Teen Sex

By Stacy Hamilton

Charity Trips

The cashier gave me a funny look as I handed her my item.

"Is this for you?" She asked a little harshly. I felt my face blush and silently prayed that she wouldn’t make a scene of it.

"No," I answered angrily, thinking that Rachel had better pay me for this. I began doing this for my friends out of sympathy, but it was beginning to get on my nerves. I knew they had no one else to go to, but it was so embarrassing sometimes.

"Your change is ten dollars and nine cents. The receipt is in the bag." The cashier still eyed me suspiciously, and all I wanted to do was get away from her.

"Thanks," I mumbled, as she handed me the pregnancy test and my change. I rushed out the store, praying I wouldn’t bump into anyone I knew. I hopped on my bike and headed home, contemplating the events that lead me to yet another charity trip to the grocery store. It all started this morning, when Rachel unexpectedly appeared on my door step.

"Hey Rach, you okay?" I asked. I had gotten used to the dark circles under her eyes, her almost translucent skin, and her thinning hair. The wear and tear of too much alcohol, drugs, and endless parties had caught up with her. But something was different today. Something I couldn’t pinpoint.

"Lex, I need your help." I caught on quickly, and I could tell what she was going to say. I had seen that look too many times. The hopelessness, the fear, the hidden shame.

"You /I think your /I’m pregnant" We said in unison.

"How did you know?" Fear traced her eyes. "I haven’t told anyone yet!"

"I’ve just seen it so many times." I didn’t get surprised anymore, just hurt.

"What do you need me to do?" I asked, with numbness in my voice. She looks at me with timid eyes.

"I need a pregnancy test."

If Only

Screaming babies, empty pockets, demanding bills, endless fights,

expectations, demands, feeling inadequate,

my life is made up for me, and I no longer have a say,

my life is now a sea, and I get washed away,

No longer living in dreams or aspirations, but rather in shame and regrets,

memories all around me of decisions I can’t forget,

No more second chances, one strike and your out,

no more new beginnings, time doesn’t forgive,

My mind keeps wondering back to the moment, the time,

when I could determine my future, when I had a say in this life of mine,

If only I had known than what I know now,

how long a decision lasts, how much it effects,

one moment can determine a lifetime,

one decision can crush your dreams,

If I had known than what I know now, how different I would have been,

I would have said no somehow, I would have found a way,

I would have done anything than to prevent what I’m living now,

for I sometimes feel that I’m living in a nightmare, with no way out,

decisions are the keys to opportunity,

choose them wisely, you can’t turn back time.

Daddi

Dear Sana,

Sana, all i want fur chrizmas is a daddy. I want a daddy cuz if i had a daddy i wodn’t hav to go to daykare. I hat daykare. it’s fur kidz who don’t hav boff a daddi and a mommi. Mi mommi says mi daddi didnt lik mi, so he lef win i waz born. She sayz he didn want mi. Why didnt he want me Sana? I dunt wanna go to daykar cauz it maks mi feil sad. but mi mommi sayz i hafe to gow becauze she haz to go to wurk. I tel hur i dunt lik it, but she says i hav to go anywaz. I wish i had a mommy lik mi frends mommy. She dont mak hur kidz go to daykare. She playz wif hur kidz, an she lets um stay hom if they want tu. Thuy hav a daddy tu. If i had a daddy, i culd go campin and fishin and maybe he’d evun play fotball with mi. Santa, all i want for chrizmas is a daddy. I promize i was real god this yes. Pieze can I had a daddy? Thank,

Sammie

Trapped

Closing the door softly behind him, Jarom hangs his head in disbelief. The words, like a shot gun, ring in his ears. "Pregnant, pregnant, pregnant. . . " echoes through his head, like an empty hallway. He can see the pain in her eyes reflected by her tears. The fear, the shame, the guilt. With tears stinging his eyes, and guilt searing his body, he slides down the door, collapsing in a heap.

"I wish I could fade away, " he sobs. "I wish I could fade away". "What am I gonna do? I haven’t even graduated yet. I’m too young for this. I’m too young." Knots in his throat make it hard to swallow, and he presses his head further into his forearms.

"What am I gonna tell my parents? What am I gonna tell her parents? What will people think?" He can see the disappointment, feel the unbelief and disgust for him in the eyes of his friends, his parents. Fear rushes through him like a bolt of lightening, and his thoughts jump, like a stallion, afraid of the flames.

" Wait! I could just leave. Yea, I could just leave. Right here. Right now. Tonight, I’ll go and never come back. No one will find me. No one will know. It’s the only way out. The only way out." Darting to the closet, he grabs his worn football bag, rough with endless days of practice. The smell of sweat and mildew reeks through the air. Throwing clothes in frantically, he starts making plans in a panicked frenzy.

"I could start over again. No more girl friends. No more sex. I’ll focus on school, I’ll graduate, get an education. Get a good job. Play professional. I can do it. I can do it." Frantically, his arms reach out for anything in his sight, and bumps the picture of his girlfriend onto the floor. Bending to pick it up, he sees himself in the reflection of the glass. The moonlight reflects what he really is, and reality hits him like a 30 foot wave.

