Chapter Three: Rapture

DISCLAIMER: I don't own Degrassi but I created Shelby and Denis.

Sean was more than aware of what time it was, ten minutes until he was supposed to meet up with Shelby. He was trying to keep himself busy at work, so he wouldn't have to think about it. Jay stood next to him beneath the old Chevy they had only recently started to work.

"I don't like this, Jay." Sean wiped some fluid on his uniform. "I mean, I don't like lying to Emma and I'm already walking a thin line when it comes to the law."

"Then, don't do it. Stop complaining, you sound like Paige." Jay scoffed. Sean had been babbling about the same thing for the last half hour and all Jay wanted to do was finish re-wiring the breaks to the truck.

"Tell me this," Sean stopped what he was doing and turned to face Jay. "Doesn't it bug you that this is your sister's profession?"

"What?" Jay didn't catch on, he continued on with trying to ply off the old wires.

"You know, dealing, trafficking. Doesn't it put you off?"

"Not really." Jay shrugged. He didn't even bother to change his voice to a softer tone. He was very nonchalant about the whole thing. "I get free grass from it, so I can't complain, right? Plus," Jay finally put down the pliers and stepped out from the under the truck. He shuffled his hands through his backpack and pulled out a DVD that had yet to be opened.

"Dude, that movies not even in theatres yet!" Sean exclaimed in a whisper tone, taking the movie from Jay's hand and looking it over. "How'd you get this?" He was marveled by the whole thing.

"That's why my sister's career choice does't bug me." He took the movie back and zipped it up in his backpack. Immeaditly, he went back beneath the truck, Sean following. "I feel lucky to have a sister's whose got the best connections on the black market."

"I just would've thought you'd want her to have a good life."

"She does have a good life." Jay said casually. "If she was still living with my mom and doing nails, she wouldn't."

Sean didn't say a word, he figured that Jay was a lost cause. He shouldn't of even thought for a second that Jay would care about somebody else, even if it was a family member.

"Look, Sean," Jay tossed the pliers back in the red tool box next to them. "Shelby does what she does and I don't interfere. I do what I do and she doesn't butt in. We know better not to mess around with each other's lives. Just," Jay sighed, tugging at the wires with his oil stained hands. "If you notice her shooting up, let me know, okay?"

Sean just nodded.

"Now stop being a damn pansy and help me out."

Laughing a little, Sean stepped over but before he could really check out what Jay had completed so far, he noticed Emma out of the corner of his eye. She had her hair down and framing her face and she looked all done up, just for him. She was even wearing the flattering polka dot dress Sean had mentioned to her that he liked a lot.

"Hold up." He patted Jay on the back.

"What are you doing here?" He pulled her closer for a quick kiss.

"I thought I'd take you out on your lunch break."

Lunch break. Sean snapped back into his double life. His eyes slid up to the clock on the wall behind Emma. He should've already been on his way to Sarpino's.

"You know, Em, I'm going to have to take a rain check."

"Oh." Emma's voice was a combonation betrween disapointment and a little shock.

"I've got to go meet someone."

"Can I come with you?" She questioned, massaging Sean's arm with her hands that were smoother than butter.

"No." He snapped, taking his arm out of reach. He was all sorts of antsy. Jay was listening in behind them, chuckling to himself. "Sorry, I gotta jet, Emma." He kissed her once more and then rushed past her and out of the shop.

"Looks like it's just you and me." Jay taunted, rubbing his hands on a dirty cloth and taking strides over to her.

"I'd rather drink radiator fluid." She spat back.

"That can be arranged, Nelson." Jay winked own at her and wandered by.

Sarpino's was jammed back like most resturants at lunch time. Sean was out of breah, he ran all the way from his car that he'd parked three blocks down to the resturant. He scanned his eyes around the resturant, adults in business suits chomping on pizza and pre-teens laughing too loud and grease on their fingers filled the place. Behind two laughing high school boys with caps lazily on their messy hair, Sean spotted Shelby looking annoying in her white gypsy dress which made the illusion of her being a skelton even more believable. Her arms were like sticks and Sean could see every vein running through out her body and her bones were just about sticking out. He imaginged that was just weight loss from all the cocaine she'd most likely been snorting. It was comforting to him that she had a little podge for a stomach or she'd be disgustingly skelton like. Her dark eyes were dilated bigger than imaginable and scanned the room for him. Finally, their eyes locked and she just shook her jaw at him.

"You're late." She stated the obvious as he approached the green and red table.

