"I'll be all right"

“That test was so hard, I hate math class,” wined Madison as we walked to out of school together. Madison has been my very best friend since we were really little. We grew up together living in the same neighborhood and our parents were really good friends as well. She’s one of the nicest girls I know, but man she loves to complain.
“I didn’t think it was that hard,” I replied.
“You never think anything is hard. You’re just naturally really smart,” she said.
Everyone thought I was the smartest kid around. I never really understood why people thought that. I mean, I got good grades and all but I’m not a genius or anything like that. Everything just comes to me I guess. I giggled and said, “No, that test was actually really easy. You’re just stupid,”
“Wow thanks Cade. Aren’t you a great friend?” she said.
“Oh c’mon, you know I’m just messing around with you! I don’t think you’re stupid,” I said.
“Yeah right,” giggled Madison. “I’ll see you later.”
“All right,” I said as I walked the other way to my car.
When I walked through the door, I could smell the food my mom was cooking for dinner.
“Hi Cade, how was school today?” asked my mom.
“It was alright, I think I did really well on my math test,” I said.
“Well that’s good!” said my mom.
“I’m going upstairs to work on some homework,” I said.
When I got up to my room, I decided to work on some science homework. I always used to love science, but for some odd reason I feel like I’m struggling more this year than I ever have. As I was doing my homework, I heard a knock on my door.
“Who is it?” I asked.
“It’s Ryan,” he said.
Ryan is my little brother. He’s sixteen years old, and the most annoying kid in the world. For as old as he is, he should be a lot more mature but he’s not.
“Can I borrow a shirt of yours?” asked Ryan.
“Why?” I asked.
“I just want to borrow your shirt, is that too much to ask?” he said.
“Well no, I’m only asking why you want it,” I said.
“Fine whatever man,” said Ryan.
All of a sudden he started screaming and throwing a huge fit saying that I’m hurting him and stuff when I wasn’t!
“Cade, stop it! Get off of me!”
He was right across the room. I was nowhere near him, but for some reason, he felt the need to get me in trouble.
“What’s going on in here?” said mom.
“He was hurting me! He wouldn’t get off of me. I didn’t even do anything, all I did was ask to borrow one of his shirts and he started hitting me and stuff!” said Ryan.
“I did not!”
“Yes you did!”
“Okay, stop it guys, Cade why would you do such a thing?” she said.
“Me? I wasn’t the one doing anything! He came up here and asked to borrow a shirt. I asked why he wanted my shirt, and he threw a fit and tried making it look like I was hurting him to get me in trouble,” I said.
“Now why would he do that?” she said.
“I don’t know, cause he hates me!” I said.
“He don’t hate you, and you know that.” She said.
“Wow, whatever,” I said.
“Don’t use that tone with me young man. You will respect your mother,”
“Yeah, well where does the respect I deserve?” I said.
“You get respect,” she said.
“Bull! Every time something like this happens, you blame me and take his side when I didn’t even do anything!” I yelled back.
“I’m not doing this right now, I have things to do. You’re grounded. End of story,”
“What? I’m grounded?” I said.
“Yeah you are,” she said.
“No I’m not, I’m leaving. I can’t stand it here,”
“Uh huh, and where you going to go huh?” she said.
“Anywhere but here,” I replied.
Then I walked out of my room, out the door and into my car. I can’t believe that mom is going to take Ryan’s side of all this. I decided to go to Madison’s.
“Cade?” said Madison as she answered the door.
“Hey. Sorry I just showed up, but I got in a fight with my mom over the stupidest thing so I wanted to see if you wanted to hang out or something,” I said.
“I would, but I have to go out to dinner with my parents.. I’m sure it’s okay if you come, I’d just have to ask,” she said.
“No, it’s okay. I don’t want to intrude. I think I’m just going to go drive around and get my anger out and stuff,”
“You sure?” she asked.
“Yeah, I’m sure. Have fun with your family,” I replied.
“I’ll try,” she said.
