by Tammy Frost

Created on: August 26, 2009

How I started smoking cigarettes.

"Oh, I only smoke Camels" I stated as my cousin's friend offered me to go behind the shed to smoke with the rest of the kids.

I was only twelve years old that summer. My family and I were on a trip far away to visit my cousins, aunts, and uncles that we hadn't seen for a long time. After my cousin and I became bored with sitting around the house listening to the adult gossip, we decided to take a walk to my cousin's friend house.

My cousin's friend Sara ran up to us as we entered the front gate to her house. After noticing that Sara's parents were not at home we loosened up a bit. I asked curiously who the kids behind the shed were. They were peaking their heads out as if they were playing hide-n-seek. Not wanting to be seen, they were closely watching to make sure no parents or adults showed up.

"Those are my friends, they are just having a cigarette and relaxing over there," Sara answered. "Do you want to go smoke with us?" Sara asked. My cousin looked at me as if it wasn't a surprise to her what Sara had asked. Having parents that smoked, I knew kids our age shouldn't be smoking and I really didn't want to break my good behavior. I was a good child and I usually listened and obeyed my parents and elders.

My cousin then asked me, "well do you want to smoke with us?" "Oh, I only smoke Camels" I quickly lied. I didn't want to have to walk back to my aunt's house by myself, so I tried saying no to peer pressure but I also wanted to be cool at the same time. To my disbelief, Sara says: "Okay, I got some Camel Cigarettes, let's go!"

Without knowing what to do next, I ran behind my cousin and her friend towards the smoking shed. Behind the shed, there stood three very cute boy teenagers. With their cigarettes hanging from their mouths they all introduced them selves in a "wanna be" cool manner. Sara handed my cousin and I each a Camel cigarette and bet us that we couldn't smoke it all the way down to where is says Camel. With me not ever smoking before, I was pretty hesitant on this bet but I did want to impress my new so-called friends.

Holding back the awful cough, my cousin and I managed to smoke the cigarettes down pass the "Camel" marking. Before squishing the cigarette butt out, I said "Look I smoked it all the way down to where it says Camel." "I didn't hear the cigarette say Camel" Sara says laughing at me. Everyone started laughing about the silly joke. Unfortunately, I didn't find it very funny but laughed along with them to stay cool.

After that incident at Sara's house, I started sneakily smoking more and more until I was hooked. To this day, I still smoke and will never forget the day that I started smoking. What an awful and hard habit to break.

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