The road less traveled

It all started about a month before the beginning of my senior year in high school. All summer I had been hanging out with my best friend JC. Her real name is Julie Crane but she likes to be called JC. All of her friends, me included thought that it was a cool name to have. I had tried to come up with some way to make my name sound better but my name was Elizabeth Brown and EB just didn't sound that great so everyone called me Beth. We had met in high school in our freshman year and if I wasn't at her house she was at mine everyday. Both our parents had adopted us into each of the families. My parents said that we were connected at the hip. And to a lot of people it seemed that way. We had a great friendship.

The last week of July, JC met this guy Josh and he became her boyfriend. She had been dating another guy from school the year before but had broken up with him in April. So when Josh came into the picture it was no big thing. He was just another guy she was dating.After a few weeks things started to change between us. We would make plans to spend time together and at the last minute she would call me and tell me that she couldn't be there. Josh had decided that they should do what he wanted to do and that she needed to spend less time with me. I was okay with it and felt that in time things would get back to normal after the crush she had on him wore off a little. As the weeks went by JC and I began to spend less and less time together with her becoming more and more secretive, not sharing things with me and trying to push me away. I tried a few times to sit down and talk with her but she became even more distant.

Right after labor day, we headed back to school. JC and I had a small group of friends which we didn't get to see much of during the summer but we would hang out together at school. Our friends; Kristin, Megan, Hannah,and Carleigh, came early each day so that we could all hang out together before classes began. We would talk about everything that was going on and JC talked mostly about her new boyfriend Josh.

About three weeks into the school year on a Saturday, JC went with her parents down to the southern part of the state to look at a college campus where she was thinking about attending when she graduated. So I was hanging out at home that afternoon when her boyfriend Josh called me. I was surprised that he called. The only time we had spent any time together was when JC and I were hanging out and he showed up. There was just something about him that didn't seem right to me. I couldn't put my finger on it. So I kept my mouth shut and waited to see what would happen. JC was my best friend and I wanted her to be happy.

He had called to say that he was bored sitting at home by himself and wanted to know since JC was out of town if I would be willing to meet him at the local coffee shop just a half mile from my house. The coffee shop was the local teen hangout after school and on weekends. I told him that I would have to call him back after I talked with my dad. My parents had given me a cell phone so that I could get a hold of them if I ever had a problem and most of my friends had their own too. So I decided to call JC and when she answered and I told her what Josh wanted me to do. I told her that I would never spend time with him unless she said that it was okay for me to do so. Our friendship meant too much to me to do anything like that. She said that it was okay and she would talk with me later.

The next thing was that I needed to ask my dad if I could go. Mom was at work today but Dad was home. My parents were pretty strict about who I was with and where I went. I had to let them know where I was going, how long I would be and what time I would be back. And if I was running late I knew that I needed to call to let them know that. JC's parents were just the opposite, She could go where she wanted and stay out as long as she wanted and not have to tell her parents where she had been or what she had done. They said that she was a good girl and would not do anything wrong. If I was fifteen minutes late my dad was calling to find out where I was and if I was ok. So I headed for the living room where he was to talk with him.

  " Dad, can I ask you something?"

                  " Sure Beth, what is it? "

" There's this guy named Josh. He's JC's new boyfriend and he wants me to meet him down at the coffee shop at 2pm today to hang out."

                  " So you want to hang out with JC and her boyfriend. I don't see any problem with that."

" No Dad, JC is out of town but Josh is bored and he wants me just to hang with him for a couple of hours. Would that be ok? "

" You want to hang out with JC's boyfriend? I think that first of all you need to ask JC if that is ok with her."

" I already did and she said that it was ok with her."

My dad just sat there for a minute thinking about what I had just told him. I wasn't sure that he would let me do this. He trusted me but he didn't like the idea of me being alone with some guy he had never met before. It showed on his face.

" I'm not sure I like it but I will let you go. You have your phone? "

" Yea, I do. Thanks dad, Would it be okay if I stayed until 5 or 5:30? "

" Till 5 and if there is any problem, call me! I will come and get you. "

So I headed out a short time later to meet Josh at the coffee shop. I ordered a hot chocolate with marshmallows for me while he got a espresso then we headed to a table on the sidewalk just outside. We talked about school for a while then he started telling me about JC and what they had been doing. He was bragging how he had gotten her drunk and then laughed about it. Then said that he had talked her into smoking pot and that she just loved getting high. I just couldn't believe what he was saying. JC had never done anything like this before. Then he smiled at me and said that they were having sex. He loved the shocked expression on my face. After the initial shock had worn off, I asked if they were at least taking precautions so she didn't get pregnant? He laughed and said yes, I pull out before I cum so she won't get pregnant. To me this guy was bad news.

I thought that it couldn't get much worse then this until he told me that he would keep her around until he started college then he was going to dump her. She was fun to be with but he didn't need any baggage like that when he started college. My head was spinning. I needed to get away from him, I needed to go home. Even though it wasn't 5pm I told him I had to go, then started walking toward home. My mind was racing, what should I do? I needed to let her know what he said. He was going to destroy her life. I just kept walking, thinking about everything and trying to figure out what to tell her. She wasn't at home now, she was at the college, but she would be home tomorrow. So I would have to wait until then to talk with her.

