Tinted Shades

Chapter Six: Nothing Personal, Just Business

When life gets hard and you don't seem to succeed in love like me, for everything you touch breaks and everyone else is there judging, cursing or some even praising you but you really know you are broken and weary, you give in to something. Something bad and soon you get hooked and get brain washed that its only it that can numb the pain, drugs.
Our school was known for its posheness with children from all walks of life rich others richer while those like me could just tag alone. And with that came drugs, not common but quite spread with almost a quarter of the school in it. Max, my cube mate a form four, had gotten me into some shady business. He was responsible to everything I had become. He brought the 'weed' to school and had people to sell it for him. The few who knew this had not only feared but respected him. The others just dreaded on the thought of him and his squad. He was cold on the outside but a scared little puppy in the inside and only I knew this. Shakur and I being his cube mates had gotten to enjoy the benefits of not being bullied by other senior students or disturbed by prefects while still juniors. We would later have to pay for these benefits since he would be a form four and someone had to run the business.

Shakur, a rugby player huge and all muscled up, had fit in quite well and soon seemed like the next successor. He had become this big brother I needed in the school fighting most of my battles and hanged a lot with our squad although being in a different stream and everyone liked him so different from Max who hated all them especially Malik for his loudness. He only spoke with Brian because he was new and sometimes Dan, also in our cube.

It had been a long day with the exam mood just out of our system everyone needed to relax. And everybody did it differently. The 'cool ones' needed to get high and that meant business was booming for me and Shakur. With my rolls over by lunch time Shakur brought his back pack to me to help him out and tired I placed it under my chair for no one knew what it contained and rested my head on the desk for a nap, nobody did this better than me. I had continued the day sleeping on my locker until games time when Malik woke me up.

"We are getting 'lit' and you're here sleeping, "he burst, panting like he had been in a chase, "art room in the next few minutes we are waiting." He was gone before I could ask him anything and I had to stagger down the stairs from my sleep hoping not to meet Phoebe and towards the art room making sure nobody was following me. It was far from the classes and administration block, almost like it wasn't in the school but further was the music room. This person who had drawn the map of the school had done one great job. The door was a jar meaning I had to lock it on my way in before getting to the storage room, our base.

Malik, Jeff and Joan, Dan, Brian and Purity who was a first timer here and Sam were all there. From our seven- man squad only Tony was missing for he never knew anything about this and none of us wanted to get a preacher's kid involved in such.

"Full house!" Malik shouts as I enter, already high I assume.

"I don't remember selling any of you today," my suspicions get the better of me.

"If you here for interrogations then you in the wrong place, " Purity answers back.

"Didn't talk to you, female, don't forget you just here because of Brian" my ego refuses to be brought down by hers today and answers back.

"Chill guys chill we are a family here '420' brotherhood, " Dan passes over a blunt to me, the smell of marijuana filling my lungs already. We are soon caught up in the smoking and laughing and forget the argument. After an hour of being irresponsible youths we leave one at a time not to create any attention.

"Ted the bag?" Shakur pulls me as I get past him at the dining hall.

"It's not in class!" He whispers or rather whisper-shouts, "Wait are you high? You smoked the whole stash?" He notices my now red eyes.

"No... No... I... didn't, the blunts were Malik's... the one we smoked I left the bag in class," I can't manage a full sentence.

"Well it's not there and Max wants to see you now," My blood freezes on this and I feel sober already. I drag myself to the dorm and later our cube shaken like a cold lonely duck.

"Where is my stuff?" He bursts as soon as I open the door on his left Josh, his classmate, a hockey stick in hand, something quite weird for we didn't have hockey in our school.

"I... Left it... I left in the bag...in class, "I stammer shaking from the sight of the weapon in hand.

"You are high right? From my stash right? My money now?"

I couldn't talk, everything was happening fast and something hit me from behind leaving me groaning on the floor. I manage to peep from my side and see it was Adam, Max's 'bodyguard' as referred to by the school.

"I want my money or stash when I come back from preps, it's nothing personal son just business," they all walk out leaving me there. I struggle to my feet and try to get to class for the night preps stopping here and there because of the pain. Nothing seemed to be on my side that day and so was time. It moved unusually fast and before I knew it, it was 10 pm Max, Josh and Adam at the class door. Not like I even had thought of running away.

"You and you come here," Max calls out pointing at Malik and Dan. Brian pregnant with curiosity follows. Everyone else leaves with the excitement of getting to the dorms or maybe just to be out of the same room with Max.

"Where's Shakurs bag, the one you took it from Ted?"Max narrows his eyes on Malik.

For someone so huge and loud he looked quite scared and stammered on his reply, "we d...don't know what you talking about dude."

"You took a bag from ted and went to get high in the art room am not stupid."

Malik, Dan and Brian look at me like I had told Max all that.

"So we are going to them and before lights out you are bringing my money or my stash and of course the bag," Max adds and walks out Adam looks at us and laughs.

We walk to the dorms behind them silent trying to hear what they were planning.

"Ok, so what now because I know this guys are not laughing with us today," Brian tries to solve our problem as we sit down at the square in the middle of the dorms.

"I didn't anything from them if they want beef with us let them say," Malik clinches his fist.

We continuing sitting there not doing anything just quite with everyone scared but to proud to show it. Just then Shakur and Victor, his classmate walks by. You know those people who are at everything, like God just sat down and decided to give them all abilities while others like me are just there to be jealous and hate. Well Victor was one of those people; good at football basketball rugby plays the trombone saxophone drum set I mean just everything.

"Who called you here," Malik decides to take it out on Victor.

He is wise enough not to argue and goes to whisper something to Brian then leaves.

"Brothers in Christ how is stress taking you so far,"Shakur asks laughing.

We all look at him.

"Ok the bag has been found you can laugh now" he adds after some laughing.

We were all too mad to believe him but you could see relief on our faces. Turns out that all this was a joke to see our breaking point. There was actually nothing on the bag. But the thing is when you push a man to the wall and he has nothing to save himself he might as well make the wall fall on both of you. They had started it maybe it was time we end it, and we would do it with time because revenge is a dish best served cold. It was nothing personal just business.