I’ve fallen away...Elementary school comes around and the first thing the little 1st graders learn is to never, ever get into a car with a stranger, even if the stranger has their favorite flavor of ice cream or they have a cute, little, cuddly dog. Long school days pass, some of the kids grow and they smile with their little crooked grins as their friends push them around and chase them in the cold Fall breeze, one day teachers usher all the kids in a large classroom to talk about “drugs,’’ This word is whispered down the line of kids until it feels like it’s in the air they are breathing in. The little girls laugh and bat their eyelashes at the cute 6th graders sitting way down the row, as they know, they would never, EVER do “drugs.’’ After a fun filled summer of soccer, facepainting. And cotton candy all the kids put on shiny, new tennis shoes and walk through the little red doors marked “Middle School’’ Middle school is fun, there are no teachers breathing down your back and your parents let you walk to school yourself with all your friends. One day your friend, the tall girl with the big blue eyes whispers something when you walk into your homeroom, you think nothing of it until you see pictures of all your so called “friends” at Dairy Queen all smiles, the only thing missing is you holding a large strawberry ice cream cone. You try to blow it off like it doesn’t bother you, but it does. A couple weeks later you come home from another long day at school with the “friends” who aren’t really your friends. You walk into the living room and hear your parents screaming at each other until you hear your mom's muffled sobs and your dad walks out into the garage with a bag filled with clothes. He doesn’t look at you, he just grabs his keys and storms off and drives away. High school comes around and the girl who walks into that school that day plasters on a smile and waves as her mom drops her off. Inside she is broken and would much rather be anywhere but there. But head held high she walks through those front door with the hope that things will get better. Things don’t get better, just progressively worse, one day she gets so mad at her mom she decides to steal one of her cigarettes and take a drag in the back yard, it tastes awful but it least it numbs her pain for a little while. At her first party after the homecoming game the girl gets so drunk she can’t even walk and the boys just laugh and talk about how easy she is. She starts missing classes, and going to the park for lunch to take a hit on those chilly November afternoons. She was the girl “who would never do that” but she became the girl who did only that.