Jeff and Elijah Survive Car Accident

Steph's Account

Oh, friends...I love my friends. I love them so much I frequently will hang out with them. With this said our story begins. It all began on a normal Thursday after school. All we were going to do was go to Gary's Berries and have a blast, but something else just had to happen. The gang and I had just gotten done at Elijah's house, and we were going to head to Jeff's to pick him up (he couldn't drive). I had 3 other people in the car with me: Elijah, Drew, and Jordan and Jeff had his car. So we were on our way. Well I was in front of Jeff, and this action made an idea pop into Elijah's head. He said, "Why don't we do a Chinese fire drill?" Well of course I was all for it! Since I was just 16 years old and had never done one before, or had parents that never taught me how to properly do them, it was a bad idea. With that fact in your head, you know this will probably end badly. Well you are wrong! In fact nothing happened and it was a fun day. Okay, I'm just kidding. In fact, it turned out kinda bad.

Well since I didn't know how to properly execute a Chinese fire drill, we decided to do it on the rural road. Don't worry, I'm not stupid, so I made sure that no cars were coming. And it began. I gradually slowed down, having a great big smile about what Jeff's face was going to look like as we start to run around my car like little Chinese kids. As I was slowing down, I got this feeling. It wasn't a good feeling, but I'm a teenager, and I ignored it. Worst decision ever! Me slowing down made Jeff think I was trying to piss him off by going slow (I don't blame him, I would've thought the same thing.) With that in his head, he thought he would try and pass me. And it just so happens, he decided to pass me at the exact moment that Drew opened his door.

All I remember was hearing a huge loud "POP!" and I felt the blood leave my body. I got out of the car to see a gnarly dent in my door which would no longer close (shown above). But, all that didn't matter to me. I just cared about Jeff's car. His was fairly bad. When Drew opened my door, it hit Jeff's right mirror, and knocked it clean off. As we were assessing the damage, we decided we should call my mom. I called her very upset, and I told her "Don't worry. We are all okay. There's been an accident." Then the phone gave out. I can only imagine what my mom thought when the phone died. So, we decided we should go to my house to meet up.

On our way, Drew had to hold the door for like seven minutes (sorry Drew). We arrived at my house, without a good excuse, and I walked in my house balling. I told my mom what happened, and she came outside. She began to say "You teenagers, and the dumb crap you do." That did it. I thought a lecture of my life was coming, but then she started to laugh, and told us not to worry as she was once a stupid teenager too. THAT WAS AMAZING THAT SHE SAID THAT! Let's just say my mom won "Coolest Mom of the Day" award. We then decided we should call for a new mirror for Jeff.

First, we called Toyota and they said they could give us one for about $250! My heart dropped. This was going to suck. My mom wasn't going to stop, so she called Autozone who said they had one for about $60 and we would just have to order it. Well, we did, and Jeff's mirror was fixed. The only problem is that his mirrors are different colors, but to us, they are just battle scars of a crazy day (shown below in Jeff's section). And as for me, my dad came home pissed, but he got over it eventually. He also fixed the door. All I can say is that this day was crappy, but also the luckiest day of my life. Our cars were damaged, but they didn't cost much to repair. Drew could've lost an arm, but he didn't. Our parents could've been pissed, but they were understanding. And best of all, I think our friendship grew, and now we have an inside joke for the rest of our lives. Oh and believe it or not, we still got to go to Gary's Berries and have an amazing time!

This portion contributed to Official Orange by Stephani Lamb

Jeff's Account

So, it was just a normal day. School had just gotten out, and I was planning to go home, then Steph would pick me up so a few friends and I could go to Gary's Berries. Well, I was following them in my car since we were going the same way, when suddenly they had stopped. Now, it was in the middle of this rural road, so I figured they were just stopping to piss me off, so I decided I would pass them. It was kind of weird, because there was something that was telling me that I should just stay behind them, but I decided to go anyway. Well, I was passing them with a smile on my face, when suddenly, I heard Steph screaming. "No, no, no!" And for a split second, I suddenly got a terrible feeling inside of me. CRASH! Suddenly, I saw something fly through the open window on the passenger side. My heart started pounding. I came to a stop and just hung my head down, thinking "No, no, no, no, no! Why?" I then parked on the side of the road so we could assess the damage. I looked over in the passenger seat. And there I saw it. My side-view mirror had been taken right off! I looked around my car. There were glass shards from the mirror and other various pieces scattered throughout the car (as shown at left). I started gathering the pieces and placed them in the cup holder.

I got out of my car, and without even looking at my car, went straight to Steph's car. Things didn't look good. Her back left door had been bent, so the door wouldn't shut. Then I heard the story. Apparently, Elijah had decided they should all do a Chinese fire drill. Well, they found the spot they wanted to do it, and then they stopped and Drew started to open his door. It was at this time I was passing, and I didn't even see his door opening. And that's how it happened. We couldn't decide what to do. I looked at my car. Just as I feared. The mirror came clean off. Just a couple wires could be seen dangling out. We eventually came to the decision to call Steph's parents and to regroup at her house.

When we arrived, at first we figured her mom would be pissed, but as it turned out, she was very forgiving. So, we called to see how much a new mirror would be worth. The first place charged well over $200! We tried a different place, and it turned out they only charged $60. We were very grateful. I eventually called my mom, fearing what she would think. Luckily, she did not seem angry at all. The thing is, our parents made the same mistakes we did. These things happen. And I know you may think these things only happen to other people, as I thought, but they don't. They can happen to you too. So, the moral of the story is, only do a Chinese fire drill at a stoplight. NEVER in the middle of a rural road.