Chapter 4

"Ben! Hurry the fuck up!" yelled the short redhead. He was standing near the fountain in the center of the Jackson Prep courtyard.

The courtyard was surrounded by benches, which all sat by themselves. The leaves of the oak trees which rested against the dorm buildings that lined each four sides of the courtyard had just turned orange. Dead leaves and a slip of paper blew across the courtyard, between the redhead and a corkboard with a note attached that Ben was reading.

Ben turned his head and was blinded by the intense sight of red. The red leaves, the red bricks that made up the courtyard and the redhead's hair -- he rubbed his eyes for a moment.
"I'll be right there. Chill out," said Ben, who had turned back to the bulletin board. "Come here! You have to read this," Ben motioned him to come over.

"Damnit. We're gona be late. Everyone is going to be waiting for us," said the redhead.

"Scotty, just come here. You need to read this," said Ben, this time assertively.

Scotty walked over, and stopped at the fountain, about 5 feet away from where Ben stood. "Just read it to me," he said.

"Fine. ‘Attention all students: it has come to my understanding that several transactions have been made involving drugs between a group of students and Jacksonville residents. The most information we have as of now, is that the drug deals occurred sometime between 2-4 AM three days ago in the woods. Please let myself, or any other faculty member, law enforcement officer or administrator know if you have any tips on the whereabouts of the dealers, buyers, or drugs involved. Thank you, Leonard Horris, Head of Security'" As Ben read, Scotty's face became stone white.

Ben turned to Scotty. "You woke me up 3 days ago at 1:30 and told me you were going out for a cigarette. Is there something you're hiding from us, Scotty?"

"Yeah, fine. I deal drugs sometimes. Just for extra cash though. But look, please, don't fucking tell anyone. They'll send me straight to the hospital. That place was fucking hell. Please, Ben. Please."

A look of pity flashed across Ben's face, and after a moment, he nodded. "Fuck. Let's just go. They're probably pissed that we're not there, anyways."

Ben and Scotty turned around and walked towards the North gate that arched halfway up the dorms. There were 8 dorm buildings bordering the courtyard, 2 on each side. Each pair was separated between them with a gate and an arch which, at the very top, had an engraved cursive N, S, E and W.

As they passed under the arch and saw the edge of the woods, Scotty chuckled and said to Ben, “Hey Ben, I think I found a new name for us.”

“What is it?” asked Ben, with a look of disapproval.

“‘The Group’,” said Scotty.

“What an amazing name. How original,” said Ben, with sarcasm easily detectable in his voice.

“It’s your turn to chill out, Ben. So I sell dope. What’s the big deal? It’s not like I’m out mugging kids and raping chicks.”

“Just shut the fuck up and walk,” said Ben as they entered the woods.

“Damn, Ben. What crawled up your ass and died?” Retorted Scotty.

“Just fucking walk,” said Ben, his anger rising every time Scotty opened his mouth.

“Fine, fine. Damn,” responded Scotty, defeated.

As Ben and Scotty walked through the woods, Scotty occasionally attempted to re-establish a conversation with Ben, only to be shot down again. Scotty tried four times, and on the last try, the church came in sight.

“Hurry up,” mumbled Ben angrily as he jogged up steps to the church, which looked less wicked in the late afternoon’s light. Scotty casually walked up the steps and went into the church.

The pews were tattered, but not unpleasant, and the walls were graffiti free. 13 people sat in the twelve different pews, separated by a worn old purple carpet leading to the podium. Ben sat down on the pew in the last isle next to a tall guy with long brown hair, and motioned for Scotty to keep walking.

“You’re late, Ben,” said the guy with brown hair.

“Hey Rege,” Ben stood up and addressed everyone in the church, “Sorry Scotty and me were late, we got, well, distracted.” He gave Scotty the evil eye for a moment, and sat down.

Rege stood up a few seconds after Ben had sat down, and walked to the front of the church. He sat down on the second of three steps leading to the alter, with his legs kicked out in front and his elbows resting on his knees.

“We’ve all seen the bulletin. Some asshole is dealing drugs in the woods,” Rege addressed the church. “Which wouldn’t be so bad, but now everyone here has become a suspect. Tell me, how many of you have been brought in for questioning? And treated as a hostile suspect?”

Eight hands raised, then six more. Everyone had their hand raised, except Scotty. Everyone turned and looked at him, and people started whispering.

“Why do you think that you weren’t brought in for questioning, Scotty?” Someone asked.

“Yeah, do you know something we don’t, asshole?” Said another voice.

“Eric, Kevin, sit down. I’m sure it’s not his fault. He probably just doesn’t have anything making a black mark on his record, right Scotty?” a girl with brown hair and eyes said to Scotty.

Scotty was unresponsive for just a moment as his heart skipped a beat.

“Actually Erin, I was doing the drug deals.”

The whispers stopped.

Rege spoke up, “Why are we getting questioned, Scotty? You wana fuck up your life, fine, but why the fuck are we getting questioned?”

“I told the security that it was some of you, and, I just don’t know what I was thinking. I can explain, though. Horris came to my dorm and told me I was going to be searched. And, I needed time, I had some grass on me, I needed time to ditch it! So I told him that you looked like the person who would deal, Rege. I don’t know how he got the rest of you,” shamlesley said Scotty.

Rege stood up and walked over to Scotty, who was sitting in the third pew on the left side. He got down on one knee, and got eye to eye with him. Rege’s breathing was so hard and controlled, it looked like he was about to kill Scotty.

“Get out.”