Just Breathe

Chapter Eight

Monday morning at school, Lia was on a cloud nine.  She'd visited her top choice school over the weekend and had gotten to spend some one-on-one quality time with both parents.  Many teenagers would be horrified at the thought of spending that much time with their parents, but Lia truly loved and looked up to them.  As a senior, she knew this would be the last time she'd be living full time with them.

"Your outline is due by Wednesday," her AP Art History teacher instructed the class, "And your rough draft is due by next Monday."

She droned on as Lia diligently wrote the assignments down in her student planner.  It may have been slightly OCD, but she'd found it was the best way to keep herself on track.  There was something about checking items off a to-do list that gave her a sense of accomplishment. 

Her days were quickly becoming even more packed than they had been before.  Looking at the week ahead, she had two exams, a paper, plus regular homework each day and more SAT prep.  That didn't include any extracurricular activities.  She felt a wave of panic come over her, seeing all she needed to do.  Then she reminded herself that she'd decided to take the plunge and get a bit of extra help. 

Charlie Havens, a fellow senior and the school's resident drug dealer, was known to sell a variety of uppers to help kids stay up into the wee hours to study.  At Hunter, it was almost a necessity.  She flipped back through her student planner and found the sticky note with his number on it. 

As the teacher finished up her directions and people started to pack up their things, she pulled out her iPhone and typed a quick message.  He responded back within a minute, telling her to meet at his locker after school.  That took care of that.  She smiled when she saw a message alert from Ayden.  It was a picture of him standing in front of the Alexander Hamilton statue at Columbia in a goofy pose. 

Her thumbs flew over her screen with a response: Ask him how he kept going non-stop.  I need a nap.

The bell rang and she started to make her way to her next class, continuing to text with Ayden.  Technically, they weren't supposed to have phones out at all during the school day, but most teachers didn't have a problem with them being used between classes.  They texted about the get together she would be hosting that coming Thursday.  Her parents would be out of town and they'd given her permission to have a couple friends over.  It wasn't a full-out lie - she would just be having more people than she'd originally told them.  They'd have the place cleaned to perfection by the time her parents came home Sunday.

As she walked into her next class, she smiled again as she tucked her phone into her backpack. Maybe everything had been in her head with Ayden. Lots of couples spent time apart because of school and made it. They'd been together nearly three years and it would be such a shame to give up now.

Hours later, the school day finally ended. She had about five minutes until she had to meet a kid in the library for tutoring. Lia quickly stuffed her backpack, grabbed her jacket, and headed down the hallway to Charlie's locker.

Ever the rule follower, Lia felt her heart start to pound as she walked up to him. She got in trouble every once in a while like every teenager, but this was next level stuff. It was a prescription drug but she didn't have a prescription.  It could be potentially dangerous.  Lia reminded herself that tons of kids at Hunter and every school in America did this. It was the cost to get into top schools.

As instructed, she set her backpack on the floor with the top unzipped. She handed him $50 and he discreetly dropped a small bottle into the top of her bag as they made small talk. It was done in less than a minute.

—-

After tutoring, Lia slung her backpack over her shoulder and hurried towards her subway stop, feeling like all eyes were on her. Did she look guilty? She distracted herself by pulling out her phone and checking Twitter. Her eyes stayed glued to her screen the whole ride to Brooklyn.