Innocence

001

I groaned lightly as my eyes flickered between the digital clock that sat on my stained, wooden nightstand and the fairly large flat screen TV that was mounted on one of the lavender walls of my bedroom. It was a Friday night after a long, terrorizing week of school and I lay in my queen sized bed watching any reality TV show I could find playing at the moment, which happened to be Say Yes to the Dress, attempting to relax my body and mind. Nevertheless, my head was still buzzing with all the things I had to get done within the next week of school, including sending in my last few college applications and studying for finals as they were quickly approaching. Don't let anyone tell you that senior year is the easiest year of schooling you'll ever go through because they are flat out lying.

Keeping my status of Valedictorian was proven to be very difficult to do along with volunteer work at the local animal shelter and having a weekly job at a clothing boutique a few blocks away from my neighborhood. Somehow through all of the craziness of this year, I had managed to keep my GPA at a perfect 4.0, which pleased my parents very much. My thoughts were interrupted as my bedroom door flew open and smacked against the wall next to it, making me slightly cringe at the noise.

Looking over at the door frame, my hazel eyes were met with the bright blue ones of my best friend, Samantha Jones. She had a huge smile on her face as she made her way over to my bed and sat on the end of it, clasping her hands together.

"There's a huge ass party about 3 blocks away from your house and I don't care how much you protest, you're going so get your booty up and get dressed!" she exclaimed, standing up and making her way into my walk in closet, scanning over my wardrobe.

I discreetly rolled my eyes, which is something I tended to do a lot when I was annoyed, and removed myself from my oh so comfortable bed, walking over to her. Leaning against the doorframe of the small room that contained all of the clothing options a girl could want or need in life, I looked over at Sammy as she held up a white, long sleeve crop top that came just above my belly button when I wore it and a black, high waisted skater skirt.

"You do realize that my parents will put me in solitary confinement if they find out I'm at a party right?" I asked her as she made her way past me and back into my bedroom, laying her outfit choice for me on the bed.

"Yes, but its senior year Grace! You have to do at least one insane thing before you graduate high school, it's like the number one rule of being a high schooler!" Her back was still turned to me as she spoke, making it easier for me to roll my eyes once again without her noticing. Sammy was always the wild one when we were younger. She was constantly getting in trouble at school for things like gluing Sydney Carmichael's hand to the classroom floor during nap time in kindergarten and starting one of the biggest food fights in Maury River Middle School history. She's always been a huge risk taker, so it's no surprise that she's trying to drag me to this party tonight even though she knows the consequences for me.

Finally after a few minutes of us going back and forth, me trying to stay home and her trying to make me go out, I surrendered in grabbing the outfit off of the bed and making my way into my ensuite to change. I removed my black, cotton pajama shorts and grey t-shirt before slipping into the fresh clothes I had been provided with. I touched up my makeup, since I had yet to take it off for the night, and pulled my long, light brown hair over one of my shoulders, quickly fishtail braiding it to finish off the look. I gently rubbed my temples, already feeling a headache coming on, and walked out to meet Sammy. She stood by the entry of my bedroom, holding out a pair of black high-heeled ankle boots with one hand as she held her phone in the other, mindlessly scrolling through it.

The sound of my footsteps caused her head to perk up in my direction as she put her phone away in the back pocket of her jeans before speaking, "Kyle and Chris are meeting us there." Taking the pair of shoes from her outstretched arm, I inwardly groaned as I shoved my feet into them and zipped up the sides.