Pearl once again rests in a bean bag chair in her friend Sadie's apartment. Her arms hung lazily over the sides of the chair, a recently used bong resting on the floor beside her right hand, a lighter on her left side. These items along with the whites of her eyes a slight shade of red, it was not hard to figure out what Pearl had just done.

A few weeks have passed since her first hit with Sadie, and since then, she visited her blonde friend every week after getting her paycheck. The raise Pearl received from Kofi helped her tremendously with her habits. Even though she could buy herself new clothes with her raise as well if she wanted to, Pearl decided that spending so extravagantly would raise suspicion with her mother, so she remained in her stained white tank top, blue shorts, and tanned sandals.

Pearl stared at the ceiling, a small grin on her face as she waited for Sadie to return from the corner store she said she was going to. Pearl had asked Sadie if she wanted to join her in the "fun", but Sadie refused, claiming she was busy today. What kind of business Sadie had to do, Pearl had no idea. She just knew that she was in love with this sensation, and it's affected her life tremendously.

Pearl's home life had improved. Her mother's punishments came less and less often, until they almost stopped entirely. Pearl thanked the weed. With her having this release, Pearl acted even more obediently than ever before. Pearl did the dirty jobs she would normally be disgusted with wearing a smile on her face, and more efficiently too. Whether it was repairing her father's vehicle, or unclogging the hair from the family bathtub, Pearl never complained, nor did she even show disgust in her facial features. Pearl had even given her mother advice, commenting that if she were put on a multivitamin diet, she could survive entirely on water and it would save money for the family. A few pills or gummies a day, just ten dollars a jar every few months. Originally, Pearl's mother did not even want to humor the thought, but after doing some research of her own, she found her daughter's suggestion to be satisfactory.

"Thank you, Pearl."

Those were the first words of praise that Pearl had ever heard from her mother. Pearl wanted to wrap her arms around her mother in a hug at the time, but she refrained, knowing that she would be severely punished for acting out. So Pearl stood there instead, nodding in response. She would have to celebrate on her own terms later in Sadie's apartment.

This brings Pearl to where she is now, sighing happily as she thought of nothing. Literally nothing crossed the teenagers thoughts, her only state of mind was that she was existing. To be, and just be put Pearl in such a relaxed state that she was sure nothing in this world would disturb her. This elation came to her every other week, if she was lucky. But every time Pearl spoke the password to Sadie, every time she inhaled the smoke of the marijuana, every single time she felt as if her bones were melting inside of her, Pearl knew that she would never want to live any other way.

Well that may not be true. Seeing and feeling the results of her constant state of happiness made Pearl wonder what it would be like to try more than just cannabis.

So deep was Pearl in her nonexistent thoughts that she hadn't realized when Sadie returned from wherever she went. The only indication Pearl had that her friend had returned was when Sadie lightly pushed Pearl's shoulder.

"I hate to rush you, kid. I mean, you still got a good hour." Sadie started, only removing her hand from Pearl when the teen turned her head to acknowledge Sadie. "But Lars is coming over soon, and things are gonna get pretty messy, if you catch my drift."

Lars was Sadie's boyfriend. He was much taller than Sadie, thin and lanky. Pearl had met Lars before, but she did not particularly like him, though not because of his personality. Sure, Lars could be selfish at times, but it was clear to Pearl that he truly loved Sadie. He could provide for her, and treated her nicely, at least to Sadie's descriptions. The thing that bugged Pearl about Lars was his ridiculous haircut and donut sized gauges in his ears. Pearl didn't understand why Sadie made "Big Donut" their code until Pearl met Lars.

Pearl giggled lightly at Sadie's obvious innuendo, staring up at the older woman with glazed over eyes.

"So you went to the store to buy condoms?"

"Yeah." Sadie said, taking a seat in the bean bag chair across from Pearl. "He always "forgets"." Sadie used air quotes to indicate her sarcasm.

"That's typical of guys, right?" Pearl asked, having only heard of that stereotype through media.

"Well it's typical with Lars." Sadie replied, resting her chin in her hand. "I've dated a few guys that were good enough to remember protection. Condoms, spermicide, stuff like that."

"That's so weird." Pearl said, sinking further back in her chair, shifting her attention to the ceiling. She thought about what it would be like, to have sex. Pearl has never really had a crush on a boy before. If Pearl ever did like anyone, she doubted it would be a man. Just the thought that she could get pregnant, even through the preparations she would take scared her. Not just with the fact that Pearl would go through the trouble of birthing another human, or that she would have to raise that child, but she was afraid for the child itself.