The next day being Sunday, our family went to church so I would be unable to contact her until after lunch. I was just getting ready to call her to ask if I could come over and talk when she called me. She was crying and said that her mom and dad had told her that morning that they had decided to get a divorce. She felt like her world was falling apart. I told my parents what was going on with JC and headed over to her house to be there for her. What was I to do? For now I would have to wait to talk with her about what I had learned. I would have to postpone things for now and help her deal with her parents divorce. After I got there I learned that her mom was going to move out but needed a month or so to get her own place to live. She had told JC that they were getting a divorce because she felt that she did not love her husband as much as he loved her. He wanted to make it work but she felt there was no hope for it to get better.

So JC began to spend more time away from me and much more time with Josh. She told our group that the drinking and smoking pot was helping her deal with what was going on with her parents. I tried to tell her that what she was doing was not dealing with it. But running away from it. I also told her that I knew about her having sex with Josh. She said that he was the only one who really loved and understood her. I asked if she was at least using protection when she was having sex. She said no. She did not care, so what if she got pregnant. I said what about getting Aids or something else. She said she didn't care. I asked her if she was still going to college, she was a straight A student in school. She said she didn't know if she would or not. Then she decided that she didn't want to talk with me about it anymore. I told her that she was making some very bad decisions.

Now I felt like my world was falling apart, so I decided to talk with my parents. It felt really weird to talk to them about all this but I wasn't sure what to do anymore. We talked about what had happened and they asked if her parents knew what was going on. I told them no. She was my friend and you just didn't tell on your friends. I didn't want her in trouble. My dad said if I really wanted to help her, I would need to let her family know what was happening.

" Dad, I don't think I can tell her parents. She won't even talk with me anymore about it."

" Beth, she is headed down a road that is very destructive. If you can't talk with her parents,what about Sue, JC"s sister who's in college? Do you have a way to get ahold of her? "

" Yes, we e-mail each other all the time."

" You should talk with her about this. Once she knows what is going on, she should be able to talk with her parents."

" Yea, I could do that. I'll go e-mail her right now."

I sent an e-mail to Sue and got a phone call a short time later. She wanted me to know what was going on. I shared with her that JC was having a hard time dealing with her mom and dad getting a divorce and that her new boyfriend was becoming a real bad influence on her and why. She said that she would talk with her parents. I asked her not to say anything about JC having sex until I had one more chance to talk with her. She said she would give me a week to try and talk with her. JC had also told me that she was worried because Josh had to go before a judge next week and might have to go to jail for a year or two. She said that he wanted her to run away with him so he did not have to go to jail. She was thinking about doing just that.

With in a hour I got a call from JC's mom. She wanted to know everything that was going on. I let her know about what was happening except about them having sex. I really wanted to get her to see how wrong it was to have unprotected sex. and at least try to get her to get birth control pills. I hoped that she would listen to me.

I knew that the next day at school was going to be a bad day. We met like we always did at the beginning of school and JC was just screaming at me. If I was her friend then why did I talk with Sue. She told everyone in our group not to trust me because I had stabbed her in the back. Megan, Hannah, and Carleigh all took her side saying that they were not my friend anymore. Kristin said she understood why I had done it and that JC needed help. She said that if she ever needed help that I would do that for her too. Our friendships ended that day. They told me they hated me. There was name calling and they treated me like the plague.They said that I wasn't their friend because I had stabbed her in the back. It was her life and she should be able to do what ever she wanted to do.

At the end of the day Kristin walked home from school with me. My heart had been ripped apart. I knew I did the right thing but everyone said I was wrong. When we got to my house, Kristin and I decided to get on my space and was checking out some things on line when Josh sent me a letter. He said that before today he thought that I was JC's best friend and pretty cool but I had gotten her parents involved. He didn't care what I thought about him having sex with JC, he was going to have all the sex he wanted with her and they were using enough protection because he would pull out before he came. His ex-girlfriend got pregnant because he didn't pull out. But he had learned from that. So I just needed to mind my own business. I needed to take him and JC off the my space site as their friends because I was no longer welcomed in their life. He said that JC enjoyed getting drunk and loved how the pot made her feel, which by the way doesn't hurt you at all. So I just needed to stay away from them and stay out of their lives. If they wanted to leave the state no one would stop them.

It hurt my heart to do it but I sent the letter to Sue and she called her parents to let them know what the letter said. JC will not talk to me since I sent the letter to Sue. For now that is fine. I pray for her everyday, hoping that she will wake up and see the truth before it is too late. I told her that for now I need to stay away from her and Josh. I have lost all my friends at school but one. I believe that I made the right choice, and I hope that one day she will come to understand why I did what I did to help her. Maybe we will renew our friendship once more. The path I have taken has not been easy, for it is the road less traveled.