We Are Young

Eric Adams

 "Eric come out of your room, Now !"

I ignored her hoping that she would let me have a couple more minutes to myself, but that just wouldn't be like my mom. She nearly pushed my door down, walked in and told me to go outside and wait for my bus. My mother was a small frail woman, with an extremely strong personality. She had the same almond shaped eyes the my aunt and myself shared. She wore short natural hair and had beautiful smooth caramel skin. She was an extremely beautiful woman but the stress had a toll on her, which gave her wrinkles, blackheads, and even a small mustache that she hoped no one would notice. My mother has been acting very bi-polar lately, but i coudn't blame her she was extremely stressed out. 

   Like any other good mother, my mom could immediately see how stressed I was. She sat down on my bed gave me a smile and was preparing for one of her pep talks. I instantly got nervous and prayed to God that she wouldn't smell the strong smell of Alcohol on my breath. I decided to not talk and let her do all of the talking.

"Listen I know how much you don't want to be in this predicament, but we all have to go threw these rough times every once in a while" she continued with " Today won't be nearly as bad as you think it will be, just be yourself and friends will come to you, okay. Now how about I take you to school today" 

   Even though there was a risk of people seeing the banged up 1997 Toyota Camry we had, it was still better than riding a bus full of strangers. I gave my mom a grin and thankfully said yes. She smelled nothing, thank God.

    We pulled up to a school that looked like it was getting remodeled, there was dust and dirt all over the place and in the middle were three buildings made of very old, rustic looking, bricks, and a sign saying welcome to Lakefront High School. My mom unlocked the door which was her way of saying get out. I gave her a kiss picked up my book bag and went to school. All of my nightmares were coming out to be very true. All of the kids were in their own cliques and I was all alone by myself in the middle of a bundled up hallway. The fear came back into me and I needed help. I ran into the nearest bathroom, got into the stall, and locked it. I got my backpack and opened the largest pocket. There it was my collection of Alcohol. I took out the tequila and chugged it down, that and a mixture of vodka made me feel fine. I put everything back into my backpack, washed my mouth with water and left the bathroom. Something didn't feel right though, my mind felt like it was processing many things at once and everything became a blur. Shit. It hit me like a ton of bricks. I was drunk out of my fucking mind.

   I quickly went to my first class, hoping that nobody would noticed my weird off balance walking,which was history with Mr.Polick. Mr.Polick was an old man who looked like he had not caught up with modern time fashion. He was wearing a shirt that resembled a picnic blanket tucked into high top jeans. I went to the teacher and quickly introduced myself, as I left to approach the nearest seat, the teacher told me to come back to the front of the classroom. As the bell rung a series of people ran into the classroom and sat down in there seats. It seemed like everyone was wearing extremely nice clothes, the kind that I used to wear, but that I no longer have. It then suddenly hit me, the teacher was setting me up for the worst thing that he could of possibly done. An introduction. At this point I was scared. I was drunk and could barely stand up,and I knew that the group of teenagers were smart enough to notice.

   The teacher got up from his seat and said "Class this is Eric Adams, he is a new student from New Jersey" 

    The thirty seconds I was up there felt like 3 hours, I could feel people looking at me. There stares were going straight threw my body, burning me while doing so. I needed for it to be over. I gave a slight grin and managed to walk to the seat that was farthest back, almost tripping and knocking down a girls books while doing so. I felt people staring at me, I could feel there eyes watching me, I could hear them snickering about me. I just wanted it all to end. Just when I thought that things couldn't get worse, I heard the teacher walk out the room. I was all alone and to make things worse the teacher was out of the room. Any one of these kids could say something horrible to me and face no consequence. I was scared and anxious at the same time. The first person to say anything to me was the typical class jock, Josh Nichols. He obviously played some kind of sport because he was wearing a track jacket, that had our schools purple and gold colors on them. He had a muscular physique, with pearly white teeth, and could easily get any girl he wanted. He disgusted me. Josh had his little posse of friends who stared at him during every single step he took. As he walked over to my seat,  I could instantly feel my heart beating out of my chest. He sat down next to me and started interrogating me.

