Faith typically did what any other teenager would do....sneak out to go to a party. Ally shook her head at the thought. It was all right to laugh at it now, but then, it was a big deal. Faith was fourteen......

“Goodnight honey,” Larry called after Faith as she trudged up to her room to go to bed. It was a Friday night and Faith was sick of never being able to go out anywhere. Her parents, especially her dad, didn’t trust her being out with any of her friends past ten o’clock.

She peeked her head into her parents’ bedroom and saw Ally on the bed with a bunch of documents spread out and she was writing something down. “Night mom,” Faith murmured as she quickly poked her head inside.

Ally looked up and smiled when she saw Faith. “Night honey,” she looked back down at her documents, “see you in the morning,” she added absentmindedly.

Faith reached her room and shut the door, leaning against it afterwards. A smile slowly crept across her face. She knew exactly what she was going to do and she was excited. She had been following her parents’ patterns for weeks; when they went into their bedroom and when they finally fell asleep, even the time her little brother Nathan would ask for a drink. They would give him a small glass of water, check in on her and then go back to bed to do whatever it was they do.

She looked at her alarm clock on the nightstand next to her bed. It was 10:30, Nathan was in bed, Larry was about done with the newspaper and Ally was finishing up her paperwork she assumed, just around then; it was almost time.

Her best friend Jenny was coming over to pick her up. Jenny was a junior in high school as apposed to Faith being a freshman. Jenny had taken Faith under her wing and the two had become really good friends. Jenny had just recently gotten her license but she didn’t have a car yet. Her mother usually let her take hers out. Jenny’s curfew was midnight, but she never followed that. Her mother was constantly lecturing her, but it never mattered because her lectures were never enforced; all the better for Jenny, all the worse for Faith. Faith idolized Jenny and Jenny knew it. About a month ago, Jenny asked Faith to sneak out with her to this awesome party one of her senior buddies was having. Jenny knew it would have lots of loud music, drugs, and drunken guys. She was all for it, but didn’t really alert Faith of what she was getting herself into. Faith just felt like one of the crowd and she was living it up. Faith had ended up saying she would have to let her know but just that day she had told Jenny she was all for it.

Now the moment had arrived, it was almost 11:30, her parents had come in and checked on her just like normal and she was awake and setting up her bed with pillows just in case. She had changed her clothes to feel more grown up and put on some more make-up after having washed off her original coat to make it seem like she was going to sleep. She glanced in the mirror and smiled. “It’s time,” she whispered to herself as she turned off her light and slowly crept out of her room towards the stairs, walking around all the creaks in the floor. She slinked down the stairs and out the door locking it behind her, slowly, quietly. She walked about a block to the corner where Jenny pulled up about two minutes later in her mom’s silver convertible corvette.

“Sweet,” Jenny smiled as Faith got into the car. “Any problems gettin' out?”

“Nope, none. I told you it would work,” Faith smiled as Jenny sped off.

Jenny pulled up to this monster of a house a couple of neighborhoods over and her and Faith stepped out of the car. Faith’s jaw dropped open as she noticed all the people laughing and having a good time. The music was loud, but good, and the atmosphere was enlightening. She looked at Jenny who had a smile on her face, ready to start partying, and they started walking towards the house.

Jenny said hello to a lot of people, introducing Faith numerous times. They got up to the house and this one guy caught Faith’s eye. He was leaning against the stairway, which was right in front of the door as you walk into the house, talking to a couple who were sitting on the stairs wrapped up in each other’s arms.

“Who’s that?” Faith whispered to Jenny.

Jenny looked up and saw the couple sitting on the stairs. “Oh them, that’s just Will and Marlene. They’ve been going together since sophomore year. Why?” she looked at Faith, curious.

“No, no, not them, that guy standing up talking to them,” Faith could feel her stomach doing a somersault as she watched him laugh along with the cute couple on the stairs.

“Ooooohhhh,” Jenny said, staring at him. “That’s Ethan. He’s a senior, single...” she trailed off as she watched her little freshman friend immediately begin pining for the seemingly knight in shining armor type. “Hot,” she added, smiling widely all of a sudden.

Faith looked over at Jenny, “Uh, YEAH!” she exclaimed, almost too loud, cause Ethan looked up at her and Jenny. Faith looked away, burying her head in Jenny’s shoulder, feeling like a moron.

“Let me introduce you,” Jenny said without missing a beat, shrugging Faith off of her shoulder and placing her arm around Faith.

“Ethan, darling, how are you?” Jenny asked, smiling vivaciously.

“Jen, how ya doin’?” Ethan responded rhetorically.

“You’ve got to meet my friend. Ethan this is Faith Paul, Faith this is Ethan Stenson,” Faith looked up into Ethan’s blue green eyes and admired the way they lit up as he smiled, reaching a hand out.

“Nice to meet you Faith,” Faith slowly reached her hand out and slipped it into his.

“Yeah, uh, yuh, yeah, you, uh,” she laughed, realizing she was sounding like her mother. “You too,” she tried hard to maintain composure.

The two shook hands and Jenny watched, eyeing the couple on the stairs simultaneously; they were watching the whole exchange.

