Alex slapped...

Alex slapped his hand on the alarm clock. The blaring noise jolted him awake. Still groggy with sleep, he fumbled with it until he finally managed to turn it off. He got up and jumped off his bed, walking over to where Darius was still snoring. Without so much as pausing, he started shaking his friend as roughly as he could until Darius got up. He was angry and swearing loudly.

"What the hell is wrong with you?" Darius's eyes were squinted nearly shut against the bright morning light. He looked over at his own clock and then back at Alex. "My first class isn't for another two hours."

"I know." Alex was nonchalant. Cheery even. He was pulling on a pair of jeans and then went to his closet. He took out a striped polo shirt and put it on. Only after he put on his shoes did he look at Darius again, who was still scowling at him. "We gotta go."

"What do you mean?" Darius had to restrain the urge to hit Alex. "The only place I'm going is back to sleep."

He laid back down, putting his pillow across his face to block out the light.

"No. We have to go," Alex said again. He had an annoyingly patient tone to his voice, like he was talking to a rather stubborn child. "Today's the drug experiment."

"And why do I care?" Darius's voice was muffled by his pillow.

"Because..." Alex paused. Then he said the next part more quietly. "I signed you up for it too."

"You did what?" Darius sat straight up and glared at Alex. "Why the hell would you do that?"

"Come on," Alex said, his voice changing to a whiny tone. "You can't help me with this? I can't do it alone, man. I'd freak out before I got halfway there. I need this money. Besides, I thought you'd like to have some money for yourself too. You know, without the strings your parents always attach. It's not like the stuff will kill us or anything. How would Dr. Tiberius explain that to our parents?"

Darius didn't say a word but his face was still set in anger.

"I need you for moral support." Alex gave Darius a pleading, begging look.

"You can shove that moral support excuse right up your ass," Darius declared. "I didn't even want you to do it and now your dumbass signed me up for it too? That's messed up."

"I know it is and I'm sorry, but I need this money. What else was I supposed to do?" Alex asked. "I swear I'll owe you for life. Anything you want and if I can do it then it's as good as done."

Darius was pissed but it eventually petered out. Ultimately, he knew how things were going to go down. It's how things always went when Alex got him to do something he didn't want to do. He would guilt trip him and Alex was the master of guilt trips. It didn't matter if the idea was ridiculous or potentially dangerous. He would play that card and it would work.

It worked now too.

"Fine, I'll do it," Darius finally said, grudgingly. "But I swear if I come out of this thing with any weird rashes, a crap load of acne, or some other weird shit then I'm going to kill you. And you've used up your favors for the rest of your life."

"Fair enough." Alex had a huge grin on his face. "I knew you wouldn't let me down."

"Whatever. As long as you stop the guilt trips, then it's worth it." Darius reluctantly got out of bed and got dressed. He took his time too, drawing out every little motion until Alex let out a frustrated sigh of annoyance.

"Seriously?" Alex asked, annoyed. "We gotta be there in ten minutes, D."

"All right, all right. Chill out." Darius put on his shoes. "It's not like we're going to a job interview or something. He'll wait for us."

Despite how much fun it was to push Alex's buttons, Darius quickened his pace and got finished dressing. Then they left their room.

Outside, the day was bright and warm. The sky was an almost surrealistic blue and there was a light scattering of clouds up there. The grass was green but there were spots that were looking dried out and brown as autumn started peeking around the corner.

They crossed the street and walked in the direction of the building where Alex said their appointment was. It was called the Glass House by most students but it's official name was the Emil Tiberius Building. Naturally, Dr. Tiberius's laboratory would be in the building named after him. Alex and Darius were nervous as they caught sight of the five story, glass-walled building. The morning sun turned the walls into a blinding sheet of light. It was so bad they had to put hands up to their eyes to block out the reflection.

