Chapter 3 
The next day…. 

“You’re the most insensitive, asinine, brat I’ve ever met!” I shouted at Justin. We had just left Justin’s house for school. We would meet at Gary’s house normally, but with his current condition, he was forced to stay home today. He could just forget school for the next two days. After I noticed that Justin had been an inconsiderate asshole, I had to set him straight. Plus, for once, the rest of the group agreed with my brutality and even joined in lashing it out. 

“Justin, I feel no pain for you! We have been Gary’s friends since… well…FOREVER!” Riki shouted at him, showing no mercy. He was totally furious, angry, and LIVID! 

“Sorry sweetie, but I have to agree. That was extremely cold of you, and I know extreme; I’m a skateboarder!” she added to our crusade. 

“No, you don’t have to agree! Also, I don’t apologize!” Justin fired back. 

“Fine, then you can explain to Ms. Darke what happened to Gary,” I told him. He looked like he had been hit in the head with a bat; he was so shocked! “I’m not seeing that hag without y’all! That’s not fair!” Justin whined. I laughed. 

“Life’s not fair, but you’ll get use to it. I promise! Though, if you die in the process, feel free to sue my ass off!” 

+++ 

Meanwhile, Gary wasn’t truly at home playing sick. He was downtown, on Candy Lane…. 

“How much!?!” Gary yelled in shock. 

“Twenty dollars an gram,” the man replied casually, as if the shock was normal. “The market has been down and this stuff is hard to come by.” Gary snorted in disgust. Ever since his father past away a year ago, he had been doing cocaine. It was his ticket out of reality and back to the good days. He was determined to get his hands on the addicting drug, even if it killed him. 

“You know, I could turn you in for this poop. Smuggling this stuff in from South America is strictly illegal and highly dangerous. What would happen if word got out that you were forcing innocent children to buy such a horrid drug?” Gary cynically told the dealer. 

“You would be arrested too. You look strong enough and paid me for the angel dust; I didn’t force it onto you like you are saying. Any cop could realize that; they aren’t stupid enough to fall for that one. But nice try,” the dealer shot back. 

Gary huffed, “Fine. Here’s 360 dollars. I want a full ounce and don’t skimp this time!” He growled the last sentence. The dealer’s face lit up like a candle. 

“All right! One ounce of blow it is!” the dealer announced quietly. Gary snatched the bag out of his hand and stuffed the cash in its place. He then grabbed a five-dollar bill and placed it on the ground. 

“And get a shower with some of the cash, why don’t cha!” Gary yelled as he hurried off. The drug was hidden in a sugar bag, making it look like powdered sugar. Gary often craved its intense powers and preferred it best when snorted. He had tried crack once and didn’t enjoy it; it was too hard and looked like the teeth from a dead body. The only thing he didn’t like was where he had to buy the intense narcotic. He was just glad to escape that part of hell with his head and life in tact. 

+++ 

Later, Riki and I went to Gary’s house. (He was putting up a good act.) I was convinced; Riki was convinced too. “You…scared…ME!” I sniffed and yelled. I swung at Gary and missed the first time. WHACK! I didn’t miss the second time; I hit him on his poor, broken nose. 

“OOOOOWWWWWWWW!!!!! Riki, can you get me my painkillers? They’re in my backpack,” Gary asked Riki. 

Riki smiled. “Sure. I’ll get you the ‘killers!” Riki said brightly. He left to retrieve the pills. I fumed and hugged Gary at the same time. (Ironic!) Moments later, Riki returned with the pills and a clear bag of white powder. I looked at him confused. Gary started to sweat. 

“Gary, why do you have a jar…” Riki started. Gary began to sweat even harder. “…of powder sugar in your backpack?” Riki finished. Gary let out a sigh and I looked at him confused. 

“Oh…yeah…powder sugar. I got it for my mom at the convenient store,” Gary alleged.

“Oh!” I exclaimed. “I’ll just place it in the kitchen for your mother to use. Didn’t she say she was going to make lemon drop sugar cookies for the bake sale?” I continued. One hour later, Gary’s mother, Anastasia (or Ana as we like to call her), had returned and baked her cookies. We didn’t notice she had return because we were deeply involved in our movie. She entered the room with a plate of cookies and asked if anyone wanted one. 

