It all started at a bus stop one dark morning. It was damp, cold, and the only thing I could see was the headlights of the bus coming to wherever I was standing. “Are you going to the party tonight?” asked Nate. Nate was my old friend who wanted to spend time with me but I didn’t want to consort with him. “Well are you?” he asked.
“What? O, no sorry I don’t want to.”
“Why?”
“I have my reasons.” The bus lights poured out right in front of me and I scrambled on, not expecting what was going to happen that night.

I went through the rest of the school day without much hassle, but there was some continuous dispute about the party. I went on the bus to go home and there was Nate awaiting my arrival. He went on and on to me about how it was going to be the party of the century and how I couldn’t afford to miss it. I looked at him and said, “Sorry my stop is here.” He watched me step down from the bus and just stared at me hopelessly confused.

That night I was doing my history homework. It was the toughest assignment he’d given us all year, ten page essay on early world civilization. I was into my third page and was almost falling into a deep sleep, when all of a sudden I heard a siren whiz past my bedroom window. I thought it was no big deal when I heard two, then three. I finally looked out of my window and saw two ambulances speeding into the night along with seven cop cars. I started wondering about what it may possibly be about when I accidentally fell asleep with my history essay right there in front of me, unfinished.

The next day Nate wasn’t at the bus stop, or school and I started hearing bits and pieces of things about what I saw last night. I went over to my friends and asked them, “What is going on?”
“Didn’t you hear?” said Nick, “Two people died last night in a drunken car crash and twelve people were arrested!” “I think I heard it was the party at Nates’.” I went into turmoil and was all confused. How can my best friend die? How can he? I was invited to that party.
My life has never been the same since that day and I always think back about how that could have happened to me. That day taught me a couple of life lessons. One thing is to always be yourself and never let anyone or anything change who you are, and to always follow what you believe in. If I hadn’t that day, I would have been arrested or, in the worst-case scenario, killed.