What We Learned Along the Way Read Free

him walk toward the entrance, and then turned around to
walk back to her car. She had forgotten all about that drink and
needed to sit down. Just as she turned around, she heard Langston’s
voice rise above the crowd. “Aliya,” he said in a loud and firm
voice. “Thanks for bumping into me.” He flashed yet another one of
his addictive smiles and walked into the building.

Chapter 3- Mariam
    Mariam was only a few minutes from the
concert, and she couldn’t wait to get out of the car. She couldn’t
stand the tension between Malikah and Jaime. For as long as they’d
all known each other, she had been the peacemaker between the two
of them. She had been the backbone of the whole relationship, and
it grew tiring at times. Because of the vital role she played in
their friendship, the other girls nicknamed her Mama Mariam. She
liked that her friends looked up to her for advice, but sometimes
it was more than she could handle. She wondered at times what they
would do once she got married and started her own family. She and
Rashad were pretty serious and he could propose at any moment.
    After they passed the third “Divas All-Star”
poster, Malikah started to get suspicious, but when they pulled
into the crowded parking lot of the concert hall, her suspicions
had been confirmed.
    “You got tickets to this concert? They’ve
been sold out for weeks! I can’t believe it!” Malikah blurted out.
She had been dreaming of going to this concert for months, but had
written it off as impossible. The tickets were sold out before she
even got a chance to try to buy them. She was excited to actually
be there and forgot all about being mad at Jaime. When they got out
of the car, she gave both of her friends a huge hug. “Thank you so
much,” she screamed.
    Mariam didn’t have to call Aliya to see where
she was. Her long, curly hair and brightly-colored outfits always
made her an easy target. It only took a few minutes for them all to
meet up. Together, the four of them looked like an odd bunch, their
personalities and personal styles as different as they could
possibly be. They didn’t at all look like they would hang out
together. Jaime and Aliya looked like polar opposites, one
completely covered in beautiful Islamic clothing, the other dressed
like a bohemian model in a bright yellow, backless sundress with a
huge, golden brown curly afro.
    Mariam wasn’t as stunning, but beautiful
still. Her style was more “all-American girl.” She often looked
professional, like she was going to work, even when she wasn’t
trying to. For the concert, she wore a cute pair of denim trousers
with a long pink tank top, a light green blazer, a simple pair of
pearls, and matching hijab. She looked like the Muslim version of a
Tommy Hilfiger model.
    Potentially, Malikah was just as beautiful as
the others, but she didn’t know it. She was insecure and always
wished she looked like someone else. She has trouble seeing how
beautiful she was on her own. She wasn’t as tall as Jaime, her hair
wasn’t as long as Aliya’s, and her outfits never looked as cute and
put together as Mariam’s, but she was beautiful. Rather than focus
on her flawless skin and beautiful eyes, she obsessed over her
weight, thanks to her mother. She wasn’t fat at all (a solid size
14 and carried it well) but she didn’t like it. Mariam couldn’t
understand how unhappy Malikah was with her body. She had curves
Mariam would die for.
    “Happy Birthday,” Aliya said as she gave
Malikah a huge hug. “How have you been? I feel like I haven’t seen
you in forever.”
    Mariam loved the way Aliya always seemed so
warm and happy to see everyone. After 40 minutes of Malikah and
Jaime’s game of the silent treatment, it was all she needed to see
a smiling face. Ever since Aliya started working overtime at Starr,
they didn’t get to see that much of her anymore. When they were
younger, they did everything together, but now that they were
getting older, they saw less and