“Um…sugar cookies?” Gary asked wearily. Ms. Ana nodded and told us that she had bought the sugar at the store. So, Gary, Riki, and I had about a half a dozen cookies each. We wolfed the cookies in a heartbeat. I mean they were awesome! About a half hour later, Justin showed up and joined our party. 

“What is y’alls’ problem? What did you do?” Justin asked. Ha! As he said this, I made a mental note to myself. I have to be careful of those purple elephants. 

“We ate some of mom’s ‘sugar’ cookies.” Gary giggled. 

“‘Sugar’ cookies?” he asked. 

“Yep!” came Gary’s slurred response. 

“Let me see some of that ‘sugar’ please.” Justin requested quite quickly, or it seemed fast. Gary reached over to the plate of cookies and grabbed one. He handed the round baked circle to Justin. Justin looked at it and sniffed it. 

“Um, guys, this is cocaine!” Riki and I realized what he had said and spat the toxic waste that he called dessert out! 

“Gary!!!!!!” Riki and I shouted in unison. He started to crawl away. 

“Um…it’s not mine! Honest! It’s…um…”Gary stuttered. We finished for him. “YOUR’S!!!!” Justin, Riki, and I yelled. Justin then started to laugh. I turned and gleamed at his worthless-excuse-for-a-life self. I looked at him as if he were a piece of poop. 

“Hey, did your mom have any of your contaminated cookies?” Justin laughed as he asked Gary. Gary thought for a minute and then answered. 

“Uh…yeah, she did. Why?” Gary replied, puzzled. Justin laughed even harder. I, on the other hand, wasn’t as easily amused. 

“YOU DRUGGED ME!!!!” I roared mercilessly at the helpless black blob. He quaked with fear. 

“Ac…Actually, Riki did,” Gary defended. 

“No, it was YOUR drugs!” I backfired. The anger and fury in my voice could kill. I was so mad that I saw red flames around his useless body. 

“Oh, kiss my ass!” Gary shouted in retort. 

My comebacks were on fire that day, so a spat this one back. “I swear, so help me God, that if you say that one more time, I’ll break your neck so bad you’ll be able to kiss your own ass!” I shouted pitilessly. Justin tried to calm us down; Gary and I were at each other’s throat, ready to kill. 

“Listen…” he started only to be cut off by someone else. 

“Hey guys!” came the cheerful female voice. We all turned and looked up to see who was here. Sandie and Sammy showed up at the door with their arms loaded down with shopping bags from Claires, K-Mart, and JC Penney’s plus many other stores. I gulped down my return insult to Gary and attempted to look cheerful and gracious to see their faces. “We bought stuff for cook…” Sammy’s voice trailed off when she saw our blood-shot eyes. Sandie must have noticed too; she was running over to check Gary’s pulse as Sammy restarted. “What did you do?” she asked, dumbfounded. I jumped right to it. Well, sort of. “Someone,” I emphasized, “spiked our cookies that Ms. Ana made with cocaine.” Sandie sighed and asked whom. Three hands flew up and pointed Gary out to the crowd. Sandie and Sammy moaned in response. “Oh, brother,” Sandie moaned. That’s when it became official. We had a serious crime on our hand, and we had to solve it…FAST! 

Chapter 4 

Day stood at the front of the class reciting portions of his project on the Holocaust. 
“I was told to go into a deportation room,” he recited without his eyes leaving the page."

One by one, children displayed their hard work for the class to see. During this whole time, they sat and remember the past horrors brought upon the world by the Third Reich; all this pain and sorrow because one man didn’t like a religion. Hiro Honda walked up to podium; his diary was in the form of a young child’s. 

“My father has left,” he began. The time of graphic horror was upon us. We remembered the fallen and placed ourselves in the shoes of the victims. Diana took the horror differently; she was a Jew and was use to the horror. I couldn’t imagine living with these horrors back then, let alone now as a child like Diana did. Everyone was shocked by how well she was taking that. 

Halfway through Esme Robinson’s report, Jayla Jones, a popular junior, entered the class with a wad of referral slips. Out of about forty slips, only one is for our class. 
“Gary, they need you in the front office,” Ms. Armendes informed the class placidly. When Gary reached the door, he turned and mouthed for me to help him. I waited for him to leave for my brilliant plan to go into action. 

