Now… I don't know why I wasn't worried about Johnny, but it had been over three weeks since I'd broken up with him, and he still hadn't given me any trouble over it.

Maybe I was just whistling in the dark, but I'd really started to think that he'd decided to just leave me alone.

We'd even passed each other in the halls at school once or twice, and he'd smiled and nodded his head and been real polite.

Now… I know what you are probably thinking.

What a fool… right? Well, I was hoping… and that's all I could do, because I was just too afraid of him going out of control.

The possibility was just too real.

Everyone who knew him and who knew anything about us knew that it was possible, and they'd all told me to be careful, but I wasn't going to let him ruin my evening.

Besides… it was already ruined.

You see… I was like a junky. There wasn't anything I could do about it. I knew he was bad for me… I knew that he might even kill me one of these days… but I couldn't do anything to stop the feelings that I had for him.

I was addicted to him just the same as anyone who ran smack into their veins.

I didn't let on to Tommy about this, of course, but there wasn't anything I could do about it.

I was just going to have to wait until he worked his way completely out of my system… and God only knew how long that might take.

But I never in my wildest moments thought…

But anyway… here's what happened.

We were driving back from Center City.

It was about nine-fifteen by now. We'd had a real nice dinner (Tommy's parents are real rich, and so he was able to take me to a fancy restaurant over there, one that was classy, one that was really elegant. It took reservations and everything) and I had to admit that I'd seen a side of life that Johnny Waddell would never be able to show me.