10. Bottom of the Bottle

"Been scared and lonely. I've asked myself is something wrong with you? My girlfriend told me, I need some time alone to deal with issues..."

Dean surprised Nia by taking her out that night. He didn't tell her that he was taking her out to a club, but her blue tube-top and black leather pants were appropriate enough.

Once inside the club, the loud music and crowd of people were the kind of distraction from life that Nia needed. Dean led Nia to the dance floor, and danced to a few songs, before leading her over to a corner.

"Hey, guys." Dean said to the two couples that were huddled in the corner. "This is Nia. Nia, this is Steve, Mary, Kathy, and Ed. I hang out here with them a few nights a week."

"Hi." Nia said. The others nodded at her. They were smoking something that didn't look like cigarettes.

"Lemme hit that." Dean said taking the joint. After taking a few hits off it, he passed it to Nia who looked at it for a second. "Aren't you gonna take a hit?" The group just looked at Nia expectantly.

Nia, never being one to stand up well to peer pressure, took a few hits off the joint and passed it to Steve. She was feeling a little lightheaded. After passing it around a few times, Nia was incapacitated and laughing hysterically.

"I'm gonna get us some drinks." Dean said to Nia. She laughed and nodded to him.

While Dean was gone, the group started passing around some cocaine. It didn't take much coaxing to get Nia to try it. By the time Dean got back, Nia was higher than a kite, so Dean decided to take her back to the school. He had a better idea for them anyway, since he wasn't that stoned and she had had more than enough.

Dean helped Nia get up to her dorm room, and found a note stating that her room mate wouldn't be returning for the night. He smirked as he shut the door. He laid her down on the bed and laid down next to her. He started kissing her, and didn't take long to progress to something farther.

"Dean, I haven't done this before." Nia said pushing Dean back a little.

"It's okay, Nia. I'll be gentle with you. I love you." Dean said, before starting again. Nia's heart fluttered at those words, and she didn't object anymore. At some point, she passed out.

Nia woke in the morning, with no memory of the night before. Just as she was starting to wonder why she was naked, she noticed a body next to her. She looked to see Dean asleep next to her. Realization dawned on her and she got up and pulled clothes on. She needed a shower.

Nia bumped into Fulton in the hallway.

"Nia! Dean didn't come back last night and I thought that something might have happened to you." Fulton said quickly.

"We're fine. He's asleep in my bed. We kinda did it last night." Nia blushed and looked down as she said this.

"What do you mean?" Fulton asked hoping that she didn't really mean it.

"I passed out after a while, but we had sex last night. He told me that he loves me. Isn't that great?"

"Yeah. Sure." Fulton said crestfallen. "Well, I guess I'll catch up with you later."

"…But something makes me carry on. It's difficult to understand why I always wanna fall…"

Later that morning, after Dean had woken up and showered up, he decided that he wanted to take Nia ice skating. As they made their way to the rink, Nia was starting to feel the high from the night before wear thin.

Coach O' Ryan was at the rink, with Smash. She was doing drills. Dean had a look that could kill. He let Nia sit in a seat as he went to find out what was going on. The conversation took place out of Nia's earshot.

"I'm holding a try-out, Portman." O' Ryan said, writing something on a clip board. Smash was skating suicides to test her endurance.

"She hasn't played in 3 years, Coach. We don't take walk-ons." Dean said as Smash skated by close to him.

"You aren't the captain. Conway said that it was fine with him if she rejoined the team. We need someone to take Robertson's place. Can't play at all if we don't have a full roster." O' Ryan said as Smash joined them.

"How'd I do, Coach?" Smash asked, ignoring Dean's presence.

"Welcome back to the team, Smash. Glad to have you back." O' Ryan said receiving a nod from Smash, as well as a smile.

When O' Ryan had left, Dean turned to Smash and gave her an evil look.

"Just because Coach and everyone else has accepted you back with open arms, doesn't change the fact that you're still crazy." Dean said. Smash smirked and raised her eyebrows.

"Am I?" Smash asked tauntingly, skating away.

"Smash!" Fulton yelled running into the rink. He ran passed Nia and out onto the ice where Smash had stopped skating upon hearing her name. "Smash, Puck just called me. It's Blade. She-she-" Fulton said, not wanting to finish the sentence.

"How'd she do it?" Smash asked with a look of stone on her face.

"Pills."

Smash nodded as she skated to the edge and hopped over to take her skates off. Nia stared in wonder. First Dwayne jumped off the dorm building, and then his girlfriend overdoses on pills. This team had rotten luck keeping friends.

Over the next few days, Nia and Dean had been going to the club regularly. Nia couldn't stand to be around the rest of the team. They were one big ball of depression, and frankly, it was suffocating.

