School had recently started and things were off to a good start. My classes were somewhat boring and took a toll on me throughout the week. I enjoyed coming home early every Friday and sitting on the couch. Relaxing every muscle and clearing my mind, I would watch TV and await any plans I made later that night. Sure enough, once I got home, I got a text in a group chat that read, “What are we doing tonight?” Not caring what plans my friends would make, I decided not to answer. I thought we would do what we normally do when we hangout going to someone’s house and playing some sort of game like madden or jack box like we normally do. However, this time my friends wanted to go out somewhere we never have been before. 

With this in mind, we headed to Southridge Mall. We decided we wanted to eat at a particular restaurant. Unfortunately, when we arrived, no tables were available and we had to wait an hour. We decided to waste time walking around until we got stopped by a mall cop. The cop informed us that early in the week, a group of teenagers at the mall had assaulted a pregnant woman. For that reason, we were only allowed to have three teenagers in one group. The cop was sad that she had to split us up, but she asked if anyone wanted to wear her hat. One of my friends took her offer up right away and tossed it on his head. My other friend then asked if we were able to get a picture and she agreed to it with all excitement. I never imagined that this moment would have happened that night. Never in a million years did I think that a mall cop would give us her hat and take a picture. The picture ended up looking sporadic and came out a little blurry as a result of everyone moving around in excitement.

From there the night settled by us eventually being able to eat at the restaurant that was previously packed. Even though the rest of the night was dull, I still thought about how bizarre these events were. I will remember this night for a long time.