《︎𝘙𝘦𝘯'𝘴 𝘗𝘖𝘝》︎
I was in the library trying to get some work done. I heard footsteps and so I look up and see Rich. The weird kid from the racetrack. What does he want?
"Hey, man. Chuck's pretty sore about losing that race. I mean, you blew up the man's bus, dude." I smirk to myself and turn back to my work. It was pretty awesome. Rich pulls up a chair beside me. Great. "Yeah... Bomont blows, dude. I don't have to tell you that, though, do I?" I huff and turn to him. Maybe if I give him the attention he's seeking for he'll leave me alone. "Yeah. I've been to Chicago. St. Louis. Been up to some of them clubs in New York City. I been around. Just like you, man."
I smile at him. "Oh, yeah?" I don't feel like talking to this dude so I get up and take my paper with me. I go over to a book shelf and try to find the ones I need. Chloe made me a list so I wouldn't forget. She's such a nerd.
"Psst, Hey." Crap he followed, I turn to look at Rich. He looks around before whispering to me. "You get high? 'Cause I do... every darn day." I roll my eyes. "If you want, you and I can go burn one right after school. You know, city mouse, country mouse... Blazing!" Rich bites his lip as he makes hand motions. I get up closer to him.
"What makes you think I'm anything like you?" I scoff and walk off. He whistles at me and so I turn around.
"This is what we call a take-homer." Rich whispers as he puts a blunt in my jacket pocket. I take it out and try to give it back.
"I don't want this." I hiss. He shakes his head and walks away from me.
"It's cool. It's cool." He waves me away and continues to walk off.
"No, it's not cool. Take this..." I try to give it back but he won't budge.
"We can go down to the rail road tracks and chief one now." He mentions. Gosh this dude is such a nuisance.
"No, seriously, take this."
"Hey!" Crap. I look up and see the librarian. "What is that?" He points at the blunt in my hand. I put my hand behind my back.
"What's what?" I say like an idiot.
"In your hand. Let me see it." Rich runs off behind him. "Young man. Hey!" While the librarian is distracted I quickly run into the bathroom. "Hey! Stop! Hey! Stop, stop!" I run into a stall and slam it shut. I quickly flush down the blunt. The librarian keeps banging on the door. "Open the door!" The blunt is down the drain I open the door and get dragged to the office.
meanwhile..
《︎𝘈𝘶𝘵𝘩𝘰𝘳'𝘴 𝘗𝘖𝘝》︎
Roger called Chloe into his office after school. After hearing that Ariel was dancing at the diner it made him wonder if she was also participating in heinous activities.
"Clover, I need you to be honest with us." He starts.
She stares at him and then at the officer. "Honest about what?" She asks, acting clueless.
"Friday night." Roger says. She continues to give him a confused look. "Ariel Moore, along with some other kids from your school were caught dancing very inappropriately at Claude's Diner the other night. Which is against the law in case your generation has forgotten."
"Okay. Where are you going with this?" She gives him a confused look.
"Where were you last Friday night?" Officer Herb asks.
"What is this an interrogation?!" She retorts hatefully. "I told you I stayed the night with Rusty!"
"I know that, and I spoke to her parents. Who proceeded to tell me that she was also at the diner Friday night." He folds his hands, giving her a knowing look.
She licks her teeth and rolls her eyes as she accepts defeat. "Yeah she was. We went and got a bite to eat."
"And danced?" Roger asks.
"No. We just watched." She sighs.
"Clover, don't lie to me."
"I'm not! I turned down every opportunity I had." She exclaims.
"So you just sat and watched all your friends break the law?" Officer Herb asks.
"Oh don't turn this on me old man. You're the one that left your post!" Chloe retorts.
"Clover Dunbar!" Roger slams his hand down.
"Quit calling me that stupid name!" She talks back.
"Young lady I don't understand where this attitude has come from but you better make it disappear. All you kids have been acting up lately and it's sad that us parents can't seem to think of when it started." Roger shakes his head.
