The next morning I made sure I woke up early. I'd stolen drugs before but it was a rather tricky process. I even had breakfast with the others to hide any suspicion. I could sense Liam looking at me from across the table but I kept my head down. I knew he suspected something but it was clear he hadn't told anyone else about our little chat in the town centre yesterday.
Carmen tapped me on the shoulder. "What?" I said, a little more gruffly then I wanted.
"Umm..Well, I made this friendship bracelet for you." Carmen held it out timidly.
I surprised myself, and probably everyone else. "Uh- thanks, Carmen." I took it out her hand and hastily tied it around my wrist. Then I jumped up, grabbed my bag and ran out the door.
Dreslin had told me of several dodgy men who sold heroin. Well, it's an illegal drug- what can you expect? I knew there was a man who owned a grubby hardware store next to the petrol station who sold heroin. I would have to be very sneaky.
It was a misty day, and I decided to go sit in the park for a bit and mull things over. No one would see me from far away with all this fog.
Despite the mist, I could hear footsteps running up, coming closer and closer...what if it was Dreslin? What if he'd found out that I had stolen from him? What if he hurt me?
No. I was being stupid. Dre would never hurt me. He's not like that.
It wasn't Dreslin anyway. It was Liam. I expected he'd come to tease me again.
"Don't do it, Elektra." He had stopped in front of me and was looking into my eyes through the mist.
"...Do what..?" I didn't get it...how could he know?
"Oh, you know what!" He sat down next to me on the bench. "I haven't come 'ere to make fun of you or anything. I'm being serious; I saw what happened last night. There, that's my confession. I've been watching you."He crossed his arms, looked away and started tapping his foot on the ground- must be what he does when he's nervous or embarrassed. I must say it's kinda cute.
"What do you mean, h-how..." I began.
"Look, I know what you've been up to. I know Dreslin is getting you to steal drugs. But he can't be trusted, Elektra!" he turned back to me. "He'll really harm you one day, you mark my words- or you'll end up in prison, or a young offender's institute because of him!"
I suddenly felt angry. "Why do you care Liam? You always play pranks on me. You read my diary, you trash my room, you set up booby traps on me"-
"I never mean to hurt you Elektra. It's just a bit of fun. I'm a prankster and I do it to everyone. It's just I target you more because...well...it's the only time we actually get to talk."
My eyes suddenly widened. "Oh my God, you fancy me don't you?" Liam turned pink.
"I never said that, I mean you have a boyfriend...it's just, you're- you're fun to be around sometimes, even though we play cruel tricks on each other."
I couldn't help but feel touched. No one, apart from Dreslin, had spoken to me like this before. But I knew I couldn't listen to him. I had to do what I had to do.
"Liam, I have to go. I must get some, and you know it." I got up and walked away from the bench as swiftly as possible. Liam didn't call after me this time. He knew he'd done what he could.
I found the petrol station in 15 minutes, despite the fog. I spotted the little corner shop next to it. The paint was peeling and the sign which read "Harley's Hardware" was falling off. I had another approach to this one. I took a deep breath and entered the shop.
The man at the counter was leaning back in his chair and smoking a ciggie. His eyes were squinted- maybe he had a hangover. He was rather big and was bald- although he did have an impressive brown bushy beard. Certainly not the type of guy many people want to mess with.
"What ya want love?" his voice was deep and gruff.
From this point my plan sprung into action. "My dad wants a standard size screwdriver, hammer and a pack of extra large nails." This is where I'd thought about it. Dres had told me that this guy kept all his expensive hardware out back to avoid people stealing them. Kind of ironic, as I was after the heroin and not the hardware.
"I'll just go geddit from the store cupboard." The man heaved himself up out of his chair and lumbered towards the door at the back of the store. As soon as he'd disappeared, I leapt over into the counter and ducked my head under to see what was there.
And I was right. I saw a box of heroin right by my nose. I grabbed as many bags as I could, stuffed them into my bag and leapt back over again.
I'd had plenty of time. The man came back after two minutes with the hammer and screwdriver. He picked up some nails for me along the way.
"Here you go, that's £20.00."
Now for the second part of the plan.
"...I just got a phone call from my dad and he says a friend has let him borrow his hardware, so he won't need it after all. But thanks anyway." I turned and started walking away. I chose not to run to avoid being found out.
But it was too late. The man must've suspected something anyway, because he suddenly roared "not so fast!", leapt up and ran towards me.
I almost reached the door but he grabbed my arm hard. He snatched my bag away from me and pinned me to the floor with my hands behind my back.
"Don't worry, I'm not going to call the police" He whispered in my ear. "I'm just gonna duff you up- good and proper!"
He was looking round for some sort of item to use on me. He had been momentarily distracted. I managed to shuffle round so I was looking up to the ceiling and I lifted my head slightly- and bit his arm, as hard as I could. The man screamed in pain. He let go of me and I let go of him. Then I jumped up and ran out of the shop as fast as I could- I had just managed to get out the store before he was up again and coming after me. He knew he wouldn't be able to catch me so he stopped a few feet away from his store as I sprinted away into the distance.
I was in a state of shock. The thought didn't even cross my mind of the risk I'd taken- or of what Dreslin's reaction was going to be.