Young Writers Society

Shane

"And I would never forget about you," I said jokingly as I sprayed water on the last plant. I placed the bottle down on the table, and took a step back. It was nice to have a professional set up for once, I had been tired of using the bath tub or my van to grow. I grabbed the bag I had filled with the final products that I had pre grown, and headed out of the basement.

They had set me in the school's old bomb shelter, it was a big place, and no one went down there. Even after they cleaned it it smelled a bit, but it covered the smell of the plants so it was good. So what if I needed to buy 7 cans of Body spray a day.

The generic beats of my phone came to life as I got near the cafeteria. I silenced the phone's ring, it was my alarm. I was supposed to meet my new Dealer today, we had arranged to meet at the entrance, like old friends meeting up. I found my bike chained up, and peddled over to the front.

I pulled my wallet from my pocket and took the information I had about her. And waited till someone matched the picture of Bethany.

BETHANY

She looked around, cautious but casual. Beth was always careful. She didn't know who this Shane character was and, for all she knew, this could be a set-up. Not her definition of a good day.

She didn't knew know what he looked like. She knew that he would approach her and they would act like old friends, but other than that, she was in the dark.

"Bethany?" a guy asked, coming towards her. Beth looked him over. He was pretty attractive in a kind of "don't mess with me" kind of way.

"Beth," she corrected. "Only call me Bethany if you want your ass kicked."

"Got it," he rolled his eyes. "I'm Shane."

Bethany nodded now that the not so pleasant introduction were out of the way. She lowered her voice, her eyes darting to the side to make sure no one was listening to her.

"So, what's the deal? What am I going to be selling for you?" She asked, folding her arms across her chest.

Shane

"Not here, not in the open like this" I said. I tried to pull Beth away, but she held firm.

"Either you tell me what;s going on, or no dice," she said. She was stubborn as hell, but in the good way.

"Fine," I said and took the bag from my bike. I Unzipped a side pack, and pulled out a small bit of weed. "This is a dime bag, the smallest one we sell. Now, its usually only 10, but because this place is full of rich kids, who don't want to be going into the big bad streets, we're selling it for 15 each. Think of it as a convenience charge, a tip if you will."

She nodded to show she understood, and I continued. "Now, I have three kinds of the stuff. Mississippi Drippi, it makes your body numb, perfect for the solo high or to calm down before a big test. Not recommended for athletes, can cause you to be a bit off your game the morning after." I put the dime bag away, which had been Mississippi Drippi, I replaced it with another bag, this one was blue. "Then there is the Island Breeze, good for those intimate moments, enhances the senses, calms the mind, and makes you feel good all over no matter what." I took a green bag out next, and showed it to Beth. "Finally a more normal one, its just Party Pot, perfect for any party, it makes everything sound good, trust me we all had this once, and we were saying Miley Cyrus was better than ACDC."

"Clear is Drippi, Blue Breeze, and Green Party...got it," she said and wrote it on the palm of her hand. I was about to tell her to wash it off, but in this heat it would smear and come off in a bit.

"Now, can I show you to where we will be meeting from now on ward?" I asked nicely. She nodded and I brought her over to an old building that was behind the dorms. "It used to be the Gym, but after a nasty termite hit it isn't really safe to go in , or take down right now either."

I brought her inside, and into the old boys locker room. "Remember locker 187, you leave the money for your deals here, and I'll bring over your next one next. Until I trust you we don't do it face to face."

She rolled her eyes. :Yeah because I should be trusting the teenage Drug King Pin of a boarding school."

I chuckled and said simply. "You would be a bit cautious too if you had three of these." I pulled my right sleeve up to revel an old wound, it had begun to heal, but it could still be made out as what it was. A bullet wound.

Beth tried not to act like it bothered her, but it did. This wasn't some little kid job. This stuff was serious.

But she didn't want to get shot over it.

Beth lifted her chin. "That sucks. But you'll see that I'm not going to shoot you."

