My name is Mardrianna Munrowe and this is the story of how I ended up pregnant at eighteen.
I live in Chicago, IL with my family. My father is the leader of one of the biggest gangs in our city, the Black Falcons, and he's gone to great lengths to make sure that we are invisible to anyone outside our family and close friends.
My best friends, who I've known since preschool, are Ariel Cross and Bethany White. Ariel has had a crush on Beth's twin brother Brian since we discovered that cooties weren't an actual thing. Brian has two best friends, Jerrico Ramirez, who is Beth's boyfriend, and Daniel Roberts, who I've been in love with since the sixth grade. More info to come later.
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"Hey," Danny said as he walked past Ariel, Beth, and I.
I babbled like an idiot and ran into a trash. I'm so coordinated.
Ariel reached out to steady me before I fell while Beth came up with a quick excuse to explain my behavior.
"Sorry Danny, she partied a little too hard last night," he looked so confused and they quickly got me out of there.
I smacked myself in the forehead when we were far enough away and said, "What is wrong with me."
"It's hormones," Ariel says while shrugging her shoulders.
When we reach my locker Beth says, "I forgot to tell you! I was listening to the guys talking yesterday and Danny said he's going to ask you to homecoming."
I looked at her with my mouth slightly agape and then smacked her arm, multiple times.
"Ow! What the hell is wrong with you," she yelled out.
"Why didn't you tell me this sooner? Now he's probably not going to ask me because I just acted like an idiot in front of him," I yelled back.
"Sorry I forgot," she said sheepishly.
I looked at Ariel to see her reaction but she's very engrossed in her phone.
"Who are you texting," I asked her suspiciously.
She jumped and quickly hid her phone saying, "No one."
Beth and I looked at each other and then attacked her. She shrieked as we fell to the ground. Beth held her down as I grabbed her phone and stood back up, people giving us strange looks.
"What are you and Brian talking about," I asked her with a smirk on my face.
She said, "nothing" at the same time that Beth said, "my Brian?"
Beth let her up and she sighed saying, "he said he wanted to talk to me at lunch."
"He's probably going to ask you to homecoming. I think he secretly likes you because he's always staring at you like a creep," Beth tells her.
Ariel just blushes while I get my stuff out of my locker. There are only a few minutes left before the bell rings.
"I'll see you guys next period," I tell them, giving them hugs and heading to Algebra II.
As I make it to the door, Claira the school's "Queen B" pushes me out the way saying, "Oops, I didn't see you there," with fake concern.
She walks in and goes to sit near her minions as I mutter, "skank".
I walk in and see there's only one seat left, and it's next to Danny. I put my hair in front of my face to hide and quickly sit down as Mr. Granger walks in.
I reach down into my bookbag to grab my notebook and a pencil and when I sit back up I notice that there's a note on my desk. I open it and see that it says, "wait for me outside the classroom after class, D". I look toward him but he's looking down writing in his notebook.
I put it away and pay attention as Mr. Granger starts the lesson. After class is over, I wait outside for Danny to come out. When he does, he comes over to me with an adorable nervous smile on his face.
"H-hey Mardrianna. I wanted to ask you so-something," he stammered, turning red.
"Hey, Danny. What's up," I reply, giving him a reassuring smile.
"Will you go to h-homecoming with me," he asked me, still stuttering.
I yell, "YES," loudly, making people walking past look at me like I'm crazy, which makes me blush.
"My bad," I say then turn my attention back to Danny, who has an amused look on his face.
"I'd love to go to homecoming with you," I tell him in my inside voice.
"Great," he says and then another nervous look crosses his features. He takes a deep breath and says, "Would you like to go out with me Friday?"
"Yeah, I'd really like that," I tell him, putting my hair behind my ear and looking down shyly.
"Cool, I'll see you later."
He walks away and the girls approach me from around the corner they had been hiding behind.
"Did he ask you," Ariel says as soon as they are in front of me.
I couldn't speak, so I just gave them a nod with a big grin on my face. They squealed, throwing their arms around me yelling about how happy they are for me.
They pull away and we walk down the hall heading to our next class.
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It's finally time for lunch and we're heading to the cafeteria. Ariel is fidgeting from nerves.
"Don't be nervous. We all know he's just going to ask you to homecoming," I tell her with Beth nodding in agreement.
"That's what's making me nervous! What if I pull an Anna from this morning," she says panicking. I glare at her but then roll my eyes because lets be honest, this morning wasn't my finest moment.
"You'll be fine babes. My brother has liked you for a while. He's just been too much of a chicken to ask you out," Beth tells her while rolling her eyes.
We walk into the cafeteria and I immediately spot the boys laughing at a table in the back. We head that way and say, "Hey guys," when we reach them.
They greet us back and Ariel says, "You um wanted to talk Brian," looking at him with a slight blush.
He smiles at her, stands up, and nods his head for her to follow him. We all watch them like hawks. Eventually, we see Ariel nod and throw her arms around his neck, hugging him. She turns to us and gives us two thumbs up. We laugh and return the thumbs up.
Jerrico comes back to the table after having grabbed Beth's food. She gives him a grateful look and gives him a kiss. I look at Danny and we smile at each other.
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School is finally over and I'm driving us to my house. We're talking excitedly about going to prom with the boys. I pull into my long driveway and park in the five-car garage.
"Your house is so excessively big. Maybe I should start my own gang," Ariel teases me. I just roll my eyes at her with a laugh and tell them to get out.
We walk in and I see my mom is on the phone, probably with one of her clients looking to purchase a new house. The girls and I give her a wave and head upstairs to my room to work on some homework.
After an hour of working hard, we head downstairs. My mom is in the kitchen getting dinner ready when we walk in.
"Hi girls," she says when she sees us. "How was school?"
"It was great, Ariel, and I got asked to homecoming," I tell her in excitement.
"That's great guys! What about you Bethany," she asks her.
"Jerrico asked me a while ago," she tells her.
"Yay, you're growing up so fast! You're not the same little girls taking bubble baths in the tub together anymore," she wipes away a fake tear.
"Mom!"
"What," she asks with fake innocence.
I just shake my head at her and tell her I'm taking the girls home and that I'll be back in time for dinner. I drop them off and make my way home. I pulling up as my dad does.
"Hi daddy," I tell him politely and walk past him to the door.
"Mardianna," he says back to me.
We don't have the best relationship like we use to but because he's my dad and I was raised right, I have to be respectful.
I head into the kitchen after taking off my shoes and jacket by the door. They are sitting at the table and as soon as the twins see me, they run over attacking me with hugs.
"We missed you Mar-Mar," they tell me.
"I missed you too you little terrors," I say tickling them and kissing the top of their heads.
We walk into the kitchen to sit down. Dad says grace, we eat, and then I head upstairs and get ready for bed.