By Stephanie Williams,
As told to Alex Aldridge

It was the summer of 2010.
I had gotten a text message that day from my friend Rachel* to live summer out, no matter what happens, we "won't regret it, won't forget it." And now looking back on that message, I'm starting to think I took it seriously.

I went against my parent's rule of no Facebook and no Skype. I bought an iPod Touch a month earlier and used the iPod as my way of sneaking around their rules. I lied about where I was when walking the dog. I was really meeting up with my best friend Jacob* who, in my parent's opinion, was a bad influence on me and wouldn't allow me to hang out with him. I'd "coincidently" run into him at the swim park, pass by his house on the way to Plaid Pantry, and text him every night.

At my birthday sleepover in July, I ignored my two best friends, as they went to sleep while I Skype messaged Jacob*. I felt horrible about it but there's just somethings we do for love, right? Jacob* and I talked about everything, from high school and college, to family and sports, when somehow we got on the subject of our friend Emma* who had recently moved away. I had told Emma* earlier that week that I liked Jacob* and he suggested Emma* tried to get us together. I said, "What? That's impossible! We're just friends!" -Silence- "Well, I like you." I was stunned. No one had ever liked me before and all of a sudden, like the snap of fingers, Jacob* became the center of my world. I asked him what he liked about me. "Your funny, pretty, and down to earth. Your indescribably fantastic." I felt as if I had died. It was the sweetest thing I had heard in years. I confided to him that I liked him. He asked me why and I told him he was my best friend and I liked him for how he would always be there for me.

Summer with Jacob* and I faded soon the following month in August when he told me over text message that his friend wanted to have "sexual relations" with me, and I was scared. We stopped talking and I haven't seen him since the last day we met in July.

Jacob* never responded to my text messages or emails. I regretted that summer. My parents found out about Facebook and Skype and trouble was soon to be my middle name. I regretted ever even breaking my parent's rules about Jacob*. He wasn't worth it. He never stayed around long enough for him to ever be worth it. I learned not only about Jacob*, but I also learned that no one is ever worth breaking your parent's decisions because it always leads to trouble.