Tell Me Your Truths

Chapter 7: Ayla

"No."

"What? What do you mean no?"

I sigh. This was always the hardest part of my job. Not the hiding from school staff or the smuggling of weed through the halls. It was the refusal to sell merchandise to near-addicts who first promised me they'd know when enough is enough.

But they always don't follow on their promises. A bunch of liars.

Christina, a junior year student first came to me last year asking for Adderall claiming that she needed to stay awake for her studies and maintain her spot on the potential Valedictorians list while balancing babysitting her little brothers and a part-time job at Uncle Bean's diner.

I sympathized with her on the condition that she wouldn't abuse taking it.

The once chubby sophomore was now a stunning size one with overwhelming make up and a hair that screams a hundred thousand likes on a recent i********: post wearing a bikini on the beach.

Her calls got increasingly more frequent demanding a steady supply every two weeks.

"Come on, Ayla. You gotta hook me up," she pleads, her eyes glamoured in desperation.

I've dealt with addicts my whole life, I got my first glimpse at their panic of an involuntary withdrawal three years ago right when I started out and it was not good. Christina looked about on the verge of tears.

I'm standing my ground. "I gave you a fresh batch last week."

Her footing shifted. "I'm just restocking, that's all." I can smell bullshit under the guise of distress.

"Then you know where to find me when your stock runs out."

"Please, Ayla! I need it. Just a couple more and I'll stop. I swear."

Ah, bargaining. That's what she also said the last time.

I shake my head. "You broke your promise, Christina. I'm afraid I can't be of service to you anymore."

Her eyes shifted. The once sweet and tender glow turned dark and intimidating. It would've looked scary if her hair weren't covered with pink clips and a headband.

"You're going to regret that, Ayla. I swear, you're dead if you don't sell me a bottle right now."

I snort. "Cute. You know better not to make threats you can't uphold."

Though I know she's too much of a nice girl to hurt me and Adderall was to blame for her behavior right now , I want her to know exactly who she was being hostile to before she gets any more wise ideas.

She doesn't back down. "I don't fuckin' care if you're screwing Jenkins, I'll come after him too if you don't give me a bottle." That idea was just borderline stupid.

"As much as I love to see that, I'm sorry, Chris. I just can't."

He eyebrows nosedived. "You're full of s**t, Ayla."

That's enough of that. "We're done here." I turn around and walk away from her before she'd loose all sense and risked it all by landing a slap on my cheek. Wouldn't be the first time I'd get hit. Most of the girls who I cut off when they're on the verge of falling into a pit of sordid euphoria tend to make my face sting.

I didn't go far, however, when she pulled my elbow back hard stopping me from entering the back door of the cafeteria.

When I whipped around, she was nowhere to be seen until I look down. She was on her knees begging, her school uniform collecting dirt from the ground.

Now she's making a fool of herself.

"Jesus, Christina." I rush to pull her up, but she resists, almost taking my weight down with her. God, she was like an elephant. "Get up. You're better than this."

She shakes her head rapidly, still being as stubborn as ever despite my mind already set on my final decision.

"I'm not selling you anymore, Chris. We're done." Now I know why honest drug dealers don't have that many friends.

Her head turns up, the scowl still ever present on her face. "If you don't give me my bottle I'm telling Schofield about your little operation in his school."

I roll my eyes. That's what you get for selling drugs to a teacher's pet.

I went up to my limit. If she thinks she can have a hold of me then she's never more wrong in her life.

My arms drop to my side as I stood straight, my eyes looking down on her helpless body on the gravel.

"Go ahead." Christina looked confused. "I mean that's if you don't want to loose your perfect record."

Her eyes widen. That's right, she's not the only one who knows how to play dirty. Though it wasn't as much worse as what she's threatening me with since dealing was more punishable than taking.

Since I've got as much to loose as she did, simply tattling wouldn't put the fear of God in her.

"Or child services to take your brothers. I know your mom hasn't been at the house for quite some time now, is she?" I hate to be a b***h and threaten her for my benefit but I had to have ways to protect myself while being in this line of business somehow.

Ridgewood High students were as rotten and self-righteous as they come. I wouldn't trust them even if my life depended on it. So every single person I deal with, I always take a background check in case of instances like these.

I was in the running for a good clean record and good grades which was my ticket to a good scholarship in Belldon University of Chicago. They have this amazing Psychology program that I dreamed of taking after I graduate. My father went there for three years until he decided he wanted to pursue his music career being a professional pianist and dropped out.

I've already made calls last year and practically fell in love with the program they were offering. It was perfect, minus the fact that I couldn't afford it even if I spent a whole year working my ass off double shifts at the gym. They only way I could afford it was availing their scholarship program.

And I took that seriously. Nothing will get in the way of me getting that scholarship. I've already sent an advance application and have yet to hear from the administration.

Christina's lips turned down, her eyes were glassy with unshed tears. I hate to do it but I had to. I'm not letting her flush her future down the drain over some petty drug that made boys stare at her ass and girls stop talking behind her back.

"You don't need Adderall, Chris. Trust me. You're better of off without it." She doesn't say anything as I left her wallowing in realization that she's got a lot to lose.

I shook the weak girl in the ground off my mind hoping that guilt won't consume me the rest of the day. I did the right thing. What I did was right. I keep telling myself that over and over.

Even until I passed by Maddie's table of dietary menu of which consisted of green s**t and mayonnaise. How she was able to resist pizza the lunch lady served today was beyond me. Lord knows the cheerleaders won't turn obese at a single bite of tomato sauce and cheese.

I silently stare at her long bright hair currently sprawled over Elio's shoulders, the two of them laughing as she sat comfortably on his lap.