"Wait, I have no car, no money, no way of supporting myself. I’d end up a bum in the streets. Besides, I can’t live with that guilt. She already thinks I’m a jerk." Swallowing hard, but still chocking on his tears, the wish returns to fade away into nothingness, into extinction.

"I can’t get away," he chokes. "I trapped, I’m trapped. . ."

Waiting

A cold wind blew snow from the front yard, sending it swirling into the bright white sky. Stepping up to the window, Lindy presses her face against the cold glass, letting it’s chill run down her body. Her warm breath melts a section of the frost that clings to her window. Reaching up, she traces her finger through the frost and scratches the shape of a heart in it. The frost numbs her fingers, and the cold soothes her body.

The smell of fresh coffee turns her head towards the table, where her favorite mug lay filled with it. The aroma soars up to greet her nostrils. The smell of coffee had always calmed her, and given her a sense of peace and belonging. She closed her eyes and took a deep breath, and let it flow through her body, savoring the smell. She smiled to herself as she remembered the memories of that smell. She could hear her laughter as a child, and she could see herself placing the cup of coffee underneath her fathers nose, waking him up. It had been the only thing that got him up in the early morning hours. She laughed softly as she remembered how he used to tickle her when he finally woke up. She opened her eyes and gazed back out the window, the light within it harsh and insensitive. Sighing deeply, she brings her thoughts out of the security of the past, and into the harshness of reality.

She gazes at the heart on the window, and watches as the frost turns to water, and drips like teardrops streaming down. Tears swell in her own eyes, and with the palm of her hand, she smears the heart away.

She reaches down and smooths her hand around the roundness of her belly. Mixed emotions of fear, anxiety, and anticipation swell her mind. "Will he be angry, or overwhelmingly sad? Will he let me stay here, or will he make me leave?" She longed to return to the days of innocence, when she was worthy of her father’s trust. Now, only shame and fear filled her mind as she thought about telling him about her pregnancy. She swallows the lump within her throat and brushes the tears that sting her eyes. Gazing back out the window, she watches as the drifts of snow billow up and float away. She engulfs herself in the silence, and waits.

Out of Control

Having teen sex is like driving a car really fast in the middle of a blizzard. When people have teen sex, they think that they know the consequences of what they are doing, and that they have things under control. They think that they know the consequences of their actions, and that they will be able to handle whatever happens to them. Driving fast in a blizzard is like that too. We think that we know what we are doing, that we are capable, and able to handle whatever happens. Besides, we are immortal right? Things like getting pregnant, and getting in a car accident only happen to other people, but not to us. Well, we are wrong, in both cases. We are not immortal, and we are not exempt from getting pregnant, or into a car accident. When you drive fast in a blizzard, you can easily lose control. Well, when you have teen sex, you can easily lose control too, of your life. When you get into a car accident, your future can be severely damaged. You could lose opportunities and freedom as a result of physical handicaps and such. Well, when you have teen sex, you can also lose opportunities and freedoms due to emotional, physical, or financial handicaps that result from the pregnancy. Also, when you drive fast in a blizzard, you not only endanger your own life, but the lives of others. When you have teen sex, it not only effects your life, but the life of your family, your friends, and the child that you bring into this world. We need to be responsible for ourselves. We need to keep ourselves out of situations that could be potentially dangerous. We need to stay out of the blizzards, and we need to make responsible decisions. Just like in a blizzard, you are the driver. You determine where the car goes, and how it gets there. We, and only we are, and can be responsible for ourselves.

Ways to Fight Against Teen Sex

1. Develop a good self-image and self esteem. Insecurity and negative feelings of self is one of the main causes of teen pregnancy.

2. Choose your friends wisely. Who you hang out with has an immense influence on how you are. You pick up the habits of the people around you, and sometimes without your awareness of it. If the people who you associate do good things and make good decisions, you are more likely to do so also.

3. Stay active. Develop talents, get new hobbies, be active in something. A main cause of teen pregnancy is the lack of good and productive activities.

4. Have goals, know what you want to do with your life. I’m not saying that you have to have your whole life planned out, but knowing the general direction that you want to go towards in the future can keep you away from doing things that would mess your future up.

5. Know the facts. Too often, people have unrealistic expectations of what raising children is like. Raising a child is hard, and is something that is permanent, and produces wear and tear on your emotions. Anyone who thinks raising a child is easy, only thinks so because they haven’t done it.

6. Stay away from drugs and alcohol. They lower your personal morales, and life expectations. They will also put you into situations where you can lose control of what happens to you. When you are drunk, or high, you often have no idea what happens to you while under the influence. People can, and will take advantage of you.

Heaven Help Them

"Jeremy, come one!"

"No! Don’t have to! Won’t!"

"Jeremy, please!"

"No! Hate you! Hate everyone! Kill you! Kill everyone!

