Song : Marijuana - Rilès

sensitive topics and scenes in this chapter. please read with caution.

Bullying Evangeline wasn't anything new.

In fact, Zarek used to bully her ever since she rejected him for the Spring Ball last year. Zarek wasn't one to dress up and go to a school dance but he was willing to try for Eva, but she hurt his ego after she didn't even consider going with him, denying the offer in a heartbeat. He was Zarek Black, for hell's sake, she shouldn't have said no to him.

He didn't want to bully her voluntarily, at least not at first. He didn't trip her the first time, it was totally her fault for being clumsy. He didn't knock off her books, his friends pushed him towards her. And he definitely wouldn't have mouthed her off if she wasn't so stubborn.

Yet it brought a sickingly nice feeling to Zarek. When he saw her hurting, he felt like she deserved it - it was payback for bruising his self-esteem. She never stood up for herself, and Zarek wanted to see just to what extent Eva's patience could reach. Soon enough, it became routine to bully her. Zarek became dull to her tears and pain, and just hurt her because he felt like it.

Now, he might have got her in trouble with the administration - and probably her mother too - and he didn't care, he kept telling himself.

As Zarek stormed away from Evangeline, he couldn't deny the feeling that was cursing through his nicotine polluted veins. He couldn't identify that nagging sensation other than it being guilt. How can it be? Zarek stopped feeling guilty ages ago, why would he feel bad about tormenting Evangeline?

Whatever speck of feelings Zarek might have felt vanished the second his electric green eyes caught sight of Evangeline laughing with Ashton. Both of them were seated too close from each other, Ashton's dangling hand was on his knee, almost touching Eva's thigh.

Zarek roared with rage, his hands fisting on their own. Ryan, and now Ashton too? he thought, What a whore.

Evangeline deserved much, much, worse than a threat. If there was anything Zarek hated more than sluts, it was sluts in disguise. There she was, Evangeline, the sweet, religious girl, playing with the heart of three boys, including his own. Zarek felt disgusted with her and couldn't stand the sight of her.

He headed to the school's parking lot, sitting atop of his Mustang's hood. He took a deep breath, calming his nerves. His body refused the technique, its fast pulse demanding nicotine.

To the hell with it. Zarek got out his Nat Sherman, noticing that only three cigarettes were left. He took one and lightened it, his first inhale desperate and a bit needy. He was immediately relieved, his eyes closing at the satisfaction of the poisonous tobacco in his body.

Zarek's addiction to smoking was controlling his life choices, and its duration for that matter. He was genuinely going to try quitting his bad habit for Evangeline. He thought she was worth it, but it turned out that she was nothing but a slut, just like the rest of them.

"Hey, man," Hunter said, his hands in his leather jacket, as he grinned, "I heard what happened. It was epic, too bad I missed it."

"What's new?" Zarek said, his green eyes a bit dull, "I bullied her all the time."

Here comes that nagging feeling again. He sucked on the cigarette, reminding himself of her position with Ashton. Zarek's body immediately tensed, anger dominating all the other undistinguished feelings.

"But not in front of the whole school," Hunter said, his grey eyes a shade lighter. For a second, Hunter sounded like the rest of them too. "Her mother is a biology teacher, did you forget? You risked her mother knowing, and yet you went for it anyway. And using her own cousin against her? That was brilliant."

"Wow," Zarek exasperated, fog leaving his mouth, "You heard all of that? I didn't take you for a gossip girl."

Hunter shrugged, his grey eyes dark again. "You know what they say; rumors faster than tumors." Hunter eyed Zarek as he sucked on the lightened roll, the smoke leaving his nostrils in small clouds. "And it looks like you have both."

Zarek couldn't help but think that if it was Ryan, then he would have at least tried to snatch the cigarette away, because unlike Hunter, Ryan actually cared. Well, it looks like I lost him too.

Zarek's eyes were a bit teary, his lungs coughing in despair. He smoked more than he breathed, and it made him feel better about himself. For every drag he polluted himself with, it was a breeze that cleansed the atmosphere. "The world is better off without me."

