Skylar's using habits get much worse after that, to the point where he goes through most of his supply in a matter of days. Even though he still has some left, he doesn't want to run out completely and deal with the absolutely insane withdrawal. So, before he knows it, he is once again having to make plans to steal from Crimson. It's about a week after Jessie leaves that Skylar embarks on the mission.

Skylar drags himself out of bed and showers and everything, taking note that his father actually has the day off today. He only sees that as even more reason to get out of the house, grabbing his bag and his car keys and wasting absolutely no time. He stops and gets gas before heading straight to downtown Bayton, tunnel vision clouding just about everything. Seriously, his addiction has gotten much worse.

Except, when Skylar does finally reach the car yard where Crimson keeps his stash, he finds that the vehicle isn't there. They must've taken it out somewhere. Skylar briefly contemplates actually searching around the city for them, or maybe trying to break into Crimson's apartment, though that's much less safe, however, he's not sure if he's in the right state of mind to take either risk. So, he waits.

And waits...

And waits.

Crimson doesn't actually arrive back at the facility until it's going on 9 PM. It's dark outside, and Skylar has basically been playing games on his phone all day while he waits.

He watches Crimson and a few guys exit the vehicle before heading inside, and they're dragging a guy with them. The man is beat to hell, genuinely looking on the verge of death, and it does send a surge of fear through Skylar. It reminds him what will happen to him if he's caught, or honestly just is he sees them again.

They will kill him once they get the chance, and that's something he knows for a fact.

However, before Skylar can actually do anything, he feels his phone buzzing in his pocket. Skylar frowns, looking down and pulling it out so he can see the caller ID.

Wes

Huh. Wonder what that guy wants.

Skylar answers the phone and is met with the voice of one of his best friends, which sounds quite panicked and stressed. "Skylar? You there?"

"Yeah, what's up?"

"Charlie cancelled on me," Wes tells him, and it takes Skylar a moment to remember what the guy is even talking about. That's right, Wes had invited Skylar a few days ago to another stunt he was planning. However, it sounded too dangerous and Skylar really does not want to be homeless. So, he'd turned it down. Charlie agreed to help instead.

But, if he cancelled...

"Oh, shit," Skylar says, beginning to realize where this conversation is going—but Skylar needs more drugs! Sure, he loves his friends, but his addiction is getting really fucking bad. He's cannot afford to go any length of time without hi supply. He can't allow himself to run out.

"There are so many people here already, and I can't do this by myself. Please tell me you'll change your mind."

Skylar winces, knowing that he really can't afford to do this. If he gets hurt, which he always does, he's so fucked. Skylar always gets the most injured of everyone involved in any of Wes' stunts. He just has bad luck and a distinct lack of self preservation, which he can only do so much about. He seriously can't afford to do this. Literally and figuratively.

"Okay, where is it?"

Ugh, seriously? Why is Skylar such a goddamn pushover?!

"The community pool, you know the one in Overwood?"

Yes, Skylar does know. They've gone there before, after the pool closes. The locks are really easy to pick, but that mostly because Charlie used to work there and knows all the ins and outs. Usually when Wes is doing something over there, it's absolutely insane. That's why Skylar said no.

"Okay, I'm on my way."

-

When Skylar arrives, he finds that Wes was right, there is a ton of people here. They're spread out all over the place, most already with their phones out while they wait for it all to start. Skylar parks and enters through the propped up gate, realizing that this really is going to be one of Wes' crazier stunts.

He has two huge skateboard ramps set up on either side of the pool, but the sloped platform where you actually skate on is facing away from the massive pool. He's cleared out a huge space next to both, two more skateboarding ramps across from the other ones, probably to build up speed; where there are normally tanning chairs. He's also got dirt bikes, and they definitely don't belong to Lily, so Skylar is unsure where he got them.

"Sky! Oh thank god," Wes is already jogging to him, and Skylar feels his wrist being grabbed. Wes drags him through the gate and to the side of the pool where there aren't as many people. Wes is immediately explaining everything to him, and this whole thing is moving really fucking fast.

"Okay, so it's pretty straightforward. We are both going to ride the dirt bikes up each of the ramps, and land on the other. We are going to go up and down each ramp three times for speed, and then jump across. We're landing on the diving boards and driving off them, it should be a short enough distance to land on the sidewalk pretty easily. Make sure you break really fast, though, because we don't have much room to slow down after that."

It's a lot to take in, but thankfully they've done stuff like this before. It's actually really similar to the one they did that lead up to... The Event. Jesus, Skylar, stop thinking about it!

"I figured even you can't get injured when you're just going to fall in water if you mess up, anyway. What do you think?" Wes finished, and Skylar rolls his eyes. It's kind of nice that he considered how accident prone Skylar is even before he knew Skylar would be taking part in it, though.

"Okay, let's do it," Skylar agrees with a concerning lack of hesitation.

