But I was seventeen and I didn’t know anything

  Chapter 1 - ‘DON’T BLAME ME’

  I had never seen a drug dealer in real life. The only time I saw them were in the movies. And when they were in the movies they were usually African Americans. Just before you get angry please know that I’m not trying to sound racist or anything - I’m just stating an observation from my own personal experience - OK? If anything, Hollywood in the 80s are the racists, so put the blame on them, NOT ME! But what I’m trying to say is that I had not seen a drug dealer in real life, until my best friend, Sam, made an arrangement to buy weed from some guy. The guy was called Scout and he went to another high school called Hanbridge South High. What you probably should know about Hanbridge South High is that it has a certain reputation in my area. Hanbridge South is known to be affiliated with an infamous gang in our area, ‘F66’. From what I heard, most of the F66 members came out of Hanbridge South. The first time I heard about F66, was midway through year seven, when a rumour was floating around that three boys in year ten were caught selling drugs in the boys’ toilets. Apparently after they were caught they were then expelled from my school, ‘Hanbridge Christian College’ or what everyone calls HCC. After the incident, Sam told me all about the lore of F66. Apparently they were controlling some satanic worshipping drug network. He told me that he heard from other people that at he boys who were caught were part of F66. If I’m honest, I don’t know for sure if he was telling the truth or not. For some reason people at HCC seemed to like spreading rumours for the sake of it. Personally, I prefer to keep my mind off anything to do with illegal activity. So whenever I meet someone that is into that kind of stuff, I try to stay a good distance away from them.

  But you know, there’s that popular saying: ‘you attract what you avoid.’

  So it was probably fate that I would eventually come face to face with the ‘evil world of crime’. So my story begins in the second week of term one, when Sam agreed to meet with Scout, at the Hanbridge train station’s car park. When he first texted me with the idea, I instantly tried to talk him out of it. He didn’t budge. He had been curious for a long time and all his other friends had done it already. But personally, I wanted absolutely nothing to do with this drug deal. But fate would have it another way. On the day of the proposed drug deal, as soon as I sat down in front of the library at our usual recess spot, Sam began to beg me for fifty dollars. He had left his wallet at home on the day. I always happened to carry at least fifty dollars in my wallet, but I was not fond with the idea of handing him over the money.

  ‘It’s not too late bro. You can just call it off’ I said sipping on my apple juice popper.

  ‘I can’t though,’

  I crunched my face.

  ‘Why?’

  He popped his neck forward.

  ‘Jessica…remember?’

  Oh, that’s right - Jessica. Earlier in the week, he had promised, Jessica Warren, a girl that only sat next to him in chemistry class because of assigned seating, that he would buy her and her friends a few joints for their ‘girls only sleepover’. So the thing is, Sam had a huge crush on Jessica since year eight camp and ever since then he would do absolutely anything to get into her good graces. It seemed to me that love makes people do all types of crazy things and perhaps all that lovey dovey fluff goes right over my head but if you ask me, I don’t think love is a good enough reason enough to participate in criminal activity. So I suggested to him ‘Just tell her that the drug dealer ran out of weed or something.’

  He threw himself back like he had been hit by a gut of wind.

  ‘Are you serious? I can’t do that! That would be so embarrassing…’

  ‘Well…Is it worse than meeting up with some sketchy Hanny South drug dealer in a PUBLIC carpark to buy drugs? You know cops patrol that area all the time?’ I warned him.

  ‘Yeah but the cops are only there to catch people jumping over the Opal gates and evict the homeless.

  ‘Only?’ I replied skeptically.

  I couldn’t tell if he was serious or not.

  ‘They're not there to catch people buying drugs’’ Sam said.

  I sighed. It was times like this I remembered that his brain had an off switch.

  ‘Nah bro, I’ve seen sniffer dogs at the station at least three times.’

  ‘Yeah but they never go all the way down to the car park.’

  I stared at him blankly.

  ‘Dude..to be honest.. I think you’re being a little paranoid.’ He said.

  I groaned quietly.

  It’s going to be fine. Is this a money thing? If it is, I can pay you back double. I pinky promise.’ He then proceeded to hold out his pinky.

  I noticed that his fingers were coated with seasoning dust from the packet of chips he was eating earlier.

  ‘Ain’t touching that’ I thought to myself.

  ‘It’s not about the money…I just don’t love the idea of you going out and buying drugs from some rando. I don’t know how to explain it…I just don’t like it.

  ‘I think I get what you’re worried about. You don’t want me to get caught or anything like that. But you don’t have to worry, it’s going to be okay, Decs does it all the time, I’m not even asking you to come with me if that’s what you’re scared about.’

