Coming of Age

18

A couple of hours after Raven left, Joelle finally started to come down. She didn't really like the feeling of being sober anymore. Drugs made her happy.

Finally coming down made reality set in. Joelle really sat and thought about the past few weeks. Kesean, Bianca, MJ, Raven and now Jordan. It all started to affect her.

She down on the space in front of her bed and grabbed her Walkman. She grabbed her journal and started to write as tears started to fall down her cheeks. Writing was about the only thing that could keep her sane outside of drugs.

"You're Up late."Joelle's room door slowly crept open and her mother walked in. She started to speak until she noticed the tears on her daughter's face. Margaret stretched out her arms and pulled her daughter into a hug. "You need to go to bed."She pulled the headphones off of her daughter's head.

Joelle looked up at her mother like she wanted to say something, but got in bed like her mother asked. It hurt that she didn't even ask her what was wrong.

"I hate her."She sniffled and tossed her pen towards the wall.

In a fit of rage, Joelle stood up and started to go threw get things. She was tired of being sober, it allowed her to feel things and she didn't want to feel anything. When she found her pills she grabbed two and swallowed them dry. She was becoming a pro at this.

She breathed in and fell back on her bed allowing them to take over her. Tears still formed in her eyes, but she couldn't feel them. She couldn't feel anything.

On the other side of town, Monte was dialing her number. "Hello?"

"Hey."Joelle held the phone up to her ear. "What's up?"

"Im in the bed. You were just on my mind, so I called."Monte chuckled. "I liked you riding with me."

"Oh yeah? Well, I like you riding on me."Joelle gave off a sensuous chuckle. "I really liked the acid. Can we please do that again?"

"Nah, Jojo. I told you I ain't want you doing that."Monte smacked his lips. "I already told you about the pills. I don't want you out here like — "Hold on"Joelle stopped him.

She got distracted by a knock on the window. It was Raven. Joelle opens the window and they stood face to face. "Did I hear you say you did, Acid?"

"Don't start, Rae."Joelle rolled her eyes.

"Don't tell me not to start."Rave pinched the bridge of her nose. "Can't you see I want the best for you?"

For a hot second, Joelle forgot Monte was on the phone. She quickly picked it up to see if he was still on the other line. "I'll call you tomorrow." She sat down on her bed and just looked at Raven as she spoke. Her mind wasn't in the right space to have this conversation.

"You're still high aren't you?"Raven sighed and hugged her friend really tight. "Im sorry for speaking to you like that, JoJo. I just care about you and I don't want anything to happen to you. I love you."

"I didn't mean to yell at you."Joelle sniffed as Raven held onto her.

"You know you can talk to me, right? I need to know that you know that. I'm always here for you."Raven's eyes started to water. On the inside Raven knew that she couldn't help her friend. She was too far gone. All she could do was try her best to show her the love she was missing from her life.  "I love you so much JoJo, don't ever forget that."

"Can you stay and sleep with me tonight?"Joelle asked. "I don't want to be by myself."

"Of course I will."

Joelle laid down and Raven put her arms around her. If she could protect her from the world, she would have. Joelle has been through so much that she didn't deserve already. All she wanted was for her to be happy..