𝐑𝐞𝐝𝐚𝐦𝐚𝐧𝐜𝐲

𝐒𝐈𝐗

Narrator

Adrian follows Hope to the nearest jewelry store. Of course, he stays six feet away from her like she told him to. Hope spots her friend Jayla, whose also looking at the jewelry. Jayla's parents are very close to Hope's parents, and that's the main reason why her and Hope are friends.

"Hey you," Jayla says as she gives Hope a hug. "What are you doing here?" Jayla asks.

"Just looking for a necklace that's going to match my dress for the party," Hope replies. Jayla looks behind Hope where Adrian is standing, not taking his eyes off of Hope.

"Okay, don't look right away but there's this really hot guy looking at us," Jayla says. Hope turns around and realizes who Jayla's talking about.

"That's just Newman, my bodyguard," Hope says. "My dad hired him like yesterday I think," Hope adds.

"Well your daddy sure has great taste in picking bodyguards," Jayla smirks. Hope looks at her and cringes.

"Ew Jayla," Hope says in disgust. "I don't want a bodyguard," Hope whines.

"Well shit if you don't want him then let my dad hire him for me," Jayla says. Hope looks at her in pure disgust. 'She cannot be serious' Hope thinks to herself. Jayla waves at Adrian in a what seems to be "seductive" way. Adrian confusingly waves back.

"Believe me, I would give him to you if I could Jayla," Hope says as she looks at the necklaces.

"He's so hot," Jayla says randomly.

"You have some serious issues," Hope says to Jayla. "He's not even that good looking," Hope says as she looks at Adrian.

"You're blind," Jayla says. Hope isn't even that shocked by this. Jayla lives off male validation. Not because she's unhappy, but simply because she loves the attention. Hope knows that. Jayla has just always been like this.

Jayla left once her chauffeur arrived and Hope continued looking around for a necklace to wear. After a few minutes, Hope spotted a gorgeous butterfly necklace.

"Which are you taking Miss?" the jeweler asks Hope. 

"That one," Hope says as she points at the butterfly necklace. The jeweler nods as he unlocks the necklace and takes it out for her. Hope pulls out her dad's credit card and hands it to the jeweler.

After she's done purchasing the necklace, she calls Jeremy so he can take her home.

"Newman we're leaving," Hope says once she sees Jeremy park in front of the jewelry store. Hope gets inside the back and Adrian does too.

"Do you need to go anywhere else ma'am?" Jeremy asks Hope.

"No let's just go home," Hope says. Jeremy nods and does as she says.

"What's the party for?" Adrian asks.

"To celebrate my graduation that was like two days ago," Hope replies. The rest of the car ride was silent, and once they were back at the Ashford's mansion, Hope rushed up to her room to get ready for the party.

Hope put on her purple dress along with her necklace. She straightened her hair and did a half up half down hairstyle. She made sure to look her best, she already knew the critical comments that were gonna come from her mom's side of the family.

Hope walks to her bathroom and sprays some perfume. She takes a look at herself in the mirror.

"If they don't like how I look, I won't care," Hope says to her reflection. "If they criticize me, I won't care," Hope says once more to her reflection. She takes a deep breath before walking out of the bathroom.

Hope sits at her desk while she waits for people to start arriving. After twenty minutes of waiting, April calls Hope letting her know that she's there. Hope walks downstairs and sees a few of her relatives along with April.

"You look amazing," April says to Hope. Hope notices her aunts already eyeing her.

"Thank you," Hope hugs April. "I'll be right back I have to go greet them," Hope says as she walks to where her relatives are. She greets her relatives by hugging them and kissing their cheeks. When Hope gets to her aunts, she only shakes their hands and walks off.

"Jayla, Sarah, and Andrew are on their way," April says as Hope walks towards her. "They should get here in like five minutes," she adds.

"Wait here I need to go grab something," Hope says before walking up to her room. Hope forgot her ring that she always wears. Hope runs into Mrs. Pierce just as she's about to walk into her room.

"Hope, that's the dress you bought?" Mrs. Pierce asks.

"Yeah?" Hope looks at her dress. "Is there something wrong with it?" Hope asks.

"No, not with the dress," Mrs. Pierce examines the dress. "I don't know it just doesn't really look good on you," Mrs. Pierce states.

"April said it looked really good on me," Hope replies."She's my best friend, she wouldn't lie to me," Hope remarks.

"And I'm your mom," Mrs. Hope says. "You think I would lie to you?" Mrs. Pierce asks. Hope slowly shakes her head no. "You don't have to change but next time you want a good opinion on how something looks on you, come to me instead of April," Mrs. Pierce says before walking off.

Hope walks into her room and goes straight to the bathroom. She looks at her reflection in the mirror and looks at her body. She tilts her head and lets a single tear roll down her face. Hope wouldn't have cared if anyone else would've told her this because she would say 'it's just jealousy' 'their opinion is irrelevant to me' but this case was different. Those words came from her mother's mouth. The woman she's been trying to make proud for years but for some reason she always ends receiving neglect in return.

Hope sighed as she leaned against the sink and looked up at the ceiling. She took deep breaths that helped her not cry. She closed her eyes and exhaled loudly. Hope composed herself before walking back out, forgetting to grab her ring.