song for chapter: high enough by k.flay + play on repeat!!
𝕖𝕥𝕙𝕒𝕟
{one week earlier}
i grabbed the skinny wad of cash that was in my pocket as i took a seat on one of the sofas in the main living room.
as i bent my knees to sit down on the cushion, i still heard the rusty squeak of the old couch below me once i was fully seated like i always do.
i watched as grayson, jordan, and isaac all sat in their normal spots, and we all began to count up our earnings from a long day of sales today.
jordan then grabbed the rolling tray from the coffee table and i observed him as he began to roll up a couple blunts.
"roll one up for me?" i ask, and jordan nods willingly before pulling out a small bag of coke from his back pocket.
"let me get a couple lines in first." he says while grabbing his wallet from his other pocket then getting out his credit card.
"jordan, bro, you should really chill out on the blow." grayson says to him warningly but in almost a sympathetic voice, and jordan just laughs as if his statement was nothing more than humorous.
"relax, dad." jordan says tauntingly while laughing and dividing up the lines for himself.
grayson just sighs and looks at me and isaac in silence, none of us bothering to say anything.
i mean, it's not exactly like we have much room to talk anyways.
we've done plenty of coke, too, and numerous other hard drugs, but never as frequently as jordan.
we all know he's addicted to coke but i just feel like it's not my place to speak up and try and stop him.
besides, i'm almost positive that he's already too far gone now.
i sigh and lean back on the couch to go back to focusing on the small wad of cash that was still in my hand.
the boys and i come up to the "trap house"— as we like to call it, pretty frequently. the reason for that, though, is just so we don't have to carry our inventory on us at our own homes.
it's basically just for safety... and that's what we need a lot of right now.
the possibility of us getting busted is more of a yes than a no, so making sure we do our business part in the trap house is the safest.
isaac's grandma used to live here until she died years ago from a heart attack, but her small one story house never got sold.
isaac kept a spare key to the house and once finding out that the poorly marketed house was now abandoned, he didn't hesitate to bring me and the guys here when we started using.
at first it was just a chill place to get high, as gloomy as the environment sounds, but we made it work.
after a year of experimenting with almost every drug in the book, we all decided that maybe it was time for us to start selling.
all of the dealers that we had been buying from were graduating and getting as far away from this town as they could, so we knew we had to find a way to get our shit ourselves... and for everyone else.
and now we're here.
i counted up the cash that was in my hand from today's sales and i could feel the disappointment growing within me knowing that it's not as high as it usually is.
"shit." i curse under my breath as i ruffle a hand through my dark brown hair.
"how much?" isaac asks, and i let out a sigh, "only ninety."
isaac remains silent, knowing damn well that this was actually bad, and i shake my head at him, "there's no way we're gonna be making cash if we only sell to loyal customers. it's not gonna work."
"ethan, we could be going to fucking prison if we get caught! do you not understand that?" isaac snaps at me, and i roll my eyes at him.
"we're not gonna fucking get caught, you guys just tweak about this shit all the time. we're fine." i say in an annoyed tone, and i watch as my brother shakes his head at me from across the room.
"e, you know how people talk around here. twelve has already been keeping a close eye on us just from out of suspicion, and i can guarantee you that the new sheriff is going to too because of his big mouth fucking kid." grayson says in an aggressive voice, looking like he was fuming from the ears.
i slowly inhale, trying my best to not let my anger cloud my judgement, and i look at my brother and two friends while exhaling calmly, "okay, then what mastermind plan are you guys thinking of? huh?"
"actually, we already came up with one." isaac says, and i whip my head to look at him and only him.
"what?" i say a bit surprised, not knowing how they already found a loophole to this shitty situation we're in.
"dude, not this again." jordan says in between chuckles while rolling his eyes at isaac, clearly not taking him and his so-called "plan" seriously.
i look at the three of them in confusion, and grayson speaks up before i can.
"just tell him." grayson says while making a hand gesture towards me, and isaac shrugs.
"wait, we're not actually doing this shit... right?" jordan says a bit more sternly while looking back and forth between isaac and grayson.
"doing what!?" i nearly yell out of frustration, just wanting to be in the know already.
did they really come up with a whole ass plan without me?
"it's far fetched... but it could work," isaac says while narrowing his eyes at jordan, "we just need you on board." isaac says while turning his head back to me, and i nod slowly as i await for him to tell me whatever idea he has in mind.
"basically, we need to get someone random but well respected in this town to sell our shit undercover. someone that no one would ever suspect in a million years to be selling drugs." isaac explains in a serious voice and i nod for him to continue, "and if we can get the right person to sell it, then we can continue to keep making the same income that we have been and not have to keep the number of clients we sell to limited."