"Anyways," Hunter said, pretending that he didn't hear Zarek's mutter. He leaned against Zarek's car hood, his hand running through his extremely short black hair. "Just a heads up, dude, I'll start going after Evangeline."

"What?" Zarek almost choked on the smoke. "But what about Alisha? I saw you had something going on."

"She's my side chick, why else I didn't mind you kissing her?" Hunter grinned. "Amazing blowjobs, by the way."

"W-what about you're main chick - Anna, right?" Zarek said, "Aren't you back with her?"

Hunter's grey eyes were mischievous. "Nothing new there. I can get her back as easy as I lost her." He nudged Zarek. "Evangeline, however, is something else, isn't she?"

Zarek took another needy drag, resembling a desperate girl sucking a dick - Alisha. Zarek cringed at himself. "Yup," he rasped, the burning sensation in his throat.

"I can see what she did to you," Hunter noted so smoothly, someone wouldn't even have picked up on its meaning. "So, Justin fucked up real bad, huh?"

Zarek was wise enough not to comment on that note, instead he pretended he didn't hear it. "Yeah, he did."

"I heard Trudy won't come to school because of food poisoning, but I doubt that's the real reason."

Again with the gossip girl. Zarek stood up, throwing his finished bud on the parking lot.

"Where to?" Hunter asked.

"Inside," Zarek replied, "Lunch is almost over." Yet my only lunch is a cigarette.

"Since when do you care about school anyways?" Hunter conquered, "Look what I got."

"Not feeling it." Zarek didn't need to look to know what it was. He did not want to go back to that dark circle again. It was a dangerous web, one can never get rid of its stickiness.

"Are you sure man? This shit is all the way from India," Hunter said, flashing a plastic bag with a white bluish powder inside, "It'll mess you up real good in no time."

Zarek's body craved for the substance, the eager having crept back in him. He tried to fight it, or so he thought, because his hands acted on their own, reaching for the forbidden drugs. Zarek's hand rummaged through his pocket, and pulled out the last one hundred bill and gave it to Hunter.

As Hunter took the money, winked at Zarek, and walked away, Zarek couldn't help but recite in his head that Hunter never stoned, even though he was the supplier.

Nonetheless, Zarek sat inside his red Mustang, his tinted windows shielding him from the rest of the world. He opened the clear plastic bag and sniffed it, the familiar rush running in his veins, offering him the much needed comfort.

Zarek had no idea how he got home, the world was blurry and more bearable. He rode the glassy stairs, for once not fearing the see through ground beneath his feet. His legs walked him all the way to his room, seeming careless if he got caught by his dad in such a disgraced state.

"We have to take her to the Hospital, Ben, this is dangerous." Theodore pleaded, "She can die."

"No." Ben's stern voice made the pee in the bladder of little, eavesdropping Zarek threaten to burst out. "She stays."

Zarek was in the balcony now, although he wasn't done with climbing the stairs. He watched the shimmering pool, reflecing the sun that was too bright to belong to the Spring Season. He wanted to take a swim, the water inviting him, but that was effort - he would have to change and go down the staircase again.

His dazed eyes glanced at the glassy garage, his father's Jaguar missing from its usual parking spot. The Mustang was there too. Zarek rubbed his eyes, not remembering how and when he parked it. After two seconds of recalling the forgotten memory, Zarek decided that he didn't really care.

He walked back inside, the sun was too bright for his eyes anyways, and sat on the desk. His sister's booty shorts which he took away from her a while back were staring at him on his lamp. Zarek held the pen and started writing on a random paper. Words kept stumbling out of him, and his hands wrote it for him. He only stared at the filled paper afterwards, wondering how and when exactly he filled it up.

"Why you smoke so much, daddy?" Little Zarek asked, peering at Theodore from his office door. "You didn't do it when mom was with us."

"Leave, son," Theodore hissed, his face stuffed in his scripts. "Daddy is working right now."

