21 Jump Street (Tom Hanson)

Tag, You're It

"It's the whole reason my folks transferred me to this dump in the first place. To get clean, or whatever," Tom said with a gentle shake of his head. He had stayed up all night to achieve a withdrawal-look so he seemed more believable. He has never taken drugs, but he can pull an all-nighter and drink a ton of coffee to become jittery and be able to pull it off.

"They thought this was a step up from Taft?" Andie asked with a scoff. She fiddled with the yellow pencil in her hand and glanced at Tom. He seemed a little twitchy, and she thought that his drug issue explained the hollowness of his cheeks and the dark circles under his eyes, as well as his shakiness.

"Uh-huh. So, what do we do?" Tom asked lazily. He opened his mouth and squeezed his tired eyes shut as he let out a big yawn. He smacked his lips together and forced his eyes open. All he wanted was to get this assignment over with so he could go home and take a nap.

"Beats me," Andie shrugged just as the teacher was passing out packets for each student that they needed to fill out before the class ended.

"Man, my parents got me all messed up," Tom groaned and rubbed his hands over his face to try to wake himself up more. He promised himself that he would bring a thermos of coffee to school next time.

"Why?" Andie asked.

"They've been making me take drug tests every week," he chuckled emptily. "I tell ya, being sober ain't it."

Andie raised her eyebrows and said, "I'm sorry, that blows... no pun intended."

Tom gazed over at her and laughed as he laced his fingers behind his head. Andie looked away because she didn't want people to notice that she was giving the new kid any sort of special attention. She tried not to seem nervous, but she was. Tom side-eyed her and asked, "know anyone who sells? My old hook-up is back at Taft so I can't. And I think he just got busted."

Andie felt her mouth run dry, and she glanced over at Gerry McGreger who was sitting nearby.

There is a sort of initiation that the students partake in. Gerry's older brother is a chemistry prodigy, and he and his buddies created a drug that can't be detected on drug tests but it's highly addictive and very dangerous. The drugs are called Lenix. Gerry started a drug ring at Padua High and he decided to turn it into a game. He pulls an oblivious student into dealing for him, and the only way to get out is to initiate another student into dealing but by then, they are already hooked on the pills. They call it Tag. Gerry had done this since he was a freshman, and most recently has brought unsuspecting Andie into the mix. She is one of the newest dealers, but has been trapped on this merry-go-round for months. She has been desperate to find someone to take her place.

Gerry was listening in on their conversation. He discreetly shook his head at Andie, because he was never too careful about narcs. There was a rumor going around that undercover cops were sneaking into nearby schools, so he couldn't be too careful. He didn't want to ruin his chances of going to Brown University. But, he was too hungry for the power and the money to even think about stopping.

Andie decided to stay clueless and shook her head, "no. This is a pretty clean school."

Tom chuckled and closed his eyes slowly. He knew that was an obvious lie. Announcements have been made at the school and letters have been sent home over the dangers of the drug so there was no way she wouldn't know about the drug issue at the school. He squinted over at her notebook and memorized her name that was written on the cover. Since she lied, he was going to keep a close eye on her.

Andie grabbed her pencil and the packet. She quickly jotted her name on the top, and began working on their daily assignment. Her eyes kept grazing over towards Tom, and he could feel her looking at him. When his eyes would meet hers, she would dart them back to her paper.