"Well let's do the math." Chloe starts to count on her fingers. "How long has Lacey and Bobby been dead for?" Roger widens his eyes.
"It could be the Boston boy." Officer Herb says.
She rolls her eyes. "Why don't you investigate the Cranstons! Ren has barely been here a week! What has he possibly done that could make you think this?" Suddenly Ren and the Librarian enter the Office. Chloe looks up and makes eye contact with Ren. "You've gotta be kidding me." She whispers.
"Is there a problem?" Roger asks.
"I caught him with a joint."
Chloe squeezes her eyes shut. This is just perfect.
Roger stiffens. "Clover, go home we will finish this discussion later." She turns back to her stepfather.
"But-" Roger points to the door. She bites her tongue this time. She grabs her bag and walks to the door. She whispered to Ren. "Good luck. You're gonna need it."
Ren nods. "Yeah thanks."
And with that she left the school building and headed to the warehouse so she could be alone. On her way out she got stopped by Ariel, Chuck, and his friends who were all chilling in the school parking lot.
Ben spit his dip out and said. "What's up, princess."
Chloe rolls her eyes. "Not in the mood."
Ben pushes her arm. "Oh come on quit being such a sour puss." Chloe turns around so she can knock his teeth in.
But she sees Rich run up to the group. "That McCormack kid is getting busted!"
Ariel furrows her brows. "For what?"
"He got caught holdin my joint." Rich laughs.
"I'd quit laughing if I were you." She says.
"And why's that." Chuck asks.
"There is a camera right there it picks up everything." She says pointing at the light pole which indeed had a camera attached to it. "I suggest that you guys leave. The sheriff will probably write you guys up for loitering, drugs, or prostitution." She looks Ariel up and down making her scoff. She smirks and starts to head towards the warehouse.
back in Dunbar's office...
"I will not tolerate it, Ren. Not in my school.
So what have you gotta say for yourself?" Ren sits up.
"What do I have to say? I was on the gymnastics team for three years. Got drug tested all the time. If I smoked weed, I'd be off the team."
"He had a joint..." The librarian says.
"Were you going to smoke it or sell it?" Officer Herb asks. Ren shakes his head.
"Mr. Parker says you were with Rich Sawyer when this went down." Roger says leaning back.
"I don't even know that prick." Ren says throwing his hand up.
"Hey! Language." Ren rolls his eyes.
"Ren, level with me. Was it Rich's joint? You can tell me." Roger stares at Ren. Ren huffs.
"Look, I don't do drugs. You can test me. And when it comes out clean, I want this guy investigated for barging into the bathroom stall with me." Ren says pointing at the Librarian.
"Well. Since we don't have the evidence, I'm going to let you off with a warning this time.
But Ren, listen to me, you have to understand something. You see, life is not some big party. I don't care what the rap music people say, marijuana is just wrong. Son, listen to me. Ren, I knew your momma." Ren clenches his jaw. "That's right. I knew Sandy. She had a wild spark, just like you. Running off up north, trying to live the high life might have been fun, but it also led her into getting into some kind of... unexpected trouble." He narrows his eyes at Roger.
"Unexpected trouble. I'm thinking when you say "unexpected trouble," you're talking about me. Right?" Roger looks down. "Look, believe me, don't believe me. Suspend me, arrest me. I don't care. But you do me one favor, all right? Never talk to me about my mother again. You understand?" Roger nods. Ren grabs his stuff and rushes out the door.
"Hey!" Officer Herb yells.
Roger lifts his hand up. "Let him go."
On his way out to his car Ren passes Ariel who smirks at him. "Hey, McCormack." He slides on his sunglasses as he tries to ignore her. "What's the rush?" He opens his car door. "Dude, you trying to ignore me or something?"
He scoffs. "I'm doing the best that I can!" He spits out before getting into his car and speeding off. He didn't know where he was going. He was just letting the road lead him. And it just so happened to lead him to the abandoned warehouse that Chloe was hanging out at. But he didn't know that. Not yet anyway.
