Vinyl Records:

We came back high, and we laughed about nothing. Lily, Chris, Adam and Abigail were sitting outside, looking grim. Guilt tugged at my heart, but I tossed it into the back of my mind. I didn’t need this shit.

“Abigail, could you get me a coat please?” I asked her in a trembling voice. The look she gave me I’ll never forget. Pure disgust. She said no, but then she came back and told me “This will be the last time I’ll help you.” I felt like the world crashed down on me. I truly lost her. But I couldn’t wrap my mind around it, I was still under influence. She grabbed me the coat and dragged me into a bathroom. On our way there she laughed fakely, so she wouldn’t give my drugged up self the chance to get noticed and for the teachers and parents to realize what I’d just done.

“This isn’t like you, Sally. I know that your life isn’t perfect. Mine isn’t either. But a true friend won’t stand there and watch you destroy yourself. A true friend would fight for you. Like I did. But I give up Sally. This will be the last time I try. I cared about you like a best friend. I am who I am because of you. And I won’t just stand behind and watch you-the real you- die. You know the girl who mismatched her insanely colorful clothes? Who was always happy? Laughing? Clumsy and adorable? Well she died. And now you’re plain. Like everyone else. You don’t stand out. Know how much of you survived this new Sally? This much!” She said pointing at the tiny cupcake on my necklace. It was one inch, and she said that was all I had left. And she considered the new Sally my clothes, my dress, my height. So it was a little cupcake in the 10 feet of clothing I had. Realization had dawned upon me. That night, I remember it clearly, Abigail saved me. Saved me from drowning into something I was not. I realized I missed the old Sally. The bubbly one. I could be her again. I could! I washed my face and talked to Sally for one hour. One hour of her time she had left before she went home. She missed all the party for me.

Before she left she said: “Think my life is perfect, Sally? My dad’s in India, flying over there!” She said and hugged me. We cried and I warned her I couldn’t handle her crying. So we both bawled.

After that, I changed. I quit drinking as much alcohol and I never did drugs again. Jack asked me to be his girlfriend yet again, and although I was warned about going back to him, I did. And we were happy. That is, until he started going to the skate park, a place I no longer felt at home. I went out with Chris and Adam, while he spent all his day at the skate park.