Serena Tsukino took a long drag from the last of her cigarette, and then flicked the glowing orange nub out of the car window while blowing puffs into the chilly night air. She had looked at the miniscule clock over her radio that read 10:18. She sighed to herself, she really needed to be at her apartment right now, making good use of the extra time she had to study because she didn't have to work at The Black Moon nightclub tonight. Her 2nd semester final for her Advanced Music Theory class was next Monday; and she was SO not ready. However, her friend Emerald had insisted that she come over right away. Not wanting to argue with the irrational woman, she obliged, still knowing that whatever Emerald wanted Serena for was probably for her to do her a favor, or get her out of a sticky situation that she seemed to always be in. Serena did hate it sometimes that all Emerald did was use her, but she was the one of the only people in Serena's life who could put up with her constant negativity, besides her parents.
A crease forming in her forehead, she thought bitterly about how she and Emerald had become acquainted. In high school, Serena was known for her singing abilities, her peers and teachers, upon hearing her sing, had told her she sounded like an angel, and encouraged her to make the most of her gift. Serena did love to sing, and decided to pursue her musical talents, and become a voice coach and music teacher for aspiring musicians. Because of her talent, she had received a scholarship to New York University. She moved to New York as soon as she graduated and settled down into an apartment. Looking for a decent job, she met Emerald. They both applied for the position as bartender at the Black Moon nightclub. They brought their applications in on the same day, and had a small conversation about how long each of them had been in the city, what their plans were for the future, and somewhere in the conversation, they exchanged phone numbers. They had been "friends" ever since.
She sighed as she pulled into the apartment complex's lot. Serena slowly stepped out of her red mustang, she was careful not to ever move quickly, grace was definitely not one of her strong points. She closed the door as she yawned, it was only then that she saw Emerald's boyfriend, Diamond's car parked in a spot a few cars down.
"Ugh…" Serena said to herself as she glared at the white Subaru. Diamond was the last person she wanted to see right now, she couldn't stand that man. Emerald and Diamond had been "dating" for close to three months now, but it was obvious to everyone that this was a very one sided relationship. Serena had almost tried to tell Emerald before that all Diamond wanted from her was sex, but simply let it go. Emerald was old enough to make her own decisions. Serena felt her face flush pink with anger as she thought about how Diamond, on several occasions had tried to feel her up, or succeeded in doing so, not caring who was around or how it made Emerald or Serena feel.
"That bastard..." Serena said quietly to herself, throwing her purse over her shoulder and ringing the doorbell.
"COMING!!" she heard a high pitched voice scream, entirely too loud, Serena stood in the cold, wondering why she was wasting her time.
The door opened, revealing a tall, slender, green haired woman. Emerald was wearing a satin, long sleeved green dress and black tights with green slippers. Serena looked at the woman's outfit and frowned to herself, she looked like she was preparing to go to a party.
"Are you checking me out?" Emerald asked with a stupid smirk on her face, and then she let out one of her high pitched cackles that grated on Serena's nerves. She shook her head in disgust as she ducked underneath Emerald's left arm to enter the warm room out of the cold.
"If you had told me we were going clubbing, I would have brought my stilettos and fishnets." Serena said sarcastically, looking down at her black sweats, Asics, and NYU hoodie. "Well it looks like someone woke up on the wrong side of the bed this morning, what the hell is your problem?" Emerald asked, closing the door and putting her hands on two very curvy hips. Serena sighed and walked across the room towards the couch.
"I woke up on the wrong side of life, Emerald. Now what was it that you needed?" Serena said as she plopped down on Emerald's cozy leather sofa, if she was going to be stuck here, she figured that she may as well be comfortable.
"I kinda need your help again Serena…" Serena put a hand on her cheek, "What is it that you need this time Emerald?"
"Well," she started out, twirling a lock of wavy green hair around her pale finger.
"I need to borrow some money, for just a little while; I promise I can pay you back! Eventually…" Emerald gave Serena a huge fake smile and walked across the room to sit with her on the couch. Serena just looked at Emerald, a blank stare plastered across her pretty features. Emerald had asked Serena for many things over the course of their so-called "friendship", but never money. Hell, she didn't have to, Serena knew that Emerald's family was loaded, she had always had everything she needed exactly when she needed it. All she had to do was call up her daddy dearest, throw in a few "pleases" and tears, and she could be set for a good 6 months.
Emerald snapped her fingers to get Serena out of her trance, "Hello? Serena?" Emerald said.
