Late Night Sleepover

When I was in tenth grade, I was constantly learning about drugs and alcohol. My teachers would give lectures about the dangers of it, how horrible it was, etc. I never paid attention because I knew I would never get involved in them. I had a nice group of friends who accepted me for who I was, and we all got along well. We were the typical "best friends" who did everything as a group. I thought I had found a great group of people to surround myself with during my high school years. In that moment, I was happy. 

      

A night in late January made me realize I needed to be careful with who I associate with. I was over my friend's house, attending our regular Friday night sleepover, when everything changed. My two friends and I were watching a comedy movie and eating pizza. It was going well, until Martha turned to my friend Jessica and I and said bluntly: You two should smoke pot. It's fun and we can get high together." The look on my face must have been pure shock because she quickly continued talking; "It's not addictive, don't worry." I awkwardly laughed and said no thank you. She shrugged, and turned back to watch the movie.

About an hour later, she asked us again. This time, my friend Jessica chimed in, "Don't be ridiculous, Martha. Pot is bad for you whether you believe it or not."  Martha laughed and changed positions on her couch, "You two are so boring, why are we even friends?" This made me mad. 

"You tell me. Why are we?" 

She looked like she was in a deep thought.  I figured it was because I shut her up. A few seconds later, she said the words that still hurt to this day: "Maybe I should not be friends with such lame people?"

The rest of the sleepover was awkward and uncomfortable. It was obvious she was serious, and that was her way of "breaking up" a friendship. We eventually went to sleep, but I was tossing and turning the whole night. I had so many negative thoughts and questions in my mind as to why she would want to end such a great friendship. 

I'm a good person, I don't need this. Why can't she just accept me the way I am? What did I do wrong? 

Days and then weeks went on, Martha did not bother to talk to me nor Jessica. It was kind of like an unspoken agreement, we just went our separate ways. I think that's what hurt the most. A year and a half of a friendship went to just casual "hello's" and "goodbyes." It was as if we never really knew each other, when in reality we knew too much. 

I never understood why we were friends. Maybe it was to teach me a lesson? 

Pick your friends wisely because you never truly know someone until a late night sleepover. 

Author's Note

This is a true story of a friendship I used to have back during my sophomore year of high school. It angers me that people can be so mean and uncaring... but it teaches you a great life lesson: have a sleepover with them, and you'll learn their true selves.

Reviews

[613]

Overall, this was written well. There were a lot of punctuational errors, however. (A little rereading can fix that though, so no worries!) Sometimes you'd switch from past to present tense which caught me off guard at times. As for the flow of the piece, it moved along nicely.

I'm sorry you lost a friend to something like that. I can relate. That's happened to me a lot in the past because I choose not to smoke weed. People think of it as a casual thing to do together. I just think it's gross. People I've been friends with have disagreed with me. But from all that, I've learned to be myself & stick to my own beliefs. Peer pressure is an awful thing. You're one of the few who chose to go against what she was doing.

There's a phrase I've always grown up hearing: "The masses are asses"; meaning, if most people are doing it, it's probably really freaking stupid. Haha.

Nice work!

- Brittney

P.S. Would you mind checking out my novel, HIM? Before sending it off for publishing, I'd love it if I could have as much constructive criticism as possible. (:

[Angela]

Thank you for your review, I love reading any type of feed back I can get. And yes of course I will review your novel :)

[613]

Sure thing!
& thanks so much! The issues - I'm actually planning on leaving this site by the end of the week. But if you'd still like to read my manuscript, it's on my website www.himthenovel.com.

[Jake Donald Stephens]

Thanks for sharing this scene from your life. You're right, friends should accept you the way you are, and you shouldn't have to change for them. I enjoyed reading this.

[Angela]

Thank you!