She was gorgeous, smart, and funny. She was almost perfect, and she was my good friend.

But she was a terrible person. It's all her fault that I'm so fucked up nowadays.

We were 15, and at the time, I was the perfect kid. I mean, I guess I wasn't 100% perfect, but to my parents, I was. I got decent grades and was less of a fuck up than my older brother, whose sole purpose in life was to smoke pot in my parents' attic. Little did they know, I got high with him sometimes. But I never thought this would happen. I never thought that one day, they'd think more highly of him than they thought of me. And it was all because of... Fuck, everything. Every drug you could ever imagine - that's what fucked me up.

And it was all Dusty's fault.

Dusty Roberts had been a close friend of mine since 7th grade. We met through a mutual friend who moved away the next year. I always thought Dusty was cute, but it was once she introduced me to the drugs that I fell in love with her. I also hated her. I never thought my life would be this fucked up. And it was all because of Dusty.

September of sophomore year was when it happened. Dusty caught up with me just before school was over. "Hey, Aaron," she said, cutely. "Want to hang out?"

"Sure," I said. I texted my mom that I was going to go to a friend's house. Dusty watched me.

"No, we're not going to my house," she said.

"Well, didn't you just ask me to hang out?"

"Just follow me."

So I did.

We ended up in the abandoned junkyard, in the garage. There were a couple other teens there, and to be honest, the way they had the place set up was sweet.

"Guys, Aaron," Dusty said, pointing to me. She introduced me to each person individually.

First was a tall girl who was extremely skinny. She had bleach blond hair and red lipstick. She was smoking a cigarette. "That's Mary Jane," Dusty told me. "We called her MJ." She was about 19.

Next was a guy. He had brown hair and really nice green eyes. He was taking something out of his pocket. "Adam," Dusty said. He was 18.

Another guy was next. He was short and Asian. "We call him Zen." Zen was about 16.

The last two were twins, a boy and a girl. Their names were Will and Nadia. Dusty informed me that they were 14.

Dusty and I sat down on a dirty mat. We were all sitting in a circle, except for the twins. They were in the background. I think they were doing coke... A rush of worry washed over me. Dusty snapped me out of it by poking my arm.

"You smoke pot, don't you?" she asked. Mary Jane was already smoking from a bowl.

"All the time with my brother," I said.

"Good," Mary Jane said, handing me the bowl. She nodded at it when I took it. "Good shit."

"Are you willing to try other stuff?" Dusty asked. It was at this point that I noticed that heroin is what had been in Adam's pocket, and I also noticed that he was shooting up.

"I... I don't know," I said.

"Well, try it. If you don't like it, you don't have to do it again," Adam said. "Trade?" He took the bowl from me and handed me the syringe. I stared at it stupidly. I almost blurted out, "What do you expect me to do with this?"

I must have been taking too long, because MJ said, "If you're not gonna do it, then give it to me."

I hesitated. "I'll try it."

"That's the spirit!" Dusty said. Adam had already taken a hit and now it was her turn.

I took a deep breath before pushing up the sleeve of my hoodie. I slowly pushed the needle into my arm...

The feeling of the heroin entering my body was overwhelming. I was shaking when I pulled the needle out. This feeling was like nothing I've ever experienced before. I gave the syringe to MJ.

"Better?" Dusty said, passing me the bowl.

"Yeah," I said. "I'm fine now."