The Turn Around

I could barely stand when I got home from the party. I felt as if the whole room was spinning around me. I needed to hurry up and get my clothes washed before my parents could smell the alcohol on them. I usually drink almost every day and all night on the weekends. I guess you could say I have a drinking problem. Luckily my parents haven’t found out about me drinking yet. I’m sure they would freak out if they found out that their 17 year old kid was an alcoholic. My mom and dad never really drink that much. They will occasionally have a few drinks if the go out with friends but it’s nothing major. Nobody in my family drinks a lot so I don’t know where I got this bad habit from. I was raised very well and got most of what I wanted. Most of my other friends that drink have the exact opposite background. They were raised with alcoholics for parents and no supervision. I don’t have a reason for drinking; I just do it for fun. But over the past couple months it has become an addiction and a part of my life.
The next morning mom made cinnamon rolls for breakfast.
“Good morning!” she said with a smile on her face.
“Morning,” I replied with a low tone. I had a pounding headache from last night and I couldn’t let mom know that.
“Everything ok sweetie? You seem kind of down,” she asked.
“Yeah I’m alright. It’s just too early for me.”
Mom replied, “But it’s 11:30?”
“I know,” I said, “it’s still too early.”
Mom asked “What time did you get home from the movies last night?”
“Around 11” I said. What she doesn’t know is that I really didn’t go to the movies and I got home at three in the morning. I didn’t like lying to my mom but it was the only way to save my butt.
Dad was usually away on business. This week he was in Kentucky. When he is home I am a lot more careful that he doesn’t find out I’m drinking. My dad would be able to tell in a heartbeat if something was wrong but my mom is clueless. When I go out drinking and my dad is home I will take and extra pair of clothes to change into so he doesn’t smell the alcohol. He usually waits up for me if I tell him I’m going out. I have had a couple close calls with dad but I’m good at making excuses.
It was a sunny Saturday and I planned on sitting around until 9 then I would go out with my friends. I had one best friend that I always drank with. His name is Mick. My parents didn’t really like Mick because they think he is a bad influence when really, I’m the bad influence on him. The only bad part is that every time I went over his house to drink, he had his girlfriend Jill over. Jill was a major party pooper when it came to drinking. She was a beautiful, blonde haired straight A student. I don’t know how Mick scored her. There must be something wrong with her.
As soon as we started having fun and getting drunk she would take the booze away from us. Jill would end up leaving mad at Mick every time because Mick would yell at her for taking the beer away.
9 o’clock came and I was getting ready to walk out the door when mom stopped me and asked me where I was going.
“I’m going over to Mick’s.” I said.
“I thought I told you I didn’t like you being with him?” she said.
“Mom, he isn’t even bad anymore. He has been clean for over a month. We are just going to hangout and listen to some music.” I said angrily
She said back “Okay, I guess you can go over but be home by 12!”
“Okay mom,” I said.
I gave her a kiss on the forehead and left. I hopped in my car and took the short drive over to Mick’s house. I pulled up and of course there was Jill’s car sitting outside. She better not ruin our fun this time. I knocked on the door and waited for Mick to answer. The door swung open
“Hey Jonny!” Mick said excitedly.
“What’s going on?” I said back.
“Nothing much, ready to party?” he said.
“How are we going to party with Jill here?” I asked.
“She isn’t here. She needed her oil changed in her car and my dad said he would change it for her so she left her car here.” Mick said with a smile on his face.
After I heard that I was jumping with joy on the inside. Finally after so many times of her ruining everything, it was just Mick and I with a lot of alcohol. Mick’s parents were never home so it was easy to drink at his house.
It was around 11 when we really started getting drunk. Mick couldn’t stand after his fifth beer. He is a weak drinker, but I was on my seventh and could still walk. My mom said I had to be home by 12 and I was just getting started. I’m sure she won’t mind if I am a couple hours late.
At 11:30 Mick thought it would be a good idea if we went ding-dong ditching.
“Mick! We are so drunk and you want to go run around the neighborhood? If people see us we could go to jail.” I warned him.
