Redemption

Chapter 2

After that night, I started avoiding all of my friends, especially Liam. I went out of my to make sure he didn’t see him. After school, I was walking home and saw someone behind me so I started running and stopped when I heard a voice say “Wait!” I turned my head around and saw Liam.

“Why were you running?” Liam asked.

“I thought you were some random pervert was following me around. I’m a 17 year old girl and this is New York City!” I uttered. 

“Good, I thought you were avoiding me especially since I didn’t see you at lunch and you seemed really upset yesterday” Liam said worriedly. I saw how worried Liam was and realized that he was a good guy and he cares for me even if it’s not in the way I want.

I cared enough about him that I didn’t want him to be worried so I said “I was just doing some research for a project.” Liam flashed a relieved smile and I knew that I couldn’t stay away from him even if we could only ever be friends.

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“Danette!” Ms. Debrachi yelled at me.

 Surprised, I said a stupid “What?”

“Finally! Lately you haven’t been paying attention much and your grades have been plummeting.”

“I’m sorry; I just have a lot on my mind.”

“I know, but as your guidance counselor I need to make sure your grades don’t go so down.” I started blushing, feeling embarrassed especially since I prided myself on my smarts. “Don’t worry Ms. Debrachi. I promise I’ll bring my grades back up!” I replied. No matter what I wouldn’t mess up my only chances to getting somewhere with my life. So, I kept on trying and trying but I still wasn’t able to stay focused.

Later that day while walking home from school, I saw Sarah from school; she’s the one who’s probably going to be the valedictorian. Sarah has a tough exterior but is actually a nice person inside if you get to know her.

 “Danette, what’s wrong? You don’t look so well.” she asked.

“Yeah, no matter what I do I can’t seem to keep my focus. How do you do it Sarah?” I asked. Sarah glanced around and looked me straight in the eye.

 “I probably shouldn’t tell you this but… I have some extra help if you know what I mean…” she spoke bluntly.

 “Extra help what? What are you talking about?” I said naively.

 “I use this special type of …drug. Don’t look at me like that! It’s not like that! These aren’t regular drugs, they help you stay up longer and get more focus, besides, they’re practically legal compared to some of the drugs that the kids at school snort.”, Sarah spoke.

“Sarah! Are you crazy?! Drugs are going to completely mess up your system! You WANT to die?!” I yelled at her.

“I knew you’d act like this but please just try it! I’m getting really worried about you!”

“You are worried about me?! That’s the reverse of what’s supposed to be going on!”

 “Danette, do you know how competitive it is out there? Some people have advantages because of their money or connections. We don’t have that, this is our edge!” she said with vehemence.

“You know that those drugs won’t help you when the cops haul you to jail for possession!” I screamed.

“How about this, just try it once, please?” she asked.

“No!” “

Come on, it really works and it really helped me when…”

 “When what?”

“I was dealing with the fact that my dad just beat me to an inch of my life! Okay!” she screamed.

“Oh, Sarah.” I knew that this wasn’t something she liked to talk about. Last year, Sarah's dad starting beating her. He'd always been violent but especially so after he lost his job. She started showing up to school with bruises to school. It got so bad that one day she didn't even come to school. Sarah's the girl who'll come to school no matter what. I knew it was serious and saw her knocked unconsious while her father continued hitting her while her mother hid. I immediately called 911 and Sarah's dad is in jail.

She's still living with her mom but they'll never  have the same relationship again. To talk about it meant she felt really strong about these drugs.

 “It’s not that bad right?” I asked.

“Like I said before, it’s practically legal!”

 “Fine, you win Sarah, I’ll try it.” I said defeated.

“You won’t regret it!” she promised with a smile.

“Only one time Sarah, only one time.” I said firmly. If I only knew how wrong I was going to be.