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[color=fada5e][b]“They’re fine, dude, trust me. Don’t tell me you’ve never had an edible before?”[/b][/color]

[color=#d8ff66][b]“An edible? Isn’t all food edib…”[/b][/color] It had taken far longer than it should have for the gears in Julius’ head to slowly click into place. Lack of sleep and the sudden stress of the party had taken their toll on him and his train of thought seemed to be running on busted tracks. His mouth was feeling dry all of a sudden and he coughed, sending brownie crumbs and pieces of ‘organic herbs’ spiralling over the front of his shirt. 

[color=#B75D3B][b]"Yeah, I thought you knew they were pot brownies, Julius,"[/b][/color] Venus said with an annoying smile. He wiped his mouth with the back of his hand before replying. 

[color=#d8ff66][b]“Why the hell would you ruin a perfectly good brownie by putting pot in it?”[/b][/color] he said peevishly, brushing crumbs off of his expensive shirt. But what was done was done. He’d taken a second bite of the brownie out of politeness before his realization and already eaten the best part of half the cake. Maybe it was just paranoia, but his heart seemed to already be beating faster and it felt like his muscles were unwinding like a frayed thread of string as they relaxed.

Julius had never smoked or, probably shockingly to Ziggy, had one of these ‘edibles’ before. All he knew about weed was from panic pieces on the news around the legalization movement and what he recalled of his father’s ranting on ‘those damn millennials and their bongs’ whenever he took the fancy.
According to the news, it made you drop out of school and turn into a mindless drug-addled zombie. Or maybe that was heroin… It felt like his thoughts were leaking from the bottom of his brain and leaving behind a mellow blankness that was almost a welcome relief from the strains of life.

When Ziggy reached out to the stack of pizza boxes in front of him, Julius merely sank back further in his chair and stared at the ceiling. It didn’t feel worth it to get angry about the brownie trick, and he observed the half-eaten one in his hand with a detached feeling. The other students around him were talking, but the sound felt like it was travelling through water before it reached his ears. 
All that mattered was the brownie in his hand. His eyes were glued on it, examining it’s microscopic details. The slight burn on the crust of the bottom, the tiny internal structure with all it’s little bubbles and chunks. The way the ceiling light reflected off the sludgy pieces of chocolate entertained him more than it deserved and he spent too long turning the cake in all directions and marvelling at the gleam. And of course, there was the small pieces of marijuana mixed in with the sweet cake.

Why had he shied away from this kind of stuff for so long, scared of the consequences? Perhaps it was time for him to take a little more risks in life. To seize hold of the pot brownie and chow it down, school and the party be damned.

Well, maybe he would if they didn’t taste so bloody awful. Waking from his daze long enough to grab hold of the box Ziggy had discarded, he seized the edge and swung it around to face him. Apparently it hadn’t been to the other boy’s liking, as the smooth surface of the pizza was still a full untouched circle. Mmm, were those anchovies? Feta and mushrooms also adorned the top layer, which was more than enough to convince him to swap the crumbled brownie for a slice.

An insidious thought struck him as he was about to bite and he peered through hooded eyes at his companions. This time, however, they seemed more interested in their conversations than what he was eating. Just to be sure, he poked a finger under and lifted the cheese to inspect the pizza closer before he ate it. Several small leaves rested under, but they looked more like basil than the shredded green of pot. Julius hadn’t heard of pot pizza before, but before tonight he also hadn’t heard of pot brownies. 

He hadn’t managed to find the time for lunch today and he found himself downing half of the pizza within a minute before turning his focus back towards the others.

[color=fada5e][b]“Sho, what are y’all here for? Like, what’re you guysh shtudying?”[/b][/color] Ziggy was saying, or at least what Julius was understanding through his growing high and the other boy’s mouthful of Doritos.

[color=#d8ff66][b]“I’m an actor. Studying… acting,”[/b][/color] Julius said, distracted as his eyes shifting away from Ziggy to the newcomer in the group, a girl with almost-orange hair. She hadn’t introduced herself, or perhaps he’d missed her name when he was zoning out so he decided to make the move.

[color=#d8ff66][b]“I’m Julius,”[/b][/color] he said, jerking a thumb upwards at his chest. [color=#d8ff66][b]“Is your hair for real?”[/b][/color] he asked bluntly, shifting his motion to pointing at her copper locks. The colour seemed way too vivid to come from mama nature, and he suspected it had probably originated instead from a dye box on a supermarket shelf.