An empty but large pool with a few chairs stay in frame for a second before it panned over to show that the camera man was on to of a tall tower showing an amazing view of LA. Suddenly it was all shaky as the camera man turned it around on himself showing the tired face of Robbie Shapiro, a tiny crack on the upper left of his right lens. Taking a deep breath and letting it out he smiled.

"If you're watching this then my plan has failed, either I'm dead or in jail. Considering the options," he said as the camera lowered a little, him thinking about it for a moment before returning it to view. "My name is Robbie Shapiro and I am a bad man. Not because I stole my best friend's girl friend from him. Not because I made millions of dollars in a less then legal way, but because I let it get out of hand, I got caught. Would I do it again?" Robbie looked off camera again but this time the sound of a siren echoed around him, he looked back on last time running over to the edge of the building and setting the camera down. Taking a few steps back he began checking the backpack he was wearing then turned the camera so it was facing the skyline. "In a heart beat" he shouted as he ran and jumped off the building, a blur in the camera lens.

-Three years earlier-

Robbie Shapiro watched with a less then amused look in his eyes at his friend Beck Oliver and Beck's new girlfriend Jade West. Pressed against his chest was his ventriloquist dummy Rex who snapped a quick remark.

"Rob I think you finally got those powers you always wanted since we're now invisible"

"Hush Rex"

"What you want to keep watching for tips?"

"Tips for your hand?" stated Jade sharply as she pulled away from Beck.

Frowning and looking away Robbie let her get away with it again, Beck didn't pulling his girl close and gently reprimanding her. Before she could complain they were joined by the final two members of the group, Andre Harris and Cat Valentine. As Sophomores at Hollywood Arts they were excited at the ideas of new classes, pulling out their schedules Robbie was glad to see that they all had two classes together, improv and English. He had chemistry with Andre, advanced stage with Beck and script writing with Jade, joy. As the year started and continued everything was going pretty well, improv class with Sikowitz was a hoot and he was doing pretty well in his other classes even script writing class where he sat with Jade but managed to not work with her at all yet. Chemistry class was the most interesting, something that was really interesting to Robbie, maybe if his dreams of being an actor or songwriter didn't pan out he could still get a degree in science. This idea brought Robbie to the top of the class.

A few weeks later the gang was sitting at their table in the Asphalt Cafe trying to comfort Andre who was worrisome because he had a performance to do with a Junior, the no talented Trina Vega. Jade laughed at his misfortune and honestly Robbie did as well, unable to get around the idea that, one he wasn't the butt of another joke and two, Andre had to deal with the talentless but completely diva Trina. Rex had to throw in his opinion as well earning him a time out. As Andre rested his head on the table a young boy ran out to the ground.

"You're Robbie right?" he asked

"Unfortunately," muttered Jade earning her a light smack from Beck.

"Mr Thompson wants to see you in class, something about your assignment"

"Our chemistry teacher?" asked Andre lifting his head.

"Yeah I'll go see what he wants you guys try to help Andre, maybe Trina can have an accident or something to make sure she doesn't perform?" he suggested and Jade's eyes lit up like a kid in a candy store. Leaving Rex and his bag behind he made his way back to the classroom, following the boy. Entering he saw that no one was there, turning back to the kid he asked about it but the boy shrugged.

"I was given ten bucks to get you, that's all I know," he said before walking off.

"News on the street says you're really good with chemicals," came a voice behind him causing him to jump. Spinning and turning around he saw Sinjin standing there.

"God you have to stop doing that Sinjin, you're a pretty creepy guy."

"Creepy or sneaky?"

"Creepy"

"Sneaky, like a fox, I have my hand on the pulse of the school only acting creepy so people who don't know the real me leave me alone"

"Why would you want that?" Robbie asked jumping again when he felt someone else behind him, pushing by into the room after closing the door.

"He asked you a question Shapiro, are you really good figuring out chemicals?"