“OW!” I screamed in disgust. The class looked baffled as I clutched the back of my head in pure agony. “Riki, why did you hit me?” My voiced quivered as I posed the inquiry. Riki looked as if I had just hit him. My eyes widened to que what I was doing. Riki caught on quick. 

“It’s my fault that you’re a whore and a bitch all rolled in one. Why don’t you just go frak a tree!” he hollered in return. Ms. A didn’t take that statement very kindly; in fact, she became irate when she heard the inflammatory remark. 

“Moralis, Parsons, Dean’s office… NOW!” she barked as she handed us our referrals. When we passed by, I slipped a note to Sammy urging her and Justin to join us in the “Dean’s” office. As I exited the room, I watched Sammy begin an intense thought process of how to land her in trouble. Not long after we had left, Sammy and Justin we trailing right behind us. 

We had decided to meet at my locker, where we would stash the “referrals” and grab pre-signed passes. Riki and I had become experts at forging the signature of our teachers; it was always really easy since their signatures were almost always the same. All the teachers use their initials as their signatures for EVERYTHING! It doesn’t matter if it was for signing the Declaration of Independence, they would sign their initials. Riki and I had “organized” some blank passes from the office with signatures of each different teacher. My locker had referral shreds swaying like monkeys from limbs. Since I had a portable shredder in my locker, all evidence of our misdemeanors was unable to be traced. At the end of the week, I would take home the referral shreds to be incinerated. All evidence was destroyed. 

Anyhow, the four of us picked up our slips and left for the office with a stack of false papers; we were going to say that we needed to see Dr. Left, the assistant principal. It was a plausible plan that even a masterminded genius like myself is proud to have contemplated. I often, on the spot, create excuses to get myself, or my friends, out of trouble. I sometimes help even my enemies! (Aren’t I so sweet and kind?) We had entered the office, showed the ladies our passes, signed in, and immediately, Riki and Justin took control of the destination; Sammy and I gave up trying to ask where they were taking us. All we need to know was that we were going to help Gary out of his situation and he was probably right around the next corner. Gary was sitting on a bench just outside of the nurse’s clinic, awaiting something! He looked downhearted and so solemn, as if he was aware that the faith that was awaiting him wasn’t that bad after all! Even though he was an annoying jackass, I didn’t think that what he was waiting for was even slightly fair. 

“Guys, is that you?” he mumbled. His voice held a very faint hint of hope. 

“The one and only group of friends a crack-head like you could have,” Riki retorted. Gary’s head shot upward. He mumbled something that either the rest of the group nor I could hear and then sprang in action. 

“PLEASE! YOU HAVE TO HELP ME!” he moaned. “They are….” Gary couldn’t complete his train of thought. 

“Testing every male student in the school for drugs?” Riki supplied with a smirk. Justin and Riki looked at each other; they had already been tested. (So that’s why they weren’t in math class on Monday.) 

“You only need one thing to make sure that he doesn’t realize that you had cocaine yesterday: vinegar.” 

“Where in the hell am I going to get vinegar this late in the day without leaving campus? Do I look that stupid to you, that I would leave campus during a drug test? That’s like admitting to something you have been charged for yet! It’s total suicide!” Gary commented. Riki reached into his pocket and pulled out a small, round, glass bottle with a clear liquid in it. That’s when it hit me; the bottle had vinegar in it! It was really easy to see. 

“Two or three drops of the stuff will do the trick. Just remember, NEVER SITE YOUR SOURCES!” Riki prompted. Gary nodded and waved his hand quickly, telling us to leave. Just as we were leaving, an old man appeared at Gary’s side. Gary spun and observed the wrinkled hunchback; he was older than time itself. His silver hair hung to his shoulders; his eyes were empty like a glass of blue Kool-aid that had been poured down the kitchen sink. 

“What ya waitin’ for boy? Get MOVING!” Gary stuttered in disbelief; the old hag could talk! The man grabbed Gary by the scruff of his neck and ripped him from his seat. Gary stumbled forward only to trip and fall flat on his face. When he rose, a steady stream of ruby-red blood rushed from his nose; it would seem to an onlooker that he had broken his nose, but it was merely bloody. Gary, unfortunately, didn’t notice that. 

“AAAAAAHHHHHH!!!!!” he hollered. The blood ran from his face and landed in at gentle pool at his feet. “You old hag! You broke my NOSE!” 

