Maria from the grade above invited my friend Carolina and I to a party with some senior students. We had lots of fun just dancing, chatting and relaxing. We got carried away and realised it was almost midnight! We would have to leave now if we wanted to make the last bus home.

Maria and her senior friends overheard me telling Carolina that we had to leave to make the bus. They told us that we couldn’t leave, that the party was just getting started. I told her we couldn’t miss the last bus, otherwise we would have no way home. They started to get a bit more aggressive – saying we were boring and stupid.

Carolina stood up for me and said that walking home later would be more boring, and much longer!

Maria was clearly a little drunk and wouldn’t give up. Carolina and I were torn. We were having a good time, and we didn’t want to come across as young and boring to the seniors. But we knew that walking home late at night was very dangerous and the bus was the only safe route home.

Even though we were nervous, Carolina and I stood our ground. We said no to staying longer and told Maria and her friends that we were leaving. We worried about how Maria would get home – so we started to tell her that she should leave with us. All the senior boys started laughing. Carolina and I knew that we had to look out for Maria and didn’t care what we seemed like to these senior boys. Getting home safe and looking out for our friend was much more important than a few more hours at a party!

After some back and forth, Maria agreed that she would join us on the bus home.

Even though I was bit nervous to stand up to the seniors and tell Maria what to do, I knew I had to. We made the bus by less than a minute. The next day we heard news that there was a robbery on the road we would have walked on that night. Saying no saved our lives and Maria was also grateful we took her home.