Turning and seeing the kid Robbie couldn't place him at first then it came to him.

"Scott Gray aren't you a Junior?"

"Yeah and I'm in Thompson's AP Chemistry class but you Shapiro must need to clean out your ears because here I am asking you for another time, are you or are you not good with chemicals?"

"Top of my class," Robbie said a little proud of himself.

"Of those idiots you call classmates I'm sure but with real players like us, how would you stack up?" he went to his backpack which was sitting on a nearby table and took out a folder handing it to Robbie. "There's three formulas on here I want you to figure them out tonight and bring them to me tomorrow. If you can tell me what each of these are called then I will believe you're one of the best and I'll let you in on a secret club of ours."

"You and Sinjin? I don't think I want to," but Scott cut him off.

"Sinjin wants to be left alone but I am one of the most popular guys in school and you can be too if you join the club. Heck if Sinjin really wanted to I could make him over and he could probably top out over me in popularity. What do you really have to lose?"

Taking the file Robbie nodded, opening the folder up.

"Tonight Shapiro, then tell us tomorrow your answer."

That night Robbie took his dinner up in his room but it just sat on the side of the table as he worked out the problems Scott had given him, since he had already blown through all his other homework. These problems were really hard, the breakdown was unlike anything his teacher had given him, beyond anything that was inside his own book. On his way home he had gone to the teacher's lounge asking Mr Thompson for a copy of his AP chemistry class and discovered they weren't in there either. After two hours Robbie had gotten through the first, a really advanced form of aspirin and the second the obsessive-compulsive drug psilocybin but the third was turning into the hardest one yet, after another hour Robbie had fallen asleep. The ring of his alarm work him up with a start and he knocked his glass of water onto the table. Grabbing whatever he could to clean it up he stared down at the wet papers and it hit him, the final formula called MDMA or more commonly known as E. The feeling of figuring out these formulas made Robbie feel amazing about himself as he made his way off to school. Searching the halls, when he arrived, not for his friends but for Scott or Sinjin he slowly realized that he could not find either, maybe they just didn't come to school during first period. Coming to his locker and opening it up he wasn't too happy to see Jade leaning against hers and sipping a large coffee, but he tried once again to be positive.

"Good morning Jade."

"Blah," she instantly spat out at him.

"Aren't we chee," he started but shut his mouth seeing her glare at him. At that moment Cat came up to them and began going on about a play she was writing about a family of unicorns. Robbie only half listened as he scanned the hallways. Soon the bell rang and the rest of the day played out like normal. Shoving his books into his locker he assumed the gang had left him behind again so he didn't expect anyone to be standing there and was shocked to see Scott.

"You scare too easily," he remarked leading Robbie away from the Chemistry lab and into an empty one. Moving to the blackboard he picked up a piece of chalk, "What are the answers?"

Nodding slowly Robbie told him and he wrote them all down, once he was done the board spun around so the wall looked bare, before Robbie could ask there was a click and Scott pushed on a part of the wall revealing a hidden door. Ushering Robbie inside Scott closed the door and went over to the couch taking a seat. The hidden room was amazing, a few couches sat in front of a big screen TV with at least three different gaming systems connected to it. Past them were a row of computers and beyond that was set up like a chemistry lab, taking a seat near Scott Robbie just waited.

"Good man, as you can tell this is our club house. There's only four us right now, me, Sinjin, another junior named Alexis Traid and Marcus Kane over there," Scott pointed and Robbie noticed a strong looking young man erasing the blackboard that Scott had written on before spinning it back into place. "You might be wondering how we got the money to get a sweet set up like this and the answer is the entire reason behind our club. You know how classes can get so demanding? Plays and musical performances, add that with the normal stress of high school and you get something that no normal teenager should have to deal with. We provide a service to our fellow students a way to help them slow down and relax. Last year I accidently discovered a new type of drug, after doing a bit of exploring I discovered it had almost the same chemical structure of psilocybin except with almost no side effects."