Next think he knows, Skylar is on of the dirt bikes, facing one of the ramps. Wes is on the other side, and Kallie Gonzalez—one of Wes' friends but not so much Ashton's, she mostly just helps with his stunts—is waiting on Wes' signal to begin. Skylar tries not to think about what he's doing, or the possible consequences he will face for doing so. Honestly, his withdrawal has gotten to the point where he'd be fine with dying.

A few minutes go by, which Skylar spends trying not to think about anything to avoid getting nervous. Then Kallie, one of Wes' other friends that Skylar doesn't know very well, is finally giving him a thumbs up to go. Skylar wastes no time, pressing the gas and surging forward full force. He does exactly as Wes instructed, going up and down the two ramps a few times before finally making the big jump across the pool. He's able to land on the other ramp with only his back wheel wobbling a bit, and Wes crosses the pool at the exact same time.

Skylar sees people with their cameras out, lights pointed at him as he does the exact same thing again. He goes up and down the ramps until he gains enough speed, and crosses the pool once again. Now it's time for the jump that's going to be a bit more difficult. He's going to have to land on a very specific spot, and he's never had great aim when it comes to dirt bikes.

Still, Skylar doesn't allow himself to think about it too much because that's when he messes up. He gains speed again, the exact same way, but he doesn't go up and down the ramps as many times. He won't need as much speed, since he's only going to be jumping halfway across the narrow pool. So, he only goes up twice before he makes the jump.

Skylar is actually able to land it almost perfectly, and he is immediately so fucking proud of himself. Even Wes slides a bit when he lands on the diving board. Both of them are really high up, and they each look at each other. Wes smiles at him, a thrill and happiness in his eyes that he only derives from doing crazy dangerous shit like this.

Skylar rolls his eyes because this guy is insane, and then they're both pressing the gas as hard as they can. They jump across the pool, horizontally, but Skylar realizes pretty quickly that he may have made a mistake with this one. He may have gotten too comfortable, because he forgot what Wes said about there not being much room to slow down when they land.

So, essentially, Skylar was able to land every single super dangerous and risky jump during the entire stunt, but he fucks up at quite literally the easiest part. Wes lands fine, turning and skidding to a stop right before he reaches the gate. However, Skylar is going way too fast. He's unable to slow down at all, because he doesn't even hit the fucking ground.

The bike goes out from under him, and Skylar's arm hits the top of the spiky fence. This results in an injury on his arm, a cut that is probably going to bruise as well. The bike hits the fence and falls down, but Skylar goes over it...

And lands on concrete.

He really should not have worn short sleeves and shorts to this, but it's not like he stopped at home first. Wes was quite urgent about it all.

By the time Skylar finally skids to a stop, his entire body stings. He is absolutely covered in scrapes on both legs and both arms. They are considerably worse on one side of himself, since he only rolled a couple times before he started sliding. On sidewalk.

When he does finally come to a stop, Skylar can hardly move. He tries, but every time he does there is a stinging pain all throughout his body. He sees people from the corner of his eye climbing the fence and shouting his name, some going the long way through the gate. Pretty soon he's surrounded, and there is a lot of shit going on. He can't keep up, and it crosses his mind that he probably should have worn a helmet.

"Shit, shit, Sky? Can you hear me?"

Skylar squints up at Wes, who is leaning over him with a deeply concerned expression. Everyone around them still has cameras out, and Skylar is cool with it. Honestly, he's pretty sure that Wes' videos get more popular when people get injured anyway. This one actually has a lot of potential, because he didn't get injured until after the stunt was done. So, it has the best of both worlds. Wes better share some of the revenue.

"Yeah," Skylar mumbles, blinking at the bright flashes. Wes shoos everyone away, and the look on his face is kind of scary. He looks really worried.

"Holy shit, you are bleeding a lot. Hang on, where's your phone? I'm calling your dad." Wes says, and that wakes Skylar up immediately. He's still delirious, but he comes back to himself enough to make some demands.

"No! Not my dad, don't call anyone."

"Dude, I have to let someone know."

"Just... just try Jessie."

Wes frowns at him, and Skylar's vision is getting darker. Yeah, that is really not good at all. He may have really fucked up with this one, especially since it's almost entirely from pain. "Jessie? I thought he went to college."

Shit, that's right. Oh no, that puts Skylar out of options. They can't call his dad, they just can't. Vince will kick him out so fucking fast, because Skylar is definitely in pretty bad shape. Maybe not hospital bad, even though he can feel blood leaking down his face. That's probably not good.

"Any... just— anyone but my dad."

Skylar watches Wes take Skylar's phone out of his pocket and unlock it with his super easy passcode. He watches the guy scroll through his contacts before landing on someone, and now the world is almost completely dark. Skylar will lose consciousness within the next few seconds.

"Hey, Jessie? It's Wes. I know you're at college, but..."

His voice fades off when Skylar finally blacks out.