Pearl was not healthy by any means, but that only applied to her inner form. She only ever drank water took multivitamins as sustenance, so her organs were basically at war with themselves in an attempt to account for the lack of food intake. Not to mention her body was a lot more thin than most other people. If Pearl was to ever birth a child, she was sure that she would die from the strain. With these thoughts, Pearl found it difficult to find any sort of man sexually attractive, or even romantically. In light of that, Pearl came to a conclusion.

"I think I'm gay, Sadie."

"Alright, I think you've had enough of the glass dick for today." Sadie said, leaning forward to grab her bong from beside Pearl. Sadie stared at Pearl all the while, expecting the teen to burst out laughing at Sadie's joke. But Pearl did no such thing.

"I'm serious." Pearl whispered, continuing to stare at the ceiling. Her expression was one of emptiness, her hands now resting on her stomach.

Sadie slowly realized that the weed smoke Pearl had inhaled had already worked its way through Pearl's system. It was almost unthinkable, really. Pearl's body had already become so accustomed to the substance of marijuana that her "high" didn't last as long.

"Holy shit.." Sadie placed her bong to the side and rushed to Pearl's side, kneeling on the ground beside the teen, taking one of Pearl's hand in hers. The best Sadie could do right now is try and be supportive. "Aw man, Pearl, what made you think this? Was it how you were raised or something?"

"No.. No, I don't think it's like that." Pearl replied, allowing Sadie to grasp her hand. "I've just.. never thought about guys like that."

"But you've had crushes on girls?"

"No." Now that Pearl said it, she did find it silly. Maybe she wasn't attracted to either gender, since she never had a crush on either boys or girls. Well, Pearl had a reason for not being attracted to men. It just wouldn't be possible for her to birth a child with her body, but what was her reason for not being attracted to women? Or was it just that Pearl never found someone to be attracted to? "Am I asexual then?"

"You're still young, you know." Sadie said, in an attempt to clear Pearl's mind. "Don't sell yourself short. I mean, you never know until you try, you know?"

"Did you ever date a woman?" Pearl asked, turning her head to look at Sadie. The curiosity in Pearl's eyes made Sadie feel nostalgic. Sadie felt that it was a shame, that she had to grow up sooner than she'd have liked to.

"I wouldn't call it a date." Sadie answered, standing from the floor and returning to her own bean bag chair. It was clear to Sadie that Pearl didn't need any support. Sadie sighed as she sunk into her seat, smiling as she remembered her little experiment. "It was more like a one-night-stand. Met a girl at a bar after a break up. We were both drunk, she invited me back to her place, and one thing lead to another."

"Did you like it?"

"It was pretty good, yeah. From what I can remember, at least." Sadie gave Pearl a little smirk. "I was drunk, remember?"

"Well I never have been, so forgive me for not knowing the symptoms." Pearl retorted, shooting back her own coy smile. They both laughed, enjoying a little moment of euphoria. But Pearl didn't let it last long. Instead, as her and Sadie's laughter died down, Pearl found it the perfect time to ask her friend about a different type of euphoria. "Do you know where I can get morphine?"

Sadie's expression could only be described as perplexed. So quickly did her joyous and laughing face change form at Pearl's question. But despite herself, and her worry for the teen, Sadie answered Pearl.

"..Yeah. I know just the guy."

A few days later, Pearl is escorted by Sadie down a lone alleyway.

Pearl would have expected Sadie to try and talk her out of buying this type of drug, but Pearl was surprised when she received no objections. Sadie complied with all of Pearl's requests. Sadie told Pearl exactly when and where to buy the needles and doses Pearl wanted, and even agreed to accompany Pearl for her first time.

Pearl's shoe was filled with money she had been saving just for this moment. After research at the local library, on the internet of course, Pearl discovered that morphine was a lot cheaper than she had imagined it to be. Hundreds, even thousands of dollars filled Pearl's imagination, and she never believed that asking Sadie those things she did would have actually lead to anywhere. But here she was, walking beside the older woman to a door at the end of a closed alley. Pearl felt as if she were in a movie.

"Let me do the talking, alright?" Sadie informed Pearl for what seemed like the thousandth time as they stepped up to the large metal door. Pearl noticed that it even had a slot near the top of it, most likely for the person inside to study the person outside. Just like a movie.

"I know Sadie." Pearl said, rolling her eyes.

