“What!?” I exclaimed. “No way! I don’t have a rap sheet because I don’t get caught! You know that I swipe just as much stuff as the rest of us do!”

Chris looked at me with a slight glint in his eyes, but I continued, “Besides, I can’t apply for a job, how am I supposed to make some cash?”

“Todd, I spot you so many times with cash with so much stuff you couldn’t count it all.” Alex waved through his personal cloud of smoke.

“Yeah, when I was ten!” I retorted.

“Todd!” That was the first time I ever had Chris raise his voice to me. “Listen, here’s the deal, to do whatever you want, but if you get caught even swipin’ somethin’, I’ll find out and I’ll beat the living sh-crap outta ya. You keep you’re grades up and get through college.” He said with finality.

Chris has always been really laid back, that even surprised Alex.

His smoke cloud shifted a bit, then even the deafening silence the absorbed the room seemed to disturb the gray haze.