Teenage Rebellion

He approached the house with the acknowledgement of the time still in the back of his head. Maybe they’d be asleep. He could talk his way out of this in the morning. All he had to do is be very quiet and not wake them up! He turned the corner of his block and instantly shut the car lights off thinking the darkness would help him sneak back into the house. He pulled into the driveway and opened his door very carefully. With a steady hand he made sure to not slam it. A creak or two from the hinges of the door was the only sound made. Once the door of the car was shut, he tip toed to the back of the house to see if it was unlocked. He jiggled the knob, no budge. What was he going to do? He couldn’t ring the doorbell; if they were asleep they’d find out he was coming home at this time and kill him!
A burst of realization hit him: THE WINDOW!
He ran to his sister’s open bedroom window. Now that she was away at college, it was the perfect entrance to a sleeping home. He slid the frozen window open and was getting ready to hop through. He was halfway in the house with his red converse flailing against the bushes when he started to lose his balance. With a thud and shatters of broken perfume bottles, he knew that his parents would soon stomp in the room and catch him.
“Five, four, three, two, one…” he whispered under his breath.
“Mark! What on Earth are you doing?!” his father’s green eyes bubbled with anger.
“For Christ sake, Mark, its two a.m. Where have you been? And why are you covered in mud?” his mother tightened the robe around herself, trying to warm up from the breeze of the window. Mark saw the look of disappointment in her eyes.
“I’m sorry, I really am. I just thought you two would be sleeping and the door was locked so-“his father cut him off.
“So what?! You thought it would be a great idea to jump through the window?! You just didn’t want to get caught.” Full of aggravation, his father pinched the bridge of his nose to cool down. “I thought you were better than this, Mark. I thought we raised you better.” The vein in his head began to cool down and formed back into his skin. “You’re grounded for the next month. Hopefully that will teach you a lesson about respecting our rules.”
Mark looked at him with shock. “I’m sorry. I was just scared. I lost track of the time and I didn’t want to see you angry. Please, you know the concert is next weekend.” The look in his eyes was begging for forgiveness.
“I guess you’re just going to have to sell them. Give them to a kid who understands rules of his house.”

The next day Mark told his friends what happened.
“Are you serious?! You were just a few hours late. My parents would never do that to me.” Josh brushed his hair out of his face and pulled up his pants before he sat down at the lunch table. “If I were you, man, I’d just sneak out and go anyways. Besides, your parents go to bed at seven like they’re eighty or something.” He took a bite out of his Sloppy-Joe; some spilled onto his shirt. Then he paused, sliding his glasses back into place, waiting for Mark to answer.

Now that Mark knew that other parents were more lenient about their rules, Mark realized that he was being gypped out of a normal teenage life. So what if he lost track of time? This was the first time he had ever disobeyed the rules his parents gave him. Josh was right. His parents were being really rough on him. After all, he was eighteen. This was a time in his life when he got to mess up and learn from his mistakes.
“Dang Josh, you’re right! You know what, I will sneak out!” the bell rang to end lunch; both boys walked to the trash, emptied their garbage and were ready to leave. “I’ll talk to you later about how we’ll pull this off.”
“Ok.”

Later that week in Lit, Josh and Mark came to the conclusion that Mark would have to drive since Josh hadn’t passed his driver’s test yet. Now Mark had two obstacles to overcome: one was to get out of the house without being noticed and the other was to escape with the car unnoticed.
Mark picked up the phone to check up on Josh.

“Josh are you all ready to go?”
“Yes sir! I am all set to go. How’s the situation at home going for you?”
“My Mom and Dad just went to bed. I’ll leave the house in like an hour, so be ready, ok?”
“Ok, I’ll be waiting in the living room.”

Mark slowly opened his bedroom door, making sure not to make a noise. He snuck out of his room and tip-toed to the kitchen. The only sounds made were the slight creeks of the floorboards. Once he reached the kitchen, Mark grabbed the keys; after he gently opened the back door, he shut it. He’d made it. This was really going to happen. Slowing, he started the car, hoping the sound of the engine didn’t wake his parents. He brushed his blonde hair out of his smooth face. He focused his blue eyes on the road, and he was off.