Chloe was in a corner of the building trying to write her essay but she paused when she heard loud music entering the building. "Oh shoot. I'm gonna get shot." She whispers to herself. She looks around the corner and sees Ren's yellow bug parked in the building. "What are you doing, McCormack?" She whispers.
(Dance scene will be at the top.)
Ren was pacing the floor, kicking things. Chloe was concerned. "Jeez. Did he smoke that joint Rich gave him?" Suddenly Ren started yelling as the words that left the adults mouths filled his mind.
"Massachusetts, huh? You got that music cranked pretty loud, Mr. McCormack." Officer Herb's voice rang in his ears.
"You got that music cranked pretty loud, Mr. McCormack." Yeah! No dip, Barney Fife!"Ren repeated. Chloe furrowed her brows.
"Watch that attitude, son."
"Try being a cop in Boston, you huckleberry!" Ren yells. Chloe laughs quietly.
"I will not tolerate it, Ren." Roger's voice now booms in his head.
"Shut up! I'm talking!" Chloe's eyes widen.
"Not in my school."
"Mr. Dunbar. Mr. Douchebag! Mr. Dumb-A**!" Chloe cringes at Ren's words. "With your righteousness and your little vest."
"He does wear a little vest." Chloe laughs quietly.
"Stop trying to act like you know me! Don't act like you know me. Don't try and act like you know my mother! You don't know the pain she went through every day." Chloe frowns. She didn't know anything about Ren's mom since he didn't talk about her too often. "You don't know sh*t!"
Ren changes his music, he starts to do a very complex dance routine. Well routine is a strong word. He was mostly breaking windows and bottles. At some point he fell into a pit and Chloe about lost it. Once he was done swinging from the ceiling like a chimpanzee. He fell to the ground and just breathed heavily. He got up and was all sweaty as he tried to catch his breath. It was kinda hot.
Chloe grabbed her things and decided if she was gonna make her presence known now would probably be the best time. She walks out from around the corner and claps slowly. Ren snaps his head in her direction.
"That was pretty impressive Ren. Although now I feel like I should call you Magic Mike because that was dope." She say stuffing her papers under her arm.
He shakes his head and puts his hands on his hips. "What are you doing here?"
"Just hangin around. What was that?" Chloe says referring to his angry dance.
"What was what?" Ren asks.
"All that." Chloe said pointing to the chain on the ground. "The swinging, busting and breaking stuff. What did that window ever do to you?"
Ren shakes his head as a grin spreads across his face. "I was just letting off some steam." He says wiping the sweat off of himself.
She kicks the dirt. "Yeah I guess the yelling wasn't enough." She laughs lightly.
Ren cringes. "You heard all that?"
Chloe nods."And watched. Very dramatic." She says. "My only request is that next time you leave God out of it. He doesn't deserve all that slandering."
Ren nods. "So you stalking me now, Jenkins?"
She shakes her head. "Don't let all that air go to your head, McCormack. Technically I was here first. So you rained on my parade."
Ren smiles. "Well then I guess you brought the sunshine to mine." Chloe cringes. "That was a terrible pickup line."
She nods. "Yeah, did that one work on the Russian girls? Cause personally it made my ears bleed."
He narrows his eyes at Chloe who just had a cheeky smile on her face. "Haha, very funny." Ren says placing his hands in his pockets.
"I bet the girls go wild when you tell them that one." She snickers as she teases the poor boy.
Ren rolls his eyes. "Oh please, I'm sure you got your own wicked ways." He teased.
"You think I'm a slut or something?" She scoffs as she crosses her arms.
Ren smirks. "I think you've been kissed a lot."
Chloe laughs obnoxiously and then looks at Ren with a blank face. "I've never been kissed, McCormack."
Ren lifts his brows. "Same."
She snorts. "That's the biggest load of "Hernnya" I've heard all day." She glances outside and sees the sun setting. "Hey, are you doing anything tonight?" She asks turning back to Ren.
He shrugs."Nothing important."
Chloe smirks. "You want to see something?"