Read a story
We all love parties! It is said that as long as you’re young and healthy, you should have fun. Isn’t it fantastic to meet your friends and have a good time?
Forget about all your problems with school and conflicts with your parents? Yeah, it’s great. Unfortunately, there are some teenagers who forget completely how dangerous it may be to lose control.
There are many different stories of young people who after a fantastic party, and few beers, get into some problems. As long as there’s no police or medical doctors involved in their ‘adventures’, they may say they were lucky. Nevertheless, some drunken teenagers don’t have so much luck.
Although it’s illegal to drink alcohol until the age of 18, most teens can easily get access to it. It’s therefore up to you to make a decision about drinking. Teens who drink put themselves at risk facing obvious problems with the law (it’s illegal; you can get arrested). Teens who drink are also more likely to get into fights and commit crimes than those who don’t.
The story of Tom, a 17-year-old high school student, is just one of the stories you may read on police reports every day. One weekend in the springtime Tom and three of his friends didn’t have anything in particular to do. As always they met on Saturday afternoon. “What are we going to do tonight?” asked one of his friends. The boys didn’t have an idea. They wanted to go to a pub near the place they lived but they were under-age and they weren’t supposed to be there. Besides they had some problems last week when they went there. They weren’t served beer because they couldn’t show their identity cards to the bartender.
They went to the shop and sat down in a park. It wasn’t very warm outside but it was fun to have a beer in the open air. They were drinking and talking. They had to be careful though because from time to time there was a police patrol car passing by. At about 7 p.m. they felt lucky. One of Tom’s friends, Jim, got a phone call from his parents. They were going to visit their friends and were coming home at about 11 p.m. the same day. “Hey, guys!” he said when he finished the conversation. “We can go to my place. My parents are not there so we could stay there till 10.” Everybody was delighted. They went to the shop. The idea of buying few cans of beer changed into buying a bottle of vodka. At the shop they had no problems. The shop assistant didn’t even look at them. “Another customer”, she must have thought.
They started their ‘party’ at 8. After half an hour they were finishing the bottle but they still felt like continuing. “Call the girls”, said one of the boys. Everybody liked the idea. There were nice girls in the class and they would love a party. The three new guests appeared at about 9. They brought some more alcohol of course. It was quite nice and they all agreed they would leave the flat at 10.
The girls cleaned the flat very quickly and at 10 sharp they left. They went to the shop, got some more beer (nobody would ask girls to show them their ID – with make-up they looked much older) and found a nice place in a park. One of the boys found a bottle of some stronger alcohol in a cupboard in the flat so he took it with him.
The meeting was really great. They had lots of fun telling jokes and gossiping a bit.
At 11 o’clock the girls decided to go home. It was quite late and they didn’t want to have a serious talk with their parents. They all left the park together. Girls went home and the guys in great spirits were heading their way. They were shouting and singing different abusive songs, considered by them as funny. Some people looked at them with disapproval. They saw a police car passing by and shouted out their opinion about the police. An elderly lady standing on the bus stop told them to be quiet but all they did was laugh. One of the boys kicked a dustbin. They laughed. It seemed so funny! The alcohol made them feel relaxed and they weren’t afraid of anything! They loved that! Nobody knows where the idea of smashing a dustbin came from. They just started kicking it, trying to throw it towards the bus stop. They were laughing when they saw people move away. Somebody must have called the police or perhaps it was just a coincidence that a police car stopped next to the bus stop. The boy started running away. They were a bit shocked but there was something exciting in this chase. The police officers were faster though. They caught up with the boys three or four metres further. Now the situation was serious. The boys still had cans with beer in their pockets. The police didn’t ask many questions, they just put their arms behind their backs and ordered them to get into the car. “Your documents” one of the police officers said sharply. “You wanted a party? Here we go.” The boys were taken to the drunk tank and had some test made. They weren’t kept there for the night but they were taken to the police station. At about midnight their parents appeared. They weren’t happy, as you can imagine. Four boys were charged with vandalism and alcohol consumption as they were under-age. The school was informed and they got suspended. They have to meet their probation officer regularly and they mustn’t make any mistake or they could be sent to a borstal. The worst thing though is that they disappointed their parents. No explanation was accepted even though it was their first offence.
Improve your vocabulary!
lose – tracić
control – kontrola
illegal – nielegalne
nevertheless – pomimo to, niemniej jednak
in particular – w szczególności
under-age – małoletni