I walked to my car, and sat there trying to figure out where to go next. I couldn’t go home; I’d be in so much trouble once my dad came home. Plus, I don’t even want to be there. I can’t stand it. So I decided to just drive around and find something to do. All of a sudden, I just felt really angry. I pulled over, walked to the alley across the street and just started to let everything out; everything that I’ve been keeping inside of me for the longest time. Then out of nowhere, I saw a guy watching me.
“You angry?” said the man.
“Yes I am,” I replied.
“Why you mad?” he asked.
“It’s my family. I can’t stand them one bit,” I replied.
“Hm, I got something that could take your mind off the anger you have towards your family,” he said.
“What is it?”
“Drugs,” he said.
“Oh no, I do not do that stuff,” I replied.
“Oh c’mon, don’t be a little baby. It’s not that bad. You just take a little bit of some Mary Jane, and everything you feel disappears in a flash. It’s one of the greatest things ever, trust me,” he said.
I sat there and contemplated doing it. I mean, how bad could it be? I know a lot of people that do it, and they turn out okay.
“I’ll give it a shot, but only a little bit,” I replied.
“All right,” he replied. “Let’s get started,”
“One other thing.. What’s your name?” I asked.
“Cody,” he replied.
And then we walked away together not knowing I was about to make the worst decision of my life.
I can’t believe I did that. I didn’t like it at first, but after awhile I really got used to it. It’s such a rush. I don’t think I’m going to do it again though. I know what I did was wrong. It just felt so amazing. It’s not like any feeling I’ve ever had. I tell Madison everything; I’m not sure how she’s going to take me telling her this.
“I got to talk to you Maddie,” I said.
“What is it,” she said as we walked into school together the next day.
“I have a confession,”
“All right, well speak up,” she said.
“I.. I tried marijuana yesterday,”
“You what? Are you crazy?” she said.
“I’m sorry! It’s just, after I left your house I got really angry for some reason. I pulled the car over, and got out and met this kid named Cody. He asked why I was so angry, and I explained everything to him, and he talked me into doing it, I’m sorry!” I said.
“Cade, it’s all right. I’m not mad at you, I just think what you did was really stupid,” she said.
“I know, and I’m not going to do it ever again I promise,” I said.
After school, I didn’t know where I was going to go. I knew I couldn’t go home. So I decided to go back to the alley, find Cody and tell him I didn’t ever want to see him again or do drugs again. When I got there I didn’t see him anywhere, so I just waited. He eventually showed up.
“Hey man, what’s going on?” he asked.
“Look, I know what I did yesterday was wrong. So I decided to just come tell you that I never want to do it again. Despite how great it was, it’s not for me. I have priorities like family, school, and friends. Drugs aren’t one of them,” I said.
“What about your family? I thought you couldn’t stand them?”
“Well, I’m just mad at them. I’m almost eighteen; pretty soon I’ll be out the house. I don’t need drugs to get me through my last year of high school,”
“Your family doesn’t care about you though. If they did, they would believe you and trust you when you tell them the truth,”
“That is true,” I said.
“Drugs are the only cure for dealing with things like this. If you just do them your last year and then stop when you leave home, you’ll be okay and happy I promise you,” he said.
“You think so?” I asked.
“I know so Cade. Drugs have helped me in ways no other things has helped me. So you in?” he asked.
“I’m in,” I said.
“All right, what do you want to do today?” he asked.
“I don’t know, what do you got?” I asked.
“I got some coke,” he said.
“Woah. All right,” I said.
Next thing I know I was waking up in an alley the next day alone. It was 12:00 in the afternoon. I had missed school! How could I have been so stupid? But last night was just so great. I’ve never had a feeling like that before. It gave me even a better rush than the marijuana gave. I know it was bad, but I couldn’t help myself. I wonder where Cody went. Why wouldn’t he have woken me up before he left? I decided to just get into my car, and go home. I haven’t been home in days; my parents are going to kill me. Right when I got home, I walked up the steps, ignored everyone and went straight to my room and locked the door. I heard my parents yelling, but I didn’t care. I decided to just sneak out my window and go try and find Cody. I found him not too far from the alley.