"Wait a damned second." Serena snapped at her, getting off the couch to look down at her face.
"Why the hell don't you have any money Emerald?"
"I do have some money, but just not enough to live on for this month. You see Serena, I kind of blew most of my money that my dad gave me, on other things." Emerald said, looking away from Serena's unforgiving glare. Serena pondered what she had just said for a moment,
"What kinds of things did you spend all of his money on Emerald?" she said, trying to understand the situation.
"Well, you could call it necessities; I need these things, so it is justifiable to purchase them, no matter what the cost." Emerald looked at Serena with a strange face. Serena stepped back, thinking.
Just as she was about to ask another question, she heard muffled footsteps coming from the hallway, and to her dismay, Diamond was sauntering into the room wearing nothing but his boxer briefs and socks. She took one look at him and groaned. He was grinning from ear to ear, and his eyes were drooping sleepily. His overgrown white hair hung down over his eyes in a tangled mess. He was drunk.
"Hey baby," he said walking across the room towards Serena. "I haven't seen your fine ass in a while, where ya been hiding?" he whispered into her ear, placing his hands on the small of her back. He reeked of B.O and cheap whiskey, and she did NOT want him touching her like that. Serena was completely disgusted; she smacked his hands away, grabbing Emerald's arm and dragging her into her kitchen.
"Look Emerald, if you want me to even remotely consider helping you out, you're going to have to tell me what is going on, I don't know how you got into this mess. You haven't ever just ran out of money before, and if you did, you could always call your dad and he would send you more. Why can't you call him this time?" Serena was getting agitated.
"I did call him, but he wasn't happy with what I spent his money on, so he-" Serena cut her off. "What the hell did you spend the money on Emerald?"
Emerald looked at Serena nervously.
"This."
Emerald reached into her purse, pulling out what looked like white rocks in a plastic bag. Serena stared at the lumpy object in her hand, wondering what the hell Emerald had bought. Serena looked closer, and it hit her like a ton of bricks.
"EMERALD! What the FUCK is this?" Serena exclaimed, grabbing the bag of rocks, knowing all too well what it was, but she needed to hear her say it.
"Serena, you're acting like my dad! Calm yourself down. That is crack cocaine my friend, and these ones right here," she pulled four more bags of the same size from her purse. Serena gasped and held onto the countertop for some support.
"Are the ones I am going to sell," placing the four bags on the counter,
"And these here are for me, you, Diamond, Rubeus, Sapphire, Catzi, Avery, Bertie, and Prizma. You can smoke it with us because you'll help me out with the money for a while right?"
Emerald was smiling as she held the crack cocaine rocks in front of her face, and Serena was going completely crazy inside the head. She stared at Emerald as she continued to tell her ideas of becoming a drug dealer.
"I decided I wanted to try drug dealing because I dropped out of college, and it would be an easy way to make a living for myself, especially here in New York." she said with that same stupid smile on her face.
Serena felt dizzy, this was a nightmare. Here she was, trying to make it through college in New York City, completely alone, with no one to turn to for support, and now the one person in her life who unknowingly had the power to make her or break her, was dangling crack in front of her face asking her to smoke it with her and her buddies.
"Serena?" Emerald asked quietly, noticing how pale she had turned all of a sudden. Serena's knuckles had turned white from gripping the life out of the counter, she was shaking. Serena had been angry before, oh yes, she had been angry many times, but this time was different. She looked up slowly, her sky blue eyes filled with rage.
"I don't know why I wasted so much time with trash like you Emerald." She said blatantly, pointing a slender finger at the woman's face. Emerald stepped back, angered.
"What the hell Serena, I thought you would love this, I mean, all you ever do is study, you could use a break!" Emerald reached out to touch Serena's arm and she jerked away from her.
"Hell yeah I could use a break; from you." Serena said to her, backing away. Emerald gasped and started backing away from Serena as well.
"Don't you ever touch me again Emerald, do you understand? We are most certainly not friends now, and I don't think we were to begin with; you have always been so selfish. I feel stupid for putting up with your bullshit for the past two years of my life, and now we are through!"
Emerald was staring at Serena, mouth agape on the other side of the kitchen. Serena bolted through her kitchen door and into the living room to grab her keys, and then made her way outside. She was so heated by her anger; she didn't even feel the night air beating on her cheeks.
She climbed into her car, still shaking from rage, and drove off into the darkness.
*What do you guys think about the first chapter? What should I change? This is my very first FanFic so please be kind, please review. -MogoGiggler