"okay, well, perfect." i say quickly, already on board with the plan that they had mustered up, "now we just have to figure out who to use as the pawn."
jordan starts to snicker at me and i furrow my eyebrows at his response.
grayson sighs and looks down to avoid any eye contact with me, and i look at isaac in confsusion.
isaac nudges jordan's side with his elbow to get him to stop laughing, and jordan clears his throat before stopping his laughter all together.
"well, you see, that's the thing," isaac says with a small sigh, and i furrow my eyebrows at his words, "i think we already found the perfect canidate."
i immediately look at jordan and grayson and the two of them just sit there in silence, obviously letting isaac be the messenger here instead of them.
"okay, who?" i ask in a bit of annoyance, just wanting to get the full answer already.
isaac looks down at his feet and then looks back at me sitting on the couch across from him, "alexia bennett."
my jaw drops at his words and i can feel the silence in the room now becoming awkward as all three of the guys looked at me, clearly reading my mind from just the disagreeing look on my face.
"look, hear him out— " grayson begins to say, but i shake my head and cut him off.
"no, what the fuck? are you guys fucking crazy?" i say to them in disbelief, and i let out a deep breath, "she's never going to agree to that."
"which is why we need your help." isaac says while leaning forward on the couch and placing his elbows on both of his knees while he clasped his hands together.
i raise my eyebrows at his words and scoff, "my help? what the fuck am i going to be able to do?"
"easy, it's a three step plan." isaac says with a mindless shrug as he starts to count on his fingers, "flirt with her, fuck her, then make her fall for you."
"three step plan? have you fucking lost it?" i spat out at him aggressively before looking at jordan and grayson, "dude, no. she's fucking weird. i mean you guys seriously can't be agreeing with this shit, right?" i say while motioning over to isaac.
jordan and grayson shrug awkwardly and i roll my eyes at them, knowing that they're obviously siding with isaac for this one.
"look bro," isaac starts off, "you're our only option and we all know that out of the four of us this is something that only you can pull off."
"how?" i ask, but then i start to realize that he's actually right.
this is something only i can pull off.
i mean, isaac certainly can't. he's dating maya.
jordan wouldn't be able to take the job seriously and most likely fuck it all up with one bad joke. the guy can't flirt for shit.
grayson would be too complicated. he's already fucking around with jasmine on the low and the chances of alexia finding out about that while the plan is in action would be way too risky.
so that leaves... me.
i start to debate with myself in my head, but then the thought of the money comes into my mind.
me faking this little love story with alexia means that we get all the income that we were making before all of this bullshit with the cops happened.
maybe it's actually worth it?
"just take one for the team, dude." jordan says to break the silence, interrupting from me and my own personal thoughts.
i look at grayson for his insight, valuing his opinion much more than isaac's or jordan's, and he nods in agreement with jordan's statement, "he's right, e."
i swallow hard and look at isaac who raises one of his prominently arched eyebrows, "you're the one who wanted the money, right?"
i nod slowly, knowing that he's right.
i am the one who didn't want to sacrifice our earnings.
of course they didn't want to either, but i showed the most problem with it while they're more concerned about getting caught.
"and this is what it's gonna take," isaac continues once seeing me nod, "so what's it gonna be?"
𝕒𝕝𝕖𝕩𝕚𝕒
{present time}
i hear my phone buzzing loudly against the wooden nightstand next to me and i roll over onto my other side while pressing my ear further into the pillow below me.
i let myself rest in my half asleep state, expecting my phone to stop ringing soon, but it doesn't.
the loud and annoying vibrating sound continues for another minute and i groan from now being up and interrupted from my peaceful nap.
wait— how long was i asleep for?
i jolt up and grab my phone from off of the nightstand with panicky hands and i look at the caller id.
isabelle.
i answer the phone quickly and clear my throat, hoping i don't sound like i just woke up.
"hello?" i say, feeling my heart speed up out of nerves.
"where've you been? i've been trying to reach you for like the past two hours?" she says, sounding pissed off to say the least.
i disconnect my phone from my ear to check the time, and i see that it's 6:27 in the afternoon.
holy shit.
i missed the food drive.
my jaw goes slack from me realizing that i just missed the event that i organized and am in charge of... and all because i was too high.
