Another Now

Barbara Keane

It was that day that did it to me too. That day that changed everything for me, before it changed everything for everyone else. It was that day I met Nora at the 4th of July festivities, barely seconds before I was introducing her to Tom Jacobs. I was praying, praying, praying he hadn't seen her give me the pill, or seen me put it in my mouth and swallow it whole. When he rejoined Jess, Les and Grace I was relieved. He didn't ask questions. If I was lucky, he hadn't seen a darn thing.

And while after I parted with Nora and her friend, Tony that day I never saw them again after that. I tried so obsessively to make the packet of pills Nora gave me that day last, and yet they were gone after a week. My foster parents didn't give a damn about me, I knew that, but the second I did something wrong, they'd be all over it. I started leaving the house before taking the pills. The warm weather made for an easy excuse to get out of the house and stay out for hours, without anyone questioning me.

But once the pills were out, I felt half empty for a couple days after that. Then the cravings came over me and I felt deprived. It was the night of Friday, July 14th when I sent a message to the well known drug dealer of Lark Creek Consolidated High School and asked his price.

"Do you even go to LCCHS? I have never seen you before" he answered.

"Yeah I do. Or I will."

"What grade are you in?"  he asked.

"Nine in September" I replied.

"How much you want?"

I smiled at my screen, glanced around to make sure Maggie or any of my foster parents weren't around.

"How much for 20?"

"It isn't cheap you know."

"Try me" I said, feeling devious.

"$275, all in cash."

"No problem. When can we meet?"

"Tomorrow at 3, behind the school."

Getting a ride to LCCHS wouldn't be easy without a valid excuse to be there in the middle of summer holidays, but I agreed to the terms anyway.

The next morning, I asked Maggie if she could give me a ride to the convenient store, which happened to be within walking distance of the high school. I told her I was going to meet a friend and would call her later on when I needed a ride home. Having been my chauffeur since she got her learners license last December, she was more than willing to stick to the terms.

I met him right where he said he'd be, right on time. "I expect nothing less of you" he said, glancing around before handing me a baggie containing the familiar pills I received from Nora ten days earlier.

That was the beginning of the end.

I started meeting him about once a week after that. He lived close to the school so getting there wasn't much of a struggle for him, but part of me felt like Maggie was getting suspicious. I knew she didn't suspect the truth, but she suspected something. But by the time I was hesitant to ask her for rides, school was going back in and I wouldn't need a ride anymore since I'd be at school everyday. We started off with meeting after school on Fridays. But I started to miss the bus, and so our meetings went from Friday after school to Friday at lunch hour.

When Christmas break rolled around, I met him on the last day of classes. I asked for double the supply since we probably wouldn't meet again until January when school we back again.