The man seized Gary and with one swift movement, he felt Gary’s nose. “Sorry young’ um; that’s only a bloody nose. Now tilt your head back so that you don’t bleed out. If you faint, I’ll be the one in trouble, not you!” the old man grumbled. He carefully marched to the clinic; clearly, this man was trained to handle the injured. Two ice packs later, Gary was back to normal (but still mad). 

“So, maybe you can explain to me why you thrust me to the FLOOR!” Gary growled in pure hatred. He spat on the floor and awaited the old man’s reply. “So Mr.….” 
“Yolen,” he supplied. 

“So Mr. Yolen, why did you injure me?” Gary asked. 

“Do you THINK I meant to harm your punk ass self?” he snickered. 

“Well, if all my damage is done, I have to go,” Gary laughed. Mr. Yolen raised his hand and shooed his off to class. 

Chapter 5 

“I’m so glad I wasn’t caught,” Gary breathed. We had all joined up at my locker; we had to choose our “punishment.” We could either have lunch detention or ASD (after school detention). We chose lunch, two days. (Seemed fair enough for disrupting class.) 
“Yeah, and if you had been caught, I’D be dead because I would be caught giving YOU the vinegar,” Riki reminded the group. He was still a little weary about the whole “lying” thing. He may have been to JDC, but he doesn’t lie. (I had to choose a wuss for my boyfriend!) Whatever they did to him in JDC, he didn’t want to return, even if it meant life or death. Riki never did talk much about life back in Pine Sight in Oldberry, where he once lived. All he did was write to Tim and Lace about Volley and Miami. He might need to help us sometimes and when he does, he goes all out. It doesn’t matter if we were in California, he would still be there to bail us out. I don’t know how this came to be in a hard-core guy like him, but it did. 

“Kay, are you coming or not?” Meghan’s voice came from behind. Meghan Tombs was a new kid in school and was very smart. Everyone thinks I should ditch her ass that way she doesn’t brainwash me. AS IF! I think she is just misunderstood. “Kay, if we don’t get moving, Charles and Dickey won’t be at the library to help us! Come on girl and you can flirt with Riki later!” She urged. Charles and Dickey are two of the nicest and hottest guys in the whole school. If I weren’t dating Riki, I would date Dickey, the youngest. Charles is older than Dickey by thirty-four minutes. Plus, they’re identical twins! They’re two years older than us, but they still help us out when we need. (Just like Riki!) Just then, Charles and Dickey decided to find us. 

“Where in the hell have you two been? We were starting to worry that y’all were hurt or raped! If you’re going to be late, call! If you had been hurt, we’d beat ourselves!” Dickey explained. He did look worried and scared. Charles looked really worried. 

“Sorry, I won’t do it again. I promise!” I looked up and nodded. Charles gave me a look of sympathy and remorse. 

“Fine,” Dickey supplied for the group. “Let’s just go and get this project started.” He turned and faced Gary. “Gary, Sandie told me what is going on and she wants me to help. I’ll try and make sure that you don’t get in any trouble. Meet me at my apartment at five o’clock sharp. All of you be there. Got it?” He looked at all five of us. We nodded. I stole a glance toward Meghan; she was totally lost. I extended an arm toward her and told her not to worry. She looked at me and just played along. 

+++ 

That night, we all met at the Twin’s apartment like planned. We were even early! When we rang the doorbell, Charles and Dickey answered with their usual smile: brilliant and white. 

“Hey guys! Come in!” They ushered us in quickly. We took our usual seats at the couch; it was just like math class. “Okay guys, I need you to tell me what happened that night. The WHOLE truth, just like if you were under oath. So let’s start with Gary, then I’ll hear from Justin, then Riki, then Sammy, and then finally Kay,” Charles stated. So the five of us tried to relive that night. We didn’t miss anything; we tried to be as through as possible. Each story was put on a different tape or set of tapes. Some of our information contradicted the anecdote of our buddy’s. Charles said it was fine; every person has a different perspective on things. 

“Take 9-11 for example. Some people saw two planes do loops in the air. Some saw people jump from the planes. Some saw people jump from the Trade Centers before the attack. Everyone sees something different. It’s called personal perspective. Everyone has one; you just don’t know what it is. People who have been injured would see something different than the person who inflicted the damage,” Dickey clarified. We nodded in response. It made perfect sense that everyone would see things differently; it wasn’t like everyone had the same mind that thought and saw the same thing! (What irony that would be, that everyone saw the same thing!) Just like we don’t want to be the same person, we wouldn’t want to think alike too! 

