Writing Exercise: Trouble

With her new job, Sam was constantly reminded of the adult worked she was now subjected to. At her old job, in a children’s retail store, she never heard about alcoholism, smoking, and drugs; now that she worked at a restaurant, all of that had changed. Although she loved her coworkers’ personalities, she was skeptical of their risky behaviors and never wished to spend time with them outside of work. Once the holiday parties emerged, though, she felt safer to join in on their fun and celebrations.

            At the Christmas party, she was offered a beer as soon as she entered the house. She awkwardly turned it down and reminded the host she was underage. As the clock ran into the early morning hours, she was repeatedly called a “party pooper,” so she decided to take up one of her closest coworker, Adam’s, offer. He cracked open a beer for her and she took a sip. The alcohol burned her taste buds and throat as it entered her body; she would never forget the off-putting taste the alcohol left.

            “That’s it?” Adam asked. “Come on, Sam! Bottom’s up.”

            Adam tipped the bottom of her beer bottle upwards to force more of the vile liquid into her mouth, “Good, isn’t it?”

            She nodded her head slightly, appealing to her peers instead of mocking them for their choices in liquor.

            As the night continued, Sam consumed three more beers, despite the disgusting taste that lingered in her mouth, since many of her coworkers were just placing them in her hand. After her fourth beer, she no longer cared what others thought of her underage drinking and wondered why it had taken her this long to try alcohol for the first time.

            The next thing Sam knew, she was awake with a pounding headache at noon with twenty missed calls flashing on her phone. Her parents towered over her as she became aware of the shot glass clasped in her left hand and the cigarette in her right. She rolled her face towards the ground, unsure if she was still in a dream until she heard her mother sobbing.

            “What did you do?” she cried, waking up a few drunken people on the floor.

            “It was a great party,” one of them mumbled.

            “You’re quitting today, Samantha,” her father said.

            Her body slumped over so she could see her parents’ faces, “NO! I love these people!”

            “Sam…” he said, “you don’t have a choice. This isn’t who you are.”