The Rule Breakers

Chapter 30

Skylar

I've never done anything like this.

We're sitting in a circle on the carpeted floor of a storage room beneath the cafeteria. I know people smoke in the locker rooms for whatever reason, but I'd never known about this place. Claudia was the one who suggested it, already knowing that the Halloween party would be a total bust. But apparently, lots of kids come here during lame events.

To smoke.

They come here to smoke.

I don't understand why they can't just go off-campus, but I guess there's a thrill in doing it at school. I definitely feel it right now, that spike of adrenaline as I sit beside Riley and Kammy and watch a joint be passed around the circle.

Smoke swirls around the air, and the natural bitter yet sweet smell of weed wafts up my nostrils, giving me a bit of a headache. I've never smoked before. I've never had connections to actually do it, and I'm home way too often. But tonight, I told the girls I'd try it. It's my year of trying new things, and this is one of them.

Claudia keeps complaining about the fact that they're using an actual joint and not a pen. I don't know the difference. I'm the most inexperienced person here, maybe the most inexperienced at this school.

"You don't have to do this," Riley tells me. His hand is placed on my thigh, squeezing so gently. He said it feels weird to touch me since I'm dressed as him, and yet, he hasn't taken his hand away.

I look up at him, his gaze serious. "I want to, though."

He gives me a crooked grin. "Go ahead, then."

"What if we get caught?" I ask, and a few kids in the circle laugh.

A boy with glasses and short blonde hair takes a hit. On his exhale he says, "We never get caught."

That must be why they've continued smoking at school, but I can't imagine nobody ever gets caught. It feels so easy for a teacher to come down here, the exact same way we did. What if someone had followed us? With how strong it smells in here, I can't imagine it's not drifting through the walls.

"But the smell," I say. More laughter.

"It always smells a little like weed. The teachers won't notice a thing," Claudia explains.

I mean, she's right. Outdoors, there's a consistent smell that makes people go, "Oh, it smells like skunk," when everyone knows what it really is.

The blonde boy adds, "And the smoke dissipates before it could even reach the cafeteria. Nobody would suspect a thing."

When the little white stick is passed around to me, it's smaller than it was when we came in. Kammy apologizes for how short it is and suggests I wait. The blonde boy is already working on another one, but I still pinch this one between my fingers. Without knowing what to do, I bring it up to my lips. That seems about right.

Riley's hand tightens around my leg as he watches me suck on the joint. It reeks this close and feels like fire scorching down my throat, burning my insides and drying them out. My eyes water and I cough, pounding my fist on my chest. His hand moves from my thigh to my back, rubbing soothing circles.

"That's horrible," I say, voice scratchy from hacking up a literal lung. "How do people do this?"

Kammy says, "It's not bad once you get used to it." Finding out she smokes was the biggest shock of the day. Riley, I've heard stories about. Claudia was a given considering she came up with the idea. But Kammy always appears so innocent, so pure.