"hello?" isabelle says from my silent response, her sounding clearly irritated with me.
i blink a few times, trying to figure out exactly what to say, and i inhale sharply before speaking the first thing that comes to mind, "i-i'm so sorry, isabelle," i stammer out, "i think i got food poisoning or something. i was throwing up everywhere and i passed out unintentionally and just woke up."
the line goes dead, and i can feel my hands becoming clammy from me being scared she won't buy the lie.
"food poisoning?" she asks in a suspicious voice, and i swallow hard, "you really couldn't have told us in advance? like at least have sent me or any of the officers a text or something?"
i roll my eyes at her attitude filled tone. i mean, i know she has a right to mad, i'm the one who fucked up here... but i just can't stand her.
she's not concerned about this organization and the deeds we do for others, she's concerned about making her way to the top and replacing me.
"look, i'm sorry. i'll send a text to mrs. ellington to tell her what's up." i inform her, hoping that i can beat her to telling mrs. ellington about why i wasn't there.
"you sure? i can tell her if you're feeling too sick." she offers, and i clench my jaw at her passive aggressiveness.
"no, i think i got it," i say, knowing that she's only offering to tell mrs. ellington to make me look lazy and to give her the upper hand, "thanks isabelle," i say insincerely, "sorry i couldn't make it, i'll see you at school."
"of course, feel better soon!" she says in a cheery sounding voice before hanging up the phone, and i lay back down on the bed while placing a hand over my forehead in a stressed motion.
how the hell did i fall asleep and not get up till now?
and where is rebecca?
once realizing that rebecca was clearly not in the same room as me, i grab my phone and jolt up to go and search the guest room.
i run down the hall to the guest room and halt in the doorway once realizing that she's not there either.
i faintly hear the sound of the television playing downstairs, and i immediately jog towards the staircase in hopes of rebecca being down there.
once my heavy footsteps make it to the first floor, i see the back of rebecca's head swiftly turn around to look at me standing there.
"oh, hey," she says with droopy eyes and a lazy smile, giving me the impression that she smoked again without me, "looks like someone can't hang, you passed out so quick." she says while giggling.
"are you fucking kidding me right now?" i say angrily, not believing how she could be laughing right now, "rebecca, i missed the food drive. how could you let me pass out like that knowing that i had somewhere important to be?"
"woah woah woah," she says, her dazy expression seeming to sober up the tiniest bit, "why are you mad at me? this was your thing, not mine."
my jaw drops from her ignorance and i blink hard in complete shock, not believing how she isn't sorry for not trying to wake me up or anything, "you fucking knew this was important to me! the least you could've done was woken me up."
"okay, first of all— i was high as fuck," she starts off with an annoyed look on her face, "and still am. second of all, i was hanging with maya and jasmine so your little food drive slipped my mind. it's not my fault you weren't being responsible."
i stand there with my mouth agape, not believing that she didn't feel the least bit of remorse for her actions, "are- are you being serious right now?" i stammer out angrily, "rebecca, i'm literally new to all of this! i had no control over me passing out! were you just too concerned with your new besties to even bother checking on your real one?" i say harshly.
there was a long and tense silence between us after i said this, and i watched as her face contorted into pure hurt and anger.
"get out." rebecca says through gritted teeth, and i give her a look of disgust, "really? you're just gonna kick me out right now?" i say with raised eyebrows.
"you don't even know what you're saying right now, you're still high. we can talk when you're actually being reasonable." she says with her bloodshot red eyes.
i could feel my blood boiling, knowing for sure that i'm definitely not high anymore. it's been about six hours and i don't feel anything anymore.
she's the one who's high and is just trying to be manipulative towards me right now.
"i'm fucking sober! you're the one who doesn't know what you're talking about, and me and you both know it." i say while crossing my arms over my chest and shaking my head at her.
"i'm fine, alexia!" she screams at me, making me jump a bit, "you sound fucking stupid right now, just go."
"whatever." i say angrily, walking away from her and going towards the back door, "thanks for the weed." i say while rolling my eyes and slamming her back door.
i grab my keys from out of my back pocket, not being able to control the feeling of the burning anger that was simmering within me.
i unlock my car and slide into the drivers seat, turning my car on quickly and immediately backing out of the driveway.
i gripped my hands tightly onto the steering wheel, trying to transfer my anger out, but it was hopeless.
no one can make me as mad as rebecca can... but this time it almost felt kind of different.
i just feel like she's not being as good of a friend as she used to be— like, it feels as if she's constantly putting other things over me.
i mean, she literally watched me pass out. someone had to take me upstairs and put me in the bed, and she knew that i had somewhere important to be but didn't do anything.
also, the fact that she says it wasn't her fault because she was busy hanging out with maya and jasmine is just another level of low.
