THE ADVENTURE OF ASCHLEY AND MARLA
Ya... that could be a tv show... if they can give Bernie Mac his own show, why not me? When I was in 10th grade I started hanging out with a girl named Marla near the beginning of the year. I was feeling rebelious... like a lot of 15 yr old kids do I spose. I was going out with a guy named James and my group of friends were... well... brainy and smart and never took chances and wouldn't live dangerously. I basically lost all those friends hanging out with Marla... who no one liked. I met Marla's old boyfriend Taylor in October and liked him. I was going to cheat on James with him but he said he would only see me if I dumped James. So I did and started dating Taylor all within the hour. That was in November. That's about the time the skipping school started. They only took attendence first period, so Marla and I would go to those classes, math somedays, english the others, and then skip the rest of the day. Marla and I were in the same Math class but not English... English was the only subject I wasn't failing by the end of the term.
Marla and I did a lot of our "days off". There was a lecture room in the school and it was joined to the gym by the stage... the stage had curtains on both sides to seperate the lecture room from the gym. So when both curtains were closed it was a dark stage that no one went on and that became me and Marla's haven. On one side of the stage was a ladder that went to the second floor. Up there was like a little loft. We LOVED it up there. Out a little window u could see the lecture room. We'd spy on the odd class that went in there, but mostly it was just us. We'd keep my lighter on for light. We'd gossip and just have fun. Some classes Taylor would skip too and we'd all hang up there and play truth or dare... and even in the dark at our age we never did anything real dirty like have sex or anything. Taylor was a gentleman. And I was shy!
When not in that little loft Marla and I would be out and about the town. There was a bridge near the school that we loved. It went over a busy(ish) street and we would hang out on the bridge all the time. We'd either spit on the cars or just sit and talk. Marla flashed the cars going by one day... it was hilarious. She also used to climb over the bridge onto the narrow ledge on the other side... I was WAY to scared to do that!
This bus like to park partly under the bride, and one time I dared her to jump off that ledge onto the roof of the bus. She did! And was even able to climb back up onto the bridge.
Sometimes we'd walk to the mall which was only a street away from the school. We have our brunch in this little diner place... we'd always get these homefries and smoke while we waited for em to arrive.
I think this was the time my smoking started up. At first I don't even know how we got em, but one day we decided to ask someone on the street to go into a gas station and buy them for us. Someguy did and came out with the smokes and some change. "Thanks man" I said, trying to be cool, only to put the money in a pocket with a hole and have it fall ALL over the street... he laughed and walked away.
One day me, Marla, Taylor and her then bf Todd decided to go to this sewer thing... you know those ones that are giant and have like a huge hole in a wall and you can go into? And be underground? Anywho this is what we decided to do. We lifted the grate thingy that was infront of the hole and went in. We had to kinda walk on the sides which sloped up (it was a giant cylinder) because there was water on the bottom and we didn't wanna get wet... plus I was wearing my mum's shoes. When you got to a certian point it was PITCH black. I was so scared if someone was hiding in there we'd have NO idea. I was terrified but didn't turn back.
We got to a spot where there was a hole in the side we could sit and above up with a ladder that led up the a sewer on the street. We sat there with the TINY bit of light that shone down from the little holes and talked and Marla and Todd made out and I was still kinda scared... so we decided to go back. Todd (who was the "expert" in the group) said every now and then water comes flying down the sewer and fills it with water and if we got caught up in that we'd be carried to the end where'd we'd smash into the grate and die. (Now I know thats not even possible... but THEN...)
Wow... so we decided to leave. We're walking, trying not to step in the water at the bottom when we hear this loud noise... and it doesn't stop. And Todd's like "THE WATER'S COMING!" and Taylor's like "RUN" and we ran! My shoes and pants were getting soaked but I didn't care. I was running making little wimpering noises SO SCARED.
We finally get to the end... and wait there for like 20 mins to watch the water gush out. Nothing. So we headed back to school... kinda bewildered. When I got home mum was like "Why are my shoes wet?!" "I fell in a puddle" I said... hehe. She was pretty mad. At the time Im thinking... I woulda died if I didn't run...
So those are just a few of our "adventures". Marla ended up being not just a bad influence but a bad friend. She kissed my boyfriend then tried to burn down the school and blamed me. I was charged with arson and kicked out of school in February. A year later a judge found me not guilty of arson and I was so thankful. Now I hate that girl and can't believe she'd turn on me to save herself... but at the time, back when we used to skip together... those were such fun times for me... and I'd do it again in a heartbeat.
Even after being accused of trying to burn down the school... we were put on the best friends page of the yearbook...