“How come I’ve never seen you before?” Ethan asked Faith as they both pulled their hands back.

“Oh, uh, um,” she looked at Jenny for help.

“She just transferred here,” Jenny came back immediately.

“Oh yeah? Wow, I’ve lived here my whole life. Hard to imagine moving around all the time,” Ethan started making conversation.

Faith was about to object to that statement when Jenny grabbed her arm, “Well Ethan, honey, we have to go. Catch you later I’m sure,” Jenny waved her free hand as she drug Faith away.

Ethan watched them leave suspiciously.

“What was that about?” Faith asked incredibly when Jenny stopped dragging her and they were over to the other side of the house.

“Faith, this guy was digging you, it was so noticeable. The first thing you want to not do is tell him you’re a freshman. He doesn’t dig freshman,” Jenny replied matter-of-factly.

“Well then what’s going to happen if he sees me around school?”

“I haven’t figured that out yet,” Jenny shrugged it off, “but why don’t we just worry about tonight right now. Let’s mingle some and then you should make your way back to him and...well, we’ll see what happens,” Jenny smiled slyly.

Faith mustered a nervous smile as someone came by and handed the two girls drinks in a red plastic cup. “What’s this?” Faith asked apprehensively.

“Who knows!” Jenny exclaimed as she clunked her cup against Faith’s and took a drink. “Tequila! My favorite!” Jenny let out a holler and started laughing. “Go on, take a drink!” she urged Faith.

Faith looked at Jenny nervously, but brought the cup up to her mouth. The strong smell made her pull it away quickly.

“We’ve got an amateur don’t we!” Jenny exclaimed as she started laughing again. “You’ll get used to it, trust me!” She took another swig of her drink.

Faith watched as Jenny kept drinking the remnants of her cup until there was nothing left and she went off in search of another cup. Faith looked around at all the other teens, partying, drinking, smoking, and having a great time apparently. She looked down at her cup and taking a deep breath, she sipped her drink. She swallowed the sour tasting liquid, her whole body quivering afterwards at the strong and awful tasting fluid.

She remembered Jenny saying to mingle a while and then find Ethan again so she decided to walk around the house for a little while, making it look like she was looking for someone, secretly hoping someone else found her.

After about an hour of walking around the party, about one cup later, not finding Jenny again at all, Ethan approached her.

“Hey,” he whispered in her ear, causing her to whip around. Being a little tipsy as it was, she spilled some of her drink on Ethan’s shirt.

“Damn!” Ethan backed off, feverishly wiping his shirt off with his hand. “What the hell was that?” he asked irately.

“Oh!” Faith exclaimed, her face burning a sudden red. “I didn’t mean to!” she started trying to help wipe it off with her own hand.

Ethan looked at her. He could tell she was scared. He wondered more about her, but figured if she had found her way to this party, there must be SOMETHING cool about her. “Hey,” he grabbed her hand, stopping it from wiping the shirt. “A couple of us are going to go driving for a while, why don’t you come with us.

Faith got a little worried, “But what about Jenny...” she trailed off and made eye contact with Ethan. His eyes pierced hers and she melted on the spot. “Okay, sounds good,” she managed a smile after gulping.

“Great,” Ethan smiled back, taking her hand and leading her outside. The touch of his hand made Faith tingle all over in excitement. There was that one couple Ethan was talking to on the stairs waiting outside by a convertible mustang talking to another girl. Ethan led Faith to the car and then they all piled into the car, Faith rode shotgun with Ethan while the couple and other girl were in the back, sitting on the top of the seat, laughing, holding cups and having a grand old time.

Faith was the only one who buckled her seatbelt as Ethan floored it and the car sped off. Faith grabbed her hair and pulled it behind her to keep it out of her face and she struggled to keep breathing normally.

They drove and drove, shouting and hollering and having a great time. Faith was trying to relax, but she was nervous. She didn’t really know these people and she kept remembering what Jenny had said about freshman. What would happen if he did find out? She tried to push it out of her mind.

Before she knew it, she was at a loss as to where they were. They were on some curvy back road that she wasn’t familiar with. “Where are we?” she tried to shout over the wind.

“What?” Ethan hollered back.

“Where are we?” she shouted louder.

He looked at her panicked expression. “Are you nervous? Do you have to be home early?” he teased her. “Does it make you nervous when I do this,” he swerved the car sharply to the right and then to the left and back to the right again. Faith screamed as she held onto the door of the car.

Suddenly she heard a siren and a police car was speeding up to them. **Oh no!** she thought feverishly. **This CAN’T be happening!!!!** Faith was panicking by now. She was so totally busted and she knew it.

Larry rolled over, turned on the lamp next to him and picked up the phone quickly, almost knocking it down in the process. “Hello?” he said groggily into the phone.

“Mr. Paul?” a stern voice responded.

“Yes, Larry answered, sitting up a little bit.

“Mr. Paul we have your daughter at the police station. She was out with some friends drinking. You need to come here now.”

Larry was awake now; he had shaken Ally who had smacked at his hand. She opened one eye, saw his expression and sat up.

“Is she okay?” Larry asked frantically.