Shane snorted. "Like I've never heard that before," he replied, rolling his eyes.

Beth shrugged, smirking. "Whatever. All I'm saying is, I'll become you're number one dealer in no time and then you'll have to trust me."

"Right," he laughed. "Well we'll see."

Beth nodded. "Yeah. You will. Where do you want me to start selling first? I just moved here, obviously, and I don't know where the snooty rich kids hang out."

Shane

"Not really an expert on this layout myself," she looked a bit disappointed, I couldn't really give her nothing, hey if she didn't sell, I didn't make as much as I could. "I would guess at some super classy Starbucks shit."

She nodded. "Real specific," she said with a smirk. I shrug and leave her first sale, and she gave me her first pay for it. We take different ways out of the gym. We both needed to get ready for school, well not me, I just needed to adjust my set up and work out my other dealers attention. I didn't doubt Beth wouldn't be good, but I could';t just use her, one girl can't spread all I grow.

I got my bag from the Green House, as I was calling it, and went to the directory for my room assignment.

"Yeah, my name is Shane Quence, Grade eleven, could you giv-" before I could finish she had already printed out my room number and schedule. "You're good." She rolled her eyes, "Being good at this crap is worthless."

"No reason not to take some pride though," I say with a wink and move out of the way for the next person. He hadn't even noticed I left, when I had cut back into the front. "Um, question, it says here that there is a girl in my dorm?" I noticed the gender signs where my room information was.

"Yes, two of them actually," she said. "You see, here at this school, we believe that students should feel less divided, and to take away the line that says when people can be together. If people are more free, they have no reason to rebel, while some might take advantage, we feel that it should not hurt the others."

It sounded like a loud of crap to me, but I wasn't going to be in my room that much to really care. The next thing thats struck me as odd though, other than the girls being in my room, was the girls in my room. Bethany had been placed with me, this would be good, and bad. It would be pretty awkward at first, dealers and suppliers never really got that close, or at least with out some negative karma coming.

The other girl I had no clue about, but who knows, maybe my mom had arranged this, thought I needed a nice girl. Maybe she shouldn't have put me in with someone who could betray me easily, but moms will be mom like.

BETHANY

School. Just perfect. She had already gotten her schedule and headed towards her room to drop off her stuff.

She knew so far that she had two roommates. Probably a bunch a nerds or losers. That was just perfect. She could only imagine how much fun this would be. At least, she'd pretend to be innocent and being that she was a small girl, most people believed it anyway.

Beth walked into her dorm room, automatically claiming a plain looking bed. She'd spice it up with her own flare later. The door twisted slowly.

Awesome. Her first little encounter with her new roommate. Beth plastered a fake smile on her face and walked towards the door just to have the smile wiped away.

"What're you doing here?" She asked Shane, folding her arms over her chest. "I though we settled everything before hand?"

Shane grinned. "What? Not your first choice as a roommate?"

"Roommate?" Beth asked. "Oh no! We have co-ed dorms here?"

Shane raised an eyebrow at her horrified look. "Not my first choice either. But it can work for our benefit."

Beth sighed, grabbing her stuff. "Well I'm going to class. I'll meet our other roommate later I guess."

With that said, Beth trailed out the door.

Shane
I shrug as she leaves, and go to pick out my own room. I find the other rooms are taken, so I dump my stuff on the last one, and then lay down. I wasn't here to take classes, I was here to sell. I had already decided I wasn't going to college, my mom thought sending me here might make me go to some, and that was true, I had signed up for some fun looking electives, but as for Math, and science, and all the other required ones, I wasn't going to waste my time with.

After putting my stuff away, and stashing the things I needed to, well, stash, I walked out into the main room. I didn't have a class I wanted to go to till One, so I grabbed a book and started reading.

"So, ditching class on your first day?" I hear and turn to see a new face. She must have been the other room mate we, me and Beth, had.

"Eh, just the boring ones," I said and got up to greet her. "So you aren't weirded out by the whole, having a guy in your room?"