  I sat in silence to think about what he said. Declan was - no offence - one of those shady kids who spent his weekends jumping fences to graffiti trains. In other words he knew how to be discreet. Sam on the other hand was the opposite. Sam had a reputation in our school of leaving the door unlocked when he was taking a poo at school. So him using Declan as an example was not comforting me the way I guess he wanted it to.

  “I’ll just meet up with the guy - hand over the money - pocket the weed - and then head straight to the library for our study sesh’. He said.

  I waved him off.

  ‘Ah. Give me a break.’

  ‘C’mon you know if it were the other way, I would do it for you.’

  I quickly realised he was right. Sam was the type of person that wouldn’t hesitate to say yes whenever I asked him for a favor. So there was a part of me that did feel weirdly obligated to help him out.

  That realisation threw me back into thinking about whether or not I should help him out.

  ‘Come on dude. Please! Don’t make me grovel’ he threatened.

  ‘Thanks but no thanks’.

  ‘I watched a YOOTUBE tutorial on it and everything.

  ‘That’s nice to know, but it’s a no from me.’

  ‘Look I’ll show you now.’

  By the time I looked over to him, he had somehow already dropped to his knees.

  ‘Please stop.’ I requested meekly.

  He smiled back before beginning a slow and measured bow. Surprisingly… he was pretty good at it too.

  Once his forehead reached the ground, he began to speak out in a breathy Japanese accent.

  ‘Lachlan-Sama prease granto my requester’.

  I hate to admit but a puff of air did manage to escape through my nostrils.

  ‘You should stop before the Japanese exchange students catch you.’ I advised.

  He then propped himself up immediately.

  ‘Ha…Good point.’

  Once he was moved back onto the seat he shuffled his ass until he was sat beside me. He then rested his head on my shoulder.

  ‘Prease give me monies Daddee’ he said in a baby voice.

  ‘...Very very tempting - but the answer is still…no.”

  With a random strike of inspiration I advised him:

  “Just ask Declan, he already owes you at least fifty right?’

  Sam went silent.

  ‘Fine’, he murmured.

  ‘You can take your head off my shoulder now’

  ‘No thanks...I like it here’ he replied.

  —------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

  As the day progressed, Sam grew increasingly more anxious about his little illegal meet up after school. During lunch time, as we lined up for six square handball, he attempted to convince me to accompany him to the drug deal. The line sometimes had a queue up to fifteen people. It was a long wait but there was no other choice.

  ‘What if he robs me?’ Sam catastrophised.

  ‘Good.’ I replied flatly.

  ‘What!’ he snapped back.

  ‘I really hope he does. If it's at gun point - even better.’

  At this point, I thought feeding into his anxiety was the only way I could bring him back to his senses.

  ‘That’s not funny. What happens if he shoots me?’

  ‘Damn? this drug deal sounds like it could be pretty risky. Maybe you should reconsider going through with it.’

  He scoffs at my response.

  Yelling then broke out on the handball courts.

  ‘That was DOUBLES!’ Jamie yelled out.

  ‘No, it wasn’t! Are you blind?’ Tim yelled back.

  ‘Just get out!’ Jamie ordered.

  ‘Fine… Fine… replay…replay’ Tim negotiated, rolling his hands forward.

  Jamie crossed his arms. ‘You do this everytime!’

  Stolen from its original source, this story is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

  ‘Don’t be dog!’ Tim yelled back.

  Jamie kept a firm grip of the ball in his hand, continuing to stare Tim down. Eventually, Tim cracked. He dawdled to the end of line, cursing under his breath.

  Once the commotion settled down I turned my attention back to Sam.

  ‘Anyways…it's not too late to call off the deal you know, just text the dealer that you can’t make it and then block his number or something.’

  He stood still for a moment - mouthbreathing.

  ‘Maybe you’re right.’

  I smiled. I felt like the sun had just broken out of the clouds.

  ‘Atta boy-’ I said.

  As I began to pat him on the back, a voice yelled out from behind us:

  ‘Hi Sam!’

  We turned around.

  It was Jessica Warren making her way toward Sam.

  ‘Hi!’ Sam replied with his voice cracking mid-pitch.

  ‘Oh fuck.’ he murmured under his breathe.

  He cleared the phelgm from his throat and tried again.

  ‘Oh hey Jessica!’ he yelled coherently.

  ‘Whatcha doin?’ She asked.

  ‘Just lining up for handball’ he responded.

  Everytime he talked to Jessica he put on this pathetically deep and artificial voice that he keeps denying everytime I call it out.

  ‘Cool Cool Cool. You still good to meet at the Hanny lib after school?’ She asked.

  ‘Yeah!’ Sam said.

  She then signalled him to come in closer to whisper something into his ear.

  ‘Are you still good to get us the P-O-T?’ she asks.

