If You Leave - Leonardo DiCaprio

1.5

After I woke up and Jim was gone for good, I called Kit. She was supposed to come that day, and I caught her up on the news about Jim.

"Kate, I'm so sorry. Maybe it's for the best." She'd said. She came and visited me for a while anyway, and it was good to have her. We'd watched movies and made dinner together, and talked about her art school (which she got into on scholarship).

We saw each other luckily. We'd talked about moving in together, but Kit feared being away from her Gran would put her sobriety in jeopardy. I completely understood, so we put that plan on the back burner.

We continued to visit each other often, and called each other at least once a week, probably more if we had big things to talk about. I called her the day I applied for the grant that would allow me to finish school and pay for my rehab. She called me the day she got asked to have her art in a show at her school, and of course I went.

Our friendship is still lasting.

as for Neutron, I stopped taking his calls after Jim told me what really happened, and he eventually showed up outside my door, weeks later.

"Kate, cmon, It was for your own good!" He'd said  after multiple attempts to get me to open the door. "I know what's good for me, Neutron. For once in my fucking life I know what to do for myself. I don't need your shitty input. Now leave before I call the police." I'd yelled through the door.

He never bothered me again.

I got through my schooling, I had to start my education back at 8th grade. But I completed high school and received my diploma at 19 years old. Kit and Mona came to my graduation from the program, and we celebrated with a grand cake afterwards.

"So Kate. What's the plan now?" Kit asked me that evening as the sun set on the horizon. The city lights were shining brighter by the second, as the sky became darker. "I wanna help people. People like us." I said.

"You wanna be a drug counselor?" She asked. I nodded. "Yeah. I wanna go work at St Christopher's. Or some place like it." I said.

"Then let's get you into college, my girl." She said nudging my shoulder with hers.

That brings us to the present day. I'm currently enrolled in college studying psychology, and almost done with my bachelors degree. Later I plan to come back for my masters.

Since I started the program, I've consistently gone to NA meetings and made a few more friends, became a sponsor to other people trying to stay clean.

I'd just finished up a meeting and was helping clean up with some of my friends. "Kate! A few of us are going to a poetry reading at the old theatre! Wanna come?" Kit asked. "Yeah, it'll be fun, come!" Oliver said.

"Uh, sure! Sounds like a good time. I'm not ready to go home anyway." I laughed and grabbed my coat and hat.

We locked up and headed down the street just talking about this and that. We went inside and we bought tickets. Id never gotten to go to shows when it was just my mom and me. Let alone when I was hooked on junk. I really liked seeing plays by the community theatre and movies put on by the historical society, just catching up on what all I had missed.

We sat to the side of the stage, and the posters read "The Basketball Diaries". I couldn't make out the names at the bottom, they were too far away. Suddenly, the lights lowered and the crowd became quiet.