The school's perfect couple. The head cheerleader and captain of the football team. They'd make fine babies in three years or so.

My heart jolts at the small pang that was always hurting me whenever I see them both happy together.

I was ecstatic for my friend, I really am. At least one of us gets to have fun with their significant other every day, right?

I just didn't like the fact that it was Maddie of all people.

And the small twinge of jealousy I had at the fact that he chose her over me three years ago.

Elio buries his head behind her neck, trailing soft kisses down her back as if no one was watching them. Maddie pretends it does nothing to her but her eyes flutters for a second, smiling at the joke her friends were making.

I force myself to look away. There was no good in wishful thinking. Elio wasn't mine. He never was. I'll settle for being his friend any day even if it meant coming to me for relationship advices pertaining the queen b***h and their hundred arguments in a single month.

I'm one to talk. Cole and I fight just as much as them. Maybe that's why Elio and I were so close. We had at least one thing in common.

I pass my table where Jon, Taylor, and Dole sat. We, Cole's crew, needed to stick together.

There were five of us, the only exception to the territory wars the idiots kept in place. We get to stay in RH if we don't meddle or spy for Cole. If we did, well, let's say the last guy who drew a map of the school for Cole's benefit got a rippled eye and a swollen lip almost left for dead in the middle of the forest.

"Hey, Ayla," Jon greeted me and I return with a smile.

"Where have you been?" Taylor asked, him being the usual moody guy he always was.

I knew why. They all pretend to be my friend but the truth was that they were being paid to be my friend.

No, they were being paid to keep tabs on me.

Cole fronts like he doesn't know what I was talking about when I confronted him, but three of his men enrolling at RH at the same time with at least one of them in my classes was suspicious as hell.

"Business," I clip when I was in earshot.

But I wasn't in the mood to eat lunch so I keep walking.

Taylor scrunched up his nose. "Where do you think you're going?"

"To the bathroom," the lie perfectly rolls off my tongue.

"Alone?"

I stop to glare at him. If I wanted a babysitter I would've asked my neighbor's sixteen-year-old. "You want to hold my hand while I pee? Is that part of your job description?"

"No, but being Cole's b***h is," Dole comments.

Jon threw him a pea. "And you aren't? Face it, we're all his bitches, only Taylor is even more so."

They both laugh but Taylor doesn't find humor in their insults.

"f**k you." He doesn't deny being under Cole's pocket and looks back to his peas. "Make it fast."

He was taking his job way too seriously. "You work for Cole not suck his dick."

Jon and Dole laughed, smacking his back mockingly. "No, but he does it for pleasure."

Taylor throws them the finger and they howl like boys do in a game garnering a few dirty looks from nearby tables. I laugh with them. If I can't hurt Cole for putting dogs behind my back at the only place where I'm free of his mangling tendencies, I could at least deflect it on his goons who so readily accepted their jobs.

"Hey, Ayls." Jon throws me a protein bar. "Figured you'd be hungry doing the devil's work."

I chuckle. That's one way to call him.

"Thanks, Jon." He smiles at me warmly then turns back to mocking his friend.

I think you know who I found more friendlier than the three.

Inside the girl's bathroom, I was able to breathe.

Only, I spoke too soon. The fifth horsemen of Cole's crew stood behind the sink, a compact powder snug against her left hand.

Cambrie looked extremely out of place with her cheer squad uniform and mild make up where there used to be black eyeliner and lipstick than what I'm used to.

I snort at her. "You look stupid."

Her eyes find mine on the mirror and she smiles menacingly at me as if she knew something I didn't. "You're just jealous."

I cross my arms. Ever the pleasant girl that one was. "With what, the tight red ribbon that tugs on your scalp? Yeah, I'm extremely jealous of receding hairlines and falling hair."

She snapped her compact shut, putting them back into the pocket of her skirt. "Insult me all you want doesn't change the fact that I'm Cole's favorite now."

Because she got almost the entire cheer squad and football team to be her regular customer? Sure, I'll pretend to act surprised when Cole denies her advance to try and kiss his d**k.

She planned this little ruse of her last year to boost the sales of Cole's merchandise since his business took a really big hit after the warehouse fire. I didn't think she'd actually go for it but I guess she really did have the hots for Cole to fit her tiny ass into this mini skirt.

"You want me to compete against you for my boyfriend's feelings?" I chuckle. "Dude, have fuckin' fun with that."

I brush past her and into one of the stalls. I lean my head against the door. If only it were that easy to let Cole go. Deep down I know I'm stuck with him 'till however long he still wants me.

Part of me wants to know the feeling of being free of him. Free from the obligations he burdens my shoulders with. The restrictions of who I can or can't hang out with.

I love Cole with all my heart, I do. It's just that sometimes, my mind wonders what it feels like for me to love someone else. Someone who doesn't make me feel like I have a leash on my neck and he holds the other end of it.

"Mock all you want, but at the end of the day we both know your heart doesn't truly lie with Cole."

I force out a breath. If I let my thoughts slip from my mouth, I don't know how Cole will take it. He's not exactly the forgiving type.

"Whatever helps you sleep at night Cambrie." I force a carefree tone so not to let her suspicious. She liked to twist words and making a big deal out of small s**t when it comes to me.

Sometimes I feel like she was going to be what pulls me and Cole eventually apart.

From the other side of the door, Cambrie huffs stomping way from the bathroom knowing she didn't get to me. Or so she thought.

I pull the toilet seat closed and parked my ass down, letting fear and worry consume me whole.

Truth of the matter was, Cole will always be mine and I will be his.

And sometimes, I don't think that's always a good thing.