The Ramen Noodle Ban

"Happy New Year!" Everyone around me screams. I am surrounded by my classmates. All seventh graders in the same public school. A girl named Hailey threw a New Years Party. I look over and out of the corner of my eye I see a 12 year old "couple" sharing a forbidden kiss. They think they're grown. I begin walking around trying to find my friends that I somehow wondered away from earlier. I see my friend Lilly. I can tell it is her even though I'm behind her. Her big, curly hair gives it away.

"I know you saw Max and Ayla kissing!" She shrieks and giggles. I nod in response. "So, What's your resolution, Kate?" She asks the dreaded question.

"I won't eat any ramen noodles this year." I say, feeling my cheeks pool with embarrassment. I know. Very random. I chose this resolution earlier tonight. Before I got to this party, I was sitting at my dinner table, eating ramen with my one-year-old sister, Taylor. I was wearing a nice purple blouse with flowers on it. Out of nowhere, I fell a glob of wet goop land in the middle of my chest. Taylor had launched a fist full of noodles at me. My mom came over and tried to wipe my blouse. "She's just a baby, Kate!" she says angrily whenever I scowl at Taylor. I can feel myself getting annoyed just thinking about it. A brand new blouse too. I tell Lilly just that. She laughs.

I, myself, do not see the comedy in this situation. I decided to make that my resolution because the memory makes me angry. I'm sure I won't be mad about it next week. At least, when Taylor gets older, I can tell her that she put me off ramen for a whole year because she ruined it by being a terrible baby. She won't know the difference. She's too young to remember.

As I walk around the party, I speak to more people. I hear more resolutions, all very different from mine.

I pass by a short brunette with spider legs under her eyes. Oh, my bad. Mascara. "I will wear less mascara and bigger padded bras!" I hear her say. Good thing about the mascara. "Wowww! That's sooo fetch!" I find myself thinking sarcastically. I mean, really? We are way too young to be thinking about the size of our boobs. She can't be older than 12.

"I am giving up meat products. I'm going to be vegetarian." I ear Eleanor Britt say. That one I can respect. I have a few people ask me what my resolution is. I answer them all with the same story. I get a few strange looks, but when I tell my crush, Cullen, the story, he laughs. That makes it worth it. He tells me that his resolution is to stop leaving dirty socks on his bathroom floor. He explains to me that his mom absolutely hulks out when he does that. "No one wants to smell your disgusting soccer feet, Cullen!" He mocks her as he looks around to make sure that no adults heard him.

Unfortunately, I can't stay with Cullen forever. Can't let him know I have a crush on him. I decide to walk away and go up to my half-brother, James. We have the same dad but not the same mom. My mom is his stepmom. He lives with us. We are only 10 months apart. He is younger than me, but we ended up in the same grade. He was also there to see the brutal end of my blouse.

"When is Dad coming to get us?" He asks me. I shrug my shoulders. I look over to see cup noodles. I shiver. Maybe I should change my resolution to no noodles at all. No. I love spaghetti too much. Maybe I should be glad that it wasn't spaghetti she threw. That would've been worse. I cross my fingers that my mom can get the stain from the noodles out.

At Home:

I walk through the front door of my house and see all the lights off. I don't know why I expected them to be on. It is 12:30 in the morning. Now that I think about it, I honestly don't know why my parents let us stay out this late at 12 and 13 years old. I am glad that I don't have to see Taylor. I am still bitter with her. I am also glad I don't have to see my mom. She would be annoyed if I told her about my resolution. I can already hear her lecturing me about how Taylor is only a baby and I should be more patient. My new blouse says otherwise.

I drag myself up the stairs to my room. I am more tired than I realized. It is strange to be out that late, and it probably won't happen again until next New Years Day. I go down the hall and turn into my room. I see my blouse sitting on my chair where I threw it earlier. The big yellowish stain smack in the middle of the shirt. I start to get annoyed but turn to grab pajamas to go take a shower and wash the small amount of mascara off my face and the hairspray out of my hair. I dry off and put my pajamas on. I brush my hair and go back to my room. I scowl at the blouse and grab it and throw it in my laundry basket. I silently pray that my mom can get that stain out. I shut the thought down because I doubt it will happen. Maybe, if we had treated the stain sooner, it could've been saved, but now? no way. I grab my blouse and take it downstairs and throw it in the trash. No point in bothering with it.

The Next Morning:

I wake up to the bright, winter sun in my face. I turn to see my purple blouse slung over my chair. No stain. How late did I sleep? Late enough for my mom to go out and get me a new one? No. Definitely not.

I walk down the stairs and my see my mom cooking. "My blouse?" I ask.

"I stayed up last night. I knew you would throw it away. I used my secret mom powers to get it out. You're welcome. Don't be mad at Taylor." She says.

I hug her side and thank her secretly scowling at Taylor for her attempt at blouse assassination. I am happy that she got the stain out. I'm glad I didn't tell her about my resolution. Then, she really would've been annoyed and just left my brand new blouse to rot.

I am going to keep my resolution though. Just to avoid being in that situation again. I won't tell my mom. I'll just tell her I don't like ramen anymore. She won't know the difference.