As they drew closer to it, their thoughts inevitably veered toward all the unfortunate outcomes that might happen by taking an experimental drug. They tried to block them from their minds, but neither one was completely successful. The money, however, was too good to pass up. Although Darius wasn't poor like Alex, his parents only gave him a small living expense that paid for necessities like textbooks, school supplies, gas, etc. and not much else. He was tired of never being trusted with more and the ten grand might be a good start to gaining a little more monetary independence from his parents. He also knew that however scared Alex might be, his friend wasn't going to back out. The ability to put a sizable dent in the hefty amount of tuition he had left to pay was too enticing. A lot was riding on this drug trial for Alex and Darius didn't think he'd be able to look his friend in the eyes if he bailed on him.

"You sure about this?" Darius asked. He tried to make it sound like he wouldn't think less of Alex if he chose to back out.

Alex took a deep breath. "Yeah, I'm sure. I have to do it."

"It was worth a shot." Darius sighed.

They got to the front doors of the Glass House. Darius pulled them open and they made their way inside.

Tiberius's building was pretty nice. It had a large rotunda immediately inside that reached all the way up to the ceiling. There was seating on one side, offices on another, classrooms on the third, and a little area comprised of a Bruiser's Cafe on the fourth. Hallways branched off to the left and right with doors and classrooms visible every few feet. Outside, on the back patio, there were a number of heavy metal tables with chairs. Each table and chair set had an umbrella sticking out of the table's center. There were some people out there but mostly, it was empty.

"Where to now?" Darius asked, looking around.

"We have to go to the basement level according to Dr. Tiberius. Room 21." Alex spied the elevators off to the left and walked over to them, Darius trailing behind.

They faced the shiny metal doors, their reflections clearly showing the fear starting to eat at them. Alex pressed the down button and watched it light up with a bright orange color. He looked up and saw the numbers flash by on the tiny black screen above the doors.

5...4...3...2...1...

"Are you absolutely sure about this?" Darius's anxiety was growing more and more rapidly by the second. It was to the point where his stomach was fluttering with fear, like a million insects were buzzing around in there.

The elevator dinged and the doors opened.

"No," Alex responded, staring straight ahead. "But I need the money."

"I know you need the money," Darius replied, irritated. "But are you sure there's nothing else you can do? This could be seriously harmful. We don't know what this drug will do to us."

"If I don't do it, I don't graduate," Alex replied stubbornly. "It's that simple. I'm not going to let being poor screw up my life anymore. I need to do something about it now."

He walked inside and stopped the doors from sliding closed. The interior of the elevator was more polished metal with three black rails on each side and deep blue carpeting.

He turned and watched Darius intently, waiting to see what his friend would do.

Darius hesitated and gave Alex a desperate look.

"Look, I think I can handle it from here." Alex's voice was sympathetic. "You don't have to come with me if you don't want to. I won't blame you."

Darius thought that over for a second, considering if he really wanted to take the out or not. The decision warred inside him.

Alex was going to go through with his crazy ass plan. He read that clearly in his friend's eyes. The internal struggle was a strong one but in the end, he sighed and stepped inside. All it took for him to walk into that elevator was seeing the determination on Alex's face. Like it or not, Darius respected that conviction.

But, as he stepped into the elevator and watched the doors slide close, he couldn't shake the feeling that they were both making a huge mistake.

For Alex, on the other hand, all it took to step inside that elevator was one, solid truth. The truth of what his life would be like if he didn't graduate. It would be a life of back breaking jobs that barely paid him anything. A life of always worrying about money, his hours, and stretching paychecks that barely put food in his stomach and paid his bills. That life wasn't going to be his. Not ever. He already spent too much of his life worrying about money and he was barely an adult. He didn't want that for himself anymore. He was going to graduate with his degree in graphic design and he would do anything and take any risk to ensure he got that stupid piece of paper.

In the end, he was terrified but he was more terrified of what would happen if he didn't graduate.

He looked at Darius after his friend stepped inside and came to stand next to him.

"Thanks," Alex said. "I appreciate you doing this for me."

"Well, it's either this or classes," Darius joked.

The elevator doors closed.