A Piece Of Cake: A Memoir

After a long search, Cupcake found an apartment and moved in. Having her own space was like a daily party for her, and she enjoyed the freedom and solitude of it. Cupcake had a hard time finding work with no job or interview skills until she came across an ad for someone who answers alarm calls. All she had to do was sit in a booth and be there to determine if alarms went off by accident or due to an intruder. It worked well for her, and she could dress however she liked. She was surrounded by family again and going to school every day.

Having no prior experience or anyone to teach her, Cupcake struggled to meet her responsibilities while living on her own. She often slept through her work shifts, forgot to pay her bills, and suffered a painful and severe infection as a result of an IUD that was long overdue to be removed.

A neighbor in her apartment building became her friend but soon moved away, leaving Cupcake his business selling cannabis. She found she was good at it and enjoyed the constant company and free substances it offered her. She started to believe that success was tied to her success as a dealer and the popularity she achieved. Cupcake ended up quitting her job without notice, and soon after, found out she was pregnant again. She called the man she thought was responsible, who offered to pay for half the cost of her abortion. Believing that she was not meant to be a mother, Cupcake had the abortion.

After realizing that she could no longer afford to fund her increasing substance dependency, Cupcake moved in with Daddy and his three friends (who were sex workers) in “the Complex,” a public housing space known for its drugs, violence, and poverty. Cupcake remembers this as a happy time because she spent it doing nothing but selling drugs, getting high, and being surrounded by friends and family again. She turned 18 and no longer had to worry about foster care, and when she got her trust money, she was able to successfully threaten Mr. Burns into leaving her alone permanently. Cupcake and her Daddy sold pills, cannabis, and various forms of heroin out of their home there.

Cupcake spent a lot of time going to night clubs and getting so drunk she would black out and forget the fights and other things that had happened the night before. When she ended up pregnant again, she didn’t know who the father was and had an abortion almost immediately. Cupcake and her friends began a shoplifting scheme in which they would go into a store and act as rowdy as possible to attract the attention of security and employees. Then, a white girl named Dot would go into the store and steal as much as possible. Nobody ever noticed her, and the scheme worked every time until Dot tried to execute it on her own and was immediately caught.

Cupcake’s Daddy, who never did drugs, grew tired of life at the Complex and decided to move back in with Lori. He invited Cupcake to join him, and she agreed, hoping a change of setting might help her. At a party a few months later, Cupcake was told by a friend that she had a “drug problem” and didn’t work or go to school. Cupcake thought about this and realized that she hated working but could tolerate school. She found a six-month program and started as a medical assistant but soon realized that it wasn’t for her. Instead, she switched to legal secretarial studies. Kelly joined her at first but hated school and soon started ditching.

Cupcake found that studying legal terms came naturally, and shorthand became a way to keep her hands busy when she was on speed. After three months, however, Cupcake became sick of school and paid a friend to change her records, allowing her to graduate without actually completing it. She told herself that going to school meant she didn’t have a “drug problem” after all.

Cupcake had a huge celebration for her 19th birthday, put up flyers, and hundreds of people showed up to her friend’s house. She partied so hard that she passed out at her own party. She woke up hours later to the same friend covered in blood and enraged. He was angry that his house had been overtaken by partiers. The man had been stabbed and taken to the hospital, but didn’t hold a grudge against Cupcake.

Cupcake found out that her grandma died and was overcome by the guilt of knowing she didn’t spend enough time with her. While living with Daddy, Lori, and Kelly, Cupcake was caught having sex in her room after being told not to have men over. Cupcake and Kelly decided that they needed their freedom, so they found a place together. Daddy, ever the kind-hearted person, allowed them to take all his furniture.

Cupcake and Kelly lived together for several months with Kelly’s young son Jason. They fed him the bare minimum and ensured his basic safety, so they considered themselves good parents. Quickly, their apartment fell into shambles as they both sunk further into addiction. Cupcake started using heroin constantly. By chance, she met up with an old friend from the gang and dated him for a while, but he was eventually arrested, and she never heard from him again. Cupcake and Kelly started to fight over rent and other issues and Kelly eventually moved out, leaving Cupcake to pay the rent herself. She went to the bar to drown her stress and met a man named Tommy, who she ended up dating for five years.