Write About Staying Awake All Night

Seven sleeping bags were scattered about the room, strategically placed so the tops of each bag formed a perfect small circle.

Two video cassettes perched on top of the T.V.  The Breakfast Club.  Ghost Busters.

KROC was playing on the AM/FM radio softly counting down the Top Twenty Hits with Casey Casem.  Number 12 was People Are People by Depeche Mode.

A book of Steven King short stories lay open on the floor.

It was Stasa's 13th birthday party and we were going to stay up all night.  After the movies, after 43 busy signals from the KROC request line, after four scary short stories, after whispered secrets and gentle teasing, only three of the girls would sit together and watch the sun rise while the others slumbered on.  Jean fell asleep first.  She always did.  But she was the sweetest so the others let her sleep.  Karen dozed off next.  Soon after Lisa declared the ground was too hard and grumpily pulled her bag away from the circle and up onto the sofa.  No one knew when Sylvia feel asleep.  They were all chatting and asked her a question.  When she didn't answer, they drew closer and saw that her eyes were closed and she was snoring quietly.  Maybe it was the snoring or the fact that she feel asleep in the middle of the gossip session that made the last three decide to write "I Love Kirk Cameron" all up and down her arms.

Stasa, Laura and I practically died trying to hold in our laughter.  Our snorts started to get louder and fearing we would wake the others, we quickly grabbed our bags and pillows and headed out the sliding glass door onto Stasa's back deck.  It was cold out.  We each grabbed a plastic woven pool chair and wrapped our bags around our shoulders to keep warm.  I pulled my feet up and rested my chin on my knees.  The back porch looked out over the lights of LA that shone as far as the eye could see.  We must have been pretty tired ourselves because we sat quietly for a while, each lost in thought, watching the sky warm and the stars fade.  Sitting there, with my two best friends on either side of me, having beaten back the night, I smiled.  Laura started singing "Hey Hey We're the Monkeys" and before I knew it, I had jumped to my feet, tossed off my warm wrap, and joined her.