I wouldn’t call my parents strict, but they aren’t the most lenient either.  They did let me go out with my friends until 22:00 o’clock maximum, and always gave me money when I asked them for it, but when I did go out with my friends, there had to always be an adult there with us. One thing they never let me do were sleepovers. My friends always got together for sleepovers, and of course, they invited me as well, but I knew that when I would ask my parents, the answer would be no, so I gave up on trying. It went on like this for years and years, and of course, as a teenage girl, seeing your friends’ stories of them having fun, was sad.  

Last summer I decided to try again and ask my mom if I could have a sleepover at my best friend's house. It took a lot of convincing, but I got good at changing my parents’ minds. 

“You know what? You can bring your friend over to our house.” 

So, that weekend, my mom talked to Michelle’s mom, and Michelle was going to come to our beach house on Saturday, the 19th of June 2021. We were so excited we talked about all the snacks we were going to buy, we were going to stay up all night, watch movies, TV shows, prank call people, do our makeup, gossip, and all that stuff that girls do. The first day of summer break was going to be great.  

Later, we were both on our way to one of the restaurants to eat dinner. I had to bring my sister along, on my mom’s orders, which I wasn’t too happy about, but I had to deal with that. The restaurant was mostly outdoor, with fairy lights hung above the tables, and shined like stars above us. The restaurant is surrounded by trees, so there was a strong smell of nature there. It was very crowded when we went since it was a weekend in the summer. After ordering our food, we sat silently at the table, not knowing what to say to each other. I look behind Michelle, to see two guys looking at us. In that moment I didn’t think much of it, so I just kept looking around. 

Once we finished our food and paid, we started walking along the beach. It was like 10 pm, so it was so dark that we couldn’t see anything around us. We could only hear the sounds of the crickets, and footsteps behind us. That’s when we decided that it wasn’t safe for us to walk around here in the dark. So, we decided to walk inside the compound where we could see everything. As we kept walking, I look behind us a couple of times to make sure we are not being followed, after a few times of doing so, I then see the two guys again. I didn’t want to be dramatic, and I just thought that they were walking around like we were, but soon my feelings changed to fear, when I noticed that they were coming after us to every single place we went. 

“Guys, don’t turn around, but there are two guys who have been following us the entire time…” I say quietly, making sure that the guys don’t hear us.  
“What should we do?” Hannah, my little sister, asks. 

“Let’s go to a café, if there are many people, they won’t do anything,” Michelle thought.      

All three of us agreed, and we went to a café next to the restaurant we were at, where, to our surprise, I saw my parents. The three of us approached them, and as I told my dad what happened, we both look back at them, and see them turn around. In that moment I realized why my parents are so protective, who knows what would have happened if they hadn’t scared them away.