Their help led us to finding the proper tie to wear for the party.
My friend Gerald and I grabbed one tie each for ourselves since we were the only
two that needed the ties in our group. We were on the second floor of the store and made
our way to the cash register on the first floor. As we started making our way to the cash
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register, Gerald and I came up with the idea to steal the ties. I mean come on, they’re just
ties. They are small and can be hidden very easily. That way we wouldn’t have to pay for
anything. We told the other people in our group that we were just going to take the ties
without paying. They didn’t do anything much but tell us that it wasn’t a good idea and that
we could get caught, but that didn’t stop us. First, we both walked around the store, making
sure no one was looking at us. Assuming that were we good to go, we both entered an
elevator on the 2nd floor, ripped off the tags, and threw them into a bag that I was holding
from a store I bought something from. I honestly don’t know what I was thinking at the
time. I mean seriously? We walked into an elevator with the ties in our hands then walked
out with nothing. I’m sure the security guards watching us through the cameras thought we
were complete idiots. I would not argue with them whatsoever.
We continued out of the elevator and made our way out of the store. Since we pulled
off the tags from the ties, the security alarms did not go off. When finding this out, I felt an
immediate relief rush through my body. I just got away with stealing something.
Unfortunately, past the detectors was as far as I could go. Two men appearing to be
security guards found us and took us into a somewhat holding place for people who do
actions like this. We were caught.
At first I panicked that we were caught and mentally beat myself up for what I just
did and momentarily tried to find solutions to our problem. During our walk to the holding
room, I eventually accepted the fact that we were caught red handed on tape. It was very
embarrassing and such a disappointment to Gerald and myself. They questioned us and
pretty much gave us a lecture on how what we did was wrong and that there were serious
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consequences. They explained to us how if we were eighteen we would have went straight
to the city jail, but since we were sixteen, they called our parents along with the police.
Knowing that they were going to call our parents, I entered a mode of shock and was
extremely scared for my mom to pick me up knowing what I just did. The police came and
got all of our information. They then put us in handcuffs and made us wait for our parents.
Fear and disappointment took over my body as I stared blankly at the floor. My mom came
and immediately broke down into tears. I could tell from her reaction that she would rather
not have me as her son at the moment. Gerald’s Dad came for him and reacted the same
way without the tears. They both began to yell at us and all that was on my mind was that I
wish I could turn back time and just buy the tie. The police then took us outside of the mall
and to their patrol vehicles. We also got a little lecture from the police as they escorted us
to the police car. Being put inside of the car was such an experience. I felt like a criminal,
like someone meant to be put into jail. I wasn’t that kind of person. I just made a stupid
mistake and learned the hard way. The police continued by letting us go with citations. The
relief of being released from custody was very pleasing. But when I thought it was all over
and money was the problem solver, I was wrong. Me and Gerald were required to take
classes called “Short Stop” which basically was a discipline class teaching teenagers how to
stay away from trouble and what the consequences of these actions were. During these
class sessions, we watched many videos showing us examples of kids our age getting into
trouble that was far more severe than what we did. Sitting through these classes, I admit
was really boring, but helped me realize a lot of things in my life. We had to complete three
sessions. From each session we were given homework to do when we got home. One
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assignment was to volunteer for community service anywhere and document it on paper.
In addition to my petty theft issue, My high school, Bishop Montgomery High School,
found out about this situation and asked me to leave the school, instead of just expelling
me. It was tough finding a school that would accept me because I left in the middle of the
year. Driving home from school that day I was asked to leave was completely miserable. I
felt like my life was over and that there was no more hope. I wasn’t going to graduate from
high school and my career dreams would never come true.
Fortunately, there was a school that was willing to accept me. It was Mary Star of the
Sea in San Pedro. It was a small Catholic high school that was very religious centered. The
students there were also required to wear uniforms such as Bishop Montgomery. Moving
schools was such a hard adjustment. I barely knew anyone and it was hard to get used to
the environment. Eventually after a few months, I began to settle and make friends based
off of common interests. I then realized that moving wasn’t so bad after all.
My life during this time was hard, stressful and disappointing. I made a lot of
mistakes that I regretted at the time. But now that I look at it, it was those mistakes I made
that strengthened my character and made me more mature. I can truly say now that I have
learned from my mistakes and will never make them again.
