It all happened on one dark cold night at River Park Shopping Center. I was with my friends senior Melissa Lichti and freshmen Cooper Belmont and Ryan Neufeld, shopping for our Sadie Hawkins outfits. After searching for hours, we were finally able to take our new western outfits and head for home.

I said my goodbyes and got on the phone with another friend while looking for my car keys. I scrambled to find what would allow me to go home but I still could not find my keys anywhere. I tried to retrace my steps, but I had shopped in nearly every store, so I had no idea where to look.

In despertation I called Melissa to see if, by any chance, she had my keys. While nervously awaiting Melissa to answer, I saw a group of about seven guys walking my way. These boys walked closer and closer and began to bark at me and harass me, asking if I would like to “have a piece of them.”

At their jeers, I was frightened of what they would actually do. I called Ryan in hopes that I could get a hold of Melissa. Ryan answered my phone call, and I quietly asked to speak to Melissa because the pack of ?wolves? were still approaching my car.

As I waited impatiently, another group of men in a car started to whistle and scream things that were hard to make out due to their blasting music. I just wanted to go home; I did not want to deal with immature adults.

After waiting for a couple of minutes, I heard some boys hooting and hollering behind me. As I turned around in annoyance and fear, I was caught by surprise to see Cooper leading not a pack of wolves but a pack of guys from Fresno Christian.

At the same time I went to greet the good Fresno Christian boys, Melissa and Ryan appeared. I was so relieved to see familiar faces and I felt much closer to my safety. Because the FC men were there to protect me, Melissa felt okay to leave.

I needed to speak to my parents, but they were in a movie, so for the next two hours, I was stranded in River Park. I felt like a lost kid because I was so unprepared for this kind of situation. I now know that there are so many ways to deal with those types of circumstances, like defending myself against sexual harassment and knowing the number of a car dealership.

I have come to realize that knowledge of the outside world is so valuable and we may take safety for granted. I was na