Hello,

This is my first story, new here to fanfiction. Comments are encouraged for improvements. I'm bad with summaries, so just read plz!

Hopefully, it will touch u in the end.

Thx for ur time,

Yoshi X

Jennifer's Addiction

By Yoshi X

Holding Jennifer's journal in her hand, Lucy nervously reads its pages out loud.

"I heard rumours about gambling from my friends at school. As soon as they started, everyone that I knew well in school started betting on a lot of stuff and some were winning while others were…losing. Me, I didn't want to gamble because I knew it would bring nothing but trouble. Besides, my family didn't have much spare money, and my mom was always nagging me to save my money and not waste it on silly, useless things. Well, that is what I thought at first. Anyway, last week, I went to my friend Crystal's house after school. Her brother and his friends were crowded around the computer playing some online gambling game. They were cheering, clapping, and high-fiving each other every second it seemed. To be honest, they looked like they were having a lot of fun. Before I knew it, there were more friends over. Some were gambling on the Internet, some were betting on sports, and some were playing cards face to face. They all seemed so mesmerized by everything, and you couldn't take their attention away if you tried. I was so disgusted by their behaviour that I was going to turn my back on them until one of them won a big jackpot, $350! Everyone was cheering and patting him on the back. I could use $350! Next thing I knew, my friends made room for me and told me that it was my turn. There I was sitting on the chair and gambling on the Internet. I was nervous and scared, thinking about how much money I might lose, but also thinking how much I would win…which kept me gambling. Five minutes later, I won fifty dollars! I've never won that much before in my life! I was ecstatic!

After winning that first bet, I thought I could do better, and from there I didn't feel any pressure from my friends. I didn't even think of losing, or of any trouble it might bring in the future. I only thought of winning again, over and over, and of being rich and retiring as soon as I finished high school. After that night, I always came home, went straight to my room, to my computer, logged onto the Internet with my debit card in my hand, and started gambling all night and sometimes all day. I started with five dollar bets, but they soon went up to ten dollar bets, then twenty dollars. It didn't even seem like money anymore; they were all just numbers.

I have to admit, I was doing pretty well at first for a young person like me, but I haven't done very well at school ever since I started gambling. There just wasn't enough time to study at night. Besides, all I could think was, 'Hey, I'm making good money, I could keep this up forever'. My parents were becoming suspicious because I hardly came out of my room. They soon started asking me if I was doing my homework and how I was doing on my exams. I lied. I mean what else was I supposed to say to them other than the fact that I have failed all my tests this month? I could never tell them. They are so proud of me, proud that I won awards this year, proud that I will graduate this year. No way!

Last month my luck started fading away. I was losing, and I mean really losing. I couldn't make a good bet, and if I did win, I'd put it right back in and gamble it away. I tried to stop but I kept going back, so sure that my luck would change. After a couple of days - still no luck at winning.

Then my parents got the phone call. The Vice Principal at my school called, telling my parents that most of my teachers said that I have been sleeping in class, not paying attention, not doing my homework, not doing well in tests, and told them the cold hard fact that I am failing in all of my classes except for gym.

You should've seen my parents, they were furious and shocked. They kept asking me why I didn't do well, lecturing me over and over about graduating, having a good career and a good life. 'Blah blah blah, so what, I am going to live a good life, and have a bright future, as soon as I was going to win again'. That was what came into my head during the times when my parents wasted their time lecturing me about education. To tell you the truth, I really didn't care. I thought I knew what I was doing when I really didn't. I did receive punishment and I am supposed to work hard to pass my courses. If I don't improve my marks enough then I won't graduate this year. But really, I've got all the time in the world to graduate later…right? I couldn't stop gambling. My parents didn't know what I was doing, so I kept going back to the online gambling site often after my parents went to bed every night.

After a losing session, I ran out of all the money that I had on my debit card. I had been saving that money to buy a car for university. So I had to steal credit cards from my parents. Well, not really stealing but I was...borrowing. Besides, I thought, 'Hey, after I win some bets I will pay back my parents and get my money back that I've been saving for the car and everyone will be happy again.' Soon after that, however, I had to steal and hide their credit card bills when the mail came so they wouldn't find out what I was up to. Of course, they did eventually find out.

What happened? My mom and I went shopping because she needed to buy few items and I needed to buy a few sweaters to get ready for winter. While we were shopping, I was scared to death, hoping that my mom would pay in cash and wouldn't use her credit card, since I had maxed it out. 'Oh…I am in so much trouble,' I thought. 'Once she finds out and tells my dad…' After we got what we wanted, we waited in line at the cash register. It was soon our turn, and I felt like I couldn't breathe. I felt like I was going to faint! My mom handed the cashier her credit card. The cashier swiped the card through the machine and said that the card wasn't working because there was an error. So my mom took that back and gave her another one. Again, there was an error. Well, that did it! My mom was complaining and the cashier called the manager. My mom talked to the manager, then they called the credit card companies. As soon as my mom hung up the phone, angry and confused, we left the store with nothing, got in the car, and went home in silence.

My mom was quiet and looked mad and I heaved a sigh quietly thinking that she still didn't know what I was up to, that I was the reason for this financial disaster. After we came home, I went straight to my room and pretended to be doing my homework. All of a sudden I could hear my parents fighting; it scared me. They were fighting because of a stupid mistake that I made that caused my parents to be thousands of dollars in debt. I started crying. As I was crying, I heard footsteps coming towards my door. It was my parents. Without a knock on the door, they came rushing in with furious looks on their faces and papers in their hand - the credit card bills had been found. The truth finally came out, spelled out on the bills in capital letters - ONLINE TEEN GAMBLING STARS. That same night, I cried non-stop. I mean, I was hurting my parents, and I couldn't stand doing that to them. I felt so guilty and ashamed…my parents didn't deserve a child like me after what I did to them. If I had just thought about what I was getting myself and my family into, and said a simple and plain 'No' to the pressure I received from my friends that very first night, then I wouldn't have become so addicted to gambling. Then I wouldn't have caused my family's financial ruin. I wouldn't even be failing my classes, and I would have had a brighter future ahead of me…now I have hurt everyone around me and I feel deeply sorry for my friends that are doing the same thing right now. To all of you, I'm so sorry. Especially to my parents…please forgive me, mommy and daddy..."

Lucy muttered those last words as her tears flowed uncontrollably, and she bowed her head over Jennifer's still body.