“Oh my god she is like so totally cool! Where did she get that sweat suit? Is that Juicy Couture?!”
I sat typing behind my computer for hours. *cell phone buzzes*
“Omg she will not believe what Tyler just said” I said aloud as I began fiercely typing on my computer. Laughter poured out of my mouth from the bottom of my stomach as my friends sent me aim messages attached with funny clip art and sounds.
“Katrina! Get off that computer! Did you finish your homework?” screamed my mother from the kitchen
“Yes” I yelled back with a sigh. It was a lie, I had definitely not finished my homework, but hey I had business to catch up on. What would happen if something important happened and I wasn’t here to respond because I was doing homework??? That would be tragic. My mom will never know. Besides homework was SO boring. I read one page and I start to fall asleep.
The next day I hopped into my moms tan minivan after a long day of beginning to learn algebra and reading chapter books. I was beat, but based on the look my mom shot me as I shut the door I knew I was in for a conversation right now. “Uh oh”, I thought to myself. “She looks mad, like really mad. I hope she didn’t find out about my missing homeworks. But how could she have? She’s been at work all day”.
“I received a call from Mrs. Read while I was at work today. Do you know what we talked about?” she asked sternly. “Um, no what did she say?” I said with a stutter. I knew I was busted. “She told me you haven’t done your homework for the past WEEK”. I gulped. “I’m sorry mom I just..” She cut me off before I could say another word, and that was probably better for my sake anyway. |
When we walked inside I didn’t dare go near that computer. I went right into the dining room, plopped my bottom in a seat, and began doing my homework for that night. I heard my mom rustling and unpacking her lunch box in the kitchen. I could feel the smoke spewing out of her ears from the other room. I had really messed up. Like really really REALLY messed up. I sat thinking of some things I could to do possibly make her less mad.
Hours passed and the lack of conversation between her and I was driving me crazy. My cell phone had died and I was too scared to go into her bedroom to grab the charger. I quietly snuck through the hallway from my room into the computer room. I quietly sat down on the wooden chair and clicked the mouse. Nothing was happening. Puzzled, I hit some keys on the keyboard and still, nothing. I looked behind the computer down to the outlet and there it was, unplugged. My mom was not playing around. I quickly and quietly bolted out of the room and into my bedroom. If my mom caught me in there, sitting down, in front of our old boxy computer, I’d be in even bigger trouble than I already was.
Every day from then on I would come in, sit down at the dining room table, and do my homework. It was eating me inside that I couldn’t see what “yogofootball32” had to say about the drama that had happened during lunch that day. My mom of course began to forgive me, but she was now relentless when it came to my time using technology. I could feel a presence behind my left shoulder as she peeked over to try and see what I was texting my best friend Chelsea on my phone. As soon as she would hear a zzzzzing from the computer I’d hear her get up and start creeping into the room to try and see what my AIM conversation was about and who it was with. |
One afternoon, because I simply could not take her craziness anymore, I begged my mom to take me to Limited Too for some shopping. We slide into the car and listened to Keith Urban’s “Golden Road” album all the way to the mall, singing together. This put her in a better mood.
She of course made me go into JCPenny’s with her to get some wash towels and then to BathandBodyWorks for her favorite body lotion. Finally we made it to Limited Too. As I walked throughout the neon colored store my eyes scanned the accessories area looking for any cool new gadget I could convince my mom to buy me. This set of books all the way over to the left caught my eye. The set consisted of four books, each with a funky graphic design on the front. I picked up the set and read the back to see what these exciting looking books could be about. The “turned in” series was about four best friends and their adventures together. Of course I begged my mom to buy them for me and she could not turn down buying me a book.
“If this will help keep you off that darn computer and cell phone I’ll be more than happy to buy them for you” she said with a glare. When I got home that night and snuggled up in bed to read my new funky and fresh books my life began to change. |
I became completely and utterly obsessed with this book series. I blew through the first book in two days and started the second one immediately. I found these books SO interesting because they were so relatable. The characters in the books were the same age as me and going through problems that were so similar to mine at the time. They had cell phones and drama and puberty all happening just like I was. I was mainly so obsessed with these books because of the friendship that the four main characters had. These four girls were so cool and adventurous. I read all four of these books in about a week, which was quite impressive for a girl who had dance class three times a week and cheerleading on two of the other days on top of school and homework. My life was hectic, but I made time for these books. I read them over and over again. Each time I reread the books the stories seemed to get better and better. I caught details that I missed in my first reading. I showed these books to my friends, and let them read it during school, but I could never give them to someone to take home to read. I was way too afraid they would lose or damage them. Although my friends read the books they didn’t seem to have the same feelings toward them as I did. No one did. No one understood my obsession with these books. So there I was rereading and rereading in my glory |
One Friday night a big group of my friends was going to our favorite hangout spot, the local Friendly’s. During our meal my friend Rachel brought up this new thing called Facebook.
“Facebook? What’s that?” everyone responded “It’s this website that’s like a cooler version of Myspace! You have a profile and can post pictures and statuses!” she said all excited. “Oh that sounds cool! How did you find out about it?” I asked “My older sister, duh. She knows all that cool stuff that’s why I’m always the one telling you guys things.” “Does your mom know you have one?” my friend Morgan asked “Psh no”, Rachel responded “Are you kidding me? She would flip if she found out I had one.” I bet you can already imagine what I went home and did that night. Of course being the responsible kid I was, I asked my mom if I could get one because there was about a 1.75% chance that she would agree to it and I wouldn’t have to go behind her back. Unfortunately, that was not the case. I was denied, hard, and along with it I received a nice punishment for even “having the nerve to ask that”. “I had no idea what could happen” to me if I made one of those things because “they’re dangerous”. |
The next day I followed my normal procedure of coming home, plopping down into a chair in the dining room and starting my homework. My mom came in and put her hand on my shoulder, “I have to go grocery shopping, is there anything specific you want from the store?” she asked
“Cookies?” I looked up at her with puppy dog eyes
“You’re funny” she said, “We’ll see. I’ll be back in a bit, call my cell phone if you need anything.” She kissed my forehead and headed off. This was my opportunity. Nobody was home and she would never know I made a Facebook account. I watched as her car pulled down the street and turned away. I quickly ran into the computer room and logged onto the computer. Before I knew it I had a profile, profile picture, about ten other photos uploaded to my page and about five statuses made already. I was doing it. She would never find out. I cleared the search history and made sure there was no trace of the word facebook anywhere on that computer. How could she find out?
I found out very quickly that she definitely could.
I returned home from school one day and to my surprise my moms car was in the driveway. She was supposed to be working night shift tonight so I was perplexed. I walked through our white picket fence and up the back steps. I could see her sitting on the couch through the window on the door. I hesitantly opened the back door to find her sitting, staring at me.
“Hi mom, what are you doing home?” I asked
“Something came up and I had to come home” she said sternly.
“Is everything okay?” I asked in fear
“Do you know who I had lunch with today?” she asked calmly.
“No who?” I asked in confusion
“Tracey” she responded. Tracey is one of my moms best friends and coworkers, but I have no idea why she’s telling me this. “And you know what she told me?” she asked with a smirk
“What did she tell you?” I responded clueless
“She told me that you came up as a suggested friend to her on Facebook” she said with a laugh.
My eyes grew three sizes bigger and my heart dropped into the bottom of my stomach quicker than the Tower of Terror. Oh. My. God. I was caught.
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