i honestly thought rebecca out of all people would be the one to take care of me in this situation and get me where i need to be, but i guess not.
and god, what am i gonna do about the food drive?
i could feel my thoughts start to shift off of my anger towards rebecca and over to my anxiety about charity club.
i haven't even reached out to mrs. ellington yet to tell her about my "situation". for all i know, isabelle could've already said something by now.
i take a few deep breaths, trying to calm my mind before i get home in hopes of acting normal and unbothered around my parents.
if only i was still high.
i know it sounds bad considering what just happened, but if i were high i wouldn't be as worried and upset as i am right now.
i just feel like a better version of myself when i'm stoned, and that's something i really need right now.
but it looks like that's something i'm not gonna get for a while, as long as rebecca and i are in this feud.
my eyes widen as i come to a realization— maybe that isn't exactly the case.
i press slightly harder onto the gas to turn onto my street, eager to get home with the thoughts running around in my head, and i park my car in the driveway once making it to my house.
i grab my phone and open snapchat, searching up ethan's name.
i look at his name nervously, not knowing if this is a smart thing to do or not.
i mean, do i really want to start buying from him? for all i know me and and rebecca could make up in just a couple days.
is it worth it?
i sigh and slide to type him a chat, looking at the menu that he had previously sent me today while i was at rebecca's.
i take a look at the picture, not knowing what absolutely anything means or what i'm even supposed to be getting with all of the different kinds.
i think back on what rebecca had said, and how she got two grams for the both of us... so maybe i just need one?
i bite my lip anxiously, not even knowing exactly what to say without sounding like a complete idot, so i just keep it short and simple.
hey, can i get 1g?
i stay in the chat for a few moments analyzing the message, but instantly regret it once i see his bitmoji slide in as well.
"shit." i mutter to myself as i quickly slide out, my heart pounding out of nerves.
i see that he's typing, and i let out a long exhale before looking back at what he says when he's done.
pick up or drop off?
fuck.
i guess i should meet him somewhere and pick it up, because if he comes and drops it off here there's no way that my parents wouldn't notice it.
not that they would even care, but still.
i tell him i'll pick it up, and he tells me to meet him at the park that's in his neighborhood, which is conveniently close to me.
i can just tell my mom i ran to get something from the store real quick or even some food.
i type out something else, needing to know the answer now to know if i should be going inside or not just yet.
when?
whenever u want. i'm actually not selling for the rest of the day so i'm free whenever.
i raise my eyebrows at his response, surprised that he's making an exception to sell to me out of all people... and i'm only buying one gram.
it's not like i'm buying a lot either. i mean, he only gets ten dollars out of me buying one gram.
i'll meet u in an hour.
he responds with a simple "k" and i smile to myself from the newfound confidence i just gathered up inside of me.
ethan really was a last resort, but it seemed like it went just fine.
i finally turn off my car and get out to actually go inside my house now, walking in through the back door that was almost always left unlocked whenever someone was home.
once making it inside, i see both my parents in the living room on the couch, and they turn around to see me enter.
"hey! how was the food drive?" my mom asks, pausing the tv show that was on, and i swallow as i go to hang my keys up.
"it was fun." i say quietly, avoiding any and all eye contact with her.
"well, that's good." my dad says, both of them not looking suspicious of anything, "how many people turned up?"
my heart nearly stops from their question, not being able to lie on the spot and make it seem believable, and i rub my forehead as i already start to head towards the stairs.
"i don't know, i'm really tired. i've been outside all day." i say, knowing that they'll let it go and allow me to go to my room in peace.
my dad chuckles, "yep, the sun will do that to ya'."
more like the weed.
i give a small fake laugh before walking upstairs, feeling my hands start to become less clammy the more i get away from them and my lies.
i go to my room and shut the door, automatically laying down on my bed and looking up at the ceiling with the dim light of the such little daytime we have left streaming in through my curtains.
i look at my phone and groan, not wanting to wait an hour to meet up with ethan, so i contemplate impulsively sending him another message.
fuck it.
can we actually meet up now?
✧･ﾟ: *✧･ﾟ:*✧*:･ﾟ✧
a/n: guys i'm so sorry i've been slow on updating, i promise i'll get faster. but now you all finally know ethan's true intentions with alexia!! yikes. also do u guys think rebecca or alexia is in the wrong??? kind of debatable since it wasn't exactly rebecca's responsibility to get her there, but still. i wanna know what u guys think. comment/vote plz! comments = more chapters quicker bc it gives me sm more motivation to write. thank u to all who are reading!!