"Work, you know."

"Yeah, no shit." She handed him a brown paper bag with a wine bottle inside it, looked to be red.

"What are we celebrating?" Sean almost pulled the bottle out of the bag but Shelby snapped too quickly.

"You don't catch on do you." She shook her head. "Don't open that until you get in your car. The address is on the bottom of the bottle." She instructed him, getting out the plastic seat and heading to the door. Sean was right behind her. "Puncuality is a requirement in this field. Alright?" She asked rhetorically. "Being a minute late or a week late is what determines your life span in this business. Now stop checking out my ass and scat!" She demanded stopping at the bus stop. Sean hadn't been looking at her ass at all but when she said that, he did sneak a peek. Only, she didn't have an ass. That's how small she was, she was so small she was assless. Perhaps, it was just the street sweeping skirt hiding it. She ran her hand beneath her nose and inhaled, deeply. Sean stared at the red marks beneath her nostrils. "Oh, and tonight, around eleven, come to my place. I got a lot of orders to send out."

"Okay." Sean agreed like a timid field mouse. Sean walked a few paces from her and then stopped himself to turn back. "How much is this?"

"This job?" She asked, lighting up a cigarette cautiously.

"Yeah." Sean tried to sound assertive but he always felt so out of place around Shelby. She balanced the smoke between her lips and itched through her unwshed and greasy hair.

"Man, that's all you guys think about. Your money, my money." She rambled. "I'd say after tonight, you'll of paid off this months rent and you'll be able to buy the girlfriend a meal somewhere nice." She shrugged, taking a long drag and then letting it out without an attempt. This whole thing was all too natural. Still, Shelby's answer spread a vibrant smile on Sean's face.

"How'd you know I had a girlfriend?" He asked, curiously.

"I don't just hire any Joe off the street, Sean Cameron." She let him know she knew all about him. "I haven't been to Wasaga in years." Sean was starting to get sort of spooked.

"Alright, see you." He began to walk away.

"Don't forget to shake hands!" She yelled without even turning to watch him leave. Sean just sort of smirked at the sound of her shout.

Later that night, Sean piled into his car. He had good music pumping through the speakers, the roads were good and he would've made a considerate dent in his debt as of tommorrow. Maybe, Jay was right. You have to do what you have to do. Upon pulling up to Shelby's apartment, it was a less creepy than it had been the times before. He let himself in and actually said 'Hello' to the hookers working outside and the boys playing a game of dice in the parking lot. He felt like he belonged here and that was comforting. He knocked twice on Shelby's door and could hear the sound of her laughing - almost cackling inside, and a mix of party music.

"Come in!" Shelby yelled between laughter. He wrapped his hand around the door knob but before he could push it open, his cellphone began to sing. He fished for it with his free hand and let himself in.

"Hello?" He asked, closing the door behind him.

"Sean?" Emma could hear the noise through the phone. She pulled some strands of hair behind her ears and frowned her eyebrows down, all in attempt to hear him. "Where are you?"

"I'm at work." Not a complete lie. He closed the door behind him and locked it behind him the way Shelby yelled at him, too.

"At the shop?" Emma inquired.

"No, uh yeah." He nodded, he could barely hear her through all the noise. Shelby's apartment looked just as it always did except for a passed out guy laying on his belly on her beat up couch whose words were slurred but his voice still bellowed through out the room. Shelby was set up in one of the lawn chairs with a few cardboard boxes around her and she seemed to be writing in Sharpie on the boxes and then would switch to ballpoint pen when scribbling on a sheet of paper in front of her. Also, she would occasionaly pulling the weed the man was smoking from his lips and take a hit, then return it back to his mouth.

"Get your ass in here, Sean!" She yelled.

"I have to go, Emma."

"Okay, call me back!" Emma said all at once before Sean hung up.

She was begining to feel very suspicious.

"Sean, alright, I've already got this all organized. Just a few more things to do." She said very professionally but in a rush. "Have a seat, all be a minute." She slapped the lawn chair next to her, quickly. Sean adjusted the hat on his head and watched what Shelby was doing. The song on her turntable quickly swicthed and he picked up the album case next to it.

"Blondie?" He asked. Shelby was all about surprises.

"Plastic Letters, their best album in my opinon."

"This is my theme song!" The guy on the couch called out, lazily. Sean and Shelby just laughed.

"That's Denis." She slid her brown eyes up at Sean and let him know.