"Wait you guys do drugs? You deal drugs?" he asked appalled and wondering where the nearest exit was.

"Only this drug, a way to help people. If they didn't have any outlet what do you think they would do Shapiro, Robbie? Sinjin is a loner, who everyone, let's be honest, wouldn't care if he was just gone. Because he's a part of something bigger, a part of something that works towards the greater good he has friends and money and if he wanted to he wouldn't have to be a loner anymore. We are offering you a chance to get in on this, a chance to be part of something amazing. If you say yes, so many doors will open to you and if you say no, no hard feelings just don't tell anyone about this room. Last year Alexis' father tried to assault her so she ran away, she lives here now and telling anyone would compromise that."

"I...I'm sorry I didn't know that"

"That's fine, we are closer then family here Robbie, we take of each other no matter what. Join us and if you like it you can stay, if not that's fine too."

"If I join you guys I don't want to be expected to try anything, I don't even use baby aspirin."

"We don't either, no worries there, well take our product I'm pretty sure we'd use aspirin."

"What would be expected of me?"

"Not a lot, study the new psilocybin structure called Cybin and see if there's a way to make the already minimum side effects completely gone. That and sell some of it, Sinjin will make it known that you're a new supplier and people will come to you. Don't deal to seniors though, Marcus has that taken care of and no teachers either there are only a few we trust and I handle those accounts."

Robbie looked around at everything in the room and even though he was scared about the idea of doing something so illegal they could all be arrested he remembered the finals last year especially hearing that some of his classmates couldn't handle the pressure and just snapped.

"Fine, I'm in," Robbie said holding out his hand as Scott shook it, "But the name is Robbie, not Shapiro."

"Sorry I hear that goth girl calling you that a lot."

"Now you know, what next?"

"Sinjin will contact you, until then just go about things like normal."

Slowly getting up Robbie nodded and began to head out only to be stopped by Marcus.

"I hear you're friends with that Harris kid, sucks to think that his grade falls so heavily on that Vega girl."

"Yeah," Robbie mused thinking of Andre as Marcus continued.

"I have something that could help him"

"No, I'm not giving Andre any Cybin" Marcus smiled.

"No not that and not for him, this here," he said holding up a bag with a pill in it, "is called angiotensis converting enzyme, one of the effects of this drug is a swollen tongue all you have to do is slip some into that Vega girl's water and there you go."

Robbie gave him a weird look but took the bag and left the secret room, making his way back into the school. This was all so strange Scott, Sinjin and everything else he couldn't believe what he just agreed to, however in a way this might make his father proud of him. Mr Shapiro didn't believe in anything artsy he had wanted Robbie to have a real job and chemist was pretty real. He would tell his father he joined this club just in case his hobby of acting didn't pan out, with that good thought in his head he went off to find his friends. Outside at their table as Robbie joined them he asked Cat to bring him up to speed only to have Jade cut in.

"Andre here was telling us about Vega's little sister and how he'd rather sing with her then Trina but unless Trina really is the talented one in the family he could sing with their dog and get a better grade."

"They have a doggy?" asked Cat only to have Andre shake his head.

"No, but Jade is right, the performance is tonight and things are going to be a huge mess." he said heaving a sob in his chest. Robbie felt the pill inside his bag and sighed deeply.

"Maybe something amazing will happen tonight and if it doesn't we'll all be there for you Andre, right guys?" Robbie stated as everyone else agreed less then enthusiastically. Soon they all went their separate ways agreeing to meet up an hour before Andre's performance to psych him up. So an hour before the performace they were all hanging around trying to convince Andre things wouldn't be so bad as Robbie slipped away. Sneaking around Robbie found Trina practicing her vocals coming around and snagging her water bottle Robbie was caught by her.

"What do you think you're doing here friend of Harris?" she asked not taking her eyes off herself in the mirror.

