Chapter 4 - The Temptation Runs Deep In Our Veins
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They stopped at the entrance of Jacob Bailey High School. Craig leaned down and opened his backpack. "All right , hop in."
"What?" Binx cocked his head to the side in confusion. "What do you mean?"
"I ... .. ... I guess I didn't really think this through. I can't just take a cat into school with me. Look , if you wanna stay you gotta get in." Craig explained
Binx sighed. "I suppose I could. How bad could it be in there?" Binx got into the backpack and snuggled inside. "It is rather cozy in here."
Craig stood up. "I'll keep it unzipped a bit for you Binx."
He headed to his first class , health. Craig sat in his seat and set his backpack on the side of his desk with a thump.
"Ow! Watch it!" Binx snapped
"Sorry I forgot you were in there." Craig reached into his pocket and pulled out something in a silver wrapping. "Hey , you hungry?"
"Yes , I haven't eaten since last night." Binx replied.
Craig opened the wrapper and pulled out a toaster pastry. He tore off a chunk and put it into the bag. Binx started eating it and coughed a bit.
"You okay in there?"
"This pastry is way too sweet for my taste , but thank you anyway." Binx said
Just then a blond boy with a mullet , wearing a t shirt and leather jacket sat at the desk behind Craig. "Hey Crank!"
Craig turned around in his seat to face him. "Hey Jocko. What's up?"
"I'm totally stoked for the party this Saturday , man." Said Jocko , smiling widely
"Me too! You got, you know … .. .. the stuff?" Craig asked, a bit hesitant.
"Not yet , but I'll get it before Saturday don't worry." Jocko reassured, putting his hand on Craig's shoulder.
The stuff? Binx was beyond confused. What's the stuff? This "stuff" may just be some 80s thing I'm not aware of. I guess I'll have to ask later … .. ..
A few minutes later the teacher came in. Her black hair put up , but draped down on both sides , and she wore a red dress with a black wrap in the middle. She was pushing some sort of cart in front of her.
"Great …. .. ..." Craig sighed sarcastically.
"What?" Binx whispered.
"Mrs Johnson's bringing in the projector … .. .. That means we're going to have some dumb presentation on germs, or healthy eating , or other stuff we already know." Craig groaned.
"A projector? What does that do?" Binx asked , curiously.
"It uses light to show pictures and stuff on a screen by … .. projecting it." Craig struggled to explain
"That sounds fascinating! I Don't see why it's boring." Binx said as his eyes lightened up.
"Trust me Binx , the only thing even near "fascinating" in this class is when we watch those 16 millimeter movies made by major movie studios that try to be "hip" with the kids. Those are at least funny." Craig tapped his pencil idly against his desk , already bored.
Binx blinked. "What's a movie?"
"Nevermind Binx , I'll explain later." Craig whispered back.
Mrs Johnson placed the slides in the projector and turned off the classroom light. When she turned the projector on , a black and white image of what looked like a small pile of flour was blasted onto the white screen in the front of the room. Above it was written Cocaine.
Jocko sighed. "Greeeeeat this again .. .. ..."
"I know right." Craig let out a dry chuckle.
Cocaine? Binx was confused. What is this? Some kind of food? It seems like Craig and his friend know.
"This is cocaine." Mrs Johnson began. "One of the most addictive drugs. It's becoming a huge problem in this country , especially with the youth."
"Oh gee I wonder why." Jocko whispered jokingly to Craig , getting him to crack a small smile.
"But like any other drug , it can do terrible things to your body." Mrs Johnson continued. "When someone takes cocaine a primary side effect is an accelerated heartbeat, coupled with elevated blood pressure." She flipped to the next slide that had a diagram of the human body with arrows pointing to each part that explained the effects cocaine had on that part of the body.
"Sometimes a person can even go into convulsions." she continued.
This cocaine thing sounds terrible! Why would anyone dare take it with such horrible things like that to look forward to?
Mrs Johnson flipped to the next slide. Despite her students being distracted other things such as attempting to do their makeup in a dark room or pulling their gum from their mouths, she continued. "But Crack , which is a mixture of cocaine with either ammonia or baking soda and water, is even more harmful to the body. And five to ten times more addictive than cocaine."
Craig exhaled sharply before looking at Binx through his partially opened backpack. "Can you believe this?"
"Believe what?" Binx asked, not sure why he seemed so disinterested in what seemed like a very important topic.
"Television , radio , newspapers , my parents , now even my teacher." Craig went on.
"I still don't understand the problem." Binx whispered back.
"Everybody's saying the same old thing : Don't do coke , stay away from it." Craig explained.
Assuming he was speaking to him , Jocko gripped onto Craig's shoulder and pulled himself closer. "Crack up , crack up." Craig laughed a bit.
Binx decided to listen to Mrs Johnson some more, hoping he could understand more of what the cocaine thing was. "Sometimes dealers mix the cocaine with anything that looks white, from bleach to rat poison."
People poison rats? Is that the thing I've been tasting recently? Ugh …. … .. gross .. … .
"In some instances Crack has been known to cause heart attacks , brain damage , and even death." Mr Johnson said as she switched to the next slide.
Jocko leaned forward again and whispered to Craig , "Same old scare tactics." He sighed and rested his chin on his hand.
"So if someone comes to you saying ," Mrs Johnson put on the best fake , gruff , teenage peer pressurey voice she could muster , "Hey man you wanna buy some crack?"
The students laughed at her impression. One girl even jokingly exclaimed, "Get outta here!"
"You have no idea what they're really selling." She continued.
"You have no idea what they're really selling." Jocko mocked her.
Craig laughed a bit more.
"I don't see why this is funny." Binx whispered. "This seems as bad as opium."
