Erin McFadden was the envy of all her friends. She lived in that big house and always had the nicest clothes. Of course everyone knew her parents had worked very hard for everything they had. Her mother was a stay at home mom by the time she was eleven but before that she had worked hard as a wedding planner. Her father, Oran, was a self made man. He helped fund some businesses in the area and pretty soon he started making a profit.
Her brother Gunther was the class clown. He was smart as hell but you wouldn't guess it at first. He always wore a raccoon skin hat no matter the weather. He was only thirteen but he was already a lady killer despite the hat.
Most of the time both of them were good children and rarely got into trouble.
Growing up had been a bit unusual for the kids. Erin had grown up with her Grandmother, her uncles, and cousin Casper along with her mother, father, and brother. It wasn't until she started going to school that she realized having ghost in the house wasn't normal. Of course she kept her mouth pretty well closed about it. Gunther pretty much followed in her footsteps. Sometimes he would mention it to a friend but everyone took it as a joke.
She was thinking over everything in her life while she laid on her friend Kel's bed. Kel was a good friend of hers from school. They'd been friends for years. She was going through a box of cds looking for something interesting to listen to. They were supposed to be doing homework but Erin didn't see any harm in having some fun first.
"So is Gunther seeing anyone?" Kel asked.
"Not that I know of," Erin said raising an eyebrow. "Why?"
"Just wondering," Kel said picking a cd. "He is kind of cute."
"You are so weird," she said rolling her eyes. "I don't think you are his type. He likes silly girls."
Kel put the cd in and hit play. A soft rock beat filled the room. She opened the window and pulled a bag out from her dresser. She sat down on the bed and pulled out a glass item and sat it down on the bed.
"What's that?" Erin asked turning her attention to Kel.
The glass item looked like a pipe. Some times her father smoked pipe tobacco.
"Pot pipe," Kel said filling a hole in the pipe with something.
"Pot!" Erin cried. "You're smoking Pot?"
"Calm down," her friend said. "It's just pot."
"I'm getting out of her," she said getting off the bed. "If my dad finds out I was here while you smoking pot he'll kill me."
"Chill out," she said taking a hit. "He'll never find out."
Erin couldn't help but be curious as she watched Kel. She sat back down on the bed. She seemed to be enjoying it as she smoked. Soon she was smiling and her eyes were half shut. She gave a little cough. She held it up to Erin.
"No," she said shaking her head. "It wouldn't be a good idea. If my dad..."
"You're a teenager," Kel said. "You have the right to act out once in a while."
"I suppose," Erin said taking the pipe.
With a little instruction from Kel she managed to take a hit. Her lung felt like they were on fire and she began to cough. Once she got her couching under control she took another hit. That time it wasn't nearly as bad. It actually felt kind of good.
"How is it?" Kel asked.
"Not to bad," the other girl said taking another hit. "I feel pretty...pretty...what is the word?"
Kel didn't get a chance to try and finish her sentence. Erin broke out into laughter and fall back onto the pillow. Kel smirked watched her. It was always fun to watch someone get high for the first time. Erin rolled to the edge of the bed. She tried to get to her feet but she slipped off the bed and onto the floor.
"Are you OK?" Kel asked.
"Am I?" Erin asked before she started laughing again.
–
Stretch got used to his role as a father many years ago but he was still surprised by his children every day. Erin was a good girl and didn't surprise him very often. Gunther on the other hand was full of surprises. Nothing bad of course.
He walked into the kitchen and gasp.
Gunther was sitting at the table with several measuring cups. There was a sugar everywhere. Every cup was full of sugar and there was sugar all over the floor.
"What are you doing?" Stretch asked. "Your mother and grandmother are going to be angry if they see this."
"I'm working on something," Gunther explained.
"Care to explain it?" Stretch asked sitting down at the table.
"I'm trying to find out how many cups of sugar it would take to get to the moon," his son explained.
"Why?" his father asked.
"Fun of it," he explained.
"Clean this mess up," he said getting up from the table. "Now."
Stretch shook his head as he watched his younger child try to clean up with the mess. He left the room still shaking his head. He had no idea where he went wrong with that boy.
He was on his way to his office when he heard the front door open and closed. He hoped that it was Erin. She was late coming home from Kel's. He wasn't worried. He knew the two girls had fun and often lost track of time. He headed down stairs to meet her.
"Erin," he said as he walked into the entrance hall.
"Dad," she said giving him a hug. "How are you?"
"Fine," he said laughing slightly.
Erin was always a little too uptight. He had never seen her so relaxed. It should have sent off a alarm in his brain but it didn't.
"I had a great time with Kel," Erin explained. "I'm going back over there this weekend."
Stretch smiled. His daughter didn't have many friends and he was happy to see her making friends. He kissed the top of her head before heading off to his office.
Erin smirked walking to her room. She had never felt so good. Kel was right. The pot made her feel like a new person. She hadn't got around to her homework though. She had some math due the next day and she knew she would be in trouble if she didn't get it done. She was always at the top of her class and didn't want to mess up her grade.
She went up to her and opened her backpack. She dumped out her books onto the bed. She sat down and tried to focus on the word problems in front of her. She couldn't focus. The numbers looked like a foreign language to her. She was still some what high. She closed the notebook.
She got up and walked over to her dresser. She opened her jewelry box and found a pile of money. She'd been saving her money for a couple of weeks. She wanted some new video games. Of course she didn't need them. She didn't even really want them.
She wanted more pot. She wanted to get high again. She was willing to spend her money on it.
She stuffed the money in her backpack. She was see Kel at school and she would see if she could get her more.
The teenager decided that she wasn't going to do her homework. It was rare that she didn't turn in homework. Her teachers would be understand. Her parents didn't check her homework since she always did it. Even if her teacher told her parents they wouldn't be too upset.
She would go down and help her grandmother with dinner. She stuffed her things back into her backpack and headed downstairs.