"Just coming to wish you good luck on the performance," he said adding Marcus' concoction to her water bottle shaking it up a little bit.

"I don't need luck," she said looking for her water bottle snatching it from Robbie before taking a long drink. Continuing her bars as Robbie snuck back to the others he waited with Andre while the others went to get their seats. A few moments later Andre was introducing Robbie to a smoking latina girl in a sparkly dress.

"Tori, Robbie, Robbie, Tori" Andre started but was cut off by the guidance counselor Lane who ran up to let Tori and her family know something had happened to Trina, her tongue was swollen and she wouldn't be able to sing. Smiling yet hiding himself in the shadows Robbie watched as Andre begged Tori to get on stage and help him out, reluctantly she did.

The next day at school while looking for Marcus to thank him for his pill Robbie ran into little Vega again a little hurt when she didn't recognize him from the night before.

"I'm so sorry I'm new here and a little lost, I'm looking for Sikowitz's class."

"No problem, we can take you there."

"We?"

"Yeah me toots," Rex said earning an endearing smile from Tori as they went off. The rest of class was rather eventful as Jade poured her iced coffee all over the new girl Tori. Of course that took over everyone's attention and no one noticed when Robbie had slipped out, now he was standing in the empty classroom again.

"I hear you scare easily," came a soft voice behind him causing him to jump.

"Craptastic I have to stop doing that." he muttered turning around to see a short, quite attractive girl with dirty blonde hair tied back in a pony tail. She wore a large Hollywood Arts hoodie with the hoodie part cut off revealing her tanned shoulders as well as a dragon tattoo's head resting on her collar bone.

"I'm Alexis," she said looking down at Robbie's hand and just nodding her head, not shaking his hand.

"Oh, do you sell things?"

"Nope, I produce them."

"Really?"

"Don't look so surprised Robbie, I'm pretty smart."

"I wish I had Rex right now," he thought out loud, blushing when he realized he had.

"That puppet of yours?"

"He's not a puppet"

"Okay that friend of yours" she said not in a sarcastic way like Jade but a normal tone, "So you looking for someone or forgot how to get in?"

"What?"

"The chalkboard, you write something on it, if it's a drug then whoever is inside knows to let you in. There is almost always someone in there, unless there's no one there then you have to have been in the club for six months when you get the key to the room." she smiled holding up the key.

"This is so weird," he mused and she nodded.

"It is at first but then the money comes in and whoever said money cant buy happiness was poor."

Nodding at her logic Robbie sighed and started to walk off.

"You are deaf aren't you, who are you looking for?" Robbie stopped and sighed.

"Marcus, just tell him the pill worked and I owe him one."

"Oh, like a little blue pill?" she said with a huge smile.

"What, no, I don't even have a," he stammered before running out of there face completely red from embarrassment. Around lunch time Andre waved Robbie over them table letting him know that Tori was coming back to school for good, he looked really happy about the whole situation. Looking around the table he saw Beck trying to tell Jade that there was nothing going on with him and the new girl, Cat was coloring in a book that had no pictures and Andre was writing a new song. Since Andre liked her Tori was probably going to be a part of the gang, thinking about this group and his new friends Robbie wondered what this would take him.

Cutting the straps of his parachute Robbie fell the last few feet to the empty lot a few blocks away from Edge Tower, looking back and sighing, that was one of the scariest things he had even done. Dusting off his jacket he jogged towards the fence, scaling it before continuing down the street, he needed to find some place to lay low for a little while, his first thoughts went to his family but they were on the run as well. Not the Shapiro family, they were out of the picture by now but his real family. Alexis wouldn't talk to him for a while, not since the accident at the high school that started this whole mess. Taking out his cell phone he looked at it before pitching it into the bushes and entering a near by pay phone, picking up the receiver and punching in a familiar number.

"Hey baby, it's me I need a place to hide, can I come over?"