"Hey dude whats your name again"

"Eric"

Josh was pushed back by my breath and could instantly sense that I was drunk, he then turned around to the class, and prepared to talk

"Ha, it looks like the new kid was determined to make a first impression"

The class laughed with him and turned so they could face me. He looked back at me and continued with the interrogation

"Have you been drinking dude"

I didn't say a word, not because of his dumb question, but because I was in pain. My stomach was completely fucked up, it felt like needles were stabbing me multiple times non stop, i felt like crying. I got up and walked out the classroom. The whole class stared at me during the process, I could tell that they thought that I was weird, but I didn't care I needed to get out. I opened the door and ended up facing the teacher. I told him that I needed to go to the restroom, and he responded by nodding, I then zoomed right passed  him.

I ran into the hallway as fast as I could. Due to me being drunk, and the speed of my running, I lacked to notice the girl in the middle of the hallway. I tripped over her foot and fell head first onto the ground. The girl ran to me but I didn't have enough time to hear her apology. I entered the bathroom, ran to the stall, and puked my brains out. I heard a voice coming from the bathroom entrance which I made out to be a female voice.

"You okay"

I could tell she heard me throwing up and I felt slightly embarrassed by that. I finished throwing up but felt like shit, I turned around to wash my hands just to find a girl right in front of me. She had a water bottle in her hands, and handed it to me.

"Drink this, it should help your stomach settle"

I responded with a simple "Thank you"

I was hoping that the girl would leave but she didn't, she stayed there, and I have a feeling that she wasn't planning going anywhere. I tried handing her back the water bottle.

"Keep it, are you sure your okay"

"Yes, thank you"

The girl continued

"Hi, my name is Rose.Sorry for tripping you"

"Hi, Eric. It's okay,I shouldn't of been running"

Rose got a paper towel and wetted it, she gave it to me and told me to wipe my face, she once again asked me if I was okay. I knew that she wanted some kind of explanation, and considering how nice she was being, she deserved one.

"Today's my first day and I thought having a few drinks would loosen me up. I kind of went overboard."

"Today's actually my first day back to school, I was actually planning on skipping this period, would you like to join me"

"I would love to actually."

We both picked up our stuff and left the bathroom. It still confuses me why a girl like Rose would help me, she was beautiful, and I looked like shit. She had a small yet curvaceous little body, and a chocolate skin tone, with brown circular eyes, and shoulder length black hair. Most guys would do anything to be with a girl like Rose, but not me. She seemed nice and caring, and at this point I really needed only a friend.

I found a friend, and was somewhat sobered up, and most importantly at least now I won't have to sit by myself during lunch.  This year might not be so fucked up after all. 

The rest of the day went pretty well.  I met all of my teachers and only 3 were complete jerk-offs, and considering that i'm in highschool I got lucky. I had 3 classes with Rose, who is turning out to be an extremely close friend, and the only bad part about lunch was the food. All in all today was a pretty good day. The end of the school day had finally arrived, and I was ready to go home. Unfortunately that would have to be delayed because I couldn't find my bus and, ended up missing it. Rose who is a car rider offered me a ride home. I called my mother and told her that I might be coming home pretty late, an then walked with Rose to the car rider lanes and waited for her ride. after about 15 minutes Rose's dad arrived in a black rangerover. He honked his horn and signaled for us to come in the car. While walking to the car, a girl driving a small 2006 toyota camry, speeded to the entrance of the school almost hitting us in the process. Rose's dad honked his horn a couple times at the driver but that didn't stop her as she proceeded out of the school and onto the road.Rose leaded us into her dad's car and noticed how confused I was. She told me that the driver was Mia Vera, one of her very close friends, and that she probably didn't mean to almost hit us. I on the other hand wasn't as understanding, and told Rose, "I wonder what that bitches lifestory is".