Chapter One: Here Comes A Regular

One hand gliding down the back of his head and the other dipping a fry into the small cup of ketchup, Sean Cameron was more than frustrated. He'd been living on his own for less than four months and already he was knee deep in debut and two steps away from being evicted.

"I can't get anymore hours at work, I already work overtime." He said while biting into the fry to his best friend across the park bench table.

"What did princess say about this?" Jay asked reaching for another sip of his drink.

"You mean Emma? I haven't told her." Sean squinted his eyes down to limit the sun and shook his head. "She'd start worrying and i'd never hear the end of it. She'd probably ask Snake and Spike for money and the last thing I want to do is be in even more debut."

Jay was speechless, seeing as theft was out of the question they'd vetoed that after high school, he couldn't think of any options that Sean would go for.

"I'd do anything at this point. Anything." For the first time during their whole lunch break, Sean made eye contact with Jay and Jay actually had an idea. It wasn't a brilliant idea, but it was one way.

"In that case, Cameron, I might know how you can make some good cash fast."

"How?"

"Well, my sister sort of runs a business -"

Shaking his head from side to side, letting his mane sashshay, Sean cut Jay off.

"Wait, you have a sister?"

"Yeah, a younger one."

"Since when?" This was the first Sean had ever heard of her.

"Since my mom got knocked up by some guy she worked with at a Safeway back in Montreal."

"You never talk about her."

"Not a lot to talk about, anyways do you need the money or not?" With a harsh snap in his voice, Jay questioned.

"Yeah, yeah, I do."

"I'll take you there after work." Leaning back and setting his back straight, Jay nodded along while finishing his lunch.

The apartment building Jay walked Sean through smelt like stale beer and lysol. The walls were tattered with peeling rosebud wallpaper and traces of mold beneath it. The carpet was covered in stains and their footprints seemed to stay imprinted in it. It was noisy and you could see the dirt traveling through the air. Sean didn't even know what was in store but, he was already feeling uneasy. They were on the scruffiest and most frowned upon part of town but Jay couldn't look more comfortable.

"Just be cool, alright?" He slapped Sean on the back, playfully. "She's my sister but she can be a bitch."

"Like most of the girls in your life." Sean muttered, tyring to lighten the mood, mostly for himself.

Jay only narrowed his blue eyes down at Sean and shot him a look. He stopped them in front of a red painted door. All the rest of the doors were a bland shade of beige but not this one. The paint job was horrible, thick and streaky. It looked as if somebody had taken a bucket of dark red paint and just thrown it over the door. It reminded Sean of intense bleeding. Jay waited a few seconds after knocking on the door and then pounded his fist against it even harder.

"Open up!" He hollered with a highly hasty tone of voice. Sean would never open the door for someone talking to him like that. "Open up!" He kept pouding.

As if on cue, the door slightly opened, a small chain lock keeping it from completely fanning open. A girl much smaller than them with dark round rosebud chocolate's for eyes and a small white gypsy dress on.

"Hey Shelby, you going to let us in?" Jay stared down at the girl, casting his threatening silhouette over her.

"You know, I got to be careful." She closed the door while speaking and they could hear fiddling on the other side of what they asumed was the girl unlocking the door. "Come on in." She swirled spit or gum or something unknown around in her mouth, looking through out the hall while letting the two boys in. She shut the door in a rush and then locked it closed.

Her apartment didn't smell any better than the hallway outside. Only, Sean could detect a strong odur of weed and cheap insense burning. The Replacement's were spinning on the turntable on the floor of the living room. Their were two lawn chairs sitting in the room adjacent from the fifteen inch television with bent antennas and a crack in the screen and a beat up used couch that had spent years in a thrift store before Jay pulled it over here. Their was a small kitchen nook but nothing seemed to be in the sink but, the stove had a pan laying over top of it with what appeared to be fresh oatmeal cookies, which Jay had already helped himself, too.

"What choo' doing here, Jason?" The girl had a thick downtown accent and even though she was small, she had an attitude bigger than Jay and Sean combined. She jetted out her pelvis to the side, the way Daphne from Scooby Doo did and held her side. She was still smacking her mouth around and her free hand smacked Jay's and he immeaditly dropped the cookie back onto the pan.

"Just wanted to see my little sis." He taunted her with his facial expression that had a smile stretched across his face while he patted her cheeks. "Is that a crime?"

"And who's this?" She slid her eyes up and down Sean but, he could she was overlooking him not looking him over. Sean noted that Jay and Shelby didn't look a thing alike. Jay was tall with light brown hair and a thin bone structure, also no accent to be heard. Where Shelby had dark features, a downtown French accent to her voice and she had a little meat on her.

"Don't you check your messages, Shelby?" Jay opened his sister's fridge only to find a carton of month old milk, a large bag of weed, and a few opened cans of Spaghetti O's. "Or go grocery shopping?" He slammed it shut.

"I don't have a lot of time, Jay. Don't waste it." She still stared down Sean, and though he was inches taller than she was, he was a little worried.

"I'm Sean." He introduced himself, extending out his right hand for her to shake.

