My Secret Life

Chapter 1

Kali Peterson was the girl every boy wanted. She was the girl everyone thought would grow up to be that cool grandmother we all wished we had. She made fathers think of past loves they never had, mothers think of who they used to be envious of back in high school, and she made every person’s heart (male or female) stop when she gave them one of her secret smiles. Some people might have said she was wild and rebellious, but she was the coolest girl I knew. And most of all she was my friend. My name is Jessie Winters. I was sixteen when we pulled the job. She was seventeen. To this day I still can't believe we got away with it, and more.

•

“Hey, you look bored.”

I remember the day when I was dragged to my first fraternity party. I was a sophomore in high school. I sat in a corner, looking at the laces of my shoes and feeling completely out of place when I noticed a pair of bright red sneakers stop in front of me.

I looked up. There was a blonde girl holding a red plastic cup in her hand standing in front of me. She had a smile on her face.

“This is a party, have a little fun.”

At first I wasn’t sure if she was talking to me. As if in a movie, I looked over my shoulder only to find a green wall staring back at me. I blinked and looked back at her, confused.

“Uh. Oh. Um.”

I was shyer back then. I looked at my shoes as if they would give me the confidence I needed to talk to this person. My new Nike sneakers didn’t have any advice to give, so I looked back up and lied, “I, uh, am having fun.”

The girl’s lips curled into a small knowing smile. I knew right away she knew I was lying. The truth was I didn’t know anyone; the girl I came with had gone to get a drink. Everyone else in the room was in college or from the public high school.

“Oh ok, cool. I wasn’t sure. Most people who sit in this corner staring at their shoes are either losers or just not having a good time. You don’t look like a loser at all, so I figured I’d say hi.”

She radiated of confidence; that was the first thing I noticed. Her every movement was smooth and calculated. From the way she brushed the hair out of her face to the way she stood, leaning her weight on one side.

The second thing I notice was how every single person in the room was glancing in her direction. Girls looked over their boyfriend’s shoulders to look at her. Boys looked her up and down and smiled. It took me a second to realize that the dirty blonde girl talking to me was the girl everyone wanted to be friends with, and if they didn’t, they were secretly jealous of her.
“Oh,” I smiled shyly, and lifted my shoulders up a bit, “I’m. Uh. Well…” I remember thinking how stupid I felt. “I don’t really know many people. So, figured the corner was a good place as any?”

This was true. I went to a private high school in another town. Most of the people at the party where college students. I not only felt out of place, but I probably looked it. I was a fifteen-year-old who looked like a ten year old. And my so-called friend left me in a crowd of adults.

“My name’s Kali,” she stuck out her hand and grinned.

“I’m, um, Jessie,” I shook her hand and smiled nervously.

“See? Now you know someone,” she winked and grinned some more, tugging at my arm and pulling me to my feet. “Let’s go get you a drink.”

She stayed with me the rest of the night and introduced me to a million people. My hypothesis of her popularity was confirmed that night. She knew everyone. And everyone knew her. She was the most popular sixteen-year-old in Woodbridge.

Woodbridge didn’t have a good and bad part of town, but there was El Macero, which was part of Woodbridge even if they had a different zip code. My friends and I used to sneak onto the El Macero property to go trick-or-treating. It was rumored that they handed out money rather than candy. El Macero consisted of well to do families and extremely large houses. Kali was lucky enough (even though she’d disagree) to live there.

I on the other hand lived on the opposite side of town. My family was well-off, but nothing like the Petersons. I lived in the older part of Woodbridge, where the street lights are so dim the residents wonder why the streets even have lights. My parents both worked. My father did research and my mother taught. We lived comfortably. While I was excited about getting a sleek silver Sony skip protected CD player for my sixteenth birthday, Kali took a joy ride in the car her parents had bought her.

I might have thought we were completely different, but when I look back on things I realize we really weren’t. We were just two teenagers on one crazy adventure called life.