“Yes, she’s fine, but a little shaken up.”

“I will be right there,” Larry hung up the phone and looked at Ally’s worried face.

“What’s wrong Larry?” Ally asked, her voice quivering.

“Faith’s at the police station,” he said softly in disbelief, not moving a muscle.

“But how is that possible? She’s in her room!” Ally exclaimed.

“Apparently not anymore,” Larry finally got up and started pulling some pants on, then a shirt and finally his glasses. “Are you coming?” he questioned Ally who then proceeded to jump up and grab clothes. “I’m going to go get Nathan."

“I’ll be ready in two minutes!” Ally shouted at him as he was out the door. She couldn’t believe this happened. She wondered if Faith was hurt or anything.

After getting a cranky Nathan up and into the car, the Paul’s were at the police station ten minutes later. Ally rushed into the station and started asking frantically where her daughter was.

“Where’s Faith? Faith Paul. Where is she? She’s my daughter. I want to know where my daughter is!” she escalated the yelling more and more with every question.

“Mom!” Faith yelled and ran to Ally.

Ally engulfed her in a fierce hug. “Honey what happened???” Ally questioned, worriedly.

“Mrs. Paul?” a police officer came up to Ally. “Your daughter was apprehended for being under the influence with a group of other people driving in a car.

“What!” Ally exclaimed in disbelief.

“Faith,” came Larry’s stern voice from behind Ally. He was carrying Nathan and handed him to Ally. “We need to have a talk. Ally, please take Nathan and go over there,” he motioned to a bench next to the stairs she had rushed up earlier. Ally complied and Larry put a firm arm on Faith’s shoulders and led her into an empty room with a table and two chairs and he sat her down in there. “Can I have a minute?” he asked the officer presiding at the door.

“By all means,” and the officer shut the door.

Larry sat down across from Faith, leaning back in the chair and eyeing Faith threateningly. “Where in God’s name were you tonight Faith?” he asked, not moving an inch.

Faith’s head was bowed down. “I went out with Jenny to a party.”

“First thing’s first, no more hanging out with Jenny. Next, where was this party?” Larry asked.

“It was a couple of neighborhoods over from ours,” Faith was being cooperative, afraid of what was going to happen next.

“And what were you doing with alcohol?”

“I didn’t know what it was at first and then I just, took a drink and before I knew it, I had drank a whole cup,” Faith started explaining.

“And what were you doing in a car with someone driving drunk?” Larry’s tone got harsher.

“I was liking this boy and he invited me to go driving with him and a few of his friends. I had lost Jenny so I figured I didn’t have anything better to do and I went. Before I knew it, there was a cop behind us.”

“Why did you sneak out Faith?” Larry sat up and leaned against his arms on the table.

Faith lowered her head even more. “I wanted to go to that party and you don’t ever let me out past ten.”

“And with good reason Faith!” Larry’s voice boomed. “Faith, you could have been killed tonight! If that cop hadn’t of shown up, you might have gone flying off a cliff or something!” he was now yelling at her.

Faith started to cry again, “Daddy I’m so sorry! I didn’t mean to, I’m so sorry!” She put her hands over her face, crying into them.

“Faith, I’m very disappointed in you. I can’t believe you snuck out like that tonight. That’s not like you,” he stood up and walked over to his crying daughter. She looked up slowly, her eyes all red and tear-stained. Larry bent down and grabbed her tight. “I love you Faith, if something were to happen to you,” he paused, catching his breath. “I don’t know what I would do with myself. And I’m sure your mother wouldn’t either.”

Faith felt real bad. She knew she was in trouble, that was a given. But she knew her dad was right. She could have been killed and it didn’t even dawn on her. She knew all about this stuff all along and still, she chose to do what she did. She couldn’t quite comprehend why, but she knew she would never do it again.

“You know you’re in trouble right?” Larry pulled away, smirking.

“Yes dad, I know,” Faith replied, looking down again, feeling more than ashamed.

Larry walked to the door and opened it. He came face-to-face with the officer that pulled them over and asked if there were any technical issues that need to be dealt with. He told Larry that seeing as she’s a young minor, nothing’s going to happen THIS time.

Larry led Faith over to Ally and Nathan, who was still snoozing on Ally’s lap and over her shoulder.

“Is everything all right?” Ally asked, looking at Larry then Faith and back to Larry again.

“Everything’s fine. No charges will be pressed at all. Let’s go home,” Larry picked up Nathan from Ally’s lap and Ally looked down at Faith as she stood up.

“You’ve been bad Faith. You do know you’re grounded right?” Ally hated grounding her daughter, but there was just no other way.

“I know mom, and I welcome it. I know I was wrong, I do,” Faith looked back up into Ally’s eyes. “I don’t ever wanna do that again.”

Ally wrapped her arm around Faith’s shoulders and they family walked out of the police station to the car that took them home...safely.

Faith had been grounded for three weeks after that fiasco and she rarely talked to Jenny since. For some reason, Jenny wasn’t her favorite person anymore. Ally laughed at that, knowing that kids will be kids. She was a kid once too, although, well it was a different time entirely, she smiled even wider.