"Opium?" Craig repeated in confusion.
"Yes , it was a drug from my time … I'm assuming it isn't much a problem anymore?" Binx wasn't all up to date with the 1980s let alone all the current related drug going ons.
Craig bit his lip and thought for a moment before shaking his head. "No , I guess not really. But this cocaine thing is just so … ... so … .. so boring."
"Mr Binx." Mrs Johnson said firmly.
Craig looked up nervously. "Uh … y .. yes Mrs Johnson?"
"You think my lesson is boring?" She asked , cocking an eyebrow.
"Well I uh .. yes .. ... I ... … .. I mean no , no! Not at all ...wh .. what I meant was uh …" Craig awkwardly stumbled over his words.
Mrs Johnson didn't look impressed. "Well, if you think it's so boring, why don't you go to the drug treatment center and write a report of what you learned talking to former addicts instead?"
"Mrs Johnson I … ..." Craig pleaded.
"It's due Monday." The bell rang. "Class dismissed!"
Craig sighed as he slung his backpack over his shoulder.
"Tough luck man." Jocko sighed. "Will you still be able to make it to the party?"
"Of course! I'm not missing the party for something so dumb." Craig reassured.
Does dumb mean something else in the 80s? I don't see how this is dumb …..
"I'll talk to you later." Jocko said. "I'm uh , making some arrangements for the party with Jimmy, if you know what I mean."
"Right , right…" Craig didn't make eye contact.
"Something wrong Crank?" Jocko asked.
"Nah I .. . I'm just overthinking I guess. .. You know about the stuff Mrs Johnson said in class?" Craig looked over at him.
"Oh forget about those scare tactics, it's fine! I know I can trust Jimmy. Besides, are you gonna listen to someone who just ruined a perfectly good Friday for you?" Jocko demanded.
Craig sighed. "I … .. I guess you're right Jocko … ... Thanks …. …."
"Of course I am." Jocko said with a teasing smile. "I'll see ya later, jerk."
"Maybe you should think more about what she said." Binx piped up from the backpack once Jocko had gone far enough out of earshot.
"Relax Binx , Jocko says Jimmy's cool, so we can trust him, okay?" Craig said. "And keep quiet will ya? I can't let you get caught."
"So you know he didn't cut it with anything toxic? Can we guarantee you won't have a heart attack or … … or …. .. ... or convulsions?" Binx was breathing heavily now. I've already lost my sister, I'm not losing any more family to preventable causes!
Craig sighed and rolled his eyes. "Binx, lay off me, all right? I don't need this lecture from my teacher and a cat all in the same day."
Binx exhaled sharply. "I … ... I just want to protect you." He looked at his paws, his claws extending slightly. Don't fight this … … This is you … ... Don't fight the temptation … ...
I need to … … … ..
" .. .. Fight the temptation ... ..." Binx gasped out as his claws retracted.
"The temptation? What are you talking about?" Craig whispered.
Drat! I didn't mean to say that aloud. "I uh … I mean of course …. uh.. Listen, small indulgences are okay from time to time such as eating a sweet before supper or uh … riding atop a pig once to see what it's like ..."
"Sounds like someone's speaking from experience." Craig chuckled.
Binx laughed a bit too. "Hey I was four! … But what I'm saying is those are simple and … ... relatively … safe. But this "Crack" thing sounds like a bad indulgent."
Craig got his locker and opened it up. "It'll be fine, trust me."
As he was putting stuff away and getting stuff for his next class Jocko approached and leaned against the side of a closed locker. "Yo Craig , I need ten bucks."
Craig got his books in his arms and turned to face Jocko. "What am I, the bank." He turned back to his locker, grabbing another book from the top shelf. "I gave you bucks last week and didn't see diddly!"
Jocko watched as a boy with permed hair and a black jacket with golden and white accents walked by, glaring the two ( three ) of them down. He walked down the hall keeping his gaze upon them.
"Well, unfortunate communication breakdown." Jocko explained as he looked at the boy going down the hall. "Look there's Jimmy right now."
Craig, and Binx with his limited view, watched as the boy in the jacket walked away.
He just looks like trouble .. … .. Craig better not give him the money .. .. … He could feel his back heat up with the power of Hades, like a Hell Fire. His claws forcefully extended. No stop … Stop .. .. .. Go away temptation! Begone!
"Come on!" Jocko urged. "We don't if we don't get it now there won't be anything for the party Saturday night."
Craig exhaled as he reached into his bag for money, dodging hits from Binx's paws, a non verbal attempt to stop him. To buy time for taking he turned to Jocko and asked, "What if he cut it with rat poison, or bleach, or something?"
The question managed to quell Binx's anger for a moment.
"Don't be a jerk, man!" Jocko said. "I already told you, it's cool."
Craig managed to snag the money from Binx and slammed it into Jocko's hand. "You just better save it for Saturday night cause I'm gonna be there man, to party."
"No problem." Jocko said as he started walking away. "Nothing pops until I see your ugly face."
"Better be true Jocko!" Craig teased as he gave him a playful punch in the chest.
"Sucker!" Jocko laughed before heading off.
"What are you doing!?" Binx demanded. "I can't believe you' do something so … so …"
"So what?! Listen, you're not from around this time! I don't need you lecturing me about what's right and wrong okay!? You don't understand anything! " Craig argued.
"Well." Binx huffed. "I might as well leave if you're reacting this way to me caring about your well being!"
"Fine! Get outta here you dumb cat!" He screeched.
Binx jumped out of his backpack and booked it out the door, ignoring gawking looks from the students .. … .. I don't need him! I'll be fine on my own. Binx's claws forcefully extended again as he left the school grounds.