Life for a Teen

It seems unfair and like no one listens to you. Why does it feel like your only being brought down? To me it feels like I’m trapped and something’s holding me back. But what is it? My conclusion so far...is life.

Hi, my name is Erica Parks. I’m fifteen years old and pretty much spinning out of control...that or I’m practically drowning. Life for me is pretty bad. Some days I just want to give up, throw everything away, and die. I’m stuck in the mud and no one is saving me. To sum it up I feel lost. I want to be this person and then I don’t know for sure if I’m making the right choice. Then I don’t know who to be or where to go.

Well, more about why life is so bad. Middle School is one of the hardest things in life, that’s fact. Then there are the guys and popular girls. Middle School holds a nightmare waiting for you. The teachers are cruel...some of them. There is too much homework and grades drop sometime. If you think you’re a perfect A student...believe me...it won’t stay that way forever. The cafeteria food is next. If you’re lucky you might get two good meals in one week. Other than that its leftovers and disgusting. Now of course there’s fitting in. Yes I know people tell you to be yourself...but it’s not as easy as it looks. One point in life you’ll be desperate to fit in and feel the glory. You’ll get tired of being a nobody to the popular people. If you disagree...good for you.

Big reason number two why life is horrible. Your parents and sibling and any other family will give you no privacy what so ever...so it seems. Siblings go through your diary or listen to you on the phone. Parents look over your shoulder to see what your instant messaging to your friends. And finally their questions never end. Especially the stupid ones like why do you look this way? My response is what look? This is my face, got a problem? Of course getting grounded is an always. I’ll get to the point where I’m so annoyed and ticked off...that’s when I pull out my attitude...which gets me grounded from friends and electronics. Basically...my whole world shuts down and everything goes wrong.

Now reason three that makes life a nightmare for me. It’s just being a teenager. My age is where you get offered drugs and alcohol. The majority of teens get started on these kinds of things around thirteen or fourteen. It’s really sad what our society is coming to. My age group is most likely the highest pressure point. Soon enough depression comes and you’ll crave a way out of your misery. And of course getting high seems like a solution...but it’s not. Trust me. I know from experience.

Well you now know the worst three things that make life a disaster. And being a teenager in a world like this today is one of the most complicated things you will have to deal with in life. For me, it feels like nothing can get worse. This is my story of life for me as a teen. And let me tell you...believe it or not...you will learn from your mistakes.

Part One

Chapter 1

My past is still part of me...I knew who I was back then...but what happened? It felt like I knew who I wanted to be, where I wanted to go, and what I wanted to do. It seemed like everything was clear. I was different from what I am today but I got this way...how?

Rise and shine. It was seven-o-clock in the morning and school was going to start at nine. I could sleep in or get up early like today and get dressed up. I’m in the fifth grade and let me tell you about me. I have long light brown hair and pretty green eyes that like to sparkle. I love school and seeing my friends. I’m very close with my family. I get A’s and B’s in school...though I’m trying my best to get straight A’s.

I got up and opened my closet. What to wear? I pulled out a blue shirt with a butterfly on it and a new pair of jeans my mom bought for me. I chose a white belt out of my collection. I walked to the bathroom and brushed my hair. I put it up in bun with wisps of hair hanging out. I opened the drawer and pulled out my lip gloss. I glossed them after I brushed my teeth. I left my room and picked up my backpack. I looked into the mirror to see a beautiful person staring back. Now I had thirty minutes left to sit back and relax.

I turned on the t.v. and flipped through the channels. My parents already left for work around six. I looked at the clock I had to leave around eight twenty to make it to school in time. So I turned off the t.v. and started walking to school. Maybe I could get there earlier than usual and be the first to class that way I have time to socialize with my friends. My school was about a block away...not far at all. I got to school and saw my buddies. We hung out and talked to each other before the bell rang. Sure enough I was first to class.

My classmates walked in and I waved to them. I was kind of like the cool kid. I was friends with many and loved by plenty. I didn’t really consider myself popular...just a really cool laid back kid. Trust me, I wasn’t popular. Bryan Neil was the popular kid. He’s in sixth grade and was elected school president. I was the student who knew almost everyone. You get the picture.

