~*~ Chapter 8 ~*~

"This isn't fair..."Jessie started as she searched through Serena's closet for anything new that she hadn't tried on. "You get all these great clothes for free...I am so jealous."

Serena just shrugged as she watched Jessie. "Hey, grab that yellow top...that's new" she said. Jessie reached in to get the top but found the hanger was stuck on a clip on the behind shelf. She reached in to release the hanger when she knocked the twister game off the shelf. They both looked at the game for a second and then Jessie brought up the item that they were both thinking about. "Is it still in there, Serena?" she asked.

"Yeah, it is. I forgot all about it..."

Jessie picked up the game and sat on Serena's bed. She began to unpack the game and quickly found the plastic baggie that contained the four marijuana joints that Todd put in there to hide from Karen. "What do you say, Serena? Wanna try it?" she asked raising her eyebrows and smiling.

"No...no way...I'm not touching it. My sister is downstairs, my Dad and Janelle could be back any minute. No..."Serena replied.

"Fine, do what you want...I'm gonna try it. Is your candle lighter still in the desk drawer?" she asked walking toward the desk not waiting for Serena's response. Serena jumped up to stop her just as she heard the doorbell ring downstairs. "Come on, Jess. Karen ordered some pizza, let's go get something to eat."

Jessie watched Serena leave the room. She tucked the joints in the desk drawer and followed her downstairs.

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"Hi Neil..." Karen said as she pulled a $20 bill out of her jeans pocket.

"Hi Karen...it's $16.32...is Serena home?" He asked handing Karen the pizza and a bottle of soda trying to glance over her shoulder.

"Yeah...she's..."she began being interrupted by Serena and Jessie clumping down the stairs.

"Hey Neil...I didn't know you were working tonight...."

"Yeah...I'm trying to get as many hours as possible over the summer, so that I can save up some money." He explained. "Well, I have two more deliveries waiting, I catch you guys later."

"Bye Neil..." Serena said turning her attention to the pizza on the table. "Mmm...yummy."

"Yeah...pizza delivery by Neil Scanlon. He probably spit in it or something." Jessie remarked with a wicked grin.

Serena picked up a slice of pizza and threw it onto Jessie's plate. "Just shut up and eat it. You know he wouldn't do that. What is you problem with Neil anyway?"

"He's just a freak." She replied.

Serena shook her head with disgust and began eating. She looked up to notice Karen going through the desk drawers. "Aren't you going to eat?" she asked.

"Yeah...in a minute."

"What are you looking for?" Serena asked puzzled.

"Dad's address book. Have you seen it? I need Aunt Millie's and Uncle Jay's address. I want to send her a 'Thank you' note for the gift she sent."

"Why don't you just call Grandma? Grandma will be able to give you the address, write the note, send it, and receive a reply all before you even come close to finding Dad's address book."

"Thanks. You're a lot of help." Karen retorted shooting a snide look at her sister. "But I need it to start making the guest list for the baby shower too."

"Well, if you're just going to sit there and go threw Dad's desk drawers, then we're going back upstairs. C'mon Jess."

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Serena and Jessie were sitting on the bed finishing their pizza, engaging in some small Girl talk. "So when are you and Todd going out again?" Jessie asked winking.

"I don't know, he hasn't called me or anything since school was out."

"Maybe he's grounded for the summer." Jessie said. "I know Seth really got it for that day we skipped."

Serena got up and moved across the room to get her candle lighter. As she pulled it out of the drawer she pick up the joints and handed them to Jessie. "Here. Get rid of these. I don't even want them in my room. The last thing I need is for my Dad or Sister to find it." She said while lighting the candle on her nightstand.

She turned around to see Jessie with a joint in her mouth and reaching for the lit candle. "Jessie! When I said get rid of it, I didn't mean smoke it!"

"Oh, lighten up, Serena!" She said with a giggle "No pun intended." She said as she lit the joint and took a puff.

Serena hurried over to the window to open it and turned on the fan in the corner, hoping that the fan would push the smell out through the window. "Oh this is so good, Serena, you've got to try this." Jessie said giggling.

"No way...." Serena said. Even though she was starting to get giddy by the second hand smoke that she was inhaling.

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Downstairs Karen was still routing through the living room looking for the address book. She glanced around the room and found one drawer that she hadn't looked in. She opened the drawer to find a couple of cloth place mats folded neatly on top. As she dug below the place mats she felt something cut her hand. "What the heck does he have in there?" she asked to herself. After pulling her hand out of the drawer, she looked to see what she had cut herself on. She only found a broken picture frame with an old picture of Lucy it and the broken glass lying on the top. She closed the drawer, retreating to find her doctor bag to clean and examine her injury. "Oh crap...this is going to need stitches." She said to herself, trying to determine how she was going to get to the hospital. Scott had the car and hers was in the shop for repair. She looked at the pizza on the table and suddenly remembered that Jessie had come over and her car was outside.

Karen went to the intercom and pushed the button for Serena's room. "Serena..."

Jessie looked up at the ceiling feeling the effects of the joint she started to smoke. "Serena your room is talking to you." She said.

"Huh."

"Your room it's talking to you...listen"

"Serena...turn down the radio and answer me." Karen said again through the intercom.

"Oh...it's Karen," she said going to the intercom. "What's up?"

"Serena, I cut my hand and it needs stitches. Can you and Jessie come down? I need Jessie to drive me to the hospital." Karen explained.

"Sure we'll be down in a minute." Serena turned to Jessie. "Put that thing out. We need to take my sister to the hospital. Are you okay to drive?" she asked.

"Yeah, I'm fine. I only took one puff." She giggled as she crushed out the joint and tossed it out of the window. Serena blew out the candle and they went down to meet Karen.

"What did you do?" Serena asked looking at Karen's hand.

"Eew...that's looks nasty." Jessie said digging her keys out of her pocket. Karen just looked at Jessie for a minute then turned to Serena. "I cut my hand on a broken picture frame in the drawer. Is she okay?" Karen asked.

"Yeah...she just on the giddy side tonight. She was up there teasing me about Todd and laughing at her own jokes" Serena lied.

"Oh...okay...well let's go before I bleed to death here." Karen said looking suspiciously at Jessie.

They pulled out of the driveway and headed down the road toward the hospital. As a car approached in the dark, in her impaired state, Jessie thought it was going to hit them head on and swerved to miss a collision.