Plagiarized Read Free

grandparents had dictated. I never even questioned going against them, until then.
    I had just graduated from high school and one of the teachers had given me his email address so we could stay in contact. We had hit it off intellectually and had many conversations during the spring semester after he had taken over my math class. Our original math teacher was pregnant and had been put on bed rest, so we got Mr. Champion. Turns out, we had many common interests. Actually, I didn’t really know how much we really had in common. I just agreed with everything he said.
    Now, I was going to meet him, behind my grandmother’s back.             
    I had dressed in a black skirt with small pink flowers on it, which hit me a couple inches above my knee. The skirt was held up with a safety pin because a couple of the buttons had fallen off. I had black opaque tights on that had a hole in the big toe. I had folded the flappy foot part over, so that my toe didn’t stick through. My black shoes were worn and I had used a black permanent marker to cover the scuffs. My top was a simple black top that was faded from multiple washes. I had no makeup to speak of, since that wasn’t allowed in our home. I don’t think I had ever seen my mom in makeup.
    I walked out the front door and my little niece ran down the walk behind me. “Where are you going, Sarah?”
    “I’m going to Marissa’s to spend the night. I’ll be back tomorrow afternoon, okay?” I smoothed her hair away from her face. She was five years old, and she looked to me like her hero. I had practically raised her after all. “Go back inside,” I said tenderly.
    She kissed me and hugged me tightly, then obediently went back inside. I took a deep breath and went to Marissa’s car, where she was waiting for me by the curb. I hopped in and she greeted me with a hug. She was my best friend, ever since the seventh grade. I had never had a best friend before or after Marissa. She understood me more than anyone else ever tried to. Sometimes, I wondered if I liked the symbol of having a best friend more than the actual person. I liked being able to say “my best friend did this or that.” It made me feel like I kind of fit in and was somewhat of a normal person. I had deeply longed to be normal and fit in.
    “Are you nervous?” Marissa asked me with a devilish grin. She was gutsier than I. She had already done it with her boyfriend when she was fifteen. I loved to talk about it with her because she would divulge all the details, allowing me to live vicariously through her, since I had never been allowed to have any experiences that even compared. The bravest thing I had done was ditch church youth group with my sister to get donuts.
    “A little,” I downplayed the butterflies that were twirling and battering against my stomach wall. I actually felt like I could puke very easily, possibly at any moment.
    “You liar!” she exclaimed. “You look green!” She laughed and I reluctantly joined in. Her comment wasn’t malicious. She was just being Marissa. “I know what we can do to ease that feeling!”
    “I already told you that I’m not doing drugs. And yes, Marissa, smoking marijuana is considered doing drugs,” I answered her, knowing the direction the conversation was headed. We had been through this before as she was much worldlier than I was. And I was still scared to experience some of those things. Baby steps, I consoled myself.
    “No, I have another idea. My parents went out, it is New Year’s Eve after all,” she reminded me with glee. “Plus, you are eighteen. One drink won’t hurt you, it will just provide you the courage you need.”
    “Maybe,” I said, already acquiescing. “I definitely need something.” There was no way I could meet Mr. Champion in the state I was in. I would puke on his shoes if I didn’t have at least a little something to give me courage.
    She pulled into her driveway. “Let’s go! He’ll be here in thirty