School started and the lesson began. Four hours went by quickly and it was time for lunch. Our table should only have six people...but usually we had about eight. My table was loud and we had a lot of fun at lunch. Recess was next on the agenda. We ran to the playground and got our section of it. We hung out on this platform that was the second tallest and had a slide. We just sat and talked about different things. Before the end of recess we would play the famous complicated hand game tweedle little de. We played the three people version and split into two different groups. Melissa was my best friend. We would do everything together. Soon enough the whistle blew and we had to line up to go back inside.

The next two hours raced by and the school day finished. I came home like an angel and did my homework with Melissa. We went outside and walked to the nearby park. We sat on the swings and had a contest who could go the highest. “I’m higher than you!” Melissa shouted.

“Nu uh! You just wait!” I called out. Pumping my legs back and forth in the same pattern I increased speed and soon was higher than Melissa. She jumped off her swing and landed in the grass. She tumbled down and rolled to a stop. I laughed and jumped off too landing next to her. “That was fun. See. Told you so.” Melissa laughed. We left the park and headed to our tree house. I climbed up to the top and looked out the window. Melissa sat down against one of the walls.

“This place holds so many memories. Remember the time when we had the root beer float chugging contest with Leah and them. That was so much fun,” Melissa said smiling. She looked over to me. I turned to her.

“Yeah. That was too fun,” I said sitting down next to her.

“Hey Erica, promise me something, please,” Melissa said gently. I looked her in the eyes. Anything, I thought.

“What is it?” I asked.

“Promise me we’ll always be friends. My sister is going into high school and she has lost friends here and there. She says it’s a part of life that you can’t change. But we can’t let that happen to us. So no matter what, we’ll stay friends. Promise?” she asked. I smiled.

“Cross my heart, hope to die. Stick a needle in my eye. Pinky swear,” I said holding out my pinky finger. She shook it with her pinky. We laughed and headed to Melissa’s place. I dropped her off and ran back home. I went to my room and lay down on my bed. I let out a sigh of exhaustion and closed my eyes to just think. I ended up falling asleep. I had the most weird dream. It was also kind of strange.

I saw boy laying in the street and his face pale. People around me were saying that he was stoned and killed by car. I shot up from my dream. It felt so real like it happened. But it was no big deal. I shrugged it off and got over it. I got up and looked at the clock. It was already five-o-clock. My day just flew by. I went to the kitchen to find my family eating dinner. My brother chomped down his steak and chugged his milk. “Now can I go outside to play?” he asked. I sat down diagonal from him.

“About time you joined us sleepy head...and no. Billy you can’t go out till you eat your salad,” mom replied.

Billy sure enough ate his salad and left the table to go play outside. I picked at the thick steak on the plate in front of me. My parents continued in conversation. My dad looked over at me and asked, “How was your day?”

“Great,” I said. This was his normal routine. The questions he would ask in this exact order everyday at dinner were how was your day, what did you do, did you have fun, would you go get me a refill on my drink?

“So...what did you do today?” he asked. Wow! I was right...how did I know?

“Nothing,” I replied. That was what I always said. I did something I went to school...but nothing happened...that’s not normal. I slightly laughed. I knew what he was thinking. Probably something like ‘she always says that’.

“Did you have fun today?” I nodded my head and picked up his glass and walked over to the sink. I filled it up with water. I came back and set it down where it was before and then I sat myself back down.

“Thank you Erica,” he said smiling. I tried not to smile but I slightly did. I went to bed early but I didn’t actually fall asleep till really late. Well let me sum up fifth grade for you. I remained happy and perky. Summer break was awesome. I spent it with Melissa and Leah, my greatest best friends ever. I loved them to death. Soon enough sixth grade was coming up.

I noticed that lately I had been having dreams. Not just dreams. But like my dreams started coming true. I had a dream my brother broke his wrist...and he ended up braking his wrist. This wasn’t a coincidence because it didn’t happen one time. It’s happened a lot. I’m starting to worry though. I had a dream that I was skateboarding...it already sounds weird. Like I would skateboard? And well a car was coming...I was killed. I fear that my dream will come true. I don’t understand it though. I looked nothing like me. But people were crying out my name...Erica Parks.

I was worried and frightened. I guess you could say I started changing little by little. The dreams made me a little paranoid. No I never turned into a person always looking over my shoulder and locking myself in a room with nothing that could hurt me. I continued to play it out. I continued to be the cool kid.

Sixth grade was right around the corner. I got great teacher. She taught us life’s lessons and that no matter how hard you try...you can’t run from life’s problems. You just have to face them.