“Do you have anything else that I can take? My family is driving me crazy,” I said.
“Hey well, this all isn’t going to come free for forever. I’m going to need some money my friend,”
“All right, how much?” I asked.
“Well, I got some pain pills that you can have. But it’s going to cost you about a 100 dollars,” he said.
“Okay, I got that money,” I said. And I handed him the money.
“Here you go,” he said and he handed me the pain pills.
I decided to go home and do them. I know they are wrong, so I decided doing them at home would be safer than out in the open. These were really good too. I like them a lot but I feel bad hiding this all from Madison. I haven’t talked to her in the longest time and I really miss her.
“Cade, what is going on?” asked Madison the next day at school.
“You can’t judge but I got to tell you some stuff,” I said.
“Is this about the drugs?” she asked.
“Yeah. I did more than just marijuana. I tried coke, and I have pain pills. But, there’s no reason to be worried about me, I’ll be okay. I just wanted to tell you that I can’t be your friend anymore. I don’t want to put you through all this; it’s not fair to you. I’m sorry,” I said and then walked off.
That had to have been one of the hardest things I ever had to do. It’s hard giving up your best friend, but it’s even harder giving up the drugs. All I do is want more, and crave more. When I finally got home, I got yelled at like no other. I’ve never heard my parents get as mad as they were right then. But I didn’t care, as long as I have my pills I’ll be okay. The next day when I was cleaning the dishes, I heard a yell from my mom.
“What is this?” she asked.
It was my pills. Oh no.
“Uhh,” I said.
“Answer me! What are these?” she yelled.
“Pills,” I said.
“Why do you have these Cade!” she said.
“I don’t know mom! I just like them. They’re not bad,” I said.
“Not bad? Pain pills are one of the most addictive drugs in America and you’re going to tell me they aren’t bad?” she said.
“They just make me feel good, mom. Maybe if you guys didn’t treat me like such crap I wouldn’t have to act like this,” I said.
“Don’t you dare try to blame your addiction on us! We didn’t do anything, you know better than to do stuff like this. We didn’t raise you like this,” she said.
“Whatever mom,” I said.
“Don’t whatever me. Your dad is going to be so mad at you,” she said.
“You’re going to tell dad?” I asked.
“Well, yeah. You need help Cade.” She said.
“Help? So now I’m crazy huh?”
“You’re not crazy; you just need help to beat this addiction. This isn’t good!” she said.
“So what are you going to do?” I said.
“I’m enrolling you into rehab,” she said.
“Are you serious?” I asked.
“I’m dead serious. You need the help,” she said.
Then I just walked out of my room, and went downstairs. I was a little mad, but I guess not that bad. I guess she’s just trying to look out for me, I do need the help.
The next few days, my mom took me to rehab. It was really weird at first, but I was kind of glad that I was going to be getting the help that I needed. Before we went there, I decided to go over to Madison’s and apologize for the way that I had acted. When I rang the door bell, her mom answered.
“Hi Cade,” she said with a smile.
“Hi Mrs Gibble. Can I talk to Madison for a few minutes?” I asked.
“Yeah, I’ll send her right down,” she said.
“Thanks,” I replied.
When Madison got to the door, she looked really confused and angry.
“What do you want?” she asked.
“Look, I know you’re mad at me. And I know I treated you like crap the other day, and I’m sorry. But I just wanted to tell you that I’m getting help and I’m heading to rehab right now. I don’t want you to be mad at me, Maddie.” I said.
“It’s okay, I understand that when you get hooked on drugs that it’s hard to quit. I’m just glad you’re getting help,” she said.
“Me too,” I replied.
The next thing I know was that she kissed me. I was really shocked, but it was surprisingly really nice.
“I’ve liked you for awhile Cade, and I feel right now was the best moment to let that all out. I’m just really happy that you’re getting help. I was really worried about you,” she said.
“I’ll be okay,” I said. Then I kissed her, and told her bye.
There’s one thing that I’ve learned from all this. I’ve learned that drugs are never the key to happiness no matter what I’m going through. I know I’ll be all right.