The Bad Decision

I was on my way to a sleepover at my friend, Melayha’s house. I knocked on her door and walked in. I was greeted by her two chihuahuas, Maya and Ally. I took off my shoes and we walked up the stairs and to her room. We were on our phones like usual and just talking.  But then Melayha’s mom came in and told her that they had to take her grandma to a birthday party in the Bronx. Great I thought. Now I have to leave, we haven’t hung out in forever I was hoping Melayha would ask if I could come. 

“Can Lilah come with us?” Melayha asked her mom.

Yes I thought. It was like she could read my mind.

“You came come if you want just make sure you tell your parents” Melayha’s mom said

We both started getting ready since we were leaving within the hour. I didn’t even know the people at the party but I did know that I shouldn’t show up to that house wearing a huge fairfield university hoodie, leggings, and slippers. Even though knowing myself I would do something like that.

“Do you have any cropped sweatshirts?” I asked Melayha

“Yeah they’re in my closet.” She replied

I went through her closet and chose a maroon sweatshirt from PINK. It wasn’t much of an upgrade but it was better. I thought we weren’t going to be there for a while (I thought wrong) so it was okay if I didn’t look my best. Telling my parents didn’t cross my mind until much later (That was a huge mistake). We hopped into the car with melayha’s younger sister, Haley.

The car ride went pretty fast. We’re both used to going to New York a lot since we both have family there. We just listened to good music on the radio and were on our phones. It was dark when we got to Melayha’s grandma’s house. But her grandma was already there. We thought we were too late so she just got another ride. But just to be sure we went to the house where the birthday party was, to check. And she was there. The party looked like a regular latino one. There were so many people there and the music was so loud I felt like my ear drums were going to burst. I’d been to many parties like this myself. Being there reminded me of when I was little at these kinds of parties. The little kids would always have to be babysat by the teenagers. But this time I was the older one. But this time it was probably one of the most awkward situations of my life since I didn’t know anyone and it showed.  Melayha and I sat down on their brown couch in the living room with the other teenagers and little kids. 

Time passed and I felt myself slowly zoning out. Melayha poked me and I went back into reality. There was screaming downstairs like someone had died but I could tell they were just having fun. 

“I’m hungry wanna go downstairs and get something to eat?” Melayha asked

“Sure, let’s go” I said

We headed down the steep creaky stairs to the basement. What I say almost gave me a stroke. There was a tall clown who had to be at least 6’3 that was as white as a ghost. He had a red nose like a tomato and a blue costume with floppy shoes  and was singing to the little kids. It was the scariest thing I’ve ever seen but the little kids seemed to enjoy it. There were balloons and people everywhere so it was hard to get through. We finally made our way to the food and got some chips and cupcakes. There were so many people in that basement it felt like the walls were closing in on me. I tried to leave the basement but stopped to take a picture of the clown to remember that scary thing (I would already remember this night for a long time). We walked back up the creaky stairs and sat back down. We talked to the other kids that were there. There were two girls our age. One was really cool and we talked to her. And one gave us so much attitude. She’s annoying me so much, I thought. But I couldn’t say anything to her since it wasn’t my place. 

Melayha and I didn’t have phones at the time we had IPods which means we needed WiFi to go on them and text people. Luckily, someone came into the room and gave us the WiFi password. I opened my IPod to some texts from my parents. Anxiety filled my body. I had forgotten to tell my parents and now I was for sure getting grounded when I got home. I didn’t know what to do. 

I had to lie to them

 How are you guys? My mom texted. We’re fine we’re watching a movie. I replied

I felt so guilty but I didn’t want to get into trouble (even though this would already get me into so much trouble)

After an hour of awkward talking as well as silence, Melayha’s mom came upstairs so we could get going. It was late and I was so tired I could sleep on concrete. We got our coats on and left. My mind was racing the whole car ride home, I didn’t want to get in trouble and I was willing to do anything to cover this night up. We pulled into Melayha’s driveway and tried to open her door. But something was wrong. It was locked. And we didn’t have a key or anything to open. Melayha’s other sister, Senem, had locked the door and fell asleep. We were shivering outside texting senem to wake up but we had no luck. 

We eventually accepted the fact that Senem wasn’t going to unlock the door and went back into the warm car. Me and melayha were in the front on our phones while Melayha’s mom and Haley were in the back trying to sleep seeing as it was like two in the morning. I could feel myself needing to go to the bathroom soon and I wanted to be there less and less. I was thinking about calling my dad and just say that we went out for Dunkin Donuts late and Senem locked us out. Yeah, I thought. He’d believe that. I called my dad.

“Hey dad can you pick me up? Melayha’s sister locked us out.” I asked

“Sure I’ll be there soon” My Dad said 

I was happy to know that I wouldn’t have to spend the rest of my night in a car. Especially since I had to get my Christmas Tree with my family the next day and I needed rest to tolerate them. My dad picked me up and Melayha’s mom started talking to him. I was in the car so I didn’t hear what they were saying but I was too tired to even care. We drove back to my house and plopped onto my bed. I instantly fell asleep. 

I woke up the next day and did my usual routine (Go on my phone for hours and do nothing). Eventually my phone died and I just stared at the wall for about ten minutes. But, then my mom barged in. She was mad. Very mad. 

“Why didn’t you tell me you went to New York?” My mom asked

I froze.

“I didn’t know we would be there for a while mom I thought it would be a quick trip.” I said

“I don’t care you didn’t tell us, you’re grounded.” She said

My mom took my phone and I just stared at the wall again. I didn’t really care at the time since I didn’t care about anything. But I knew I should never do that ever again. And I didn’t. 

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