My Fault

The call

I scattered all the papers for my art project all over the floor of my room. I was to cut out certain shapes and pictures and make a mural that involved my life in some way. It was a big project, worth half of my entire grade for the class, and as due in two weeks. Everyone was to come in early the day it was due and plaster their mural on the wall, and then go around to other's and answer questions on a worksheet. When mine was put together it was going to shape a tree. I had cut outs of words from a magazine, enlarged pictures of when I was younger and some with my family and friends, and then some things that revolved around my life. The trunk of the tree was going to be the pictures of family and friends, and then the words would be the branches, leaving the personal interests as the leaves. I had it all mapped out in my head, and it looked wonderful.

I was never one for art, but needed it to pass high school. I hadn't taken any foreign language classes, wasn't involved in band, and wouldn't bother with cooking classes, so this was what I decided to take. I had met some awesome people in it too, and they were soon very good friends of mine. The end of the school year was in a month, so everyone was wrapping up projects and studying for final exams. I never studied only because I found it extremely boring. I just did my work and hoped I would pass the tests, which I usually did.

My junior year was coming to a close, and it kind of saddened me to think I had only one year left with the amazing people I met along the way of growing up. I knew I would have many more adventures in my lifetime, but I wanted to live in the moment and soak up all the memories before it was too late. I met my best friend freshmen year, and she's become the main source of happiness in my life. I loved my family, don't get me wrong, but I preferred spending time with my friends. Every teenager was like that.

I lit up a cigarette in my room and took a few drags while looking down at my project. I had a sheet of printing paper in front of me that I used to draw out what my project would look like in the end. I had placed number on the back of the pictures so I knew which picture went where, and that's how I mapped it out on the piece of paper. I was always one to work on a project for hours on end so I could spend the rest of the time hanging out with my friends and having fun. I didn't like being cooped up in my house too much because my brother and sister were so annoying sometimes. They were both 7, fraternal twins. Sometimes I was able to drown out the noise, but not a lot because my room resided on the main floor. Their rooms, along with my parents, were upstairs, but most of the daily activities were done on the floor mine was on.

I was just about to put away my project when my mom was calling my name. "Laylah! Chelsea's here!"

I set the cigarette in the ash tray and ran out of my room, closing the door behind me. When I got to the living room, I smiled and raced over to Chelsea, my best friend. "Hey hoe!" I replied, our usual introductions always had an insult, but we were always just playing around.

"Hey slut, let's go!" She said.

We linked our arms and walked down the sidewalk. I called out to my mom to let her know I was going to the mall with Chelsea, then turned straight forward again. We made our way down my driveway and into her car. We were both 17, but she had her license and I didn't. My mom told me I needed to get a job before I got mine so I could pay for gas, and she would pay for the insurance. I had been searching, but gave up to focus on my school work and promised my mom I would go hardcore into job hunting once summer came.

The ride to the mall was filled with blaring music, talk of cute boys, and letting the sun form our tans. She had a blue slug bug convertable, and the top was down because it was 75 degrees out. Our town was located about an hour away from Chicago, so this weather was common for the time of year. Illinois was messed up though. One day it could be nice and sunny, and then the next we were all busting out our winter jackets to go and shovel the driveway because it had snowed three inches during the night. I was used to it by now though because I had lived here my whole life.