How to be popular

12. Explore Different Roads

I looked down at the piece of paper again as I slowly approached the modern home that appeared to be Luis's. I went up the steps onto the porch and rang the doorbell, but nobody answered.

After ringing it a few times more and still getting no response, I decided to pull out my phone and text Luis as I sat on the porch steps.

Before the text was finished, Luis popped up out of nowhere, scaring me half to death. He was only wearing jeans, letting the whole world see his toned abs.

"Hey! You made it! Sorry, I was in the garage working," he said cheerfully, wrapping an arm around me as he lead me to his garage. He pushed a button so the door would open. We walked inside.

I shook him off, still uncomfortable from the incident at the senior party. "So," I began, trying to act causal, "when did you start dealing?"

He chuckled. "Let's keep this sweet and to the point, okay? That's how this works." Well, you certainly seemed friendly and welcoming a minute ago.

I nodded, wanting to act like I knew how drug dealing and selling worked. "Of course, I know that."

He laughed at me again. "Don't worry about it, Alex. You're new to this, and that's okay. You don't have to act like your experienced at everything." My posture slacked as I laid off the "know it all" act.

I rubbed my nose with my finger. "Sorry."

He began moving boxes to probably find his secret stash. "How much do you have?" He asked.

I pulled out a twenty dollar bill from my pocket and showed it to him. "That's all I brought. I wasn't sure how much this stuff cost."

He raised his eyebrows at the money, like it was worthless and went back to getting to the drugs. "That'll only get you a small amount, a bag with one or two uses."

Wow, I thought, these drugs are more expensive than I thought.

"How much is it for more?" I asked as he pulled out a rusty red toolbox, picking the lock and opening it to reveal dozens of tiny and large bags filled with the magical white powder. I oood in amazement.

He grabbed a tiny bag, smaller than the palm of my hand, and exchanged it to me for the money. "This stuff isn't cheap, not even amped up sleeping pills are less than a twenty for a few grams of it crushed up. This is the good stuff Alex," he said, pointing to the bag, "this will cost you if you want more."

Nodding, I stuffed the bag in my pocket. "I'll be back then."

"You better have a job if you want to come back."

I did, but barely. I had missed so much work on the weekends I was sure Starbucks was going to fire me. "I do."

He smiled. "It was good doing business with you. Goodbye Alex."

I waved goodbye and walked off.

When I got home, my adoptive dad was waiting for me at the kitchen table. He was focused of a letter on the kitchen table.

I sat my bag down on a chair and waited for him to speak. Instead, he handed me an opened one letter. It was from the Toyota dealership.

Scared of what was inside, my fingers carefully pulled out the letter. My heart sank as I read on.

"You're two months behind on your car payment, and they have threatened to take the car away if you don't cough up this and last months payment in two weeks," he sighed, "I don't have that kind of money right now."

I sat in front of him and shook my head. How could I have let this happen? Sure, I hadn't payed the rent on the car, but with everything that had been going on, the dealership would surely understand.

Also, Doug had quit helping me pay the car, especially since we stopped hanging out, so now I would be short by half the amount each month.

"I know, but Doug has stopped helping me with the monthly rent on it, and now I can't afford it."

He stood up. "Well, either find a way to pay for the car or give it up," he stated clearly, and walked out of the kitchen.

I promised myself I would find a way.

...

Silence. At times, it is the best thing to "hear." That's why I went to the library sometimes when I wasn't with Ava or in class. It made me sad though, Doug and I used to hang out together in the library, but there was just me now.

I didn't tuck myself in the corner, but instead out in the middle of the library where a few chairs sat. Ava said she was going out to the football field anyway to hang out with her boyfriend and watch him workout, so I had the afternoon to myself.

I was actually on my laptop learning about the adoptive agency I was from. The website wasn't hard to find, the front page was full of rainbows and bright colors, with it's logo in big bold letters:  where happy families are made. These people were sick.

Like I said before, I was determined to find my real parents. My first thing was to write down their address and call their number to discuss further arrangements. I put the number in my phone and called.

A perky young women, who said the company name and logo like a trained dog, answered the phone.

I pushed the phone up closer to my ear. "Yes, um, my name is Alex, I was adopted from your agency when I was a baby, and I wanted to known if you still had records about my real parents." It sounded so stupid, and it was, but I was desperate.

She cleared her throat. "Sorry ma'am, I can't give out personal infor-"

"I can come by the office and prove that I was adopted from there," I interrupted with a slight agitated tone.

"That won't be necessary-"

I groaned. "I know you don't have the mental capacity to understand what I'm asking you, so maybe you could hand the phone to the manager of this place."

She laughed for a moment. "This is the CEO dear, I'm taking calls while my secretary is on break for a few minutes. I'm sure that I have the "mental capacity" to answer any question that I can legally answer." Her tone switched from a telemarketers voice to a more causal one.

I slumped down in my seat, feeling awful for what I said, but wasn't going to let that make me give up. "My real name was Alexis, I was less than a year old I'm sure when my real mother left me with your services. I'm begging you, please just tell me where my real parents live. Besides, what could I do and why would I do something illegal with an address?"

She let out a long sigh, and I heard her shuffle around. "Just a moment please." I waited. A minute went by, two, three...... "Ma'am?" I perked up when I heard her voice again. "Alright, I can get in very big trouble for this, alright?" She stated with a low voice, wanting to keep this secretive.

I nodded. "Yes, I understand completely."

She continued. "I'm only going to give you a number, but this was a number from over a decade ago, and it might not work now, but it's all I can risk."

Any risk could be worth it, again, I was desperate. "That's more than what I needed." She gave me the number as I copied it down on a piece of paper.

"Thank you so much."

"I'm glad that I could help." I hung up, then looked down at the number, and my chest knotted up. That number could have changed my life completely, or made me feel hopeless again. Either way, I was about to find out.