Retreat (A.I.)

1. Sent Away

"WHAT?! YOU'RE SENDING ME WHERE?!" I squealed. I am getting sent away for the summer because I missed my curfew? I know it's not the first time, okay it's a pretty regular occurrence, but so what? This is ridiculous! What's the big deal if I stay out late with my friends? It's summer break, I already graduated, just barely but I did. I'm nearly 18 - they can't just ship me off to the middle of nowhere for two months because of a stupid curfew!

"I warned you. The world doesn't revolve around you, Kel. You can't continue like this. The drinking, the smoking, the sex, the drugs."

"MOM! I don't do drugs! I know you have absolutely no faith in me, and I may be a fuck-up, an embarrassment to the family, but I don't do that shit! I do have boundaries!"

She looks at me skeptically. Yeah, I know it's hard to believe, but I draw the line at drugs. I won't go near the shit. All my friends do them, but they know how I feel about it, and they respect me enough to keep it away from me. I won't even talk to them when they're high.

"Whatever, fine," my mother continues, "you don't do drugs then. I find that really hard to believe, but whatever. That's not the point. The lying, the smoking, the drinking, the police... it has to stop! You're destroying yourself!"

"Well isn't that my call to make, not yours?!" I am so sick of my parents trying to control my life and turn me into someone I'm not!

"Once you turn 18, I technically can't stop you, but for the few weeks I have left, I can still try. Now get packed. The bus leaves at 6am," she states as she walks away.

I am so livid! My only free summer with everyone before they leave for college, and my parents are shipping me away on some stupid "retreat" to the mountains of Colorado! Sure, they warned me, but I never thought they would actually do it!

I call Mel, my best friend, to see if she got in trouble for last night, but of course she didn't. Her parents are cool about it; she explained and that was the end of it. I tried to explain, but my parents wouldn't listen. It wasn't even my fault this time, we were out four wheel driving in the mountains and got stuck. How is that my fault? How does that warrant getting shipped away for the summer? I hate my life!

"They're sending me to Colorado, Mel! Tomorrow morning!"

"WHAT? NO!" she yells through the phone. "That's not fair! They can't do that! Did you tell them the truck got stuck?"

"I tried," I tell her, flopping back on my bed, "but they wouldn't listen. They thought it was another lie to try to get out of trouble."

"But..." she starts listing the reasons why I can't leave, all the reasons I have already tried telling them.

"I know Mel! But there's no use! They've already signed me up and paid for it. I'm going, against my will."

"Well... Maybe you'll meet some really hot guy and he'll fall deeply and madly in love with you!" Mel giggles. She's always the one to try to find the positive side to every situation, which unfortunately is one of the reasons I get into so much trouble! But I love her for it.

"Melanie, please! It's just gonna be a bunch of losers that have nothing better to do with their lives than go camping in the wilderness for two months! I'm gonna die a slow miserable death up there!" Okay, I know I'm being overdramatic, that's just me. That's why Mel and I get along so well! We balance each other out.

"Oh my god Mel! I just realized something. I'm going to have no phone, which means no music! What the hell am I supposed to do? Sit around the campfire singing cowboy songs?! My life is officially over!"

"At least it's music," she says quietly. That's quite a stretch and she knows it.

"Ugh, I hate my life! How am I supposed to pack? I can't pack two months worth of clothes! How are we going to do laundry? Oh my god! I'm gonna be stuck with a bunch of SMELLY NASTY losers! Fuck! Kick Erik in the balls for me, will ya? This is all his fault! I thought he knew how to drive that thing!"