An Open Secret

Chapter One

Saturday...

9 p.m.

Ring ring.

Ring ring.

Bursting into the room, I grab my phone off the bed.

"Hello?"

"Hey bitch!"

I chuckled to myself. "Hey Mariah." Mariah  and I have been best friends since kindergarten. We met on the playground after a bully tried to mess with her. I stepped in and kicked the bullies ass and we've been tight ever since. We've literally been through everything together. She's like a sister to me.

"Are you going to Marcus's party tonight?" I walked over to my dresser and opened it. "Shit, I forgot he was throwing a party. Didn't he just have one last month?" I reached under a stack of clothes and grabbed a hard plastic case.

"Yeah but he's throwing this one to celebrate his parents forgetting about the last one." I grabbed my purse and threw my keys, phone charger, wallet and the plastic case inside.

"In that case, yes I am. Are you picking me up?"

"Hoe, I'm already outside. Hurry ya ass up!" Mariah hung up the phone. Rolling my eyes, I left my room and walked down the hall into my mom's room. She was laying on her bed, watching Jeopardy.

"What is EGGS!" She yelled at the tv.

"Ma, I'm going out with Mariah, is that okay?" I asked. She looked up at me, confused. Raising an eyebrow, she said, "And where could you be going? You know we have to take Grandma to Bingo in the morning."

I rolled my eyes. I hated going to Bingo and she knew that. All those old grandpa's asking me if I wanted any spare change creeped me out. "I'm going out with Mariah to a party. I promise, I'll make it back in time."

She gave me a skeptical look. "Alright, bye."

I ran down the steps and headed to the front door. "And your curfew is at 1 am!" She yelled after me. Damn!

Slamming the door, I ran as fast as I could to Mariah's car. Her little beat up '03 Toyota Camry was blasting music.

"Drip too hard, don't stand too close, you gon fuck around and drown off this wave!" Mariah yelled, snapping her hands to the beat. Turning down the music, she yelled, "HEY BEST FRIEND!"

"HEY BEST FRIEND!", I yelled back. She had her brown hair pulled back and her curls framing her face. She wore a black Adidas jacket, blue jeans and the classic black and white Adidas sneakers.

"You look good, girl! I see who you checking for."

She looked over at me. "Who? I'm not looking for anyone's attention. Except Marcel. He's fine as fuck." Grabbing her lip gloss, she said, "You look good too, sis. That shirt is fire." I wore a rose gold crop top with gold beading and a pair of white jeans and rose gold strappy wedges. My hair was blowdried and flowing straight down my back.

"Did you grab a bottle from Lance's secret stash?" Lance is Mariah's older brother. He goes to college a few states over and is rarely home.