Left Out

Left Out(Sergio) “I HATE IT HERE! ” yelled Hayley. Her family and her were driving to their new home in California. She was still mad because she had to leave all of her friends from Houston. Her dad’s job had transferred him there.

“Why did you have to take this job,” she said. “I don’t fit in with anyone here!

“I didn’t make enough money with that old job,” he replied. ”I’m sorry if you are upset, but I did what I had to do to support you and your mom.” The mom said nothing, trying to avoid being part of the conversation. “I bet you’ll make tons of new friends in your new school.”

“Whatever,” said Hayley. She began looking out of the window and seeing that California looked beautiful with all of the palm trees and beaches. Maybe this isn’t so bad, she thought to herself. Then she turned around and saw the big poster her friends had made for her. She started to remember all the good times she had with her friends. Never mind.

The next day was her first day of school, and she had made no friends at school. She never even talked the entire day, but things started to change the second day. It seemed like a repeat of the first day, until the star of the basketball team appeared surrounded by a hoard of people. He was telling people about a party that he was having at his house. This is my chance to become popular, she thought to herself. At that moment, she found an invitation on the floor. Am I really that desperate? She looked around at her empty lunch table. Yep.

Later when she got home, she went to her parents to share the news of the party. Her parents did not like the idea of letting their daughter go to a party unsupervised in a place that they weren’t familiar with. “I’m sorry Hayley,” said her mom. ”We just don’t like the idea of letting you go to this party.”

“Why not,” replied Hayley. “I have had trouble making friends in this new place.”

“But there are other ways to make friends in this new place,” said her dad. ”It’s too dangerous in this unfamiliar place.”

“But…”

“No buts,” said her mom before she could finish her sentence. “Now got to your room and finish your homework.”

“You guys don’t let me do anything!” she yelled. She stormed of to her room and slammed the door behind her, but she wasn’t going to give up so quickly.

That night, while her parents were asleep, she snuck out through her window and called a cab to take her to the address of the party. What she found was completely unexpected. She had expected a couple of friends gathering in a house, drinking soda, and some of them dancing. Instead, she found a ton of strangers, the soda was replaced with alcohol, and everybody was dancing dirty.

She thought about taking a beer they offered her, but she turned it down and got some water instead. She felt so out of place. She went outside to get some fresh air. When she got inside, she took a sip of her water and started feeling funny. What’s wrong with me, Hayley thought to herself. It was just water. She kept getting dizzier and dizzier, until she collapsed, out cold. The last thing she saw was the police bust through the door.

She woke up in a bed. Was it all a dream? she thought to herself. Then she realized, it was a hospital bed. Then she looked up. Her parents! She waited for them to yell at her, but she got a hug instead.

“What happened?” said Hayley. “All I drank was a water.”

“It was drugged,” replied her mom. “Someone put a drug in it.”

“How did you notice I was gone?” she asked.

“I went into your room to look for a sheet of paper,” said her dad. “when I noticed you were gone, I called the cops. Found the invitation on the floor, and told them to look there first. If they had gotten there later, you could have been hurt.”

She looked at them, and realized all that her parents went through for her. She hugged them and promised never to disobey them again.