“One Decision Can Truly Change Everything”

May 25th, 2012 marks the day I made one of the dumbest decisions I have made in my whole high school career. I would have never thought in a million years that this one night could have changed everything. It was what seemed like a normal day, unlike the night it led to.
This day started off normal as all the rest. I woke up at around 6:00 am to begin getting prepared for school. I’m a freshman attending Maine South High School, which is also where my mother works. She has to be at school before 7:15 am otherwise I wouldn’t be waking up that early. So, we get to school at around 7:15 am and go through the basic procedure of a school day. Going from class to class having the best time of my life. As the day continued on, by around 7th or 8th period was when I was talking to one of my best friends at the time, Kally Demsed. We talked about how we were too tired to even function and are plans for the weekend ahead. Kally said, “Hey, by the way, I’m gonna be having a bonfire later and you should come!” I responded with excitement, “Yes! Of course I’ll be there!” happy that I had plans for the night to come.
After school I walked to my mom’s car to go home. We talked about the weekend and how happy we were that it was finally Friday. At this moment, I thought it would be a good time to bring up the plans for the night that I just recently figured out. As my mom was blabbering on about her happiness, I interrupted her and asked, “Speaking of the weekend, would I be able to go to Kally’s house for a bon fire?” She of coursed followed with the same procedure of questions: “Are her parents going to be home?” “No drinking, right?” “If there is drinking will you call me?” I responded with the same answer as always, “Yes, mother.” which at the time I believed was the truth. We continued our drive home. The normal day continued. After a few hours, I ate. My dinner consisted of a medium rare juicy steak, sweet mashed potatoes with marshmallows on top, cooked green beans with almonds, cold corn, and a chilled glass of sweet iced tea. It was delicious.
It was around 6:30 pm when Kally told me to come over for the bonfire. I was anxious and excited. Strangely, I had this bad feeling in my stomach, but I talked myself out of it being anything important by telling myself it was probably just from the excitement. I asked my mom for a ride to Kally’s house and she agreed since this could be her sneaky way to make sure I wasn’t lying about Kally’s parents being home, which wasn’t a lie. I arrived there at around 6:50 pm and I went to the door and rang the doorbell. Kally’s mom, Lane, answered. There was my mom’s proof and so I waved as I walked into their home. Not many people were there yet, so I sat in the kitchen and joked with Kally and her mom. This was just as a normal day was for me at the Demsed’s. As time went on more people started showing up, so everyone was outside by now. We had the bonfire going, but what is a bonfire without s’mores? So, of course we had to get the Hershey chocolate, graham crackers, marshmallows, and even strawberries. More and more people started showing up and most of them Kally and I didn’t usually hangout with. This made me quite uncomfortable. It’s not that I am unsociable, it’s just that they were the “wrong” crowd to be hanging out with. Sooner than later, upper classmen started showing up, except they had brought some alcohol to the bonfire. I was dumbfounded. Of course I have been to parties where there was some sort of alcohol, but I usually always here my mom’s voice in my head repeating, “If there is alcohol will you call me?” and I end up calling her or just leaving the situation. This time was different. When everyone began drinking, even my closest friends, I was curious, it was not that I crumbled to peer pressure. So, I ended up taking a sip of the alcohol. The day I thought was a normal day, ended up being the farthest thing from it. It all went downhill from this point. I ended up drinking way too much and began throwing up. I’ll save you the details on this part. One thing led to the next, and I was inside the Demsed’s bathroom with Kally’s mom who was giving me bread. My mom called me a good 20 times, but I couldn’t answer because of the obvious situation.
My mom ended up showing up to Kally’s bonfire. As she came in through the side gate I heard everyone screaming and running out of the Demsed’s backyard. I knew this was the beginning of the end. My mom came into the house screaming, “Where is my daughter?” over and over again. I responded saying, “I am in here”, referring to the bathroom and my mom came storming in there. The expression on her face seeing me sit there on the floor was one I would never want to see again. It was a mixture of sadness, disappointment, and anger. Lane stated to my mom in a snotty voice, “Your daughter came here drunk!” when my mom replied with laughter, “No, honey, she didn’t come here drunk because I drove her here.” There was more yelling, then finally Lane screamed to my mom, “Get out of my house!” and so my mom and I did. My mom decided at this point to call the police and tell them there was an underage drinking party at the Demsed’s. We walked out the back door with Kally and her parents following. The yard was vacant. My mom and I walked out the side gate that was open from all the kids who ran out. While the Demsed’s are close behind still screaming at us, we waited out front as the cops should be arriving shortly. When the cops came they asked both my mom and I, and the Demsed’s what had taken place. It ended up being that Kally was trying to make up that my mom had punched her in the face so her family wouldn’t be the only ones getting into trouble. The police officer came up to us and told us that they [the Demsed’s] are trying to accuse my mom of violence on Kally, but every time they have asked her to repeat the story it changes. I ended up receiving a drinking ticket since I had been drinking and it was against the law. Then, my mom and I drove home and she kept asking me how I was feeling since I had a stomach ache, but I was fine. When we got home I just went upstairs and went to sleep, but of course I was woken up plenty of times throughout the night to throw up some more. The day was no longer as normal as I thought it was.
The next morning, I hadn’t realized how bad the situation was until the night before, so I texted Kally asking if everything was alright. I never got a response back. I was yet to know what was coming while returning to school on that Monday. The first day of school back was to say the least; hell. I had lost most of my close friends besides a few and everyone knew about the party and how I completely embarrassed myself by being the one throwing up. Many peers in the hallway would say cruel comments to me such as, “Do you want some vodka?” or “How is it having your mom beat up a kid?” I remember being in my math class and having this one boy was throwing markers at me and I repeatedly asked nicely for him to stop and he wouldn’t. I turned around to face him and said, “Can you please stop? I have asked you nicely so enough.” The boy responded in mockery, “Oh, should I stop because you said so? What? Are you gonna get your mom and have her hit me in the face too?” That was my last straw. I went to the bathroom for the next period and just bawled. I was done being strong for the day. I was drained from holding back all the tears and taking all the vicious comments from the kids at school without a response in return to them. The next few weeks ended up being some of the hardest days I have ever gone through at school. There wasn’t one day I did not come home and just cry for hours. Whether I was crying about the comments others made, that I had lost most of my friends, or that no one believed me that my mom did not and would never hit a child. After dealing with everything, day after day, I did not want to return to school, but I knew not returning meant giving up and I wasn’t raised to give up so I faced the next days of school. I walked into Maine South every single day with my head held high and an attitude to not put up with anything anyone said about the situation that they did not witness themselves. The only thing that was getting me through each day was that I knew I had the very few friends who still had my back, the couple of teachers I could count on for guidance and advice, and my family of course. Without them, I do not know what I would have done.
The day I thought was normal changed a part of my life forever. Without this experience to not only help me make healthier and wiser decisions, I would have never been able to build up my confidence to stick up for myself when something goes wrong. Also, this opened my eyes to my true friends who I cherish to this day. Adding onto that, I would have always thought it was weak to break down, especially at school. I now know that when I feel something is not right to fix the situation before it leads to something bad. Lastly, I know that I need to think with my head when it comes to any situation and not go along with things that I know are not right.