You Must Remember This

Chapter 24: The Impossible Dream

When Alan walked down the steps, Ted was waiting in the shade, clearly having waited there for a few minutes. Ted stood up to pace a little, as if he were a lawyer presenting a case. After Ted had seen Alan so brazen as to sell his product right behind Ms. Wolfe's office while she pretended to work, his entire preconception of Alan was shattered: he had always thought Alan a goody-two-shoes, and maybe he still was; some cool kid had probably blackmailed Alan with threats to his family, but if not for that, there was something else to him. There was only one way to find out:

"So, care to tell me what's in that box?" Ted asked, clearly referring to the copy paper box Alan was holding with utmost care.

"Just robotics supplies," he quietly replied while avoiding eye contact. Before Alan could scurry off, Ted called out:

"How much juice is in there?" This got Alan's attention.

"How do you know about that?"

"Just because you're the good kid doesn't mean you can get away with everything. It's a miracle that you haven't been caught yet."

"Well, thanks for the conversation, but I really need to leave now." Alan didn't like being called out, especially as it meant that he wasn't as subtle as he thought.

"Say, how much today?" Ted continued after briefly smiling to indicate he meant no harm.

"Thirty bucks. My dealer's jacked up the prices."

"Hmm, you drive a hard bargain. I'll take three," Ted responded. He pulled out a wad of bills from some inside jacket pocket and gave Alan a few, and Alan opened his box, angling the lid toward Ted so he couldn't take a peek inside, and gave them to him. Alan looked so cowardly, Ted thought, acting like a schoolkid. What inspired him to suddenly get into illicit business, even as one of the de facto "good people" on campus? He talked like a wannabe Pablo Escobar now, but he'd get shot in a dark alley before he got that far. Or realistically, roughed up on his way home when someone else wanted to move in. God help him then. Ted took out the vials from his pocket for another look, rolling them around in his hand and watching the green liquid splash. He could sell these for $50 each.

Alan had settled comfortably into his new occupation as salesman. Sales pitches were made whenever teachers turned their backs or whenever he met new friends at the urinals. First-time buyers were given a free first serving, but Alan knew perfectly well they would come back for more.

"Think of it as thrift, as a gift, if you get my drift," Alan said to Louis genially before he could say no. Alan could not believe that he had so seamlessly pierced the veil and entered the cool kids' club. As a kid, he had watched many cop shows with undercover schemes; espionage tickled his fancy, and maybe if he were lucky, like James Bond he'd pick up some benefits along the way. In these fantasies, Frank was the elusive head of MI6, who while always stern would sometimes drop the act and congratulate him on a job well-done. Everyone actually in the club, even Juliet, was off-limits, of course, but beyond that Alan thought he would let the chips fall where they pleased. Madeline was unavailable, as she stopped talking to Alan long ago, right around the start of sophomore year in fact. She was always shy.

Thursdays were the one day of the week when Frank's TA period came after lunch, and they were also long; Mrs.Huang saw these days as her opportunity to give Frank and Juliet clippedinstructions, leave the room, and let them catch a breath, relax a little, andshoot the breeze. It wasn't her fault that she so frequently had staff meetings during her free period, from which she would often return with cake for someone's birthday or a stack of readings she immediately told Frank to summarize for her. Today, as Frank and Juliet discovered, Mrs. Huang had skipped the intermediate step and simply decided to not show up at all. Frank cast a sharp shadow against the wall as he stood there pondering his options—it was not unlike Mrs. Huang to be a bit tardy, but never this late, and she would only assume the worst if she came to see them absent. He moved into the shade of a massive air-conditioning unit, where Juliet had already sat down, and together they stared at Mrs. Huang's door, which appeared a perfect mirror.