Discovering Drugs

When I was 14, I was invited to a party in the downstairs apartment. I asked mom if I could go. She said ok, because I would only be right downstairs. I met Kenny out on the porch, and he told me he thought I was old enough to "learn how to party" and that was why he had invited me. We went inside and he introduced me to his friends while mixing up a screwdriver.

This was my first real drink.
Growing up Catholic, I'd had wine at church; but that is no more than a sip. Growing up with an Italian family, I'd had watered wine at holiday get-togethers. I had never had vodka before. Before the party was over, I was totally plastered.

I walked around sipping my screwdriver and chatting with Kenny's friends. They spent a lot of time talking about their cars. Pretty soon, my screwdriver was all gone. Kenny noticed my empty glass and brought me another drink. He asked me if I was having fun, and I politely responded, "Yeah, this is great."
I smiled up at him while thinking the party was dumb. The radio was playing annoying hard rock; I preferred top 20 stuff. The guys only talked about things that didn't interest me. I was bored, but I felt I should live up to Kenny's supposition that I was old enough to party. I didn't want to let him down.

The party got much better when the alcohol hit me. Things became interesting. I realized I didn't have to care about the rusted-out piece-of-shit that somebody was "fixing up". I could let them talk, and just enjoy watching how they lit up whenever they thought about their car. The range of emotions on these guys faces was amazing. I found myself surrounded by guys telling me all about their cars, and through that, themselves. I could see that some of them would always be losers, and some of them would be able to stick to their tasks; eventually resulting in a nice looking car.

I excused myself to take a bathroom break, and received the shock of my life. I passed the mirror. Being staggeringly drunk, I didn't realize it was a mirror at first.
I saw a stunningly beautiful girl, and stopped to look at her. I hadn't seen this girl at the party, she must have just come in. Then I recognized my freckles on the girl in the mirror. It was me, and I was beautiful!
I spent a lot of time looking at myself. I wanted to go home and see if I was pretty in that mirror too, but I didn't want mom to know I was drunk; so I stayed and played with my newly-discovered attractiveness. I let one of the guys start kissing on me, and then we were laying down on the couch kissing. I was really relaxed and it felt good. About the time the guy had gotten a hand down my pants, Kenny came to the rescue. He lifted the guy by his shirt and said, "Dude, She's 14."
The guy fled from me like I had started sprouting roaches.
I became very embarrassed and went home.

A few months later Kenny introduced me to pot. I've spent a lot of time thinking about this, and I believe Kenny was trying to teach me the ways of the world in the safest way possible. He slowly opened my eyes, and stayed with me to keep me out of trouble. I suppose I should be grateful. He put a lot of effort into watching over me. I think he did it because he was head over heels in love with my sister. I think he didn't want her to get hurt by seeing me get hurt. I know I didn't start doing stupid things until I'd changed my circle of friends.

The most valuable thing I learned from Kenny was "Just say no thank you." The people doing drugs are fine with that. The usual response is, "More for me!"