It was another typical day for a Jeremy Robinson. Kindergarten had not proved easy for him, and although his therapists believed he was showing incredible progress, his teacher still had no idea how to handle him. He was disruptive, rude, and most of all, stubborn to the bone. He refused to do anything the teacher told him, and she was getting to her wits end.

"JEREMY, I AM GOING TO COUNT TO THREE, AND THAN YOU HAD BETTER GET DOWN OFF THAT SLIDE!!" With her face red, her nostrils flared, and her jaw clenched, she glared up at the boy who had been tormenting her with his stubbornness all morning. She seldom lost her temper, but when she lost it, she lost it. Jeremy looked down at the women fuming beneath him. He didn’t care. He hated her. He hated everyone. He took a deep breath and let it fill his little lungs to their full capacity.

"NOOOOO!!!" He screamed, a little puff of steam coming out with his warm breath. His scream rang through the cold morning air, causing the other children to cover their ears with their cold, red hands.

Before Jeremy knew it he was sitting on the time-out chair that he had grown to know so well. The cracks in the surface that sometimes scratched him when he was thrust onto it by an angry teacher. The deep polish, the scuff marks from his shoes. The other children stared at him, and he narrowed his eyes, giving them the hate glare that he knew so well. It was the glare that his mother always gave to him. The glare of annoyance, of disgust. Jeremy knew that his mother didn’t like him. She told him that all the time. She told him that she was sorry for having him, sorry for all the money that he was costing her, and sorry for the wasted time she had to spend on him. Jeremy’s mother hated him, and he in turn hated everyone else.

"Jeremy, are you ready to get off?" Her voice was quiet, but still stern. It had now been ten minutes, which was the ultimate punishment for the time-out chair. Jeremy ignored his teacher, and stared straight ahead, his little eyes still narrowed in the hate glare.

"Jeremy," she said, this time with a little softness in her voice. "Your mother is here." Jeremy flung his head around to see if his teacher was serious. He could tell from the look on her face that she was. "No one told me she was calling my mom," he thought in a panic. The hate in his eyes turned to fear and he began to whimper.

"No Mrs. Shumway. I wanna stay here. I’ll be good, I promise," he begged. Jeremy’s pleading always cut Mrs. Shumway straight in the heart. She had never see that much fear in a child’s eye. Never, until Jeremy. She knew that Jeremy’s mother was often harsh with him, but she didn’t know how harsh, and these little pleadings from him made her worry even more, giving her a sort of sick feeling in her stomach. She knew that Jeremey’s mother was young, and had no husband. In fact, Jeremy’s mother was only 20 years old. She had no source of support, no one to help her along her way. She was very low- income, and struggled just to keep Jeremy feed and dressed. She had no time, or energy to focus on giving Jeremy love. Besides, she didn’t know how to raise a child. She was still a child herself.

Mrs. Shumway watched sorrowfully as Jeremy and his mother walked hand and hand to the parking lot. His mother was already yelling at him, and had already hit him. Mrs. Shumway didn’t want to know what would happen to him when they got home.

"A child trying to raise a child." She whispered under her breath. "Heaven help them, heaven help them."

Teen Survey (R=Results)

1. Do you personally know anyone who has been involved in teen sex?

A. Yes (R=29) B. No(R=2)

2. How many people do you know who have been involved in teen sex?

A. 0(R=3) B. 1-3(R=8) C. 4-6(R=7)

D. 6+ (R=13)

3. How important do you think the issue of teen sex is?

A. Very important(R=30) B. Moderately important(R=1) C. Not important at all (R=0)

4. What do you think is the best option for teen pregnancy?

A. Abortion(R=0) B. Adoption(R=27) C. Keeping and raising the child(R=4)

5. Do you think that abortion is wrong?

A. Yes (R=29) B. No (R=4)

6. What do you think is the average age that most are involved in teen sex?

A. Under 15(R=3) B. 15-18(R=27) C. 18+(R=2)

7. What do you think is the #1 contributor to teen sex?

A. Peers(R=17) B. Drug and alcohol involvement(R=2) C. Low self-esteem(R=11)

8. What do you think is the best way to prevent getting into situations that promote teen sex?

A. Have good peers and group date (R=12)

B. Get educated about the facts, sex-ed(R=13)

C. Stay away from situations that promote it(R=6)

9. Why, in your opinion, do people participate teen sex?

A. They want to feel accepted and loved. They have low self- esteem(R=15)

B. For love, lust, physical desires(R=5)

C. Are uneducated about sex. They are uniformed(R=4)

These results prove that teen sex is an important issue that effects many people. It is a serious issue, with serious consequences. The survey suggests some alternatives to teen sex, and ways that you can avoid it. It also shows what is thought to be some of the main causes for teen sex. Things like group dating, attaining a good self-esteem, and getting informed on the facts about teen sex are just a few things that can help you to avoid getting caught in it’s trap.

Teen sex can ruin your life. It can alter your future, it can crash your dreams. It can bring you to places that you never intended to go.

Get informed on teen sex. Make a conscious decision to not participate in it before the opportunity arises. Don’t kid yourself. Once you get involved in teen sex, you do not control it, it’s consequences control you.