I can’t force you to not grab food at the diner. I’m probs gonna pick up some extra shifts.

Parisa

Done. And at least we’ll get to hang at school?

Gabriela

Yup. For once, I’m actually looking forward to Monday. Okay. I have to go. I’m not supposed to be texting either. My house is worse than Alcatraz now.

Parisa

We are SO oppressed. See you at school?

Gabriela

Can’t wait. Xoxo

PARISA

It doesn’t matter that my parents unknowingly supplied the vodka and the gummies. If you asked them, I’m certain that, without hesitating, they’d blame Gabriela for the whole incident. And if you asked Gabs’s moms, they’d say I was the bad influence. I guess it’s some form of denial you have to develop as soon as you have kids. In order to maintain your sanity, you choose to believe any bad habits your children pick up are someone else’s fault. God forbid you’re the ones responsible for your own child’s screw-ups. I found out my parents smoked pot when I was a freshman in high school. I went through an insomniac phase, and I could smell it coming from their bedroom late at night. For a while, I thought we had a skunk living in our attic, but then Wes told me that weed smells like skunk and that led to my aha moment. My mom and dad, the high-achieving, moneymaking workaholics, were also potheads. Fascinating.

At least Gabs and I were experimenting in the safety of my own home, and when I started to panic, I did the right thing by calling the adults in the house for help. Don’t we get any points for being responsible drug users? Plus, a lot of people drink and take drugs in college. I don’t want to be the sheltered freshman with no tolerance who ends up puking on the bathroom floor… or, worse, ends up waking up in some guy’s bed with no idea how she got there. So, if you think about it, trying to get drunk with Gabs in my bathroom was basically my way of protecting myself from sexual predators in the dorms. Even Ivy League schools could have date rapists. Not that there’s any guarantee that I’ll get into one of those schools (and by one, I mean Harvard), but a girl can dream.