Alexia

Chapter 7

The next day when I got to work the owner gave me a letter which I assumed to be a written warning or a sacking notice.

It was from Leon, he had invited me to meet his stoner friends at their house and being that he was a stoner it wasn't at all time specific.

Leon didn't use phones or anything like that but instead relied entirely on handwritten letters and verbal communication.

On my dinner break I went to the address that he had given in the letter.

The house was clearly a squat, the windows were boarded up and the plants were overgrown, nobody had lived in the house legally for years.

Inside the carpets were stained, every surface had beer bottles and drug paraphernalia covering them and the place was generally grubby.

My instincts were telling me to turn my nose up at the place, it was clearly the closest thing to a crack den I'd ever encountered but I didn't want to judge Leon's friends before I'd met them.

There were about ten people sat around on material sofas, arm chairs and beanbags. Everyone introduced themselves (they all had unique names that they had given themselves that I can never remember) and I sat next to Leon, on a sofa.

Thick smoke from all the Cannabis hung in the air and it was a bit dark because of the lack of electric or natural light.

I didn't return to work, instead I stayed and smoked and listened to their discussions which were mostly about politics which I knew hardly anything about yet they seemed quite informed.

Leon headed back home at about four o'clock which was when my shift was supposed to finish so I went home as well.

"You didn't go back to work after dinner. Where did you go?" Evangeline asked when I got in.

"I went to see Leon and some of his friends... I guess I lost track of time." I shrugged.

"You stink of weed." She commented.

"Steve rang; he wants to see you about a job." She told me.

I walked over Steve's office quite tiredly and not exactly enthusiastically, I wanted to get acting jobs still but I hated that I had to be summoned to his office to talk to him.

"Hi, I hear you've got something for me." I said as I walked into his office.

"It is just a series of adverts but a job's a job." He said.

"You don't seem very positive, what's wrong? Is there a catch or something?" I questioned.

"They want you to take a drug test before they'll let you film. It's nothing personal, they do it with everyone." He insisted.

"No, I'm not doing it." I snapped immediately.

I guess there may have been some speed or something in one of the joints I'd smoked earlier.

"It's not a big deal Alex; they aren't going to be bothered about a bit of weed." He assured me.

I pushed all the papers off of his desk and went to pick the chair -which I was supposed to sit on- up to throw it or something.

"Alex, don't, just calm down. I'm not going to make you take the drugs test." He said.

"I want to do the adverts; I want to be on telly again. I'll take the stupid drugs test... what happens if I fail that?" I asked having gotten over my burst of anger.

"They'll probably get someone else to do the adverts instead. When do you want to do the test then?" he asked.

"If I don't smoke for like a week then I'll be able to pass the test won't I? I shall be ready for the test in seven days." I told him confidently.