Effy took the last drag of her joint before stubbing it out with her Converse. Now happily stoned, she sighed dramatically and walked into run-down Community Center she was leaning against.

She wondered why her life had led her to this. Then she remembered her parent's toxic marriage, her brother's misfortunes and her own toxic ex-lovers. All had left a deep imprint on Effy's psyche and therefore influenced her actions greatly. From a very young age, Effy didn't see much point in speaking. Her parents even resorted to getting a counsellor to try and get her to speak, but that was, of course, a pointless exercise. She only began speaking again after Tony's accident.

Effy abruptly stopped her overthinking when she bumped into a middle-aged man.

"Hello, I'm here to community service," Effy tripped over her words. She was more stoned than she realised.

The man furrowed his brows in a condescending manner, "You're Effy, I'm presuming?"

Effy nodded her head. She was nervous and realised that avoiding talking to this prick would be a wise mood in this state.  

"Great. I'm not used to your kind arriving early," the man handed her a clipboard. "Just sign your name here, it's the register." Whilst Effy wrote her signature, he sniffed up suspiciously.

"Shit", Effy thought. "He knows I'm high as a kite."

The man looked him up and down. Effy was too high for this tension.

"Go change into your new uniform. The locker rooms are down the hall. Unisex, unfortunately, so be careful. You can't trust this lot", the man warned.

Great. More shit to worry about, at least he didn't mention the stench of weed on her clothes and hair. Effy thanked him and began walking down the hallway.

"Stonem", his stern voice echoed. Effy turned around with raised eyebrows. He continued, "A word of advice for your future sessions: don't come whilst under the influence."

"Does that mean I can leave whilst under the influence?" she snarkily replied. Effy's sassiness was already coming through and she had been here for 10 minutes. She sharply turned back around and made her way casually to the locker room.

The room was thankfully empty. She found her 'uniform' hanging on a hook near the full-length mirror. She scoffed at the ugly, orange overall that she now must wear for a month. Ew. She found an empty locker, fished out a 20p from her denim short pocket and began undressing. She shoved her backpack into the locker and her jacket. She started to pull her tank top over her head but stopped midway when she heard a toilet flush and a cubicle door open.

Effy peered through her top, which was covering her face. She saw the same shade of dirty orange. Not the best first impressions, but she's had worse. She pulled her top back down to cover her exposed body to find the whole figure smugly grinning at her.

The grin belonged to a curly-headed boy with a tall and skinny frame. His cheekbones and jawline were extremely sharp, and his eyes were a piercing green/hazel and were locked with Effy's bright blue pupils.

"Do you mind?" Effy snapped in her soft voice.

"Not at all", he replied. He walked over to the side of her and leaned against the side of her locker. "Do you?"

"'Do I' What?" She replied.

The boy held out a thick and perfectly rolled joint.

Effy smiled at the sight and looked back at the boy's eyes. His were again locked onto hers with a glimmer of cheekiness.

"C'mon then", he grabbed her hand and lead her to the disabled toilet whilst she giggled.