The good stuff

"One candy bar a day," Allegra told the blonde haired pre-teen. The boy snarled at her and crossed his arms giving her a pouty look and puppy eyes.

"C'mon Allegra, two candy bars and a soda, or just three candy bars," Griff pleaded, his puppy-eyed pouty look still directed to her. Allegra crouched down becoming eye level with him, giving him a face a rabid dog would make. "O.K, O.K one candy bar and a half," Griff tried to compromise, willing to fight back with his own face.

"Ugh fine, but don't tell anyone that you're having another half," Allegra sighed giving him three dollars. "Make sure you get ONE chocolate bar, and a small pack of M&M's," she instructed, cutting down on his sugar consumption wasn't going to be too hard. Griff glanced at the loose change she had placed in his hand and sighed.

"Mac always gave me five," Griff explained grimacing, he was quite calm at the moment, due to he had not had anything to with caffeine in it, which counted as a good thing. "This won't be enough."

"Fine," Allegra growled, becoming a bit irritated taking back the loose change, and giving him a five dollar bill. A small lopsided grin took over Griff's lips and he looked at Allegra, and giggled slightly.

"See ya," he grinned giving her a small finger wave. He picked his board up, and tucked it under his arm. Allegra stood there watching him, shaking her head from left to right. Today she was in charge of watching him, but she didn't feel like it, so she was going to give him a little bit of money to buy something, since she didn't quite feel like snowboarding RIGHT beside him for every second of his day.

Griff found himself going down the slopes with no candy bar in hand. He was heading down to the foot of the hill to the big candy store. Griff glanced down and saw footprints on the slopes, he cocked his head to the right, no one walked one the slopes. He took an abrupt left turn following the foot steps. His hair waved in the slight wind he picked up. He came to a stop and reached down to un-strap himself. He picked up his board, and tucked it under his arm. He examined the foot prints again seeing that there were four or five sets of them. He followed them with caution, they led him under the stands where the people sat to observe the race. He peered around a metal pole seeing five kids crowded around each other, smoke coming up from the group, and they seemed to be drinking something. He approached them, trying not to make a sound. "Um… hello," he peeped, five heads shot towards him, and ten eyes stared intently at him.

"Hey isn't that Griff kid," one of them whispered into the group. A girl peered up over the crowed to verify it is him. She ducked back down and nodded. "Yeah that's him," she added. A boy around his age broke from the crowd and walked towards him, giving Griff and uneasy feeling in his stomach.

"Why are you here?" the boy asked giving him a slight nod. He took a swig from the canteen he was carrying, he seemed a bit woozey. In his hand was the remains of a cigarette, still burning. He flicked the butt down into the snow, and stomped on it. Griff took in a big gulp and sighed.

"I um… uh, found some footprints on the slopes and decided to follow them, and it led me here," he explained kicking the snow. If you took a second look around this place, there were cigarette butts scattered around the powder. The boy shot a glare at him and took another swig from his trick.

"You should've just kept going," he growled, moving closer to him, a slight swagger in his step. The girl who had spoken up the first time parted from the group and placed a hand on the boy's shoulder.

"Chris, just leave 'em be, he didn't know any better," the girl whispered into his ear. Chris pivoted on his foot to face the girl.

"May, keep your goody two shoes groupie nose out of this," Chris warned her, almost falling down in the snow. May held the boy up and gently placed him on a wooden crate. She then wiped off her hands and walked towards Griff. As she got closer, Griff could smell a strong musky smell of liquor.

"Sorry about him," she huffed taking a puff of her cigarette, puffing out the grey smoke into the sky. She continued to step forward, and when she finally stepped Griff could clearly tell she had been drinking, AND smoking. The strong smell made Griff step backwards, and cough slightly. May smirked at him dropping the butt and adding to the collection of cigarettes in the snow. "Not used to the smell eh?" she asked him blowing the remainder of the smoke in his face. Griff squinted, and immediately coughed while the girl just laughed. "Hah, you newbies are hilarious," she giggled taking a swig of her own alcohol.

"I'm no newbie, I own these slopes," Griff growled stomping his foot. His behavior caused May to shake her head and laugh. "What's so funny?" he asked in a demanding voice. May came closer to him, getting right up in his face.

"Not new to the slopes, new to this," she told him, holding up a canteen of alcohol, Griff backed up again becoming intimidated by her. He folded his arms across his chest and sighed.

"Why would I want to be involved with that?" he snarled letting his arms fall to the side. May let out another chuckle and gave him a cheeky grin shaking her head from left to right.

"It's a far cry from chocolate, don't you think? Besides, you don't have to pay a dime, we supply it," May explained, they were always looking for new people, especially since this kid was famous. "And some of it even tastes like candy," she tempted him with every word she said. Griff took a deep breath and let out a sigh.

"But… can't it kill you?" he asked May, remembering what his mother had told him only a year ago. "That's what my mom told me."

"Hah, so you're a mommy's boy eh? Figures for someone of your status, all the stars are mommy's boys," May teased him, taking another drink out of her canteen.

"I am not!" Griff argued in a feisty tone. He stepped forward grabbed the canteen and took a large sip, hating the taste; this obviously wasn't the candy stuff. And it didn't help that there was a strong taste of tobacco mixed in. May grabbed her canteen back and smiled.

"OK… maybe you aren't a mommy's boy," she told him turning around and nodding to another member of the group. The boy tossed May a canteen, and she handed it to Griff. "Hmph, there you go, rum and coke," she told him. Griff swished the drink around, and grimaced. "Well…" May edged him on. Griff twisted the cap off and took a sip from it. After verifying he liked the taste, he took a large swig of it. Happy with the way Griff had taken a huge gulp of the drink, May patted him on the back and smiled. "I take it, you like it eh?" she asked him, Griff nodded in reply and took another sip. "How about a cigarette?" she offered flipping one from her package. Griff glanced at the long stick; in it were of course tobacco, and other chemicals his mother told him about. He took the stick out of the package and held it out to be lit. He just wanted to fit in with the crowd. A grin tugged at the corner of her lips as she lit the cigarette. Griff put one end to his mouth, and sucked on it, inhaling the smoke. Immediately he pulled the cigarette from his mouth and started coughing, he blew out the smoke and looked at May. She shook her head and sighed. "It happens to all the newbies, try again," she told him. Griff nodded and took another try, the process went a little smoother this time, he pulled the cigarette from his mouth and blew out the smoke and tapped the stick letting the ashes fall to the ground. "Perfect," May applauded him.

Author's Note: As soon as get some more reviews, I will post the next chapter. )