The more drugs that Nia tried, the less pain she felt about Dwayne's death. She liked the lack of feeling she felt when she was high, and she decided to invest some money into this good feeling.

Everyone from the team was going to Blade's funeral, except Dean. The day the team left, Nia was lying under a tree in the courtyard, laughing hysterically at the leaves. The team gave her dirty looks as they went by, save for the looks of pity received from Fulton and Smash. Nia didn't care, she felt good. That was all that mattered to her now.

"…I do it for the drugs. I do it just to feel high. I do it for the love, that I get from the bottom of the bottle…"

Puck invited Fulton and Smash, her two closest friends now, to stay at her house for the few days that they'd be there.

"I've decided that I'm going to come to Eden Hall." Puck told Fulton when they were alone.

"Really?" he asked. He had a lot to deal with.

"Yeah. I was only staying here for Blade's sake. Not that I did any good. I'm going to come and keep an eye on Smash. Make sure that she's doing alright. Give you time to yourself. Maybe it's not too late for you to keep Nia away from Portman before he destroys her." Puck said rocking back and forth in her recliner.

"They're already having sex. And it seems like she's never really in her head anymore." Fulton said thoughtfully.

"She's on drugs." Smash said entering the room. She had been listening to their conversation. "I don't need a babysitter. I'm fine. My doctors just won't listen to me."

"You're awfully talkative. Did you take your meds?" Fulton asked surprised by Smash's new revelation.

"No. I don't plan on taking them anymore. Don't look at me like that. They had me on 5 pills twice a day, plus one at night. I was taking one pill of every color of the rainbow. The red one was an anti-depressant; the orange one was an anti-anxiety; the yellow was a mood enhancer; the green was a mild sedative; the blue was an anti-psychotic; and the purple beauty was my valium. The combination of all of those pills was what made me not want to talk. They're what made me unable to concentrate at school. My mom said that if I fail then I'm going back to the asylum. I don't want to go back there. The doctors won't listen to me when I say that I'm fine. They just want to make money off of me. I'm tired of being someone's rug. Whether it's Dean's or the psychiatrists', I won't do it anymore. I'm finally going to do what I want." Smash said leaving Fulton and Puck speechless.

"You tried to kill yourself." Puck said quietly.

"I've gotten better. The pills only make me feel worse." Smash said staring at her two friends. "I was on some of the pills while I was dating Dean. They have a negative effect on teenagers, but the psychiatrists don't care about anyone or anything but money. My mom pays out the ass for me to go to counseling and for my medication. I didn't take my pills the morning that I tried out for the team. That was the best that I had felt in a long time. Trust me, you guys. You're my only hope of making it through this."

There was a stunned silence as Smash's words were absorbed.

"This is gonna throw Nia for a loop." Fulton mused aloud.

"…You always call me, and ask me how I make it through the day. I'm always fallin'. I guess it's just God's way of makin' me pay…"

Nia was sitting in the tree in the courtyard when the team returned from Blade's funeral. Curiously, Puck was with them. Nia watched as Dean came out to look for her and was greeted with angry words by Puck. Nia couldn't quite make out the conversation, but was uninterested. Her attention was caught by Fulton and Smash looking up from under the tree. She leaned over to greet them, but waved at the same time and fell out of the tree. Luckily for her, hockey had instilled quick reflexes in Smash and Fulton. A major crisis was averted as the two of them managed to catch a dazed Nia.

"What just happened?" Nia asked. "Hi Fulton!"

"You just fell out of a tree, Nia." Fulton said as they sat Nia on the ground. Nia looked at Fulton, confused.

"Really?" Nia's eyes were glazed over and not as focused as they should be. "Kinda felt like I was flying. I betcha if I jumped off the dorm that I could fly. I already feel like I'm floating."

Nia stood up to run off, but swayed and fell into Fulton's arms.

"What the hell is wrong with her?" Puck asked Dean as Nia sat back on the ground.

"I don't know. Who says that there is something wrong with her?" Dean challenged.

"She's obviously high, Portman. She thinks that she can fly. What did she take? What is she on?" Fulton demanded.

"I don't know. Whatever she bought. I don't care." Dean said walking away, leaving Nia in the care of the three friends.

"We need to sober her up." Smash said as they helped Nia to her feet.

"…But something makes me carry on. It's difficult to understand why I always wanna fall. I do it for the drugs. I do it just to feel high. I do it for the love, that I get from the bottom of the bottle…"

DISCLAIMER: Disney owns Mighty Ducks!! Smile Empty Soul owns "Bottom of the Bottle"! I only own the characters Nia, Smash, Puck, & Blade, as well as any other characters that were not in the movies. Don't sue!!