"I went here last year, so, I'm a bit used to it," she says. I nod.

"The first day classes are useless, right?" I ask , and help her bring a bag to her room.

"Yeah, a lot of kids come in late or need to adjust, mostly explaining rules,"she sits down on here bed, and I follow suit on a chair. "Have you meet our other room mate?" she asks.

"Yeah, we actually meet prior our room meeting. She seems okay, a bit bull headed though," I said, being nice about her, at least I thought.


(Getting long, so I'll end it here.)

Beth

Bethany made it to her first class easily, which happened to be math. Beth smiled, she was actually pretty good at math. After all, she had sold pot so much that handling money became second nature to her and eventually, everything became just as easy.

Beth found a seat near the back of the room and watched her new teacher sweating through his shirt and pants. He looked nervous, more nervous than the kids here. It was kind of funny.

"New kid?" Someone asked from beside her.

"Yeah. Who're you then?" She asked, folding her arms over her chest.

"David," he smiled. "And I just wanted to say that...you've got some incredible style."

Beth looked down at her outfit and shrugged. She was wearing a neon green skirt with cuts and rips going up the sides. Her shirt was black with ripped holes acrss the stomach with a purple shirt underneath. Add lacy black gloves and you had Beth.

She smiled. "Mocking me?" She asked. "Cause I kind of like my style, pretty boy."

David raised his hands in surrender. "Hey, I do to," he laughed. "Though I guess I deserve that pretty boy comment."

Beth rolled her eyes as the bell rang and prepared to have herself bored to death.

Shane

Noon O'clock finally hit, and I went off to find my Film studies class. I walked with my other room mate, Maria, over to the cafeteria, after lunch she said she would show me the way. It was hard to say no.

"This campus is like a maze," I say as we tried to find a table. Among the jungle of old friends reuniting, and new friends awkwardly making chit chat to avoid social isolation, we found a, mostly, empty table. A couple was sitting on the other side, their tongues really wanted to catch up.

"Food never changes, even at these sort of places," I said, holding up a piece of, well it was either pizza, or mystery meat.

"Why I stick to salads...or I think I do," I laugh at her comment, and take a piece of lettuce from her bowl. I glance up, and see Beth, and some new face with her, trying to find a table. I debate waving them over, but when Maria catches my gaze, I make the snap choice.

"Hey Beth!" I shout. She looks over, a sour expression comes on for a moment, but when she sees Maria, she quickly smiles and waves back.

"Hey Shane," Beth says, coming towards him.

"You know him?" David asks. "Looks like...trouble. Nice."

Beth laughed. "He's my roommate and I'm assuming the girl with him is our other roommate."

Beth smiled at the new girl there and took a seat at the table. "I'm Beth. I take it you're our new roommate?"

The girl nodded. "Yeah. I'm Maria," she replied.

Bethany ignored the girl's outstretched hand. She didn't do handshakes. Maria took the hint and slowly took her hand back.

"And this is David. He pretty much has had all my classes since lunch," Beth replied. "David, this is Shane."

Shane

I looked at David. I wondered if Beth had befriended him solely as a buyer, because this dude lived in 4:20. I put my hand out, gesturing for David to shake it, but he blissfully sat down between Maria and Beth. I returned to my...well I still don't know what, and took a cautious bite. "Note to self: Never eat on campus....e-v-e-r." David rolled his eyes, and took my plate from me, and placed my meal on his, and ate it in one bite, one terrifyingly graphic bite.

"Yeah, I have to agree to that," Maria said, and Beth nodded along, picking at her own meal with a fork.

"So, are we allowed to leave campus during lunch?" I ask. Maria shakes her head with a frown, and I smile. "Good." I check my pockets, and find my keys there. "If you don;t mind ducking under a few rules, I say we go and grab some food off campus."

Bethany grinned. "Dunking under the rules? Sounds like my kind of plan!" She said, excitedly.

"So where do you want to go then?" Maria asks.

