Matt+W+Tale

The Great Life

Today is just another day of the average life of a typical teenager. Jeff enjoys doing whatever he wants at the age of sixteen because he thinks he is invincible. Jeff believes that since he is a teenager and does what he wants, he knows everything, and he won’t get caught doing anything wrong. Jeff is loving the life of sex, drugs, and drinking even though he lives with his parents. Jeff loves the fact he doesn’t have to follow his parents’ rules just like many of his friends. However, Jeff has a long road in front of him due to his thought process and pressure from his peers. Jeff loved girls and maybe a little too much. A girl could get him to do anything while his teachers at school couldn’t get him to anything at all. Jeff never had just one girl, he had a different one every week. What Jeff did with these girls was known by everybody and gave him a bad impression socially. Jeff never cared because he knew he was doing what his friends were and he felt accepted by them. Deep down somewhere in his confused soul Jeff knew most of the things he was doing were wrong but he thought since people accepted it then he was fine. Jeff felt manly due to the fact he was getting girls even though half of them had already done stuff with his friends. Despite the fact he knew things were somewhat wrong Jeff never thought about the consequences of what he was doing. The bad part is along with girls Jeff loves to drink beer and smoke pot. If Jeff had beer in his hand then more than likely pot was somewhere near. He mainly used all of it for pleasure and to get girls. Eventually it all was catching up to him like karma. One cold muggy morning Jeff did his normal routine of drinking a beer while getting ready for school. Jeff drove to school not knowing that this particular day was about to throw a major curve into his life. He was feeling alright walking into school until one of his girls he was with for a few weeks walked up. She quickly informed Jeff that she was pregnant and she was keeping it. Being shocked for the first time in his life Jeff wanders into first period but in his own little world thanks to the information he just received. Only if Jeff knew that the girl was just the beginning because near the end of first period the cops arrived and arrested Jeff. Jeff was confused until the cops showed him the big bag of pot and the twenty four case of beer he had stashed in his locker. Right then and there Jeff’s life flashed before his eyes. Jeff received a sentence of six years in a juvenile detention center. After all of this Jeff’s parents were ashamed and in return didn’t want anything to do with him at all. It has been two months and Jeff sits lonely in his small cell. Jeff is wearing an orange suit and shoes with holes in them. Jeff sits there recording his thoughts in a journal while wondering how life shifted so fast. Jeff thought everything was fine in life doing what he wanted and what others encouraged. Jeff thought listening to anyone other than his friends was a waste of time. Everyone outside his group of friends told him that the way he was living was wrong and would catch up to him. In the end Jeff was blinded by the peer pressure of his friends even though part of the time his heart told him his mind was wrong. After all of the so called great life it landed Jeff where he is now which is in jail. He sits in many lonely nights wondering what he could have done differently. Deep down he knows that if he would have been honest with his self and done what his heart said, then he wouldn’t be where he is. If he would have followed his heart he would have lived the way he wanted and by the rules he knew were right rather than by what other people thought were right. “To be honest with yourself you have to listen to your heart” is a line frequently used in the journal which Jeff writes his thoughts.