My Drinker Days

One morning in sixth grade, I decided to bring liquor, wine, juice, and strawberry margarita mix to school. It all started with me talking on the phone with my cousin. She was telling me about how fun it was to drink and get drunk. So, being dumb, I decided to take a sip or a gulp of alcohol.

The next day I brought a water bottle filled with alcohol to school, but I didn’t tell anyone or let anyone have any. The day after that I thought I was all cool, and I grabbed some liquor and margarita mix off my mom's liquor counter. Then I mixed it with juice and some other stuff; I thought I was being slick to cover up the margarita mix I took, so I put water in it and shook it up so you couldn’t tell I took any.

So I brought it to school, two bottles of it, and I was drinking it and my friends asked me to have some. I was like, “There is alcohol in here.” My friend Ximora was like, “Ooh, give me some,” so I gave her, Alihah, Gabby, Bri, and Ryan some. We drank the whole first bottle, and ten minutes later we started drinking the second bottle a little bit. My friend Nyerin was like, “Watch, y'all are going to get caught, and Jasmin, you’re going to fall over those steps.” Then the morning bell rang and we were walking to class when the security guard stopped us and said, “Do you have alcohol in that bottle?” I lied and said no and kept it moving. When I went into class I washed the first bottle out and put water in it, but kept the second one (stupid, right?).

A good 15 minutes went by, and the same security guard lady came to my class and made me come out with her. I knew what was happening, and I asked her if she was going to tell my mom. She responded with, “So you knew you were doing wrong?” We kept walking and she pulled out a couple of other girls who were drinking, and we walked to the office. Then she told me to tell her who else was with me. She said, “Don't lie, because I saw other people with you.” I wasn't going to tell until she said that (‘cause I ain't no snitch), but once I knew she knew I had to say something. They got all five of us in there. We all wrote our stories and, after the principal and vice principal got done yelling at me, they called my parents. Next they brought all six of us in to meet and told us what was going to happen Three girls were crying because they were scared of what their parents might do to them, but three of us weren't. I was one of the ones who wasn’t crying. That day we got sent home; the five of them for two days each, and me for a whole two weeks.

Two weeks passed. I was failing classes because I hadn't been to school, and the teachers weren’t very understanding when I got back. The other students were happy to see me. Even though I thought they were going to be pissed at me, they weren't. I was embarrassed when I learned that everyone had found out what happened to me. People kept asking me why I was drinking, and why I would bring it to school. They also told me how dumb I was for doing that, which didn’t made me feel a whole lot better about what happened. I was actually mad at myself because I had ruined the reps of other people, so I couldn't understand why they weren't mad at me. On the other hand, I didn't force them to take the drink, they took it upon themselves to drink it. The punishment I received (other than the two-week suspension) was not being allowed to drink anything outside of the cafeteria, and I also got detention for two weeks straight.

What happened in sixth grade is something that my friends and I have to live with and carry the burden of forever. One good outcome was that now, every time I think about drinking, I think about that and maybe even going to jail next time. Now, instead of doing what I did then, I just draw or write. The consequences aren’t worth it.