It was the month of July. I always go to my moms mom and dad's house in Pine Bluff for a few weeks to celebrate the Fourth of July because it’s a tradition. This time though, it was different. My family and I went to the river just to have fun and catch some sun of course and there was this beautiful, tanned, bleached blonde guy at the sandbar we always go to. Of course, I was like “wow” and I wanted to know who this boy was so I asked my cousin Blaine and he said the attractive guy’s name was Scout. The next day, I got a text from a number I had never seen before. It was Scout and he asked if I would want to go see a movie with him that night. I said yes because I didn't want to pass up an opportunity to go see a movie with him. After that night, he would come over every night while I was in Pine Bluff and just stay and hangout with me. My “vacation” was coming to an end and it was time for me to go back home to Batesville. When I got back to Batesville, Scout and I were still really close being two and a half hours apart. We would text, call, and FaceTime each other every day. This is where things started taking a turn for the worst.
The fair was in town and this just happened to be a great opportunity to go see Scout. I asked my guardian which is my papa, if I could go to the fair and then when it was over if I could just spend the night with my best friend. He said he didn’t see why not, but for me to call when I got to her house from the fair. Like any normal parent would. I let my best friend on the scheme I was about to do and she said she would go along with it. So, instead of going to the fair, I actually snuck off two hours away to Russellville where he was at a fishing tournament, just to see him. My journey there was so scary. I had no idea where Russellville was so I used my maps app on my phone and it had me driving down back roads at night in the pouring rain. Of course, I was only thinking of the worst case scenario. Getting lost and running out of gas, only to have some creepy man find me. I never thought of anything positive. I finally got to a town and went to the McDonald's because I honestly didn’t know if I was still in Arkansas. I found these two men who looked like they were in their early twenties, and asked them where I was at and then they ended up talking to Scout on my phone telling him where I was so he could come get me. When Scout arrived I was so happy to see him, but I had this weird feeling in the pit of my stomach. I called home around eleven at night because that was when my friend said she was going to leave the fair. I called papa and told him I was at her house and he bought it. There's a town called Dardanell where all the fishing teams were camping and it's ten minutes away from Russellville.
When we got to the camp site, Scouts fishing partner, Ashley, had her whole family come to support her that day so there was no where for Scout and I to sleep because the camper was completely full. Scouts fishing coach, which is his partners’ dad, told us we could sleep in his Tahoe. Had I known it was going to be like this, I would not have driven all the way there, but I just pretended like it didn’t bother me. As the night went on, we just stayed up talking and just enjoyed each others company. We ended up sleeping in my car, which was way smaller than the Tahoe. I actually didn’t sleep any that night. I was feeling so guilty for lying to my family and asking my best friend to lie for me just in case there was something to happen and go wrong. After what had seemed to be an eternity, the morning came and I needed to leave early so I could get home at a reasonable time so papa wouldn’t be suspicious of anything. On my way home, I was using my maps app again, relying on it to get me back home. Too bad it wasn’t doing its job. My phone was going crazy and it kept telling me to make u turns at every turn there was. I was running out of gas and the last thing I wanted to do was call home and tell my family where I was and why I was there. At this point, I’m bawling like a baby.
I came up on a stop light and there was a truck beside me. I rolled my windows down and waved over at the man in the truck, but he didn’t see me. I started honking at him, hoping that would get his attention, but he never looked over at me. I just started driving and crying even more. I was praying that I would find my way home safely. Low and behold, I saw the Baldknob to Batesville sign and I was praising Jesus that I had found my way home. When I finally got home, I just walked in and acted like everything was normal and no one questioned me. Several days had passed and I was meeting my sister at Wal-Mart to finish up her shopping because she claimed she had a stomach ache and needed to go home. I said yes. About thirty minutes had passed after my sister had left Wal-Mart when I get a call from my friend who covered for me the night I snuck off. She says that my sister is on the other line asking her when the last time I spent the night with her was. I’m just standing in Wal-Mart crying, and all these people are just staring at me. When I got home from Wal-Mart, my sister was outside waiting for me and when I got out of my car, that’s when I found out. Apparently, her and my papa were at Walgreen's when they saw me, in my car driving away from Batesville. They hadn’t said anything to me about it for several days. I felt so humiliated for getting caught and for lying. I had never done anything like that before and I really don’t know why I did it, because I knew the relationship wouldn’t last since it was long distance. I felt like I had lost the trust of my papa and sister and that feeling just ate me up inside. I hated feeling the way I was. I talked to papa about it and he never yelled at me, he didn’t take my car away, he just told me how he wished what I did wasn’t true and how he hopes I will learn from this.
This event has changed me in so many ways. I knew how wrong it was to lie, but what I did was so bad, and so stupid, that I felt like my family would never want to talk to me again. I am extremely blessed to have such understanding and loving grandparents and sister that they were willing to put this whole thing behind us and not to ever mention it again. Since this has happened, I've been a more truthful person because I never want to feel like no one can trust me ever again.
