They Belonged to the Wicked (The Teenage Rebellion Series #1)

n i g h t

    "Life has it's way of giving you warnings when you are not on the right path," were the exact words that my older sister had to say to me before I shut the front door to what I called home that day.

    The house shook. I was fed up, fuming with frustration and anger, and decided to run away from home for the third time. Did I call myself a rebel? No, not once had that label crossed my mind. I just had enough of the mental abuse that I was repeatedly receiving from my mother. It was time for me to leave, and never go back.
    I had my belongings packed in black bags, scattered all over the front lawn. My sister didn't try to stop me. She never opened that door. Was it because she didn't care? Or maybe she thought I'd return, like the other times. This time was different, was what she didn't know.
   I knew that I was going to have to make a few trips, back and forth, since my car was a compact two-door roadster. The sunset rapidly approached and by the end of the day I had all of my possessions inside of my new room. My best friend, Jocelyn, had eagerly been waiting for this day. We were officially roommates.

*****
    That same night, I told her that I had made plans to meet up with a few of my old friends and invited her to join us. She raised her eyebrows and shared a baffled expression since my possessions were not yet organized or even put away. She politely declined and didn't share any of her thoughts. She knew better than to confront be with something that I didn't want to hear. I changed into burgundy checkered shorts and a black long sleeved shirt.
    I live in a small town that's located in Northern California. People tend to say that there's not much to do around here, and they're 100% correct. I met up with my friends behind a train station, our usual hangout. I was the last one to show up. They actually waited for me to begin the smoke session. I jumped into Eva's faded yellow convertible Beetle. My friends all glanced at each other and exchanged looks that made me realize that I obviously interrupted a sensitive conversation. This was going to be an interesting night.

    "So we just found out that our mutual friend, Violeta, recently purchased a brand new Mercedes Benz," Eva blurted out.

    "That's not all of the 411! She purchased it with the money that she earned at her new job. She's now an entertainer," Rebecca added.

    Violeta was now an exotic dancer, and they were discussing their opinions of it.

    "So, she's a strip dancer? I never would have guessed it. Her boy friend seems too clingy to let her work at a club," I never would have guessed it.

    "We all said the same thing, but it's true! What do you think? She's totally a whore," Sara passed a blunt to me.

    There was a brief moment of silence. In all honesty, the first thought that came to my mind was that she was, in fact, a whore, but I was beginning to feel high. I didn't want to share any of my actual negative thoughts. That's what smoking weed does to me; it makes me feel happy. Now, a bong was being passed around. I accepted it and began inhaling plenty of marijuana. I blamed it on the tough evening that I had before I met up with them.
    In reality, I knew nothing about strip clubs and their employees. Who was I to judge? I told them that I could care less about her new occupation and that it was pretty neat that she had the car of her dreams at such a young age. A huge smile was then placed on the three of my friend's faces.

    "Then it's settled! The four of us are going to San Francisco in a few months and auditioning for new jobs at a strip club! We all need to go shopping and prepare ourselves," Eva cheerfully clapped her hands.

    "We are?! I thought that you said that she was a whore. I didn't know that was what you all meant when asking me for my opinion," I immediately explained.

    "Well, don't you want a big house and a new car too? Imagine what we can all save up and put together! She's only been dancing for a few weeks," Sara said.

    At that moment, I had a decent position at our local Chevrolet dealership. I wasn't in school anymore, I just left my home and I realized that the only stable thing I had in my life was actually my job. However, my boss was scandalous. I told them that I needed time to think about it. They giggled and said not to worry so much because they needed to diet and workout until they felt they were fit enough for the audition. I was immensely caught off guard at how willing and ready they were to leave their current lives behind. I guess that's what brought us all so closely together; we were comfortable with new beginnings.
    The night didn't slow down. Jocelyn began to call me at around two in the morning, but I didn't answer. It was my first night living with her and I was already the worst roommate. My friends and I were high beyond our limits, but we didn't mind. We were discussing too many subjects. They were the sort of discussions that involved things that we wanted, but didn't have.

    Sara dreamingly shared, "I want to live on a hill. We all deserve to live on a hill, with a beautiful view of the city. It can be any city that we want."

    Eva made a face of disgust. I already knew that her next sentence was going to be unpleasantly demanding.

    "If we move, we absolutely cannot share any details of what we are doing or where we live with anybody," Eva coughed and exhaled smoke into the air.

    Rebecca added, "We don't need our families on our cases. I'm going to tell my parents that Sara has a rich aunt who passed away and left her a chunk of her fortune. I suggest that we all agree to this alibi and stick to it."

    All at once, we burst out into laughter. We were in over our heads, and aware of it.

    "Wait, what are you going to do about your boy friend? There's no way you can keep this from him," I asked Eva.

    Eva stared up into the sky and said, "He hasn't been texting me back all week. I get a call from him every other day now. Yesterday, he told me that I was annoying."

    "Fuck him! He deserves what's coming then," Sara exclaimed.

    "I just hate boys," Eva said as she began to look at herself in the rear view mirror.

    Eva and I were in the front seats of her car, so I leaned in towards her and gave her a tight hug. Then, I passed her the bong, advised her to breathe in and not to let the smoke out of her lungs until she felt the need to cough. That should relieve some of her unwanted stress.

    "The last thing that we need is a petty party. We don't cry over boys," I reminded all of them.

    We all agreed not to text each other about our plan and to continue the discussion another night. We put everything away and walked back to our own cars. On my short drive home, I took my convertible top down and felt the cool night breeze surrounding the valley. There were no other cars driving and the radio was playing a song by Red Hot Chili Peppers. I couldn't help but to enjoy that temporary blissful moment.
    Jocelyn was sleeping on the couch when I got home. She obviously tried to wait up for me. I jumped into bed and fell into a deep sleep almost as soon as my head touched the pillow. I didn't have any dreams that night, but my mind wandered down memory lane.