A knock startled Zarek. His reaction was slow as shit, but he still managed to crumble the piece of paper and stuff it beneath the booty shorts. The door knocked again, and Zarek almost fell from the chair. He stood up and opened the door, knowing for a fact that it wouldn't be Charlize because she would have barged in - knocking wasn't exactly her thing.

"Hello, Mr. Black," Mrs. Biddy, the fifty-something year-old maid, peaked her head in. "I just saw your car parked in the garage. Aren't you supposed to be at school?"

Of course she saw my car. Everything in that house was transparent. Zarek could bet with his dysfunctional breathing system that if it was up to Theodore, then he would have made the walls see-through as well, living in a house of glass. Someday it'll shred all over his head, Zarek grumbled.

Zarek's electric green eyes were unfocused as he struggled to make out her wrinkly face in his blurred daze. "Stop acting like you care, you're not my mother." Zarek glared at the poor maid, although he couldn't focus his vision on her so his eyes weren't as deathly as he wanted but merely crazy. "What do you want?"

Mrs. Biddy's knees were visibly shaking, her tongue licking her thin lips nervously. "I just wanted to tell you that Mr. Black requested me to clean your car."

"You won't find anything," Zarek had the confidence to say, "So go ahead, do it."

Zarek knew what a request to clean his car meant; inspecting for any damage in the car or clues that a girl had been in it. Theodore's strict rules were so stupid - what was the point in buying an expensive car if he didn't have the right to get rowdy in it? Nonetheless, Zarek appreciated his car too much to risk it, so no girl got a joyride any time recent.

"I already did." Mrs. Biddy gulped, her warm eyes weary. "I found a girl's hair - it was so long and dark that I couldn't have missed it."

Zarek's eyes bulged, his mind racking where it might've came from. That description narrowed it down to... Trudy. Zarek knew it was a mistake to let her in his car - he didn't tolerate backstabbing bitches - but she was basically naked in front of three troublemakers. Zarek wouldn't have been surprised if they raped her right there in that parking lot, even though they didn't really swing that way.

Mrs. Biddy looked down, sighing as if what she was doing was as immoral as killing a baby. "I already got rid of it, but Mr. Black would be so angry and dissapointed if he found out."

"He won't," Zarek assured, although it sounded more like a helpless wish. "Where is he anyways?"

"He's at Black Industry, working on a remake of his first movie ever - Scream For Me."

He's at work with all the pretty actresses, Zarek concluded, an idea forming in his head. He ditched Mrs. Biddy and went down to the first floor to his father's bedroom. Zarek's pale hands twisted the silver doorknob, his eyes meeting the gigantic room.

He headed for the safe in his father's closet, in a desperate need for money. Zarek needed cash in his pockets, and the only way was by taking some from his father. Zarek wasn't one to blame, but his father's cheapness towards him. Zarek would have never stole from his dad if he didn't have any other choice - he even took a bet with Hunter just to avoid ending up in this desperate state. So when he lost that bet along with every bit of allowance he had left, Zarek was as broke as it gets.

"Here's your allowance," Theodore handed Zarek a roll of money. "Make sure to write everything down and give me the bill at the end of the month, or else there will be no allowance next time."

Zarek's fingers guessed at what the lock combination might be, but it wouldn't open each time. Giving up on the safe, Zarek went for the desk in the corner of the room. He searched in the drawers, the only regain was torn, five one-hundred dollar bills. It's better than nothing at all, Zarek thought. He was about to stuff the found money in his pocket when a door opened.

Zarek's eyes snapped to the door, but it was still closed. By the time he figured out it was the bathroom door that opened, his stepmother, Charlize, pressed her wet body against Zarek from behind. Zarek turned around, meeting Charlize' gaze. Her face was makeup free, looking a bit old and mature. Her blond, wet hair was framing her natural face, a seductive smile on her lips.

"What are you doing here?" she sassed, "You can get caught."

