"Time to Party"

What would you do if your life took a turn for the worse? What would you do if you made the wrong decision and lost your dream? For me, all of these questions were unanswered because I had no idea what to do after these questions became related to my life. My name is Allison Lates, I’m a normal 16 year old girl that stands 5’ 5’’. My straight blond hair hangs down to my lower back. I have blue eyes that people say seem to shine threw my bangs that sweeps across part of my tan face. In my opinion, I’m I smart girl, my idea of fun is getting homework done and studying for the big test that’s the next day. In fact I’m top of my class this year. I talk to pretty much everyone and have a best friend that is always there for me, Lauren. Lauren is the social part of our friendship, always doing something, always going somewhere. We have been best friends ever since I moved here to the small city of Stocking-ton in Salem, New Jersey. We promised to always be friends. My life seems like all is going well, so how did it get turned in the wrong direction?
“Allison, you have to come to this party with me,” Lauren said as she looked and saw a text message from her boyfriend Jake Lowly telling her details about the party. Lauren sat on my bedroom floor and begged her to go. Lauren got the same response every time.
“You know I’m not the kind of girl that goes to parties, people think of me as the girl that only does her homework, the girl that only has one friend, the girl that’s unsocial,” I said, starting in a whisper but getting louder when my anger came out about what people think of me. We sat in silence while we thought about what I said and how it was all really true.
Lauren stood up and walked over to the window that had bright yellow curtains hanging straight down and a view of the city. She stared for a while, my guess was that she was thinking about something, and I’m thinking it was something that had to do with me. She turned around and quietly said “You’re going to the party.” Then she turned back around only to watch cars driving by.
“But but… Lauren, you know that I wouldn’t fit in. I would be an outcast while you have fun. I would just be holding you back, you would probably be better off without me.” I said while I walked up to her and closed the curtains because I knew she wasn’t paying attention to me.
Lauren went and sat down in the black chair that looked like half of a sphere; it sat on a brightly colored striped rug that matched her bright and cheery room.
“Please go just this once, just this once come to a party with me and I guarantee you will have more fun than homework” Lauren said to me without even making eye contact it was more of a forceful statement than asking me to go. She knew that if she bugged me and asked me and didn’t let it go I would eventually give in to her. So that’s exactly what she did.
“Lauren, my idea of fun is sitting here doing hundreds of problems and writing more essays than I thought possible all for my dream, I want to graduate top of my class. Your dream is probably far from mine, but if you promise that I won’t have to go to any more parties after this one I’ll come.” I said. I was unsure on whether I really should go. I had a feeling down in the pit of my stomach that it wasn’t the smartest idea, but I tried to ignore it.
“I knew you would come! I knew I could get you to come with me, you won’t regret it, I promise!” Lauren screamed as she was jumping up and down and jumping on my bed.
“I didn’t know you would be this excited,” I exclaimed.
“What’s all the noise for girls?” My mom and dad yelled from downstairs.
“Mom, I’m going to a party tonight,” I said while I was walking down the steps.
“You are! Oh, have fun sweetie, but don’t forget to check in every now and again.” My. Mom said when I was already heading back upstairs to get ready. She wasn’t used to the words “Mom I’m going to a party” or mom I’m going anywhere.
“Hey Lauren, I’m actually kind of excited about this party.” I said while I was curling my hair and Lauren was picking out outfits for me to wear.
Its seven o’clock and time to head to the party. Allison’s mom is taking us. I’m sitting in the car and I’m as nervous as can be. I whisper over to Allison
“I’m kind of re-thinking this whole thing. What if people make fun of me?”
“You’ll be fine, you have me” Lauren said just as we pulled up to Matt Krus’s house.
We got out of the car and all I saw were crowds of people, lights flashing, people in a hot tub, a couple people showing some public display of affection and kids dancing and yelling. We walked over to group of kids that we recognized from school. I should probably rephrase that, the kids that Lauren recognized from school. When we went over I said hi but then I felt like an outsider just listening in on a conversation. The first thing I realized was that they were drinking. The next thing I knew I saw Lauren with a glass of alcohol in her hand.
“Lauren! What are you doing! Have you lost your mind?” I screamed over the loud music that was making my chest vibrate inside.
“Oh Allison, it’s just a little bit. It won’t kill you.” Lauren said in reply.
Matt Krus walked over and I tried to avoid eye contact but he saw me and of course he said something.
“Allison Lates at a party! I can’t believe it.” Matt said while he was swaying side to side. My guess was that he had a little too much to drink.
“Trust me it wasn’t my idea. I’d rather be at home.” I said not realizing that I was actually having a conversation with someone that right now probably can’t process two out of the three words that I say.
“Have a drink, it’ll do you good, take a break from being a good little girl that never does anything wrong” He said as he lifted his drink as if he was offering it to me.
“You think I’m the kind of girl that drinks?” I said while I was staring at Lauren, who kept taking drinks out of her glass and laughing at things that weren’t even funny. In my opinion she had too much to drink already and we needed to leave.
“Just try it!”
“Just try it.”
“Just try it.” Matt said over and over again.
I didn’t really understand what the big deal was and why he wanted me to try it so bad. I got so frustrated that I gave in. I took a drink, then another, and another.
“I told you, you would like it!” Matt said as I kept lifting the drink to my mouth. I felt like I didn’t want to stop. It was one of those things that once you start you didn’t want to stop. Long story short, I ended up drunk, no ride home and completely embarrassed. When I made it home the next morning I didn’t have a pleasing welcome, that’s for sure. I came home to a
“Where have you been, you go to one party and don’t come home! What are you thinking? Do you know how worried I’ve been? And the best part is that I got a call from Matts parents saying they had no idea there was a party, no supervision and there was drinking. You of all people were drinking!” My mom said when I stepped foot in the door.
“Mom I’m sorry, I guess I just wasn’t thinking.” I said trying to apologize and help things a little bit even though she was so furious I could just see the steam coming out of her ears and her face that was read as an apple while she screamed.
“Allison, I don’t think you understand, this could become a habit. You could lose your dream; it could take control of your life.” She said while she was looking around the room. She was probably looking for something to give her an idea of punishment.
“Mom, it won’t become a habit I won’t ever do it again, school work will always come first.” I said, trying to make her feel better when the truth was that I really did like going to parties and drinking all because I tries it the one time.
Six years later…
I’m 22, unemployed, didn’t go to college, have no friends, and have nothing to look forward to. I blame it all on that first drink I took at Matt’s party. Because after that I didn’t stop drinking, It was the cool think to do I guess. I lost all my friends including Lauren, But most importantly I lost my dream of graduating top of my class, instead I was in about the bottom three. All of this happened because I put myself in a situation at the wrong time, in the wrong year, and with the wrong people. I gave into peer pressure and if I could do it over I would, I would understand how important it is to think something through before you do it and not give in to people around you that are trying to force you to do something you don’t want to do. So, what did I do when my life took a turn for the worse? I kept turning and kept making the wrong decisions and it took me six years to realize what I did and how I’m affected by it. What did I do when I lost my dream? I gave up on dreaming about anything else because I made a stupid decision and lost my first one. So I made the wrong decision and I lost my dream.