“But, theoretically, there will be matching points that are the same. Like in 9-11, everyone knew it took place in New York City. Everyone knew that there were two planes in the crash. Everyone knew the date; everyone knew that they hit the World Trade Centers. Plus, in the end, everyone was joined closer by the event. May the victims’ souls rest in peace in heaven,” Charles implied. We hung our heads in silence for the death of the citizens as we thought about what Charles had said. When I thought back on the interviews, I did realize some common similarities; we had general and key information in common with each other. Some of our information only matched what one or two of us said, but for sure, we had similarities. 

“We have to go; we have school tomorrow. Call us once you know what we can do, ‘right?” Riki asked. Charles and Dickey gave us thumbs up and we left for home. 

+++ 

“Come out with your hands above your heads! Drop everything!” The banging startled us. When I rolled over, I had a thirty-five-millimeter handgun pointed at my temple. I felt every organ in me freeze up and stop. Then, I looked him over more; that’s when I realized he was a cop! 

“Hey!” I yelled hoarsely, “You have no right to be in my house with your gun pointed at my and my friends’ heads without a warrant! Also, I haven’t verified your acceptance of the warrant! If I want, I could press charges you know?” I was livid and on my feet. I noticed that Sammy was genuinely scared so I walked over to the cop with the gun pointed at Sammy and roughly told him if he liked his balls he would back off from my friend. The officer looked from me to Riki to his fellow officers and back at my hands, in particular, the inch long nails on each finger. After what seemed like two years, He lowered his weapon and stepped back. When he stepped back, I could see Riki handgun.

“So, where’s the warrant?” Riki asked, pointing his gun at the biggest cop of the group. The cop looked like the dumbest and the most deadly of the group. He began laughing as if Riki was of no true threat; Riki didn’t like this. 

“Just to let you know,” Riki piped up, “I do I have a permit to shoot this gun and save myself or my friends. So, if you think I’m joking, go ahead and hurt one of my pals. It’ll be the last thing you ever do. And right now, you're in this house illegally. So I will use force if I deem it necessary. I'm a pretty good shot. ” The guard took Riki serious this time; he reached into his pocket and pulled out a warrant. 

“Here,” he thrust the warrant to Riki. 

“Thank you, Officer…?” Riki asked. 

“Carrington, Rodney Carrington,” Rodney supplied. 

“Okay Rodney, well, I’m doing a favor for my group and calling our lawyers; no one leaves until they arrive,” Riki informed the officers. He left into the other room and started making phone calls. Until he returned, I would play twenty questions. 

“So, how did you get in?” I asked. 

“Universal key,” came the response. 

“Did you search my house?” 

“No.” 

“When did you arrive here?” 

“At about 8 o’clock.” 

“Who’s in trouble?” 

“Gary Ollman.” 

“What did he do?” 

“DON’T SAY ANOTHER WORD TO THOSE COPS!” Sandie hollered. Sandie, Charles, and Dickey were standing at the door in full suit with suitcases. “You guys don’t need to say a thing,” Sandie explained. She then turned to the cops. “You asinine bastards, lower your guns! What are these children being charged with?” 

“We only want Gary Ollman. We got a tip that he has cocaine with him, so we are here to search him. The tipster even told us the address,” Rodney explained. 

“Well, does this tipster have a name?” Dickey asked. 

“She wishes to remain anonymous.” 

“Fine. Gary, do as the officer says. Kay, Riki Justin, Sammy, go get dressed. Sandie and Dickey will join you. Also, Riki, Gary, and Justin, lower your guns and give them to one of us,” Charles instructed. I didn't even notice the handguns that the others had. They reluctantly gave up their weapons. Just as we got inside, Sandie dissolved into tears. 

“Wha-wha-what are w-w-we going to d-do?” Sandie sniffled. Dickey walked over and put her in a comforting grasp. He rocked her back and forth, trying to get her to calm down. 

“It’ll be alright. Don’t worry,” Dickey comforted. 

“Yeah, it’s not like they are going to find anything on him!” I supplemented. Sandie seemed to brighten up a bit once I told her this. When we were dressed and ready to go, we headed down stairs only to see Gary be handcuffed. 

“Gary?” Sandie murmured. She broke down in tears again and cried.