The alarm rang on a phone. Doyle sluggishly switched it off. He couldn’t remember how he went to sleep. All that he could remember was that his mind was racing with thoughts and being excited. After Doyle finished to bath he got dressed in his school uniform and went to school. He met up with Robert when he arrived to school and expressed his delight.

“That stuff was awesome man,” Doyle praised.

“Told ya that it’s good stuff,” Robert responded.

“Here’s the money,” Doyle handed Robert money for the weed.

“Sure man. Last night you were knocked out,” Robert joked.

“Yah it took me by surprise. After I finished smoking, I didn’t feel a thing. I picked my phone to text you and ask you why I didn’t feel a thing. When I touched my phone it felt like something had crashed inside my brain man,” Doyle said and Robert laughed. “Seriously man I started laughing by myself and walking around in circles. I couldn’t even text properly,” he added.

“Ha, ha. It was your first time, it was bound to knock you out,” Robert joked.

The bell rang and both Robert and Doyle went their respective Grade 9 classes. He sat with Kyle.

“Hey what was wrong with you yesterday?” Kyle asked concerned.

“Nothing, I was just tired,” Doyle replied.

“How can a tired person text millions of things that don’t make sense,”

“Agg, what’s up with so many fucking questions man? I said I was fucking tired,”

“The things you texted last night were like you were drunk. And your attitude is like of a person doing drugs, and if you’re doing that we can’t be friends anymore,”

“Ai, stuff you man. So what if I smoke? It’s my fucking choice, after all it’s my body, so fuck you if you’ve got a problem with that,” Doyle yelled without even realising it and the whole class went quiet. Kyle looked at Doyle.

“You’ve made a bad choice my friend, a very bad choice,” Kyle said and then picked his bag and went to sit on another desk, leaving Doyle all alone.

“Agg, go away you fucking loser. I don’t need you anyway,” Doyle shouted.

Weeks went by, Doyle continued to buy weed from Robert who bought from the Iron Niggas. Doyle’s friendship with Kyle was beyond repair. One day after Doyle smoked a joint he felt a slight pain on his heart. It was like someone had stabbed him with a needle. His heart felt weak and he felt uncomfortable.

Perhaps I’m not yet used to the weed. Doyle thought to himself. Doyle felt like a new person, he could feel that his past self was dead.

***

Let’s chat: Have you ever been ditched by your friend for not being cool? How did you handle it?