High School Has Its Perks

"I haven't heard from Bryan in a while" Leena said. They met up by Ross' locker on Monday morning. "I thought we were going to hang out on Sunday? I had my hopes on going to McDanks"

"I don't know" Ross said. "He dropped me off Saturday and I haven't heard from him since..."

"Oh, how's your dad?" Sean asked Ross. "My uncle said he saw him yesterday"

"Yeah" Ross smiled. "He's staying for the year" Leena hugged Sean. "I'm happy" Leena turned to Joe.

"Maybe we needed the weekend off" Joe said. "I mean we all had a relaxing weekend, right?"

"I learned that gin is not the same as poker" Sean said.

"And I learned that secrets don't make friends" Leena said. Joe sighed.

"We need to have an emergency bro's night tonight" Joe said.

"Why?" Ross asked. "Is something wrong?" he turned to Leena.

"We'll discuss this--" Bryan interupted them with his presence. "Oh Bry!" Bryan sighed.

"I have bad news"

"Uhh" Ross pointed to Joe then pointed to Bryan. "First of all, Joe what's your emergency, Bryan whats your deal and why don't you have your stuff"

"I was...arrested last night"

"WHAT!" Leena exclaimed. "We were with you most of the night, if you are accused of something, you have an alibi" she said.

"They found drugs in my locker" Bryan said softly. "Someone put it there, I certainly wouldn't bring drugs to school nor would I leave it in my locker all weekend, nor would it be meth..."

"METH!" Ross exclaimed. Bryan covered his mouth.

"They think it's mine but I know, and you all know that I'd never do that kind of shit" Bryan moved Ross' hand from his mouth. "So be prepared"

"So what are you doing here?" Joe asked.

"I'm technically expelled" Bryan said. "But if you can all vouch for me and we can find out who did this then..." he sighed. "I'm going to lose my scholarship to Umass"

"You got a scholarship?" Bryan nodded. He tried to hold back the tears. Leena hugged him.

"We're going to get to the bottom of this" Ross said. "Ok, first suspects...the freshman" the five looked down the hall to the freshman section of the hallway.

"How can freshman get meth and break into a school?" Bryan asked. "We were here until 5 on Friday for football. I checked my locker there was no evidence of anything" he said. "Nothing looked out of place"

"The freshman are evil, but they're not sneaky" Ross said. "It's someone who's smart, devious, and holds grudges...who hates you?"

"Besides the freshman?" Bryan asked. "Everyone...we're seniors, who doesn't hate us?"

"Good point...ok, what are you doing now?"

"I'm going to get my shit and then I'm going to the office to prove my innocence" Joe patted Bryan's shoulder. "Bro's night tonight?"

"Yeah, at Joe's" Ross said. Bryan sighed.

"I'll see you guys tonight then...that's if my mom doesn't think I'm insane and on drugs"

"Your mom is logical" Leena said. "She'll know you're not on meth of all things"

...

Karo walked right up to Stephen that morning. "Stephen, I can't do this anymore" she says. "i like doing it. I'm making big money, I've made new friends" she said. "But I just can't do this anymore"

Stephen smirked. Why do all guys have that smirk. That coy little smile that all arrogant narcissistic good looking guys have. "Fine" he said simply. "Just watch your back"

"I will" she walked away.

...

Ross skipped class at the end of the day to see Sam. He knew she had study hall. He pulled a seat over to her table and asked her friends politely to leave.

"Hey" he started.

"Hey" she said softly.

"I'm sorry" he said. "I shouldn't have said no"

"You don't have to be sorry" her voice was quiet. "You don't have to go out with me if you don't want to..."

"Well I want to" he said. "It's just...been a while since I've dated anyone so I'm nervous to start a new relationship" he said.

"...ok..."

"So would you like to go out...Friday night?" he asked. "We could go to dinner and a movie...movie first then dinner" he said. "What good movies are out?" Sam shrugged. "Oh I guess I should ask if you're ok with this..."

Sam hesitated. "Yeah" she said. She smiled a little, it was faint but it was a smile. "Yeah, that'll be fun"

"Sweet" he stood up.

...

Karo saw Leena as she was leaving the school that afternoon. Brook was with her. They were talking about something that was clearly upsetting for Leena. Karo walked over to them.

"I need to talk to you" she said.

"Did you quit dealing?" she asked. Karo nodded. "Ok, you have my attention. I've heard a lot of shitty things today, I can handle something else..."

"I'm the one who put the drugs in Bryan's locker"

"WHAT!" Leena exclaimed. Brook saw it in Leena's eyes, she was going to attack Karo. Brook stood inbetween them.

"Hold up, what the fuck are you saying?" Brook asked.

"I did it" Karo said. "I'm going to go to the principal, I'll clear it all up" Leena pushed Brook out of the way and slapped Karo across the face.

"Fuck you" Leena left the school. Brook shook her head.

"I can't believe you would do this" she said. Brook walked away, leaving Karo to cry alone.

...

The gang met up at Joe's house that night but they didn't know how to start talking. Who would go first? there was so many things to talk about.

"Ok on the count of three let's just shout out what's bothering us" Ross said. "One...two...three..."

At once, they all shouted.

"I'M GOING TO LOSE MY SCHOLARSHIP!"

"I KNOW SOMETHING I SHOULDN'T"

"I HAVE A DRINKING PROBLEM"

"I DON'T KNOW HOW TO PLAY POKER"

"I HAVE A TUMOR"

"What?" They turned to Joe. Joe covered his face. They looked at Joe and then at each other, not really knowing how to feel or react.