PART ONE

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part one — gabriel"spring break is short

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part one — gabriel
"spring break is short. party hard!"

I DIDN'T DO IT.

It wasn't me that touched the gun or the rope or the knife. I didn't even drive the car. Hell, I was even in the trunk of Scout's Mercedes during the drive to the woods. I couldn't breath and there was a white bag next to me.

I didn't do it.

Gage was the one that made me go. He came up to my lunch table yesterday and handed me three twentys and a bottle of adderall. He opened his mouth a bit, showing his teeth. They were white and straight and perfect and they made my teeth, that were tattered with stomach acid and coffee stains and of course the fact that my one fake tooth that came out because of Jake's high-stick in hockey practice one time, feel ashamed and ugly.

"What do you want?" I asked, confused. I twisted the top off of the adderall bottle to see how many pills were in there. It looked to be about thirty-five or so. "Sixty milligrams?"

Gage nodded. I put the lid back on the bottle and was about to put it in my pocket before Gage stopped me.

"Only if you do me a favor." He crossed his slim arms over his chest. The checkered button-up shirt he was wearing that he bought at Goodwill last week and only posted on his Instagram yesterday slowly waved as a door close to us opened and closed with a quiet thud.

I blinked a few times as I looked him up and down. He had a chain linked to the belt loops on his Levi's 512 jeans and was wearing a Redington Shores t-shirt that said "Spring Break is short. Party hard!" One of his yellow Converse was untied.

"What do you want?" I asked again, looking from the bottle to Gage's curly chestnut hair.

Gage leaned down and began whispering in my left ear. His minty breath hit the crook of my, making my arm hairs stand on end.

"Fifth period, back parking lot. Scout's picking us up in her Mercedes. You come with us and you tell no one about what happens. Deal?"

A million — technically more like three — thoughts ran through my head. Where were "we" going? What were "we" doing? Whose parent was chaperoning?

I looked down at what was on the table in front of me. Sixty dollars and thirty-five pills. All I had to do was say yes and they were mine. One word, three letters.

"Sure."

Four letters.

Gage pushed the twentys towards me. "Good," he said emotionlessly. He began walking away.

"Wait." I turned in my seat to see Gage facing me again, his arms crossed over his chest again. "After we do this secretive trip, can we get burritos?"

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