Finding My Way

Chapter 1

~~Adrianna Giselle Hayes~~

"Congratulations DriDri! I'm still mad that I wasn't invited though. How you gonna get married without ya friends though?"

One of my best friends, Lelanie, held on to my bony light brown fingers as she observed my ring. I'm sure any female would love to have this platinum, iced out, flashy, sparkly piece of jewelry on their finger, but I could do without it. Nice things are good, but it's straight up ridiculous to spend a bunch of money just for a ring. It has no benefit of wearing it, it just wraps around my finger for decoration.

"Uhh, I'm mad that I wasn't invited too." Tiffany put her hand on her hip giving me fake attitude. How did I know it was fake? The huge smile on her face.

"Okay so, I'm just gonna take a wild guess and say you're mad too, correct?" I asked looking up at Quianna.

"Yeah, I'm kinda in my feelings about it." She folded her arms across her chest. "If this dude can afford to get you a billion dollar ring and red bottoms then I know he has to have money. He could've afforded to have three more bitches show up. Who were your bridesmaids? Who is this dude anyway? Because I know ain't no dude from that school got money like that. They might rock Polo and shit but you know they get it from their parents. Girl, you fuckin' with a real boss I see! I know you ain't neva been one to flaunt ya relationship but why haven't we s-"

"Aye Quianna she could give you some answers if you would shut the fuck up for a minute of fifty!" Lelanie's short ass shut Quianna down. I don't know why Lelanie is so mad, that's just how Key is. That's why I just let her babble on.

Quianna is the talkative, bubbly, outgoing one out of us four. She's also the tallest. This girl is almost six feet tall and yes she loves to play basketball. She's really pretty too. Whoever said dark skinned girls weren't beautiful has never laid eyes on this beauty!

Lelanie is the short, fiercely real one. She will not sugar coat a damn thing and she has absolutely no problem with speaking her mind. Some people think she's just a mean ass hot head, but she's a good friend to have. She's also really pretty. Her prettiest feature, or features I should say, is her eyes. They are green. I used to wish I had green eyes like her, but I've learned to love my pretty brown eyes.

Tiffany and I are the most alike personality wise. We are the more calmed down, laid back ones. We are all close, but Tiffany and I are closer to one another.

Tiffany is without a doubt the most beautiful one of us. She has olive skin, blue eyes, and black hair. Oh, and she's like five-foot-seven, she's only like two inches taller than I am.

Most girls would probably envy their friend's beauty, but that's just petty to me. I happily give compliments where they're due.

"Y'all he's a guy I met a few years back. We wanted a nice, simple, small wedding, so that's why you all were excluded. It's nothing personal at all. Y'all already know y'all my best friends for life."

I don't like lying to my friends at all, but I do it all the time. I guess I'm becoming a habitual liar. There wasn't anything small about the damn wedding that took place two weeks ago. I'm surprised they didn't hear about it. There were over two hundred people at the wedding and most of them were people that Malcolm and his family knows. He told me I could only invite fifteen people, but my mom stole the invitations from me and started passing them out for me.

I really did want to invite my friends though. We have been friends for a majority of my life. I probably wouldn't have felt so out of place if I had them there with me.

"So what's his name?"

"Oh look, the bus is coming."

Boy am I glad. This way they don't get to ask me a thousand questions.

I hate to see them leave me though, I'll miss them so much. They've been here for me all these years, and they've made a big, positive impact on my life. I don't want them to go, but I know they have to branch out and do their own thing.

"It's alright Dri Baby, we won't be that far and we can talk and face time whenever." Quianna said while hugging me. I just smiled at her words.

She says we won't be that far away, but it feels like we'll be millions of miles away.

We kept our goodbyes short and sweet, they didn't have much time before the bus left.

When they got on the bus, I blew kisses at them. "Bye girls." I whispered.

As the bus rode away, I lowered my head.

"Lord, please let my girls make it there safely. And please let them have a large amount of fun and success in their lives."

I opened my eyes and watched the bus go away with my hands on my chest. When the bus was no where in sight, I turned and started jogging away.

As soon as my ass hit the seat of my pink Bugatti, I put my head in my hands.

"I should be on that fucking bus too! It's just not fair!" A sob escaped my mouth.

This is a day I've anticipated for so long, but now I feel like this is one of the worst days of my life.

Lelanie, Tiffany, Quianna, and I would always say how we were going to the same college a year after we graduated high school. Our plans were already altered since I graduated a year early. I told them I would wait for them though. I told them we could still experience the college life together. I had high hopes all of these years for no damn reason.

Now I can't motherfucking go and it's all my mother's fault! I'm only nineteen, I don't want to be married! I don't want an nine hundred thousand dollar ring! I don't want to live in a seven hundred thousand dollar mansion. I don't want to ride around in a Bugatti. I want to live a normal life and get shit on my own.

There are millions of people out there who would love to have all of these things, but it comes with something I'm sure those people wouldn't want. That thing is an arranged fucking marriage!

Malcolm and his family are filthy fuckin' rich. If he wanted, all he has to do is sit at home on his ass all day, he'd still be rich as fuck. We were introduced to each other over a year ago.

Well, blah, blah, blah, then one night he asked me out on a date. My mother kept pressuring me to go, which I thought was weird, so I went on the date. He took me to a basketball game then out to eat as a first date. At the time I thought he was a tall, dark, and handsome guy who had a lot of charisma and charm. Well, he isn't that dark. He's like a medium brown color. Anyway, things were nice at first. He was the perfect gentleman and he adored me. Now I fucking abhor him.

I had no idea what was going on until I overheard my mom talking about how Mr.Hayes would help her with her business ventures and shit since I...

Bzzzz... Bzzzz...

My phone got me out my thoughts. I looked at who was calling and that's when I remembered...

"FUCK! Time goes by so fast sometimes."

I swallowed the lump in my throat then put on my seatbelt so I can try to get home.