost.
No one told her that college would be so stressful when she was filling out applications during Senior Day. Maybe she should have took a year off, she thought trying to pull herself together.

At the library later that night Sugah saw a familiar face. It was the same young girl who had given her the card at the mall. The girl walked up to Sugah smiling. “I thought that was you. You never called. How is school going for you,” the girl asked. Not knowing what to do or say Sugah just shrugged her shoulders. She felt the girl’s eyes on her and couldn’t bear looking at her. She didn’t want he
r
dark circles and sleep deprived eyes to tell the truth, so she pretended to be focusing hard on her work. The girl quickly took the hint. She said good bye and walked off never looking back into Sugah's direction. If she wanted help, she would ask for it, the girl told herself. But she liked Sugah, she saw herself in her. She was also glad someone came belong to help before she hit rock bottom. There was no telling where she would be or how her life would have turned out if she hadn’t set her pride aside and received the help extended to her. “Yes, if she wants help, she will just have to come to me,” the girl said watching Sugah without her knowledge of it. “She seems so tired and her eyes are revealing
her
life without her knowing. I hope she finds her way with or without my help.”

Sugah sat quietly, looking at her notes. Her mind wasn’t on her studying, in fact, she was thinking about how she was going to get the money her mother called to ask her for before she left her room. Sugah couldn’t stand to hear the sadness in her mother’s voice, so she promised she would take care of everything. Deep down, she knew that that meant working more hours. Some of her classes would just have to take a back seat. Her mother needed her and Sugah never let her mother down.
Bu
t how, she wondered, with tears slowly kissing her cheeks.
Right now, she felt hopeless for the first time in all her life. Sure at times she wanted to give up, but never had she actually felt like
ending it all
.

Chapter 2

             
The semester went by with Sugah getting all C’s in her classes. She wasn’t use to receiving such marks, having maintained straight A’s since grade school, so she felt terrible. Working was taking a toll on her mentally, physically and emotionally. She didn’t spend much time on studying as she usually did, so the grades didn’t really surprise her all that much. In fact, she was relieved to have those C’s. If anyone had asked her, she would have guessed way worse. Sugah sat quietly in her room crying her eyes out. What was she going to do? Her mother was counting on her. All of her high school teachers who helped her receive her scholarship would be so disappointed in her if they saw her final grades. Sugah sighed. She looked over at all of her packed luggage and more tears flowed. “How am I going to do this? I cannot go back home. I have to do something before I lose my scholarship,” she told herself.

             
Although she had a C average, there was no threat to her scholarship, but Sugah knew she could do better than what she was doing at the moment. Life was throwing her lemons so she needed to find a way to make some serio
us lemonade
.
If she drank, she would have added some Ciroc and washed all of her troubles away.
Suddenly, Sugah was on h
er feet
looking all around the packed up room. When she found what she was looking for, she wiped her eyes, blew her nose and took out her cell phone. As she dialed the digits a sense of relief washed over her. The next voice she heard was a kind and gentle, reassuring voice that told her all of her troubles would soon be over. A meeting for the next day was scheduled and Sugah was then able to move her things to the little dingy
off-campus apartment she found
so that
she
could attend summer school. The money she was saving by getting an apartment helped pay for her classes. She didn’t want those C’s to jeopardize her overall GPA
,
so they had to go. She added two more classes, which gave her a full load. Five classes over the summer semester were insane. The rushed work due to the short length of time would push Sugah beyond her limits, but she welcomed it.

             
After she was all settled into her apartment, Sugah called her mother to give her the bad news. She made up a lie saying that she had secured a tutoring job and was getting paid
,
which suddenly cheered her mother’s sudden disappointment. The fact that she would be receiving money every week had more to do with her change of attitude. Sugah wondered was her mother really pressed for money or was she using it on other activities. She quickly pushed those thoughts from her mind. “Not my mother,” she told herself, but in the back of her mind, she knew that the truth would eventually surface. It always had.