Life Lesson

Up until that day, I swear I thought I was invincible. I guess this is the same with all twelve year old girls who think they know all that there is to know about life. I was never one to be a follower but I must admit my friends were a major influence in my early life. As a matter of fact this day was not only the day I realized how wrong and little I knew about life but it also became the reason I changed my life and circle of friends around.
It all started when I got sent to a different school than my friends my freshman year; first day of school I was feeling as cool as the other side of the pillow when reality gently slapped me in the face and I realized; I was no longer Rosa but instead “the freshman”, the girl no one else other than other freshman cared to get to know, the girl who went unnoticed all day. All of a sudden it wasn’t so refreshing and exciting to see so many new faces, different races and ages all gathered in the same place. The urge to get up and walk away from that place came over me and all I wanted more than anything in the world was to see a familiar face. I decided I wasn’t going to let it get to me so I became friends with Melissa; she was the coolest girl I had ever met in my life. Her personality was as contagious as a cold and as destructive as a tornado. For months, we hung out and even though I knew she was trouble, I just could not get passed how liberal and expressive she always was. She dressed how she wanted and came about as she pleased. Together we thought we ruled the world. One day, Melissa approached me and said “hey lets go for a ride”. I said “of course”. Not caring where we were going, I got in her car and we drove off. She drove up into a dark neighborhood, at this point my heart sta6rts pounding harder than ever before. I ask her, “What are we doing here?” She said “oph we are just getting some weed.” Thinking this was cool, I played along as If this was a normal thing for me. As she is making her “transaction”, the man who she is buying it from pulled out a gun and pointed it at us. He said, “Give me whatever else you have of money in your purse or I am going to shoot both of you”. This was the moment it all became real, I could not believe we were going through that, I felt so powerless. Thankfully she acted on reaction and drove off so quickly, I bet the tire marks are still marked on the pavement of that street. That day I realized how much of nothing we both knew and parted our ways.