***Taylor’s POV***

                “So who is that girl Gavin?” I asked and blew out the smoke. I looked at Gavin and he smirked at me. “Got a little crush going Tay?” he asked and took another drag. He coughed. We had just finished smoking weed.

                “Nah man. Who is she?” I asked. “She’s Emi. She’s my best friend.” He coughed a few times. I got thoughtful. She was really pretty. I never trusted people. But something in my head told me that she was safe to trust.

                “What’s she like?” I asked, sipping on my beer. I was too sober for my liking. Gavin shrugged. It was just me and him right now, chilling in my backyard.

                He leaned back and nearly fell over. “She’s really nice and funny,” he said, steadying himself against a tree. “Trustworthy?” He nodded and coughed again. “Definitely. I would trust Emi with my life. Her and Craig.”

                I didn’t care for that guy. He judged me too much. Thought I was bad because I was never sober. He didn’t know anything about me. I didn’t judge him just because he was straightedge. But something in my head warned me that he wasn’t someone to trust. He was bad. If I trusted him, he would hurt me.

                I finished smoking my cigarette and put it out. I pulled out my cigarettes and offered another one to Gav. He thanked me as he took it. I lit my cigarette and put it in my mouth. I blew the smoke out of my nose thoughtfully.

                I nearly smirked. The first time I had ever smoked, I had accidently blown the smoke out of my nose and choked on it in surprise. I had been such a newbie.

                Gav coughed a few more times before flipping his hair out of his face and blowing the smoke out of his mouth. I looked down at my torn Converse. There was a rip in one of them where you could see my sock. I put my finger in the rip and poked my foot.

                Gav was watching me curiously. “You want to hang out with us sometime?” he asked. I shrugged and nodded. “Sure. When?” He shrugged. “Tomorrow?” I nodded. “Sounds good.” I blew out the smoke and felt myself relaxing.

                Smoking always helped me relax. It felt like I was blowing out all my problems in that cloud of smoke. “Want to invite Caiden and Cam over?” I asked after a few minutes of comfortable silence. Gav nodded and I texted Caiden and Cam.

                A few minutes later, we were all sitting in my kitchen. We poured pills into a bowl and mixed them up. We began to pass the bowl around, each taking a pill and swallowing it.

                “Hey guys; let’s snort smarties!” Cam cried, pulling a pack of smarties out of his pocket. He set them on the table and we began to crush them until they were nothing more than powder.

                We each took some of the crushed up smarties and began to snort it. Having snorted all of my little pile of it, I sat up straight and fought back a sneeze.

                Caiden sneezed and a cloud of powder came out. We all began to laugh violently at him as he tried not to sneeze another cloud of powder out.

                My brain was getting foggy, just the way I liked it. I grabbed another pill out of the bowl and swallowed it down, chasing it with some beer. My friends voices were all mixing together and I got a grin on my face.

                But the thought of hanging out with Emi stayed clear in my mind.