“Its fine,” he said “We will just go hit a couple houses and come right back.” he persuaded.
“Okay! But only a few.” I said.
“Let’s do it,” he said.
Mick fell three times before we got to the first house. There is no way we are going to get away with this. We approached the house and I stayed behind the bushes in their yard. Mick stumbled up the steps to the front porch and knocked on the door. As soon as he turned around he fell down the concrete steps. I knew this was coming; the house lights turned on and a huge man opened the door.
“I’m calling the cops!” he yelled.
“Run!” I said urgently.
We both ran around the corner and dove into a giant bush. 30 seconds later we could hear the police sirens.
“We’re so dead!” Mick whimpered.
“No we’re not” I said, “Just keep quiet” I told him.
The cop car stopped at the house we ding-dong ditched. We could just barely hear the two men talking. The cop got back in his car and drove slowly down the street shining his light looking for anything suspicious. Of course that night Mick had to wear his brand new white sneakers. The cop stopped at the bush we were hiding in. He shined the light on it for a couple seconds then kept driving. At that point we thought it was safe to get out. It turns out that he was just pulling into the next driveway so he could get out and look on foot. As soon as we stumbled out of the bush he shined his flashlight right on us.
“Stop right there!” he screamed, “Get on the ground!” he yelled.
Mick and I dropped to the ground shaking. The cop ran over and cuffed us both. He got on his walkie- talkie and was saying he found the suspects and the address we were at. Minutes later as we were leaning on the cop car two other cop cars pulled up. They had to pat us down to make sure we didn’t have any weapons.
“Have you guys been drinking tonight?” the cop asked.
“No!” Mick yelled.
Mick was to drunk to even understand what was going on.
“You guys sure smell like it” the cop said. “We are going to give you guys a breathalyzer test.”
We took the breathalyzer test and we were both over the legal limit. The cops took us in to the police station and put us in a holding cell. We both had our drivers licenses on us and the cops took them. They came back and asked us how old we were. Mick tried telling him that he was 21 but the cop didn’t believe it because he had Mick’s driver’s license right there in his hand. The police called both of our moms and they had to come bail us out of jail.
The car ride home was most definitely the worst car ride ever.
“What were you thinking!” mom yelled.
“I don’t know, mom. I wasn’t planning on drinking. It kind of just happened.” I said back.
“We raised you better then that! We gave you everything you wanted when you were growing up and now you go and do this to us? I’m disgusted with you.” Mom replied angrily.
“I know I screwed up. I’m sorry.” I said sadly
“Sorry is not even close to making it better this time. You just wait until your father gets home.” mom said.
That is what I was really afraid of, dad coming home. My life was pretty much officially over until I moved out. I need to turn my life around.
I woke up the next morning to a whole page of chores I needed to do. I’m sure I will be doing these until I pass out from exhaustion. This sucked because I was still a little bit hung-over from last night. I walked into the kitchen and saw mom sitting there reading the newspaper.
“Morning mom,” I said trying to sound happy.
She didn’t answer. I’m guessing this is going to be happening all day. I think it would be a good time to start now.
I decided to start with the hard stuff and get it out of the way. First I cut the grass. That took me about an hour and a half. Then I cleaned the attic and the garage. That took a total of two hours. The rest was just small stuff like washing the car and cleaning the house.
As I sat down to take a small break I heard a car pull in the driveway. It was time to face the wrath of dad. I saw the doorknob turn and I braced for impact.
“Hey dad,” I said
“Shut up,” he said back sternly. “These next two months are going to be the worst two months of your life.” He warned
“Dad I’m sorry,” I said
“No you’re not or you wouldn’t have done it.” he said back “You will never drink again after I get done with you. You thought your mom was being tough.” he told me
That’s just great. I was hoping today would be the hardest I would have to work during this punishment.
Sure enough, he wasn’t kidding. It was two months later and the final day of my punishment. My parents and I have said maybe 20 words to each other since the incident. I haven’t talked to Mick at all since it happened either. I bet his parents didn’t even care and he has been drinking ever since. I don’t think I am ever going to drink again. I am glad to say I finally got the courage to turn my life around.