"Where's my shit, women?" The guy hollered at Shelby. He sounded angry and Sean almost wanted to tell the guy to shut up. Sean just watched to see what Shelby would do next.

She sighed, exasperated and then slid her hands down her knees, playing with the frayed and dirty end of her dress.

"Sean," She turned her eyes at him. "Could you seal these boxes for me?" She got up and handed him a roll of translucent duct tape. "Make sure they're tight." She walked right by him and into her kitchen nook. Sean couldn't believe it. Shelby seemed like the type of girl to bark right back at the big burly man obviously toasted out his tree on her couch but, she just abided to what he said.

"Wanna hit?" The man slurred his words and offered the pot to Sean but, Sean just shook his hand and turned it down. "More for me." The guy turned onto his side and continued to take hit after hit. Sean tried to ignore him and continue taping the boxes. They were filled with big coke bags enough to fill a whole aisle of chip bags. Shelby reappeared from the kitchen with all sorts of items and products in her hands. She returned to her seat and set all the stuff on the ground, except for a small soup bowl.

"Denis gets grumpy without his crystal." She said while picking up a solvent. Sean had really only smoked pot when it came to drugs. He never bothered with the other mostly, cause he didn't have the money. Also, the girls he dated like Ellie or Emma always were so against it and Tracker was, too. But, watching Shelby mix the ingredients for meth only made him thankful he was smarter than to get mixed up in that. Little did he know, he was already swallowed into that business. First, she mixed together drain cleaner and lighter fluid, followed by a fistful of over the counter medications, then some iodine crystals, paint thinner and red phosphrous basically the stripe on a matchbook. It made Sean sick to his stomach, just the sight of it, the smell made it worse. Even Shelby's face crumpld up as she was mixing it all together. Once she had finished her concotion, she handed it to Denis, who sat up straight and anxious like a little boy waiting for his Kraft Dinner at the table. It all seemed so routine, Sean hadn't seen much like it before.

"I'm going to let you these routes alone. Don't come back till you've got rid of all the boxes." She told Sean while walking back into the kitchen and putting away all her supplies for meth.

"I'm going alone?" Sean imagined with all the boxes, five to be exact, this was a big shipment which would stereotypically mean scary burly guys with hamstrings the size of kentucky and harder than steel. Also, fully loaded guns in their ass pockets.

"Yeah. The address is on one of the boxes. The parking attendant at the motel you'll have to drive through will let you know what to do. I let him know I was sending a newbie."

"What are you doing?" Sean watched her take out a five dollar bill from the freezer and roll it into a small stick.

"I just want to get myself ready." She played with the rolled bill between her fingers. She was already high from the pot and Sean figured she meant, she needed to snort a gram. "Then, i've got to go catch an order at the airport. Busy night. I haven't slept in days." She yawned and fell back against her kitchen counter, closing her eyes.

"Could that be all the chemicals you do?"

Her eyes slowly fanned opened and slithered into Sean's wide awake pupils. She just smirked and chuckled lightly.

"You don't get to judge me." She stated, simply. "Ecspecially, not when I'm saving your ass. I'm your best source of income." She was the boss and he was the puppet, it all became clear to Sean but, he accepted it. "Anyways, come bck once you're done." She pushed herself off the counter. "I'll help you carry the boxes to your car." She put down the rolled money and stacked one box onto the other. Denis was occupied and happy with his meth. "Don't break anything, I'll be back in a second." She picked up the two box tower and Sean carried the other three out. When walking out the door, he noticed a needle that looked used and the same rubber band he had seen days before. He thought about what Jay said and about what Shelby had said when it came to judging her. He just erased it from his mind. He wanted to get the night over with.

"Does Denis come over a lot?" He asked slamming down his trunk. The boxes securly inside.

"Yeah, only when he needs a big fix. If he freaks you out kid, don't even worry about it." She laughed, tossing her hand back and fourth. "He'll be gone by the time you get back. If I'm not here, climb through the fire escape. I'll have an envelope on my bed with your name on it."Sean was all ears as he sat down in the driver's seat. She held onto the roof of his car and stuck her head in. "Trust me, you'll be more than happy with what's inside."

"I'm sure I will be." He smiled back and turned on the ignition. She slammed the car door and scurried back inside.

So, let me know what you guys all think. I apperciate any comments.

I just thought I'd put here what the titles are named after.

Here Comes A Regular - The Replacements

More Heat Than Light - The Veils

Rapture - Blondie Denis is also a Blondie song