Change Is Not a Curse

Everyone changes many times within their lifetime. This is a story of a girl who tried to submit to the ways of her younger self even though she had changed. Her name is Diyala Wittebane.

Diyala had been friends with a group of people a couple of years older than her for a few years by now. They are the type of teens that sneak out, do drugs, and disobey authority. Ever since Diyala started to hang out with these people, she had started to get peer pressured into doing the same things as them. They had become bad influences on her. Over the summer, all of them had become of legal drinking age so they were all going out to bars leaving Diyala behind due to her young age. This allowed her to separate herself from them and realize how bad they were. She had ended up changing for the better. She became a young woman who follows rules, stays healthy, and stands up for herself when she is being hurt. 

When school started back up again, she was back to being surrounded by the bad influences that were in her grade. She was a senior this year and she wanted to have a fresh start. She started to introduce herself to new people but none of them wanted to be associated with her because of who she was around the previous years. Even though those people were gone, they all thought that Diyala was going to b like them and peer pressure good people into becoming bad. Diyala decided to start telling people that she and her old friends weren’t associated anymore but it didn’t help that the first time she said that to someone, her phone lit up with a text from Veronica. The worst of her old friends. The text read; “hey Diyala! We are all going to Denny’s later wanna join us? Like old times?”. Diyala puked in her mouth a little. She had always hated Denny’s but went to be with her friends because if she didn’t they would make fun of her. She decided to text back with; “Nah I have some family stuff to do today.” implying that she spent time with her family. This was true, but not as much as one might hope. Veronica sent an immediate reply; “yeah I get it maybe some other time”. This shocked Diyala because Veronica had never been so understanding about her not being able to make it. But that was when she got a phone call from Murray. When she didn’t pick up he left a voicemail. His tone was really angry. She listened to the voicemail and it said; “Why the fuck are you not going out with us today? I just got a text from veronica and she said you couldn’t make it cus of ‘family stuff if you don’t get the fuck over here at 2:30 PM today I will find you and confront you.” Diyala was on the verge of tears at this point because this used to happen all the time. She knew his threat was real and that she could get seriously hurt if she didn’t go so she canceled all of her plans and said she would be there. 

That afternoon, she was sitting at Denny’s with the group lost in thought. She was thinking about what she should say to go home early when she was pulled out of her head.

“Earth to Diyala” Veronica spoke softly. “can we talk?” 

“Sure” Diyala replied with a confused tone.

“Hey y’all, Diyala and I are going to talk outside for a bit. Kay?”

The group collectively nods and goes back to their conversation. Diyala and Veronica go outside and start to talk. They talk about funny stuff at first but it soon gets serious. 

“Hey, I’ve noticed that you have been distant from us since you started senior year. Is something wrong?” Veronica asks seeming very concerned. 

“Yeah, it’s just that people aren’t talking to me because I was friends with y’all all of the previous years of high school. I’ve changed over this summer and I don’t want to be a part of this manipulative friend group that breaks laws and sneaks out.”

“I feel you on that. I’m getting pretty tired of Murray’s fanatics anyways.” she agrees. “But it may not be that easy to leave the group. Murray is very manipulative. I’ve been ‘friends’ with him for 8 years and most of that time I didn’t even want to be near him.” 

“Seriously? Does he force you to come to these things too?” Diyala asks, confused.

“Yeah.  I’ve gotten so used to it I don’t even try to get out of it anymore. “ she tells Diyala sadly, “let’s ditch. You have all your stuff, right?”

“Won’t Murray kill us? Literally?” Diyala exclaims in a scared tone.

“Nah, I can handle him let’s go.” Veronica grabs Diyala’s wrist and pulls her out into the parking lot. Diyala is scared at first but quickly gets comfortable and happy with what they are doing. They go to a roller skating rink, have a picnic, and close off the night back at Veronica’s house to watch a movie. 

Diyala had enjoyed the day and had started to realize that she may have a crush on Veronica. The new veronica. Veronica may be feeling the same way, she had been holding Diyala’s hand more and sitting closer than usual. That could be to comfort her but Diyala thought differently. By the time they had finished the movie, it was too late for Diyala to go home. Veronica had suggested she stay the night but Diyala was skeptical because there wasn’t a couch and she didn’t want to invade privacy. Veronica said it was fine so she stayed. They got to talking and then as they were getting more and more tired, they were getting more and more honest. This eventually led to them confessing to each other. They both felt the same about each other and Veronica asked if she could kiss Diyala. She said yes and the rest of the night was spent making love until neither could do it anymore. They fell asleep around 3 AM and woke up around 12 the next day. Diyala woke up first and realized what had happened so she got out of bed, got dressed, and left. She did however leave a note that read; I really enjoyed last night. I hope I didn’t go too far. I’m sorry if this ruins things between us. -Diya. Diyala left it and walked out of the apartment. She was smiling like an idiot as she walked back to her house. When she got back she had 15 ugly texts from Murray and 4 voicemails. She listened to the voicemails and they all pretty much told her that she needed to watch out and stay away from veronica because she was his and there was nothing Diyala could do about it. The texts said the same thing. Diyala conjured up a response to tell him that she had changed. That she was a different person now and she didn’t want to be associated with him anymore. She knew he would be pissed but that just made her more confident. She had Veronica on her side and that was all she needed.

Murray Veronica

STAY AWAY FROM HER

I’ll say this as calmly as i can. There is nothing you 

can do to keep me away from her. She is my friend 

and that’s that. I don’t want to hear from you ever

again and i don’t want to be associated with you.

Neither does Veronica. You are the one who should

stay away from us. End of discussion.