The Camp
Introduction
My name’s John. I’m fifteen years old, and I used to have a normal life.
Now I’ve shipped off to this “troubled kids” camp over one mistake. But before I get into the details of that, let me tell you how that happened.
I was home alone on a cloudy May day after school; my parents had gone grocery shopping. There was a pack of Camel cigarettes in front of me, debuting on whether I should do what I was being pressured to do.
All my friends were a bit more hardcore then I was; I feel like I was born with a missing gene or something, because everyone else in my school was ready to do pretty much everything. “YOLO”, y’know? Meanwhile I was just trying to get through school, get a diploma, maybe get a scholarship.
My girl Julie wanted me to do more, though. And I’d do anything for Julie. My parents don’t know about her – they say I can’t date till I’m a senior. She’s this sexy junior with brunette hair and nice curves, and somehow I managed to end up with her. Me, the scrawny little blonde-hair boy.
So when Julie asked me to try cigarettes – “You don’t have to smoke a whole pack, just one of them!” – I jumped onto it without so much as a second thought. I’d do anything to hold onto this girl. It was the only thing keeping my popularity up.
Now, Julie herself had never smoked, but her friends said it was cool, and she wanted me to be her “guinea pig”. I also accepted to this without a second thought.
But now, staring down the pack of smokes in front of me, I wondered why I had accepted. I could get hooked and end up blowing all my allowance on these things. I could get all types of different cancer from the dangerous stuff in these. It said it right there on the friggin' box. This was insane.
However, she said I only had to have just one. People usually say the first one is nasty, so if I just stick to the first one I can smoke it and move on with my life without any of the other problems. I don’t think lung cancer can form with just one cigarette, right?
Digging around my house, I finally found a lighter. I pulled out a cigarette from the box, put the cigarette in my mouth, and lit it. As I felt the taste in my mouth, I gagged.
Oh, man! How could people smoke this stuff? I wanted to go wash my mouth out immediately. But then, as I went to go to the kitchen sink, I looked up and saw my parents standing at the doorway.
Uh oh.
Now I’ve shipped off to this “troubled kids” camp over one mistake. But before I get into the details of that, let me tell you how that happened.
I was home alone on a cloudy May day after school; my parents had gone grocery shopping. There was a pack of Camel cigarettes in front of me, debuting on whether I should do what I was being pressured to do.
All my friends were a bit more hardcore then I was; I feel like I was born with a missing gene or something, because everyone else in my school was ready to do pretty much everything. “YOLO”, y’know? Meanwhile I was just trying to get through school, get a diploma, maybe get a scholarship.
My girl Julie wanted me to do more, though. And I’d do anything for Julie. My parents don’t know about her – they say I can’t date till I’m a senior. She’s this sexy junior with brunette hair and nice curves, and somehow I managed to end up with her. Me, the scrawny little blonde-hair boy.
So when Julie asked me to try cigarettes – “You don’t have to smoke a whole pack, just one of them!” – I jumped onto it without so much as a second thought. I’d do anything to hold onto this girl. It was the only thing keeping my popularity up.
Now, Julie herself had never smoked, but her friends said it was cool, and she wanted me to be her “guinea pig”. I also accepted to this without a second thought.
But now, staring down the pack of smokes in front of me, I wondered why I had accepted. I could get hooked and end up blowing all my allowance on these things. I could get all types of different cancer from the dangerous stuff in these. It said it right there on the friggin' box. This was insane.
However, she said I only had to have just one. People usually say the first one is nasty, so if I just stick to the first one I can smoke it and move on with my life without any of the other problems. I don’t think lung cancer can form with just one cigarette, right?
Digging around my house, I finally found a lighter. I pulled out a cigarette from the box, put the cigarette in my mouth, and lit it. As I felt the taste in my mouth, I gagged.
Oh, man! How could people smoke this stuff? I wanted to go wash my mouth out immediately. But then, as I went to go to the kitchen sink, I looked up and saw my parents standing at the doorway.
Uh oh.