I didn't mind. Obviously the word on the fight had not leaked to the wrong set of ears. If it had, I probably would have been pulled into the principal's office to talk to the cops. After all, what I'd done was felony assault. Not that I was worried about that either. Would the cops really believe that I'd done such a thing?
Finally someone came over to ask me about it. It was one of the hard- core stoner crowd; a group that I'd sometimes hung out with but had never really been a part of. I remembered smoking grass with the guy, who was a junior, on occasion, but I couldn't remember his name. He had long, unkempt black hair and the beginnings of a mustache on his lip. I wondered if he knew how ridiculous it looked. He approached carefully, as if I might suddenly lash out at him.
"What's up dude?" He asked me.
I shrugged. "Not much. What's up with you?"
"Nothin'." He paused. "I heard you got in a fight with Richie Fairview today."
"You could say that." I agreed.
"I heard you put him in the hospital."
"Wouldn't know about that." I replied. "But I doubt he'll be rippin' off people for a while." I smiled. "And if he does decide to go back into business, he might just think twice about who he fucks with."
The stoner who's name I couldn't remember grinned. "You know karate or somethin'?"
I shook my head. "Nope. Just a little about psychology and life."
His eyes widened. "Trippy." He finally said, reminding me of a phrase I hadn't heard in a while. "Listen, me and Raisin and Debbie are gonna blow this scene and head over to Raisin's house. Smoke some buds and listen to some AC\DC. You wanna come with us?"
I didn't have the slightest idea who Raisin might be, but I knew who Debbie was, even without a last name supplied. She was a cute, though skanky redhead that hung out with the stoners. She always kept close to whomever possessed the little baggie, hanging all over them and flirting with them. But, if I remembered correctly, she very rarely gave up any pussy. The polite term for her would be cock-tease. And no matter how many times they failed to get laid by her, they still fell for it every time. Thinking of her made my dick stir a little in my pants again. She was older than I was, sure, but I was definitely more experienced. Could I seduce her? And even if I couldn't, the thought of smoking a little grass was appealing in and of itself. As a paramedic we were drug tested. I hadn't smoked any pot in the last seven years.
"I'm in." I told him, standing up and throwing the remains of my burrito in the nearest garbage can.
Apparently Raisin was the one with the pot. I remembered him when I saw him. He was a short, bleached blonde who, like many short people, had adapted humor as his defense. He was one funny motherfucker. We climbed into his car; an early seventies Ford Falcon. My as-yet- unnamed friend and I climbed in the back. Debby climbed in the front with Raisin, who was looking real hopeful about his chances.
As he screeched out of the school parking lot Debbie giggled. "Fire up a joint NOW Raisin." She said. "C'mon. Getting stoned always get me horny."
"Can't Baby." Raisin replied, turning a corner at near-suicidal speed. "Don't have any rolled yet. Just hold your titties for a few. We have to get some papers."
She feigned a pout at his words and I took a moment to appraise her. She really was pretty good looking in a future trailer trash sort of way. Her red hair appeared natural, her tits firm and jiggly. As was the style of the eighties, she had on too much make-up. But I felt I could live with that. She was a sixteen-year-old girl, fresh no matter how skanky she appeared. I was determined to bag her. I thought I knew how.
Raisin pulled the Falcon into the parking lot of a gas station/convenience store. He backed into a spot near the back corner.
"Okay, here's the deal." Raisin told my back seat companion and me. "Bill, how much money you got?"
I shrugged. "About three bucks or so."
"Good." Raisin said. "You go up to the counter and buy a candy bar or something. Lonnie," He turned to my now-named companion. "While he's got the clerk distracted, you swipe a pack of papers from the display."
"Man, I hate doing this shit." Lonnie whined. "Why don't we just use a toilet paper roll or somethin'?"
"Do I look like a fuckin' barbarian?" Raisin enquired. "I refuse to smoke out of something that used to hold paper that I use to wipe my ass with. Just get the fuckin' papers."
Lonnie exited the vehicle, still whining, and I exited with him.
"Why don't we just buy the papers?" I asked, following behind him.
"Cause," He explained, as if I was an idiot. "They won't sell 'em to kids."
"As far as I know it's not against the law to buy papers." I opined. "Let me handle this."
Lonnie was doubtful but obviously agreeable to anything that didn't put him in harm's way. I pushed through the door of the store, making a little bell chime. The clerk was smoking a cigarette and watching a small television set. He was about twenty or so and looked as if he'd been rolling up some herb himself. He eyed us suspiciously as we entered.
I pulled out my money and then pulled a pack of zig-zags from the display and put them down on the counter. The clerk looked at them for a minute and then looked at me.
"How old are you kid?" He asked, taking a puff off of his smoke.
"Fifteen." I said.
"Uh huh. And what are you going to do with those? Let me guess, they're for your father."
"Nope." I said simply, shaking my head. "They're for my friends and myself. You see, we just scored some killer bud and now we want to smoke it. That requires papers, as I'm sure you're aware. So, how much?"
The clerk stared at me for a moment, not saying anything.
"Now come on." I said reasonably. "Would you rather we came in and tried to steal them? That would be counter-productive for all concerned, wouldn't it? We're not asking to buy cigarettes, just papers. They're not controlled substances are they?" I smiled. "C'mon, didn't you used to cut school and get stoned? Help out the younger generation here."
He stared for another instant and then began to chuckle. "Fuckin' classic." He said, shaking his head. He picked up the pack of zig-zags and rang them up. "Seventy-nine cents." He said.
I started to hand him a buck and then paused, my eyes looking at a display behind him.
"Oh," I said. "And how about givin' me a three pack of those Trojans there? The unlubricated ones." I winked at him. "We got a girl with us too and I think I might find some use for them."
"That was fuckin' radical." Lonnie proclaimed as we left the store. "Totally!"
"Let me tell you somethin' Lonnie." I told him. "I've found that you'll get a lot farther in life using that approach then tryin' to sneak around the issue. Keep that in mind."
"Trippy." He said again. "But why'd you buy the rubbers? You don't think you're gonna get into Debbie do you?"
"You never know." I told him. "It's best to be prepared for any eventuality."
"Avent-you-what?"
"Never mind." I said, opening the back door. The condoms were in my pants pocket. The papers I tossed to Raisin. "Let's go get stoned." I told him.
As I suspected she would be, Debbie was putty in my hands. We went to Raisin's house, which was actually an apartment. I'd been in the apartment complex many times as a paramedic on calls. It was populated with various varieties of unemployed trash living off of welfare. It was strange being in them in a way. They looked exactly the same as they had\would in my when. Raisin's mom, a single mother, was employed and spent the day at her job. This made Raisin's apartment a favored locale for school cutting, pot smoking teenagers. The apartment was cleaner than most I entered on calls, but not by much. It was a two bedroom and there were dishes scattered everywhere but at least the laundry was picked up and there were no roaches in evidence. The entire place reeked of stale cigarette and pot smoke.