Cassie

Rachel had turned red. She was really angry. I was surprised she hadn't morphed to grizzly and mauled Nathan for what he said to her.

"You sure can go red," Marco commented.

Rachel turned on him. "You liked that, didn't you?" she growled.

"Oh, no," Marco said quickly. "That was…uh, awful. He's a very bad boy." He turned away and I thought I saw a hint of a smile. "Besides, I don't fell like dying today," he muttered.

"That was sweet of Jake," I said. "He must still care."

Rachel turned on me now. "Don't even say that," she said. "They're his friends. He goes off with them now, not with us."

I looked at the entrance of the gardens. "I wonder what Nathan had for Jake." I said.

"Probably more smokes," Marco said, disgustedly.

I continued to stare at the entrance of the garden. "Maybe I should check it out," I said.

"Bad idea, Cass," Rachel said as the bell went. "Was that the bell?" she asked distractedly.

"Yeah, it's time for the cows to go home," Marco said. "You better get a move on."

Rachel kicked him in the shin. "I've got Ms. Powell first period. If I don't get there on time she's going to fail me on attendance."

Marco started wobbling up to the school, clutching his shin in protection. "I hope she does."

Rachel started after him and I could hear her threats and his pleads as they entered the school.

Everybody started hurrying up to the school, hoping not be late, but I stayed at the gate looking curiously at the entrance of the garden.

It wouldn't hurt to know what they were up to, would it? I mean, I was only looking out for Jake. There was nothing wrong in that. I would be doing the right thing if I checked up on him. That's what I would be doing: checking up on him. Yes, it was the right thing to do.

In all the confusion of students trying to get to class, I nearly lost my way to the gardens, but I wasn't going to let anything stand in my way.

The gardens were not exactly what you'd call a garden, but what else was I suppose to call it? Okay, so it was more like a dirt patch around the school, but saying garden made the school seem so much nicer. Like I had suspected, there was nobody around. And when I say nobody, I meant nobody. Jake and the others weren't around, but I could hear voices coming from around a corner. Slowly I crept to the corner and peered around. What I saw made me want to vomit.

"Oh, yeah," Mark was saying, sucking into a plastic bag. "This is the stuff."

Nathan and Ed were doing the same. The plastic bags contained green stuff and I knew it wasn't lettuce. Jake was with them, also holding a plastic bag, but unlike them, he had it as far away from his mouth as possible. He had this disgusted look on his face as he watched the others suck in this substance and then almost immediately have some sort of reaction to it.

"Come on, Jake," Ed said, from in between gasps. "What are you waiting for?"

"I'll have it later," Jake said, putting it into his bag and stepping back from the others.

I planned to turn back and run, but just then Nathan spotted me.

"Hey, who are you?" he shouted at me.

The others spun around. Jake and I locked eyes for a brief second. He was stunned as much as I was alarmed.

Mark started towards me, but I was in a full out run before he even reached me. What was happening to Jake?

Recess seemed like a long time away before it finally arrived. I wasn't in any of Rachel's or Marco's class, so I couldn't speak to them at that time. But when it did come, I was in full search mode.

"Where could they be?" I muttered to myself as I stalked down Marco's locker hall. "The cafeteria." I answered myself and added a silent duh.

"Cassie!"

I turned around, hoping to find Rachel or Marco running towards me, but I was sorely mistaken.

"Cassie!" Jake shouted again from the other end of the hall.

My breath seemed to stop short. But that didn't mean I did. I turned around quickly and almost raced to the cafeteria. I didn't hear Jake come after me. I didn't expect him to. You could never tell the emotions of a junkie.

I found Rachel sitting by herself at a spare table. She was inspecting her lunch carefully and with precision.

"What do you think this is?" she asked me as I sat down at her table. "Meat loaf or the stuff kids play with in the dirt?"
"A little from column A and a little from column B," Marco said, as he sat beside me. "Oh, by the way, Mighty Xena, I would like to thank you for the lovely looking bruise you have produced on my shin."

"I live to give," Rachel shot back, giving him a sweet smile.

I was on the verge of cracking. I couldn't stand the calmness anymore. While Rachel and Marco were throwing insults at each other, Jake was somewhere, possibly taking drugs.

"Guys, we have a problem," I said, finally breaking my silence.

Marco groaned. "No," he said. "Listen to me carefully Cassie, we have no problems. We have a normal, happy life. Problem free."

"Shut up, Marco," Rachel snapped. "What's the problem Cassie?"

"I think Jake's smoking has gotten out of hand," I said, quietly.

"What do you mean?" Rachel asked.

"Well, when I followed them…"

"Wait a minute," Rachel interrupted. "You followed them. I thought we agreed you weren't going to do that."

"No," I objected. "You agreed, I didn't."

"So what did you find out?" Marco asked, bored.

"I think he's starting to smoke a different kind of weed," I said even quieter.

"What!" Marco exclaimed.

"Jake wouldn't do that," Rachel said defiantly as people looked our way. "Did you actually see him smoking…uh, that kind of weed?"

I shifted uncomfortably. "Not exactly," I admitted. "But he did say that he was going to smoke it later and he put it in his bag."

Rachel looked more uncomfortable than ever.

"I've given up on him," I said wearily. "Smoking cigarettes I could handle, because I knew I could bring him out of that, but now…"

"Guys," Rachel said, despairingly. "There's something I need to tell you…"