Shit got real.

I'm not a bad guy, but I have to admit, I've caused a little bit of trouble in my first 21 years of life. Some of it probably would have landed me in jail...if I had let myself be caught by the police, but so far I haven't. I've proven myself to be pretty good at escaping from just about every situation.

It was a skill I was going to need.

I was out for a walk. Okay, I was out looking go score. My usual dealer, Scotty, had gotten busted, so I'd gone down near the park where I just so happened to know that one of his 'business associates' hung out. He was a skuzzy-looking dude, but as long as he sold me my shit, I did not care.

I saw him standing near his usual spot talkiny to two mem in suits. My first thought was that these guys were cops, but as I got closer it became clear that that wasn't the case. These were wise guys. Probably the guys who actually ran the dealers.

"I'll get it my man," the dealer said. "No big deal."

"Get it? You never should have lost my drugs in the first place."

"I didn't lose them. My stash was in the trunk of my car, which I let my old lady borrow to go visit her mom. I'll have them tonight, Mr. Hammer, I swear."

It hit me at once who he was talking to. That was Vince "the Hammer." I'd heard his last name, but it was something ethnic I couldn't pronounce or spell. He was a mid-level mob boss accused of over a dozen murders, but never convicted. It seemed the witnesses always disappeared.

"His bitch has them, you hear this?" the Hammer asked the other well dressed man. "First Scotty gets busted selling to tweens and now you let that fat bitch take off to Jersey with half a million dollars in cocaine in her trunk?"

"Easy Mr. Hammer, my girls is solid," the dealer said. "No reason to insult her. She ain't gonna steal nothing, she don't even like coke. She'll be back at my place by midnight."

"No shit she don't do coke," Hammer said. "I've seen her big ass. Tommy, send your boys to his place to wait for her. He's at 300 West Street, apartment four. She'll be driving an old Mazda 300, black."

"Easy, bro, no reason to send out the muscle, I promise everything is safe," the dealer said. He stepped forward and put his hand on Hammer's arm.

The Hammer reacted quickly. He shoved the dealer backwards and suddenly had a gun in his hand. In the blink of an eye he fired three shots into the other man, who collapsed to the ground.

"Don't fucking touch me!" the Hammer yelled at the dead or dying dealer. He turned his head towards Tommy, who was now on the phone. "Find that fat bitch and get my drugs back."

Then the Hammer turned his head and looked right at me. Our eyes locked and I knew at once I was fucked. Man, I just wanted a fix. Was that too much to ask?

"Fuck," Hammer said. He started to raise his arm, and I bolted.

I may have a drug problem, but I'm fast. I was the fastest kid on my high school's cross country team. I whould have gone to college on a scholarships and made something of myself, but I fucked that up by getting busted on a possession charge.

I left the Hammer and Tommy in my dust. I made it two blocks before they could even get back to their car, and felt like I was safe. But cellphones are even faster than me. A black SUV turned out of an alley and suddenly someone was shooting at me.

I took off again, but it seemed ever block I turned down had another black SUV on it looking for me. That was when I found myself at the front gate of The Academy, an all-girls "college" for wealthy delinquents. It was the place the rich people sent their screw up daughters when they didn't trust them not to become an embarrassment being away from home at a regular college. Its students were often either young celebrities or the children of celebrities, although there were a lot of non-famous kids there to. The Academy would take anyone who paid tuition.

As I stood at the gate, a limo rolled by me, leaving a dark headed girl standing on the stoop with a stack of suitcases. She flipped the car the bird and then walked defiantly after it, leaving her luggage.

"Fucking send me to this place?" she said. "Fuck you, dad."

She stopped when she was right in front of me and stared at the limo. I didn't recognize her at all, meaning she wasn't a celebrity. She was about my size and not really very attractive.

"Fuck this place," she said, looking at me. "He said he was dropping me off here to get me clean, but the truth is he's going to spend a year in Fiji with his model girlfriend. Fuck them."

The girl ripped off her black wig and slung it at me. Then she unbuttoned her uniform blouse, dropping it on the ground at her feet, and bent over and pulled off her plaid skirt. She stood there in just a white bra and panties, and a pair of sneakers.

"Enjoy the show, asshole?" she asked. Then she smiled. "You holding? I'd suck your cock for a hit."

I was in fact holding, just enough for one more fix. In the face she wasn't so hot, but from the neck down she wasn't bad. A little flat chested, but a fit body and nice ass.