"I didn't ask your name, kid. I asked who you are."

Biting his lower lip, Sean felt more and more that this was a bad idea and that no matter what it was Jay had in mind, it wasn't the way for him to make money.

"Forget about that, Shelby." Jay latched his arm around her shoulder, his other hand feeling around for a cookie off the pan. "Sean needs a job, well, he needs money. I thought you were the girl who could help him out."

"I'm not a gigalo." Timidly, Sean's eyes were as wide as saucers.

"Shut up, I'm not asking you to sleep with my sister." Jay shook his head and almost shouted.

"And I wouldn't pay you, too." Shelby sounded very insulted.

"Look," Trying to carry on with things, Jay continued. "Can you help him or not, Shelby?"

She pulled herself out of her older brother's arm and on her tip toes, she reached up to her freezer. She slid her arm all the way to the back and retrieved a few rolled up dollar bills that were tied together by an thick elastic band.

"I can only lend you, like..." She thumbed through the cash, counting it in her head. "I don't know, fifty?" She slid her eyes up to check Sean's.

"No, Shelby, I mean, can you give him a job?"

"I don't know Jay." She tied the money back up and placed it carefully in the freezer again. "What do I know about this kid?"

"What do you know about anybody who comes through here, hey?" Jay shrugged, trying to sell the idea to Shelby. "He's a good guy, he knows his stuff, he wouldn't rat you out."

"Kid," She nodded at Sean.

"It's Sean." He reminded her.

"I know." She frowed her brows down. "What do you know about Charlie?"

"Who?" Sean was completely dumbfounded.

"Sorry, I can't help you." She walked out of the kitchen nook on her way to let them out.

"Hold on," Jay lunged foreword and held her arm. "Give him a fair break."

She paused for a moment, thinking about it, and overlooking Sean once more.

"Charlie." She repeated. "Like, angel dust, powder..." She tried to help him out. She was cryptic in the most obvious way. Sean shifted his eyes back and fourth, trying to figure out this new riddle. He noticed the needle by pan of cookies and rubber band next to it. Like a spy, Shelby followed his eyes.

"Shit, who left this out?" She stormed over there and grabbed the needle and rubber band.

"Are you shooting up again?!" Jay was enraged. "Shelby, what the hell is the matter with you?"

It all became as clear as crystals to Sean now.

"Whoa, you're a drug dealer?!" His whole face looked like it was going to explode. He couldn't believe that Jay would be as cavalier as to drive him out to a drug dealer's house let alone try to get him a job as one.

"Why don't you just call the pigs right now?" Shelby stepped only centimeters away from Sean's face that he thought she was going to hold her palm over his mouth. "And I'm not a drug dealer." She shook her head.

"Are you shooting junk again?" Jay was still pressing on.

"Shut up!" Sean and Shelby said almost at the same time. "Whatever it is you're doing here, Shelby, i'm not interested."

"That's okay." She backed off a little and for the first time, a bit of a smile appeared on her round face. "You seem like a good kid, I hope you can eventually rub off on my big jerk of a brother here." She winked at Jay. "It's cool if you don't want to traffic coke but, let me at least give you something."

All three of them walke dout of the kitchen nook and standing in the frame between the kitchen and the living room, Sean and Jay watched as Shelby got down on her stomach on the floor and reached underneath the TV stand. They could her her hand slapping the bottom of the wood.

"Here we go." Shr grunted. Her palm rolled into a fist, she got back on her feet and wandered over to them. She pulled up Sean's hand and opened hers over top of it. "You're going through a rough time, I get it, and if you need help, this is all I can do for you." That being said she let go.

"Oh, I don't need this." Sean looked down at the small bag of coke, it wasn't even a gram.

"That's what they all say." Shelby smiled. "Now, scat before I take it back." She walked the two boys to the door and before completely shutting it on them, she reached up and embraced her brother. He planted a quick kiss on the top of her head.

"Visit more, okay?" She asked him. Jay didn't say a word back, just nodded along.

"Bye." She waved and then quickly slammed the door.

"What is the matter with you?!" Sitting at his kitchen table, having a beer, Sean slammed his palm back down on the table.

"Are we still on this?" Jay sipped his beer back.

"Why would you even think i'd be interested? I'm trying to clean up my act, you know that!"

"You said you needed cash, you wanted my help. I helped my sister when she was trafficing weed, she's the most efficent clean dealer. You'd never get in trouble. Plus, three hundred a job, I thought you'd be kissing my shoes."

"Three hundred a job?!" Sean was started to re-think his desicion.

"Sean." Emma called out as she let herself into his apartment with the key he'd given to her.

"Just think about it." Jay quickly finished his drink and then got up from the table. He and Emma met in the frame of the kitchen and the doorway. "Have a good night, Nelson." He scoffed at her before letting himself out.

"I still don't know why you bother with him." She shook her head, her blonde locks tossing about neatly. She stood up straight for a kiss, the whole time, Sean was thinking about: Charlie.

Chapter Two's on it's way.

Let me know what you think, please, please.