Seeing my sister go out so much made me want to go out and have fun as well. She would always tell me that she hated being at home, that’d she’d prefer to go out with her friends. I wouldn’t blame her; living without your parents really does affect what your choices are. Anyway, it all started during my 8th grade summer. I knew I was going into high school soon, so I wanted to go all out before starting school again. My aunt would always tell me on how I wanted to grow up to fast. Like wearing make up at a young age, and trying to go out and do things the girls my age shouldn’t be doing. But I didn’t care. People would always mention how mature I was for my age, that I was even more mature than some teens that were older. I liked the attention and the feeling of being mature and being able to do what I want.
One night I was laying down, trying to go out on a Friday night. I knew I would end up getting into trouble, especially because I was on ARY (at risk youth). Meaning if I disobeyed any of my rules my parents had set up for me, I would get arrested. But of course at the time I didn’t care. One of my friends ended up calling me saying if I wanted to hang out all weekend, I agreed and packed my clothe and left. I didn’t have minutes on my phone so I knew nobody could find me. I just had to be home within 3 days.
The first night with my friend was beyond my control. We did so much crazy things. From not sleeping at night to going to the beach with our clothe on. To racing cars. I wanted to live like that every day. I knew that was my kind of life style. Trying new things everyday and exploring with nobody caring what you did. With no parents around to watch. Also getting away from your problems. Not worrying about others. I loved it.
I woke up half dead the next morning. I was exhausted from the night before because I have gotten barely any sleep. My friend decided to throw a party at her house since her parents were going to be gone for the weekend. As soon as they left us we started getting things organized and washing clothe to get ready for the night. It was around 7 p.m. the sun was barley started to go down. We heard a hard knock on the door. I went into the bathroom and got out and my friend came running with a panicked face saying, “The cops are here for you!” She yelled at the top of her lungs. I knew things would go downhill from here. I went to the door and the cop said, “Are you Yessica?” I replied yes with a very nervous face. Than the cop said, “You are under arrest for having a warrant.” I was shocked because I knew I’ve gone to all my court dates and told the cop. There must be a misunderstanding. He said “When you break rules from the ARY you are on and they know where you’re at than they’ll locate you and take you to juvie.”
I was then put in the cop car with my hands behind my back. I saw my friend from a window and she blew me a kiss goodbye. I was beyond p****d off. I wanted to punch the officer in the face from stopping me to have a good Saturday night.
I ended up spending the night at juvie which was the worst day of my life. You’re in a room, by yourself. You’re wearing clothe that feel nasty on you and so much things go through your head. Most of the things that were going through my age were what am I doing here? I’m too young to be feeling this old. I know I can do way better in life than the choices I’m making now. I don’t deserve to be here. I cried myself to sleep that night and woke up to somebody talking to me through a speaker telling me I had court. The cops came in my room and handcuffed my feet and arms together.
I walked into the court room where I saw my aunt which was my guardian. I felt horrible knowing how I was dressed and cuffed and her staring at me. I wanted to cry but instead I looked down. I didn’t want to make eye contact with her. I felt too ashamed. The judge then released me after a few minutes of talking. Apparently they knew I was there because somebody had snitched me out.
On the way back home my aunt talked to me saying I was better than on what I was doing. That she was really worried and I shouldn’t run away again. It made me felt good knowing that she cared. That she did show up to court and not just abandon me inside the juvenile detention.
Going into juvie was a big slap in the face. It made me feel like a criminal and I knew I wasn’t. I then knew I didn’t want my life to be all messed up and have a lot of problems. So I started focusing a lot on school. My aunt saw that I changed and was proud of who I became. I ended up making it on honor roll and being a tutor. I felt like my life was complete and knew I didn’t want to grow up fast anymore.