Games Frat Boys Play by Todd Gregory Page A

anymore.” Roger grinned. “Just know you’re going to cough really hard the first time.”
    â€œWow. That sounds just great.” I rolled my eyes. “I can see the appeal.” He laughed, and I took a deep breath and raised the joint to my lips. I did as he said, sucking on the end. I wasn’t able to hold the smoke for very long. I started coughing almost immediately. My lungs felt like I’d inhaled fire. My eyes were tearing and I couldn’t stop coughing. He handed me a bottle of water from the minifridge. I managed to choke out a “thank you” as I twisted the cap off and gulped water down.
    I put the bottle down on the desk and wiped at my eyes. “That was awful, ” I said, and was about to add, “I’ll never do that again” when a strange mellow feeling began creeping through my brain. Goose pimples rose on my arms, and I could feel every single hair follicle on my body tingling. It was a weird feeling—but at the same time it was nice. The nausea in my stomach was gone—a definite plus—and there was this really pleasant euphoric sensation creeping over me. I started to resist it, but closed my eyes. Don’t fight it, just go with it. That’s the whole point of smoking, to feel like this. I relaxed and went with it.
    I couldn’t help myself. I started giggling.
    Roger took the joint back from me and took another hit. He grinned at me as he stubbed it out in an ashtray. “I think that’s enough for you, my young Padawan.”
    â€œPadawan?” I made a face. “What does that mean?”
    Roger stared at me. “You’ve never seen any of the Star Wars movies?”
    â€œOh, yes.” I nodded and smiled at him. “A Padawan is of course a Jedi Knight in training.” I giggled. Why did everything seem so funny? “Of course I’ve seen the films. They are an integral part of modern American pop culture.” I nodded. “My senior year I spent a lot of time watching popular films online. Titanic, The Matrix— ” My voice trailed off. I couldn’t think of the names of any of the other movies I’d watched. I tried to concentrate and summon the titles, but they wouldn’t come. “That’s weird. I can’t think of any of the others.” I shrugged. “But the Star Wars mythology was a classic rendering of the struggle between fascism and democracy, broken down into a simplistic message of good versus evil for easier absorption by the audience.”
    Roger threw his head back and laughed. “See what I mean, Jordy? You aren’t like anyone else! Anyone else would just say they were cool. But not you.” He shook his head.
    â€œThat’s bad, isn’t it?”
    â€œNo, Jordy, it’s great. Don’t ever change, okay? Don’t let them turn you into a Beta Kappa clone.” He rubbed his eyes. “I don’t know what it was like for you at your Swiss school—”
    â€œSt. Bernard.”
    â€œâ€”but I can tell it wasn’t a good experience for you.”
    â€œI liked St. Bernard,” I insisted. The mellow feeling was actually quite delightful. “I got an excellent education there. I was challenged and stimulated intellectually.”
    â€œI’m not talking about your education,” he replied. “Did you have friends there? Were you popular?”
    â€œI—” I stopped. I’d never told anyone what it had really been like there. Maybe it was the pot, but I could tell Roger was actually interested—he really wanted to know. “It was awful.” My eyes welled up with tears. “I didn’t have any friends. The only people who treated me like a human being were the teachers. The other students were terrible. They looked down on me because I was an American. They looked down on me because I wasn’t of royal or noble blood. They picked on me. They made fun of me. Then they got