The other day I overheard two teenage girls in the mall complaining about their parents. One of them was upset because her parents wouldn’t let her go out on a date with a guy named Fred, who was three years older than her. The girls were making plans to trick her parents into thinking they were having a sleep-over.
  
   I was tempted to go over to the two girls and tell them the following story about a girl named Jenny:
  
   Jenny was happy about the end of the school year. It had turned out to be a really great year. She and her family had moved to a nice neighbourhood the previous summer and she had made a lot of new friends. As she unloaded her books on the last day of school, she could hardly hold back her excitement as she looked forward to her date that night.
  
   Finally, after a whole year, the star of the school hockey team had asked her out, but since her parents felt she was too young for him, she had to tell them a little lie. Instead of telling them about her date, she had asked them if she could spend the night with her girlfriends at a sleep-over. Her parents reluctantly agreed
  
   The party was great, and everything was going super until her date, Jeff, who was already half drunk, began smoking some "joints" that a friend had brought over. He then convinced her to go for a "little ride" with him to "Look Out Point". Jenny couldn’t refuse and risk being embarrassed in front of the crowd, so she went along. After they arrived at the ‘Point’, Jeff began to get a little too fresh and Jenny shoved him away, demanding to be taken home. She thought, "Perhaps my parents were right...maybe I am too young. How stupid am I?
  
   Angrily, Jeff cranked up the engine and floored the gas. In seconds they were going too fast. Jenny begged him to slow down, but he just went faster as they neared town. Then all of a sudden, she saw a big flash and knew they were going to crash.
  
   She felt someone move her from the twisted wreck and heard, "Call an ambulance! These kids are in trouble."
  
   She heard a few more voices and realized that two cars were involved. She wondered if Jeff was alive.
  
   When she woke in the hospital she was told that she’d been involved in a pretty bad accident.
  
   The voices echoed inside her head when they told her that Jeff was dead. They said, "Jenny, we’ve done all we can do, but it looks as if we’ll lose you too.”
  
   "But the people in the other car?" Jenny cried.
  
   "We’re sorry, Jenny, but they also died."
  
   Jenny prayed. "God, forgive me for what I’ve done. I only wanted to have one night of fun. Tell those people’s family I am so sorry. I only wish I could bring their families back to them."
  
   "Tell Mom and Dad I lied, and that it’s my fault so many people have died," Jenny begged the nurse. "Oh, please, won’t you tell them that for me?"
  
   The nurse just stood motionless, looking sadly at Jenny, not saying a word. She took Jenny’s hand with tears in her eyes and a few moments later, Jenny died.
  
   A man who was standing nearby asked the nurse, "Why didn’t you agree to give that girl her last request?"
  
   She looked at the man with sad eyes and said, "Because the people in the other car were her Mom and Dad."
  
   Night-after-night, teenagers all around Valley East , Capreol and the entire Sudbury District are facing tough decisions about dating, drinking, drugs, and peer pressure.
  
   If the girl I overheard in the mall happens to read this story, I would advise you to go straight to your parents, give them a big hug and thank them for caring. There will be plenty of other "Fred’s" in your life. There will also be plenty of other parties to go to. Invite your girlfriend over to your house for the sleep-over, and ask your parents to join the two of you to watch a movie or play some cards. Make this a special night for your parents too, and always remember that some decisions in life can change your direction for ever. This may be one of them.
  
   If you know any young person who may be facing the same kind of pressure that the girl in the mall and Jenny faced in this story, please give them a copy of this story before it is too late.