I live in the Hamptons, New York with my wealthy family. My father is a very successful business man. My mother Veronica, is a stay at home mom. I also have an older brother named Christopher. My birthday is coming up next month, it’s July 23rd. Since I’m basically the only child since my brother is never at home and is surrounded by bad people that do bad things like drugs and alcohol, I get spoiled all the time.

         I’m having my 16th birthday party. It’s going to be the party of the year. I’m going to have   two very famous people at my party, Future and Beyoncé. Since I have my license, I will be receiving two cars. I will have one from my mother and one from my father. I’m so excited!

         It's July 17th, today is the day that I’m going to announce the date for my birthday party. It’s going to be July 16th, which is a Saturday. Since the 23rd is a Wednesday. The bell rang and I had to go to my Pre-Cal class. Suddenly I feel a tap on my shoulder. It was Jessica, DUN DUN DUN! She had big glasses and some crooked bangs that would cover her face, so nobody knew what she looked like. She asked for an invitation, I had to lie because I didn’t want a nobody at my party. So I said “Sorry Jessica, I don’t have any more invitations, better luck next time.” And I rolled my eyes while I walked away.

         I wake up to the sun shining through my big bedroom window. A toasty warm breeze comes in my room. I follow the smell and it leads me to the kitchen. Sitting on the table, were these fluffy, golden brown pancakes, with fresh bright red strawberries on top. I ran to the table and started digging in. SLAM! It was my parents’ bedroom door slammed shut. They would always be arguing nobody could stop them, it was an everyday thing.

         I look up to see what time it was on the stove clock. It was 8:13am, I had 20 more minutes to get ready, so I zoomed to my room upstairs. I realized that I didn’t have on my necklace because my mom had had borrowed it last night. I went to my parents’ room and knocked on their door, nobody answers. Then I had heard my mother crying. So I bust the door open. I know it's rude to open the door when you’re not welcomed, but I was really worried about my mother. I see her sitting down on the bed and I ask her “What’s wrong mother?”

         “Nothing’s wrong sweetie, we’re just in a rough situation right now, go get ready for school I will be taking you today” she said while crying.

         “Okay mother, I’ll tell you when I’m ready” I said, still worried.
         I got up, and went to my mom’s vanity to get my necklace she had borrowed. While I was walking away I rolled my eyes at my father Guillermo, because I thought he was the reason why my mother was crying.

         “Mother I’m ready!” I yelled while I was taking a bite of my apple.

         “Okay honey, I’ll be downstairs in a minute, I just have to wash my face” said my mother Veronica.
         “Okay I’ll be waiting outside in the driveway” I said.

         We finally get in my dad’s all black Hummer and we were on the road.

         “Mother can you tell me what’s going on now?” I asked.
        
“Honey, don’t worry about it, your job is to focus on school and get good grades” she said.      
        
“I think I’m old enough to understand whatever is going on right now, I’m going to find out sooner or later. So it’s better to just tell me now” I said in a rude tone.
        
“Watch your tone young lady. You’re talking to your mother here” Veronica said.
       
“Okay I don’t care, tell me what’s going on right now” I demanded.
        
“Your father got is bankrupt!” My mother said about to cry a river.

        I could not believe what I had just heard. I felt as the world rotated in slow motion. The only thing I could think about was my birthday party. So I asked my mother what I was going to do.
         “Really Sasha, you’re so pathetic!” My mother said screaming. My party, I didn’t know what to do. At that point I was traumatized for life. We both just sat there and the car was silent. But of course something worse had to happen. We got pulled over by a policeman for no reason. Well… It was kinda my fault, I didn’t have my seatbelt on and we were going 27 mph and the speed limit was 25. I really hate policemen. They are all so petty. Instead of helping the community, they do the opposite. But the policeman that pulled us over let us slide. Marco, the policeman, understood what we were going through. He passed through something similar.

         We finally arrived at my High School, The Avenue. I thought I was going to get in trouble, because I was super late. The Avenue is a really strict school. But I didn’t they just gave me a pass. The bell finally rang to dismiss all of us. I could not think straight in school. All I could think about was my family. I decided to walk home since it wasn’t that far.

         I see these big, buff men come in and out of our house. They were carrying all of our stuff, couches, TVs, shelfs and our valuable paintings. I run to my parents’ room. My mother was gone and my father Guillermo was on the phone walking in circles. Like if something terrible was going on.

         “What’s wrong?” I asked, whispering.
       
“Shhh! Hold up” he said. He hanged up and sat on the edge of the bed and put his head down, as if he had let his family down. I sit down next to him rubbing his back and asked:
       
“What’s wrong?”
        
“Sasha daughter I’m really so…” he said. I cut his sentence off and told him that I knew he got bankrupt, and everything was going to be okay.
        
“Honey, we’re poor!” He said, bursting out crying.
        
“SO like what about my party? I am NOT going to cancel it that’s embarrassing, I’m not going to school” I said.
        
“Honey, I don’t even think we’re going to pay all that money for your school, we barely even have any. But where’s your brother Christopher?” He asked.
        
“I don’t know he left with his bad friends after school” I said. My dad called the police office so they could start looking for him. But the police asked us if he was 18 or older he knew what he was doing, and old enough to know what to do. They had told us that the 24 hours have to pass o they could look for him. Then I had told my Father that Christopher and I talked last night and he had told me that he wanted to leave this family because nobody cared about him and nobody payed attention to him. After that my Father didn’t even try to get a hold of him. He already knew what kind of situation we were in, my parents had already told him. He was already old enough to know what to do; he chose to be with his friends. I go downstairs to the living room and everything was gone, everything! My mother walks in with money in her hand.
        
“What’s going to happen now?” I asked
        
“I’m not sure Sasha” my Mother said. My Father came downstairs and had a suitcase with him.
        
“Where are we going?” I asked worried. They ignored me and started talking about the money. We only had $500, which was all the money we had.

3 MONTHS LATER

         “Dad, do we have something to eat?” I asked crossing my fingers that we did.

         “We would have to go in the streets and get money” he said.

         In reality we were homeless; I just never liked to admit it. We lived in this tight black alley. We had one mattress for all of us to sleep in. Everything we owned, we had found it in the dumpster. That mattress was worn out and it wasn’t even white anymore, it had stains all over. We also had a cart, like a cart from Walmart. It was very useful. It helped us carry things, we found back to our wonderful home. Last but not least we had a cardboard box where we stored all our stuff that we didn’t need every day. Believe it or not we had everything we’ve wanted; we were just struggling with the money. Because of this situation in life I’ve learned how to value little things in life. I now notice what my parents have been going through to make me happy and I appreciate that. My mother has been depressed ever since. Guillermo, my father is a hardworking man; he’s been trying to get money by going on the streets and playing music with two buckets and his bare hands. But not everybody would pay. A lot of people would say that they didn’t have change on them. I could tell that some people were being selfish. Now I know how it feels and I regret acting the way I did. I’ve really learned how to value every little thing and my family. Till this day we don’t know where Christopher went, he never contacted us. I just wanted to be someone in life…