The next several hours were spent with a lot of tears, a lot of pleading, and a lot of anger. I couldn't believe that they had kept this from me, for years! Their marriage, my whole life had been a lie for years.

They begged me to stay home that night, to keep talking this through, and to spend time with my dad before he moved out the following day.

But for the first time in my life I went against their wishes, I told them that I was 18 now, an adult and that it was time for me to stop living my life the way they wanted and live it for me.

I stormed out of the house without so much as a goodbye and burst into Rae's house which had always seemed so much more welcoming than my own.

We spent the next hour and a half prepping and primping and getting ready for our first night out on the town.

Since I knew I hadn't drank before I made Rae promise me that she wouldn't let me drink too too much and that she would back me up and not let me somehow end up going home with some random guy.

I didn't know it at the time but my life was about to change forever.