  He whispered back in her ear ‘Yep…we are still good for the P-O-T.’

  She pulls back and flicks up two thumbs up.

  Sam mirrors the gesture.

  ‘Awesome. I’ll pay you back for it too - promise’

  ‘Don’t sweat it, it’s on me’ Sam replied

  ‘Really? Are you sure?’ Jessica questioned.

  ‘Yeah. Why not. In fact…I insist,’ Sam doubled down.

  ‘I mean… If you insist’.

  Amy, one of Jessica’s friends, then ambushed the conversation from behind them.

  ‘Oh my God, Jessica you’re not going to believe what Jason just texted me.’ Amy had one of those speech patterns where words came out like bullets from a machine gun

  ‘Oh my God what did he say?’ Jessica replied

  ‘You’re actually not going to believe it.’

  ‘Just tell me?’

  As Amy tried to start a sentence she began to tear up.

  ‘Oh my god, Bathroom?’ Jessica proposed.

  ‘Oh my god yes, let’s go now!’

  Amy then grabbed Jessica by the hand and began to pull the pair towards the bathroom.

  After taking a few steps. Jessica turned back to look at Sam.

  ‘I’ll text you later okay?’

  ‘Sure thang!’ Sam shouted back.

  He had this residual smile that stayed onto his face until he caught me staring at him blankly.

  ‘What?’ he responded defensively.

  ‘Pathetic...’

  His face then broke into a panicked desperation. ‘Please help me, I still don’t have the money, Declan didn’t have anything on him today,’ he confessed.

  I took a deep breath in and then looked up to the sky. My eyes met the Sun, temporarily blinding me. I then closed my eyes and tucked my chin into my chest. I opened my eyes letting my vision restore.

  ‘Fine…’

  When we brought our attention back to the courts we had realised that Tim somehow managed to sneak in front of us in the line.

  —------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

  After school, we decided to get a quick bite from the corner store across the Hanbridge train station. On the way to grabbing a can of KOKE from the fridge, I had noticed an A3 size poster stuck on the wall. The poster contained four grainy pictures of a young male slipping a MONSTAR energy drink into their pockets. They were wearing a Hanbridge South uniform. There was also an overhead caption that read:

  NO STEALING!

  WE CAN SEE YOU!

  IF YOU STEAL WE WILL CALL POLICE!’

  I called Sam who had just ordered a box of fries.

  ‘What’s up?’ he responded.

  I pointed at the poster.

  ‘Found a photo of your dealer.’

  We laughed.

  Once we got our stuff we went to sit at the store’s outdoor area. A few chippies in the belly and I noticed that Sam’s knee was shaking rapidly. I learnt over time that it was a telltale sign that he was nervous about something.

  ‘So, have you met this drug dealer guy before? Do you know what he looks like?’ I asked as I picked up another fry.

  ‘Nah. Never met him. Just know he goes to Hanny South.’ Sam replied, rapidly scrolling through reels.

  ‘Cannabis. What is it doing to your child's brain?’ I heard play out from Sam’s phone speaker.

  ‘How timely,’ I remarked.

  ‘Huh.. what’s timely?’

  ‘You know - cannabis and what we’re doing now?’ I spelt out for him.

  He took a moment to think and then began to laugh.

  ‘True!’

  "Bit of a coincidence, hey’ I said.

  ‘Yeah,’ Sam replied.

  ‘Do you ever wonder if your phone is listening to you?’ I brought up.

  Without lifting his eyes from the screen he said:

  ‘I don’t have to wonder, I know.’

  ‘What do you mean?’ I replied.

  Sam then stopped scrolling, popped his head up and drew his eyes to the corner of his eye like he was trying to catch a memory.

  ‘So a couple months ago, I was talking with Decs about a super underground rapper from Tazzy called ‘HE-ROW’, right?

  I didn’t know who he was but I kept nodding.

  ‘Then when I got home and was taking a shit on the toilet, I happened to notice a FAZEBOOK ad for his upcoming tour. But the thing is I don’t follow him on anything, I only listen to him on spotify. So I thought that was pretty weird.’

  He then went back to watching INSTANTGRAMS reels.

  ‘Yeah that is weird.’ I affirmed.

  After munching on a fry, a memory surfaced to my mind.

  ‘Actually now that I think about it, there was this one moment a couple weeks ago where my Grans asked me If I knew any good medication for rashes cause she started to get hives and stuff, right?

  ‘Yeah, old people stuff.’ Sam replied.

  ‘So I told her I’ll look into it, but later that night, when I was scrolling on Insta, for some reason I was getting these ads for hayfever tablets, and I was like… that is a bit fricking weird, hey.’