"Alright, just making sure, kid." Sadie sighed and, putting on a smile, reached her hand out and rapped her knuckles against the metal door.

The pair stood there for a few minutes, waiting for an answer to Sadie's knock. When none came, Pearl asked Sadie a question in a hushed voice. "Does it usually take this long?"

"It depends."

"Should we knock again?"

"Never knock twice, kid." Sadie said, putting her hands in the pockets of her pants. "That's one of his big rules. He's pretty weird about it."

"You still never told me who this guy is."

"He likes introducing himself." Sadie replied with a shrug, and that was that. They waited and waited, for what seemed like hours to Pearl. If it weren't for Sadie standing so patiently beside her, Pearl probably would have given up and gone home long ago. So, since she figured she had the time, Pearl took a look around her surroundings.

Normally, in any sort of alley, there would be an overturned trash can, and litter on the ground. But Pearl found none of these things. In fact, the alley that she and Sadie stood in seemed to be oddly clean. It was as if someone took it upon themselves to clean this specific bit of street every day. If Pearl were to get on her hands and knees, she was positive that she wouldn't even find any dirt aside from that she and Sadie brought in during their walk here. Looking up, Pearl even found that there were no windows to be seen in this alley, not a single pane on all of the walls she and Sadie stood between. It was so weird.

Pearl turned her attention back toward the metal door in front of her when sounds came from the other side. She assumed that the door was being unlocked, but her assumptions were put to rest when the slot in the door was pulled to the side, revealing the deep brown eyes of what looked to be a dark skinned man. Those eyes seemed suspicious at first, but upon falling on Sadie, waving in a greeting, the man's eyes grew bright and joyful.

"Sadie Miller!"

Pearl was surprised that this man's voice was so deep, and seemingly inviting. The slot to his eyes closed, and the metal door was immediately flung open to reveal a tall, bald man who's smile was almost as wide as his whole face. He grabbed Sadie by the hand and pulled her into his irregularly patterned V-Neck, full of circles and triangles overlapping each other. He wore short, grey shorts and tight brown boots. Pearl could hardly believe that this man who's joy could rival Santa Clause was a drug dealer.

"H-hey Mr. Smiley." Sadie greeted the man, struggling to breathe under his grip. "Good to see you again."

"How long has it been?" Mr. Smiley asked, letting go of Sadie and studying her with his hands on his hips. "Almost two years? You don't call, you don't write, it's like you're pushing me away."

"Sorry, Mr. S." Sadie said, rubbing the back of her head apologetically. "I've been pretty busy, getting my life together. I only just got an apartment last year. I'm sharing the rent with Lars, but I should be able to pay it off on my own in a couple months. I mean, we're not living together, or anything." Sadie quickly added at the sparkle in Mr. Smiley's eyes.

Mr. Smiley laughed. "That's a darned shame. You two need to settle down already. So who's your friend?"

Pearl straightened her posture after being acknowledged by the large man. Having Mr. Smiley's attention turned towards her, oddly enough, sent cold shivers up her spine.

"This is Pearl." Sadie said, gesturing toward the teen. "New girl. Wants to try out the good stuff."

"The good stuff, huh?" Smiley put a hand to his chin in thought, his smile never leaving his face. Pearl was starting to get creeped out. "Aren't you a bit young to be making this decision."

"I'm old enough." Pearl answered, and Smiley arched an eyebrow.

"I'm vouching for her." Sadie added. "I've already sold her some of my merchandise. She's been a customer of mine for a few months, now."

"Well, if Sadie's okay with it, I guess I am." Mr. Smiley put his hand out for Pearl to take, which she did hesitantly. "Harold Smiley."

"Oh, that's your real name." Pearl said unconsciously, and was quickly pulled into a laughing hug by the large man.

"I like you already!"

"Umm.. thanks?" Pearl really didn't know what else to say. Pearl felt as if Mr. Smiley was trying to squeeze the life out of her, at least until he let go. Hands on his hips, his smile wide, Mr. Smiley gestured with his head to the inside of the building.

"Let's hook you up then, huh?"

Pearl nodded, and Mr. Smiley turned to the side to allow her and Sadie in the building. Sadie stepped inside first, followed by Pearl. Then Mr. Smiley closed the door behind them with a loud metal clank.

Author's Note:

I'm so sorry for the late update. I have no excuse. I was lazy, and writer's block should not keep me from my work for such a long time. I hope this chapter made up for the wait.

The next chapter coming up is from "Dirty Ambitions". As always, so long for now.