The roads were covered with the first snowfall of the year, and he was in such a panic to get to Josh’s house that all Mark could focus on was not getting caught by his parents. He kept the lights off so they wouldn’t shine into his parent’s room window. When he finally backed out of the driveway, he was free. The roads were slippery but Mark didn’t care at the moment; he was too focused on getting to Josh’s. Mark reached the first stop sign. He tried to stop, but the tires kept skidding on the snow, and he glided into the middle of the road. Luckily, there were no passing cars. Mark turned on his lights so he could see the road better through the falling snow.


Josh’s street was a few blocks away. The snow was coming down hard now and Mark was still going on with a positive attitude. Then he saw the small, familiar red brick house with two bare trees on each side of the lawn. Mark’s car was coming in fast. He was about to pass the driveway. He hit the brakes and turned the steering wheel sharply to make the driveway. The snow had made the road so icy and slippery that even though the wheel was turned all the way to the right, the car still was sliding straight. When the tire finally gripped, the car sharply turned right into one of Josh’s front trees. Josh saw what happened had quickly rushed out the front door.
“Mark! Mark! Are you okay?!”
Mark looked up from the driver’s seat; he had a small gash on his right eyebrow.
“Yeah, I’m fine. “He stepped out of the car to see the damage. The front was completely smashed in; Josh’s mom came rushing out in her robe and fuzzy slippers.
“Boys, what is going on out here?!”
“We’re ok Mrs. Donald; I just skidded on the road and hit your tree.”
Worry grew on her face. “Mark, your face. You’re bleeding. Let me go inside and get you a wet towel and some gauze.” She saw the worry in Mark’s face and was unsure if he was shaken up about the crash. “Mark, are you ok really?”
“No, Not at all. My parents don’t know that I have the car let alone that I’m out.”
With a look of shock on her face Mrs. Donald answered, “Well, you are in a bit of a pickle here. I’m going to call your parents and explain to them what happened. I’m sorry, Mark, but what you did was not ok.”
“I know,” Mark said with a disappointed feel in himself knowing that he has done wrong.

Twenty minutes later, Mark’s parents were over to hear what Mark had to say about his actions. Once his parent’s car was parked his mom saw the blood dripping from his head. Instantly, she ran out to comfort him.

“Mark? What happened to your head?! Are you ok? Do you need to go to the hospital?” She was looking at Mark like he was a broken toy, and she was desperately trying to fix him.

“Mom, I’m fine, really.” he said with a moan, milking the seriousness of the incident.
His father looked at the car blended into the tree. In that glance at the car he saw what could have been of his boy. He imagined the worth things possible. What if his head had gone through the window? How could he live without his son? Mark’s father brushed his tear away, trying to seem stern still, but all he could think of was how lucky his son was.
“Well, Mark, what do you have to say?” Mark’s father was trying to keep his cool but was not hiding it very well.
“I just really wanted to go to this concert; I’ve been looking forward to seeing them for months.”
“Is that it?” his mother said in a curious voice.
“Well…” he paused for a second, questioning whether to tell them the real reason why he
went on his rebellious journey. “I just felt like you two were being unfair about last week. It was the first time I was ever late and the first time I’ve ever disobeyed your rules.” Both Mark’s parents looked at him for a while with understanding faces.
“We understand what you are trying to say, but did you have to tell us this way? Why couldn’t you have come to us earlier in the week? We both probably would have understood.” Mark’s mother looked at him with disappointment. He hated that face.
“I don’t know, Mom, I’m sorry. I promise I will never do anything like this again, and if I ever have a problem I’ll come talk to both of you first before I make and rash decisions.”
“Son, you do realize you’ve destroyed our car?”
With a shameful look, Mark nodded.
“Good, so on top of a month long grounding, you will have to pay for all the damage you’ve caused the car.”
“Ok, I understand.”
Mark’s father looked at him with a smirk of understanding. The three of them headed back home. Mark now has a better understanding of the importance of his parent’s rules. They have rules to keep him safe. Mark promised to follow every rule from now on, but promises can easily be broken.