21 Jump Street (Tom Hanson)

Underage Drinking

"I'm very close," I reassured.

"You are not," Doug said. Then he told Fuller, "she turns twenty in December."

"That might be to our advantage," Fuller said, "but no drinking. That goes for you too, boys."

"You got it, Cap," I said and popped my bubble gum. I glanced down at my hand to itch my wrist and I inspected the purple scar across my knuckles from the stitches I got after a bullet nearly blew a hole in my hand. I keep putting oil on it and massaging it to try to make it go away, but I think this scar is going to stay with me for the rest of my life.

"Okey-dokey," Tom said.

"Wait, how did you get into that club last month then?" Fuller asked.

"I had a fake," I told him.

"Where'd you get it?"

I stayed silent. I could get in big trouble for having a fake that wasn't approved by Fuller. I only have it for work related purposes. It was approved by Jenko, but that's moot now.

He pointed at me and said, "get rid of it and I'll get you another one."

"Got it," I finally spoke up.

The phone started ringing again and Fuller asked me to grab a folder from storage. I went off to grab the Manila folder he asked for and brought it back to him. 

When I came back, Fuller was finishing a conversation on the phone with Doug and Tom looking slightly suspicious in their chairs. I handed Fuller the folder.

Tom was fiddling with a toy helicopter and Doug was holding the base of the rotary phone. Fuller set the receiver down and asked sternly, "what did you think you were doing, Penhall?"

"I was just laying a little groundwork for you. You've got it, don't you?" He said in a funny voice. I naturally assumed that Doug had gotten to the phone before Fuller did.

Fuller stared at him, unamused. Doug's smile quickly disappeared and Tom looked down at his hands. I wanted to ask what he did, but this was obviously not the time.

Fuller said, "I want to know where these kids are drinking, which bars are looking the other way. I also want—" Tom rolled his eyes and looked the other way. Fuller noticed. "You got a problem with that Hanson?"

Tom looked up at Fuller and answered, "I don't know. There's something about coming down on these kids."

Fuller looked at Tom sternly and said, "last year— 5,000 kids were hosed off the dashboards of their parents' cars. I've made a few of those calls. You know, where you knock on somebody's door at 4 o'clock in the morning and they say, what's wrong? Then you got to tell them. Your kid is dead. And he was only 16."

I looked down at my hands, knowing exactly what it's like to be on both sides of that door. I fiddled with my thumbs as Fuller talked and I finally looked up to see Tom looking back at me somberly.

Fuller paused and asked me, "you all right, Gregg?"

"Yeah, I'm fine," I reassured with a smile. I cleared my throat and leaned against the desk near me. Topics like this made me feel vulnerable, and I did not want my whole team to know. I hated feeling weak.

Fuller took three ID's from the folder and handed one to each of us. "I had these made up."

"No offense, Captain, but, uh, these are gonna be spotted as fakes in a second and a half," Doug said after he took his.

I glanced down at the fake and thought it was some sort of weird joke that Fuller was pulling, but Fuller doesn't joke around with things like this. However, Metropolis was misspelled, the lamination felt cheap, and the corner of it was already peeling. Even the font wasn't consistent throughout the card.