With her dread locks high on her head, held together by an elastic band, Lidia Orton threw her head back in laughter as she entered her English class with her best friend Mags following behind her.
"Miss Orton, can we keep the noise level down please? You and Miss. Lunquist are twenty minutes late for class. I assume you have late slips?" Reaching into their back pockets, they both pulled out a piece of yellow paper, quickly showing it to their teacher. Lidia and Mags sat in their seats with immediate boredrum quickly taking over their tired bodies.
Scribbling on a piece of paper, Lidia laughed to herself slightly as she noticed the nurmerous spelling mistakes on it. "Mags!" She whispered, kicking the seat in front of her. The bright red head turned around, her curls flying in every direction. "I'm so baked," Lidia managed to unsuccessfully whisper as the class turned their attention to her. Mags snorted a laugh before she burst out into a fit of giggles, causing the English teacher to stop the lesson.
"Ladies, I'm going to have to ask you to leave the class room. You're distrupting the class far too much and are in no condition to cooperate. Please report to the office immediately." The two teeanged girls stood up and left the class room as quietly as they entered it.
When they made their way to the cafateria, Mags made sure they stopped at the vending machine for snacks. They were't surprised when they saw Pat (Mags boyfriend), Russ and Jack all in the caf as well, sitting at a round table playing cards.
"That didn't take long," Pat mumbled as Mags burried her head into the crook of his neck. He delt out the cards, dealing in Lidia who was staring down at her hands, laughing.
"Uh, Lids?" Jack asked worried. "You OK?"
Lidia opened her mouth to say something, only to have a squeel come out in an unnatural pitch. She laid her head down on the table as her body shook with laughter. The three guys all looked at each other worridly as Russ began to put the cards away. Mags stayed on Pat's lap as her eyes began to close, signaling her buzz was coming down.
"These girls are out of it," Pat mumbled as he carried Mags out of the caf, her legs flung over his left forearm while his other arm supported her back.
Jack picked up Lidia, throwing his long time friend over his shoulder. By now she was asleep as well and deeply out of it. His stomach sank as he realized how bad the drug addiction for Lidia has gotton worse since her older brother, Randy, left for the Marines. While smoking pot was once just a weekend thing, it quickly turned into a once a day thing, and on some days more. There would be times when she would call up the town dealer for something stronger; he could tell today was one of those days.
"What do you think it is?" Russ asked Jack as they gently laid Lidia down in the tailgate part of Pat's truck. "How fucked is she?"
Jack reached into her front pocket, quickly finding the plastic bag that contained the ilegal substance of the day. "Is there coke in that?" Pat asked, walking to where Russ and Jack was. Jack tossed the bag to Pat who looked at it in disgust. "She'll never learn. We can't let her keep fucking up like this," he told his friends.
Russ shrugged his shoulders. "But who is she going to listen to? Mags won't tell her no because she does the stuff with her. She doesn't listen to us, she could care less about her parent's and Randy is off in the Marines. Who is she going to listen to?" Jack and Pat ran a hand through the hair, not knowing how to answer his question.
Jack climbed into the back of the truck, carefully laying Lidia's head on his lap; his best friend of so long was slowly killing herself and she doesn't even realize it. The Pink Floyd shirt that would usually cling so tightly to her was now looking like a drape due to weight loss, the jeans that would look sewn on to her legs hung off like a rappers. When she first got those jeans, they fit fine just underneth her navel, but now they were being held up by a spikey belt so they wouldn't fall any lower than her hips. Her dread locks that she used to take such good care off were now looking messier and messier as each day passed with sporadic pieces of hair sticking out of the dreads.
"God Lids," Jack mumbled, his nails gently scraping across her forehead. "What happend to you?" Lidia moaned as she shifted her body so her head was now laying on his stomach with a hand touching his face.
"Jackie..." she moaned, her fingers tracing his jaw. "Are you taking me home?"
"Yes Lidia," he answered, taking her hand away from his face. "We're taking you home."
"Is Randy back yet?" Jack cringed. She always asks that question when she is out of it.
"No, Lids. No he isn't." Shortly after he answered her questions, Lidia's pupils became completely dialated as her eyes rolled slowly to the back of her head. Beads of sweat began to fall from her forehead as her breathing became more rapid and irregular. "Lidia...don't do this..." Jack mumbled as he tried to sit her up. Her limp body fell forward to the side due to her coma like state, which could only mean one thing: drug overdose.
"Pat!" Jack banged on the window with his elbow, trying to get his friends attention. "We need to go to the hospital! Now!"
Russ opened the window, staring at Jack confused. "Why the hospital?"
Jack held Lidia as he stared down at her arms, seeing track marks. "I think she OD'd."
