Friday morning is the best morning of the week, always, without a doubt. Of course, it is the last school day of the week. Who doesn’t love that? Game day is always full of excitement at our school. Everything and everyone seems to buzz around school on Fridays. The guys get to wear their jerseys to school, and the cheerleaders get to wear their uniforms to school. I made the cheerleading squad this year by some stroke of luck. I’m still not quite sure how I pulled that one off, except that maybe one of the judges took note of my gymnastics skills.

Another reason to look forward to game days, is I get to stay out with my boyfriend, Brian, late on Fridays. We’re seventeen years old, and seniors at Buckeye Union High School. We’ve been going out for three months now, the longest relationship I’ve ever had, and the longest one he’s ever had. A lot of people would say that we don’t belong together. He’s from a rich family, and I’m from a not so rich family. And, when I say not so rich, I mean poor. My aunt pays for my cheerleading needs, and my grandparents bought me a car. I’m the first person in the family to make it to the twelfth grade. They rewarded me with a car. If I graduate, they said they’d pay for college.

Tonight we play Tollison in basketball. Brian is starting in the game, as he usually does. He’s very athletic, playing football and basketball both. Lately, it seems that Brian and I are becoming closer when he’s sober, but further apart when he is drinking. I wish that he didn’t drink at all, but I can’t control his life.

Brian’s constantly angry with his parents for running his life. He tries to stand up to them, but he can't. He gets grounded often. Heck, he’s grounded most of the time. I can't help but feel that his problems have something to do with me. His parents don’t like me much. The few times that I’ve gone to Brian’s house, they sit in the living room watching television, and don’t say a word to me. They simply wait for the two of us to go to Brian’s bedroom.

I get dressed in my cheerleader uniform, then drive off to Kelly's house. Kelly is waiting outside the door of her house when I drive up. "Hey girl." I yelled out to her as I got closer. Kelly is my best friend. I give her a ride to school every morning.

"Hi." Kelly said sadly as she stepped into the car, with a grim look on her face.

"Bad, huh?" I could read her like a book. I knew something was up, and I knew what it was.

"Yep. Bad bad!" she clarified for me.

"You're still part of the family, aren't you? They didn't kick you out or anything, did they?"

"I'm still in the house. Dad has insurance that will cover me, so that's good. Boy, is he mad at Stephen, though! He's going to kill him, I think. He's really upset about this. They aren't sure what they want me to do with the baby yet. I'm just kind of going with the flow, until I decide what I want to do about it."

"That's not too bad, really. I mean, you gave them the worst news probably that you have ever given them. Sounds like they handled it like normal parents, except the killing Stephen part." I tried to joke about it.

"I think he's serious. I told him that Stephen doesn't want to be responsible for anything, that he didn't even acknowledge that it's his. He's furious with the guy. He used to like Stephen."

"Too bad. Stephen may still come around. I saw him last night at the pizza parlor with Brian and Pedro. He was drinking. He looked sad."

"I hope so."

Kelly and I walked to our first class together. Our lives were growing in two entirely different directions. She was on her way to motherhood, and I was on my way to college and single life. I wondered if we would even be friends in a few years, or a few months.

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