The girl looked a little wary about breaking the rules. Beth's eyes shone mischievously. Let's see how far the little wimps could go for breaking rules.

"What the hell?" she laughed. "It's only the first day. I'm skipping history next period. Anyone else? Or are you chicken?"

Shane

The first month of school was a blur. He had made some deals, gotten his regulars, but so far nothing interesting. Maybe his mom was right, sending him here. It was fun, and pretty safe, after all. Beth has began to warm up to the dealing game, and Shane, in turn, was trusting,

Shane was spraying water over his harvest when Beth came down the stairs. "So this is the legended greenhouse?" Shane smiled. He had finally let her come down here, it was getting to risky to do transactions in their dorm. After they had found out Maria was an anti-drug activist, who held rallies for the whole thing.

"Your stuff is in the back, don;t turn the light on, or else the plants won;t grow."

Beth disappeared into the back and another face came down. David threw a waud of cash to Shane and went to follow Beth. "Huge party tonight, B-T-W," David said. "You guys should come. Probably could make a lot there. At least find the pot heads here. L-O-L. B-R-B. T-T-Y-L"

David was a class A Text talker. Beth and Shane distasted it. But he was a good seller, and tipped the socially isolated, for the most part, Shane off to big events. Being in a basement all day spraying plants wasn't exactly the big scene everyone wanted to see. Beth pulled out her own roll of cash.

"So, should we go?" Beth asked. Shane nodded.

"It'll be good, but we should make sure Maria and her Anti-drug pals aren't going there, we don;t want a big bust this early," He pulled out a switch and set a timer. "I gotta head off to my class now, though. Ceramics, fun stuff. No joke. I'm making some pots for down here. Gonna class up the joint."

Beth laughed. "Princess Leia not classy enough?" Shane turned to see the series of star wars posters he had hung to one side. The biggest a sexy Princess Leia.

Bethany rolled her eyes. Shane was such a guy. She took one last look around the 'greenhouse.' If there was one thing she knew about Shane, it was that he was serious about his pot...and he actually took good care of it. Surprising, but Beth would too if that was the source of her income. Shane probably had a bigger boss he had to report to. She rememebered seeing the gunshot wound and shivered a little.

"Well, you just leave Maria to me. I'll make sure she doesn't even know about the party," she told him. "I like her and all, but I'll just tell her that I'm going...to visit me brother or something. Then ask her to wait for me at the room to meet him. Then I'll say he never showed."

Beth grinned. It was not the best plan but good girl Maria would fall for it. She almost felt bad about betraying her roommate. She had the feeling they could be friends. If only she wasn't an anti-drug activist.

"Whatever. I'll see you at the party later then," she sighed, turning around a leaving. "Make sure that you keep Princess Leia company!"

Beth rolled her eyes, laughing and ran out of the room, seeing David not too far ahead.

"David! Wait up!" Beth called, grinning at him. He was a huge buyer and a great seller. He was also a pretty loyal friend. Except for the fact they didn't have much in common.

He gave her a casual, lazy grin. "You coming to the party later?"

She shrugged and then nodded. "Yeah. I think so. But I've got to make sure Maria doesn't show. I have the feeling, though, that she and her anti-drug possy aren't very interested in this kind of scene. Then again, she may want to come for the alchohol. Me? I'm excited for that. And to sell of course."

David laughed and nodded. "It'll be good for you to lighten up."

Beth gave him a look. "I am light. I just take the business more serious then you. Are you skipping or are you coming to class with me?"

"Skipping," he sighed. "And going to check out for narcs. Just in case. I heard their might be some. As always."

"You're going to so fail," Beth replied, leaving him behind, and not wanting to think about that last comment. "And narcs won't be showing up! That's only in movies you idiot."

"Wouldn't be the first time," he called. "For both your little comments."

Bethany left him behind and headed for class. But befor she entered the room she got out her phone and texted Shane.

"Maria won't be the only problem. We're going to have to be careful at this party. David's been here longer then us both. There might be narcs at the party."