Through Thick and Thin

Sometimes, you wonder how life works out. How you could be stuck with the absolute worse family in the world; at least, it seems that way to you, but you end up with the most amazing friends. The kind of friends who will sit down with you when you're sad, stand up for you when you’ve been hurt, Cry with you when you’re in pain, and do anything in their power to see you smile. Most of all, they love you. They love you for who you are, not what you’ve done, your actions simply cannot differ their opinion of you because they know the real you, the person that’s within, and they love you, unconditionally, forever. I don’t know how I ended up lucky enough to have friends like this, but I did and I do. They’re my world, without them, I’d be nothing. Without them . . . I wouldn’t be here.

I grew up in sunny Orange County California, but you wouldn’t be able to guess that by looking at me. I was pale, covered in freckles, and didn’t have the ability to tan; not that I wanted to anyway. I wasn’t bleach blonde and I didn’t strive for the perfect body. My hair was normally a mess of natural red curls framing my face; unless I straightened it, then it fell in cool copper sheets down to my shoulders. I stood tall at 5’6”, and had curves. Far from the stick figure ‘beach babes’ often seen roaming the pier. My parents split up when I was eight, and I spent most of my teen years going back and forth between the two. Dad re-married, and he and his wife supplied me with two little siblings, a brother, and sister. Mom, she. . . she worked hard to provide for the two of us and was never really home. She always found the worst guys for boyfriends. My dad didn’t seem to really care about me anymore once Alyssa; my baby sister, was born, but Jason, my younger half-brother looked up to me, which really pissed off his mother Patrisha, she didn’t like my life style. I wore black, I listened to loud music, I never wore anything that she bought me without altering it in some shape or form, and most of all. My best friends were a group of guys, a group of guys in a band, and I often associated myself with their friends, guys and girls who were like me. They liked loud music, they dressed in black, chains adorned their clothes, many of them had tattoos or piercings, and sometimes they even had both.

Dad was indifferent, I was still his daughter, as long as I didn’t get into too much trouble, and I didn’t party or curse around Jason and Alyssa, I was allowed to do whatever. But he didn’t really care, he only kept me around because Jason would cry and whine for me if I didn’t stop by often. I couldn’t break that little boy’s heart even if I wanted too. Thing’s . . . they sometimes got out of hand. My friends often got into trouble in school, some of them even outside. Hell, Jimmy; a tall gangly crazy kid whom I just so happened to call one of my best friends, was living in a Laundromat, hiding away from the cops because he’d been kicked out of his house, again.

At school, because we were different; unique, we were often made fun of and picked on relentlessly. The boys tried to fit in, they played sports. Us girls, we got the hard times, even those of us who participated in sports, we got teased, called names, and got hit on by many of the school’s male population. We were called things such as freaks, sluts, and whores. I often got called a vampire, because of my pale complexion and my make-up style. I tended to not let things bother me, some of us were stronger than the others, more able to let the insults and cutting words just skim past the surface. I stayed in my bubble hidden behind my notebook and the headphones that went to my CD player. I stayed with my group; alone we were at often times vulnerable, together. We were strong; we liked to think we were invincible.

My name is Quinn Leigh O’Conner, and this is the story of my life, a life quite literally full of drugs, sex and rock and roll. This is how a group of friends became a family, and how despite all their hardships. Made it big, made themselves memorable. Won their respect and won their freedom.