Chapter 4

“Please, you have to help me!” Darius begged, pointing to his messed-up ankle.

Warren looked away, ashamed. “I can’t. I want to, believe me. We disposed of it all last night after school. There is no more.”

“But you can just make more...” Miguel argued. “Warren, if he doesn’t play, the scouts might walk. He might not get a scholarship at all, man.”

“Why can’t he just take some regular painkillers or something?” asked Warren skeptically. “Why does it have to be Heat?”

Frustrated, Miguel’s voice raised, “You know why! It temporarily numbs pain and increases the activity of pleasure receptors. It’s why the girls can take it in the ass easily while on it. It should last long enough to get him through the game.”

“Ok, I know, but aren’t you also risking a worse injury?” Warren tried to rationalize his concerns with this plan.

Darius was ready, though. “It’s a moderate sprain, nothing too serious, minimal swelling. It’s only lateral movement that’s a problem with the ligaments right now, but for basketball, that’s really important. But I’ll have all summer to recoup and will be ready to go in the fall.”

This was one area Darius knew well. As a hopeful future student somewhere in kinesiology, Darius knew as much about body movement and muscular health as Warren knew about chemistry and chemical interactions. Provided he was telling the truth, Warren knew to believe what Darius was saying was likely accurate. Biology and how the body works were never areas of interest to Warren, except for the exploration of female anatomy.

“We need you, Warren!” Miguel said desperately. “We both stood up for you with Chuck. Help us here.”

Warren thought for a moment. “Look, I can’t guarantee anything, though. I’ll talk to Brittany, but don’t get your hopes up.”

“Can’t you just make it yourself?” questioned Darius.

Warren shook his head. “I don’t know her part of the formula. I know parts, some chemicals and procedures, but not the whole thing. This shit isn’t as easy to make as it sounds. We had two separate high-level chemical solutions jammed together to make this stuff. I’m still shocked we didn’t die that first night. Put the right element in at the wrong time and ... poof! They’d have found our corpses in the caf instead.”

“But it’s safe now; you guys fixed it,” Miguel stated.

“Miguel, this stuff was never safe. There’s a reason drugs go through years of testing and trials before ever getting to the human subject stage. We got dosed by accident and survived, then Britt and I did light animal testing, as well as on ourselves. We don’t know the long-term effects of its use on all of us down the line. Safe?” Warren said starkly, “This shit was never safe.”

The two friends had a bit of a chill run down their spines. They’d been having so much fun using Heat and screwing around that they hadn’t really considered the long-term implications of its use. They’d heard it brought up before, but not being chemistry people, they just dismissed the concerns as everyone being overly dramatic. They’d all been exposed to it twice that first night and lived to tell the tale. But this wasn’t the time to worry about the long-term; Darius’ future was on the line. They needed him to play and play reasonably well. If that was the best they could hope for, they’d take it.

Warren left the drama room, leaving Miguel and Darius inside. He wandered the halls, heading towards Linda’s classroom, where he knew Brittany would be. Neither of them felt quite comfortable hanging out in the drama room during lunch following the previous day’s meeting. A clear rift had developed between the group that wanted to keep using and those, like him and Brittany, who decided to stop. It was a difficult choice for him. He felt like he betrayed several friends who’d helped him in his hour of need. He pulled out his phone to double-check some information before talking with Brittany.

As he entered Linda’s classroom, he found Brittany and Linda sitting at a couple of workstations, their lunches in front of them. They stopped casually chatting when he walked in. He didn’t say anything right away, but he did one last glance around the room first.

“Where’s Karla?” he asked, surprised to see the busty brunette wasn’t with them.

“Willa ended up coming to school today. Karla’s talking to her now to see how she’s doing,” Linda replied. “What did Miguel and Darius want?”

Warren dragged a stool next to them and pulled out his own lunch. “Heat,” he said simply.

“Really? That fast?” Linda couldn’t help but snicker. It had only been one day since she’d made them all turn in their supplies to Warren and Brittany. The two boys couldn’t go a couple of days without huffing Heat, she thought to herself.

Warren didn’t laugh, though. “It’s more complicated than that,” he replied. “Darius’ ankle is pretty bad. He wants to use it before the game to numb the pain so he can play.”

“He just wants his pre-game fuck to calm his nerves,” argued Brittany. “I’m sure there’s some regular stuff they can give him so he can play.”

“There is, but it won’t be enough, I checked. It’s mostly basic stuff like Advil or Tylenol, which won’t do much when playing a sport like basketball. He could lose all chances at a scholarship and college, Britt.”

“What do you suggest? Make more after we’d agreed it would stop? What about the next time someone needs it? When would it end?” Linda argued.

“I don’t know,” Warren replied. “You’re rightfully worried about ruining someone’s life if we keep making and using Heat. There’s now a good chance we ruin someone else’s life by not doing it.”

“That’s a good point,” replied Brittany. “What should we do here? It sounds like you want to help him?”

Warren nodded. “I do,” he said simply. “I won’t do this without your help, Britt, or your approval, Linda, but I think this is the right thing to do.”

Linda shook her head, “I’m sorry, I can’t. I love those guys, and if we had some left, I’d say sure. But I can’t have you craft another batch of that stuff. You’d have to make a large enough initial batch and then pare it down to just a single dose. It isn’t worth the risk.”