Making Ends Meet

He is 18 years old and attends Eastside High. He’s in the twelfth grade. John Doe has been a straight “A” student all four years of high school. Teachers really enjoy having John in their classes. So grades have never been an issue for him.
John isn’t really into all the fashionable things. He’s basically a plain Jane or should I say “plain John?” He wears Nike hoodies and sweat pants a lot. His attire was always athletics wear. John is 6’ 7; dark skinned and has long dread-locks that go right underneath his shoulders. He wears a gold grill at the top and bottom. I didn’t specifically say that John was African American, but he is.
John Doe plays basketball for his school, which is Eastside High on 64th and Locust. He’s been playing basketball all four years of high school. By the way John is one of the starting five players on the team. He has so many scholarships to colleges, due to his grades and his skills on the court. John’s going to play basketball in college but he really wants to go to college with his major being Culinary Arts and business.
He’s really family oriented. John’s family means the world to him. His dad left him, his mom Maria, and his four sisters Malena, Ariel, Kyla and Janiyah two years ago. John’s mom Maria and John himself are the only two in the house that works, so they’re kind of suffering. John hates to see any one of his loved ones struggle. He couldn’t get a professional job because of his criminal records, but he felt that he had to help his family. So he chose the wrong path and decided to start selling Marijuana. Maria couldn’t quite wrap it around her finger how John was making all of that money. She’s questioned him multiple times he’d just tell her he was a hustler and believed in getting money by any means.
John was a well respected guy not only at school but all over his city. He did business with thousands of people. No one was ever let down by his work so he continued making money. There were so many girls attracted to John’s lifestyle, and they all wanted to be his girlfriend. He was only focused on having a stable family and just keeping his favorite ladies in the world happy.
He faithfully writes in an all black journal every day. He’s never missed a day of venting in that journal. John feels like if he writes his problems down it’ll kind of relieve a little bit of his stress, but at times he wishes that he had extra money to pay a therapist to vent to him/her. It’s no secret that John’s a “go getter.” Meaning whatever he wants or needs he works for it and he gets it by any means. When John says that he’s going to do something, he lets nothing nor no one get in the way of that. So with all that being said, John took matters into his own hands and hustled to get more money and started seeing a therapist. The therapists’ name was Karlah Reed. She was in her early thirties. She was a lighter complexion than John. Really slim, short; stood about 5’0 feet even, with long dark brown hair that went to the middle of her back. When John seen her, his eyes were as big as an Owls’. His mouth dropped open as if he had seen a ghost.
It was not hard to tell that John was really attracted to Karlah’s beauty. She smiled and shook Johns’ hand and said “Hi John. I’m Karlah. It’s really nice to meet you. How are you today?” John was speechless still looking as if he had seen a ghost. Karlah couldn’t do anything but laugh as she stared at John. So the two of them sat down, and giggled for about five minutes then began their therapy session.
Maria; Johns’ mom, questioned him on where he’d been and what he’d been doing, but John would never fully answer her. He’d say something like “Just out taking a walk through the park, clearing my mind.” Maria always wondered what John had to clear out of his head. Was it his grades in school? Was it somebody messing with him? Or was it just simply the fact that his father left his family?
Months into John seeing the therapist; he finally told his mom that he’d been going to therapy, because of the situation that his dad put his family through. Maria began to think that she was becoming a terrible mom because of the fact that John said that he has to take care of the whole household. She felt that was her job and she’s supposed to be able to be the supporter of all of her children. An hour into Maria and John’s conversation, Maria just buried her head into John’s chest and cried her eyes out. John wrapped his arms around her and just held her tight and close, telling her “its fine momma. I don’t mind helping you out. I’m the man if the house now.” Maria replied saying “I know baby, but that’s just not right. You shouldn’t have to do all that you do for me and yours sisters.”
Two weeks after John and his mom had their heart to heart conversation; John received an acceptance letter from UCLA. Every since John was in the sixth grade he’s said that he wanted to attend UCLA for basketball. The first thing that popped into John’s head was “man how am I going to pay for this?” But then as he read on into the letter it said that he had a full ride scholarship, and that was mainly because of his grades and their basketball coach had been watching John since his freshman year at Eastside High. He began smiling from ear to ear when he finished reading the acceptance letter.
John hesitated on telling his mom about the acceptance letter because of the simple fact that he was hesitant as to if he wanted to leave her and his four sisters. He felt like if he left them he would have to go through life knowing that he left them behind to suffer. Then again he remembered that his mom always said “no child of mine is going to skip college.” All of a sudden John had a flash back of the day his father left and said “you kids ain’t gone be s*** in life y’all might as well drop out now!” and told John’s mom “you raise these damn kids on yo own. Ain’t no man gone ever want you or help you out!” Just by the way John’s father talked to his family you could tell that he had an addiction to something, and his addictions were alcohol and cocaine. Maria only stayed with him because she believed that he would get better and be there for his family.
John told his mom about the acceptance letter to UCLA and she cried bitter sweet tears. She didn’t want John to miss out on a great opportunity in life so she decided to go back to school, and she eventually became a lawyer. Now that she had a much better job that paid more than enough she managed to get her family back stable. John stopped selling Marijuana and went off to UCLA playing basketball and majored in business. Maria and John’s four sisters too several visit to go support John at his basketball games. As of John seeing the therapist Karlah Reed; that stopped when his mom starting making a great living for the family. Karlah wished John the best of luck off at school and told him that she’s there whenever he needs her. John’s father ended up checking into rehab, but never got back in contact with his family.