He looked down at her, lips pressed tight. "I'm not here for you."

Charlize fake pouted, her wrinkly hand touching Zarek's member over his jeans. "And here I thought you missed me."

Zarek hissed. "Move away."

Charlize smirked, doing as Zarek requested. The second she took a step back, Zarek's eyes couldn't help but trail over her naked body. In a normal day, he wouldn't have been aroused by her that easily, but it must've been the drugs he took.

"Wanna do something fun?" Charlize asked, a glint in her eyes that was so strange for sixteen year-old Zarek, "Follow me to the bedroom, then."

Without even knowing it, Zarek attacked Charlize roughly - the way she liked it - and did with her what he promised himself would never do again.

Zarek laid on his father's side of the bed, Charlize being cuddled next to him, as he stared at the white ceiling. I don't know what I feel. The act was over, and he was back from his high, being a hostage to his dangerous thoughts.

He was the most bastard person in the planet, and what was worse was that Zarek didn't even care. He was cheating on his father, the only person that genuinely cared about him. Theodore gave Zarek so much; he snatched him away from that toxique environment in Farmville, he gave him a well respected last name that he could be proud of, and -regardless of the endless rules- he gave him a wealthy lifestyle with big allowances and fancy cars.

How did Zarek repay Theodore?

By sleeping with his wife.

When Theodore ran away from the prison that held him back - Farmville - after the death of Zarek's mom - Ophelia - Dessertville was his destination. It was the luxurious, old-money city, with the finest facilities and wealth yet the least creativity; the people there were stuck in their boring circle of expensive things and fake acquaintances. It screamed opportunity at Theodore, and Theodore's gut feeling wasn't, fortunately, misplaced.

Anybody would have said the man was beyond crazy - how could a single father with a depressed five year-old and a newborn, all of his savings didn't exceed six digits, survive in this posh city?

But Theodore proved everyone wrong, defeating all expectations - the reason why he didn't have advisors - and Zarek had no idea how he did it. White nights, not taking rejection from investors or companies, and his charming personality and manipulative ways certainly had a troll on gradually building his success, but it wasn't until Charlize came around that money actually started blowing up.

Six years ago, The Grand Carpet took place - the biggest event all year in the entertainment business - and Theodore just happened to invite himself in. He had a project; his first movie, Scream For Me, and he needed to make people know about it. Granted, every celebrity and news reporter wondered about the identity of that handsome devil in an Armani suit, creating the commotion Theodore wanted for his campaign.

The hushed whispers reached Charlize Lexington - the gorgeous diva in a breathtaking champagne colored gown - and just like that, she went ahead and clutched at Theodore's arm like a wife would to a husband, feeding the curiosity that helped grow the fame.

Although he didn't get to make his first movie back then, Theodore Black walked out of that successful event with new investors supporting him, a movie company all for him to manage, and a wife.

Theodore must've thought that Charlize was genuinely interested, seemingly oblivious to the fact that she stuck around because she smelled new money and more movie deals. Zarek was glad that Theodore was at least smart enough not to mix business with pleasure - Theodore never made a movie with Charlize in it, despite her constant pleas and whining.

Zarek remembered the last time they had done something similar. It was three years ago, right before she told him she was pregnant with his kid. While Theodore was in a business trip, Zarek and Charlize had gone too far, making themselves way too comfortable.

Zarek forced Charlize to have an abortion, killing his own child. Zarek shivered at the thought, not believing that he could be having a three-year-old by now. It wasn't easy to rend someone dead - Zarek shed the tears he never shed in his mother's funeral that night - but Zarek knew that his son was better off dead than in the custody of someone like him.

His eyes glanced at the sleeping Charlize next to him, a wave of disgust washing over him. She was too cheap that she would still sleep with him even after manipulating and using her to no end. She is just another hoe.

Talking about hoes - Evangeline. He wasn't going to lie, he was disappointed with her. He really thought she was different, that she was decent, at least.

He had to stop lying to himself and accept the truth - all women were whores.