  ‘Yeah, that is fricking weird,’

  ‘You know…my Granps sometimes goes on those long rants at dinner about how the government is listening to us. And usually when he goes on those rants, I‘m just thinking he’s gone senile. But who knows, maybe he’s right.’

  ‘True’ Sam murmured.

  His phone then buzzed.

  ‘Oh shit he’s there now’. Sam blurted out.

  We then both stood up.

  I could then feel my body tense up.

  ‘it’s actually.’ I thought to myself as I watched Sam clear the table.

  —----------------------------------------------------------------

  When we reached the carpark, we spotted a Matte Black MURSAYDEES AMG with yellow racing streaks, parked at the drop off zone.

  Sam texted the number to make sure it was him that was in the AMG before walking up to it.

  Once he had the confirmation, he asked me to come with him.

  I planted my rear on the waiting bench.

  ‘I’ll wait here,’ I told Sam.

  ‘What no…come with…’ Sam asked with a desparate moan.

  ‘Nah, I’m good.’ I replied flatly.

  ‘Please.’

  ‘Nah.’

  He looked over the car and then looked back at me.

  ‘Fine. Whatever’.

  Sam then dropped his schoolbag beside me and made his way toward the car. From the distance I watched him reach the car from the passenger side.

  The next part of the story I wasn’t there for but for what Sam told me it went down like this.

  A very muscular dark skin man with a skull tattooed on his throat stared back at him without smiling.

  ‘Other side kid.’ he said bluntly.

  An involuntary gulp response was triggered.

  ‘Okay’’ he murmured before circling to the other side.

  Once Sam had reached the driver's side, he spotted Scout through the car window rocking his head to some misogynistic rap music.

  ‘Sammy boy?’ he asked with a lisp.

  ‘Yeah, that’s me.’

  ‘Got the cash?’

  Sam reached into his inner blazer pocket and pulled out two twenties, a five-dollar note, and a stack of gold and silver coins that made up the rest. He then proceeded to dump the money onto Scout palm like a cashier at a checkout register.

  Scout just managed to catch the stack of coins falling from underneath him with his other hand.

  He then turned to face his companion with a smirk.

  The tattooed man leaned his elbow on the armrest and then began to stare down Sam with eyes protruding outward as if they were about to explode.

  ‘Yo fuck all these coins! Hand him a hard fifty!’ He barked.

  ‘Uh…I’m so sorry, I actually forgot my fifty dollar note at home today. The- This is all I have on me right now... Will that be okay for this one time?’ Sam pleaded nervously.

  The man’s face then eased as he took in a deep breath.

  ‘Yeah, whatever.’

  Scout then handed the money over to the man before opening the glovebox compartment to pull out a battered box of cigarettes.

  ‘Ere ya go boy,’ Scout said as he handed the box over to Sam.

  Sam immediately pocketed the box into his blazer.

  ‘Thanks, we all sorted?’ Sam asked.

  ‘Yeah we good’.

  They finished off with a quick hand-shake, before Scout drew up the car window. Halfway back to meeting me, he came to a sudden stop. He then looked around the carpark before taking the pack of cigarettes out of his blazer pocket and opening it to look inside.

  ‘Oh no.’ he whispered under his breath.

  He looked back at the AMG and noticed it was still parked at the same spot. After hesitating, he committed himself to walking back to the AMG.

  Once he reached the window, he began to wave at it, until Scout pulled down the window.

  With his eyebrows raised Scout asked ‘What’s up?’

  ‘Sorry…’ Sam began before nervously laughing. He lifts up the cigarette box and then opens the lid.

  ‘There seems to be one joint inside here - but on our texts, I think we agreed on three for the fifty. I can show you the text if-’

  ‘Don’t worry kid.’ the man in the passenger side interrupted.

  ‘We gave you the hard shit. You’ll only need one, trust me.’

  ‘Oh okay. Sam said nervously laughing. ‘Thanks again I guess’.

  ‘Aight dude, see ya next time,’ Scout said before pulling the car window back up.

  Sam then came back to the bench with his shoulders all slumped.

  ‘All good?’ I asked.

  ‘Yeah all good. let’s head…’ He replied.

  As I stood up from the bench, I noticed a girl around our age with pink hair walking past us. She was in casual clothes. From a quick glance I instantly felt as if I knew her from somewhere, but I was having trouble pinpoint it right away. When I looked back she had already slid herself into the backseat of the AMG. Not long after, I watched the car roared out of the carpark with fire flickering from the exhaust.

  ‘Let’s not do this again’ Sam said as we walked up the station steps.

  ‘I don’t know - for some reason - I’m actually starting to get a mad craving for marjuana - maybe we make this a weekly thing - what do you say?’ I teased.

  Sam laughed sarcastically.