Determination, Part 2

DETERMINATION - PART TWO 

A couple of days later, it was time for Tracey to fly back to Australia to 
start at University. She would be staying for a few days with her guardians 
that she stayed with for two years, but only until she found a suitable 
place to live with other people. Her parents had agreed that she could 
share with other students provided it wasn't too expensive and they could 
be trusted. After checking in for her flight and hugging her parents 
goodbye, Tracey went through to catch her plane. She decided to buy duty 
free cigarettes on her way out, treating herself to a carton of Virginia 
Slims cigarettes that she put in her backpack. As they didn't have Alpine 
Lights, she had asked the shop assistant if Virginia Slims were menthol. 
Unfortunately, she couldn't smoke in Singapore's airport, it being 
completely smoke-free, but when she reached Sydney she bought a new lighter 
at the newsagent and then went outside and smoked a cigarette from her new 
carton before leaving the airport, there being no-one meeting her there. As 
she stood outside and smoked she felt like a different person - an adult 
exercising her freedom of choice to smoke, rather than a child afraid of 
the consequences of misbehaving. 

The next day, Tracey bought a local newspaper from near the University 
she'd be staying at, and she went to the supermarket and bought an ashtray 
that she took home. The newspaper was to find a new flatmate, the ashtray 
for her new habit. She had decided not to tell her guardians she was a 
smoker, just in case they went crazy and told her parents or something, but 
she'd decided that as she was only going to be there for a few more days, 
she could maybe smoke a little bit in her room after they'd gone to bed, 
and if they caught her, she'd be moving out anyway. And even if they told 
her parents, in a way that would save her from doing it herself. 

As it turned out, she was too apprehensive to smoke enough for her 
guardians to find her out - she only smoked a couple of times in her room 
very late at night and next to the window, blowing out the smoke. She'd 
then empty the ashtray onto a tissue, wrap it up in more tissues and then 
in a small paper bag before throwing in the garbage. She was extra-careful. 

Tracey looked through the advertisements in the paper. She noticed that 
there were quite a few for shared accommodation in the Surry Hills/ Ultimo 
area of Sydney, that was quite close to University. She noticed all of the 
people who put "NS", meaning non-smoker. She found one advertisement that 
caught her eye, which read - 

"HK Chinese girl and Australian male seek open-minded m/f to share 
high-rise Sydney apartment. $120pw plus utilities. Call 0411978983". 

Open-minded? Hmm, sounded like that meant the girl and guy were living 
together. That wasn't a problem - even some people lived together in 
Singapore without being married - it was hardly even unusual anymore. It 
was also good that the girl was from Hong Kong - which was very much like 
Singapore, really. Although they spoke different dialects of Chinese, 
they'd probably have a lot in common. 

She rang the number and a female voice answered "Wai??", which was what 
Honkies always said when they answered the phone. 

"Hi - I was calling about the advertisement for a flat mate?" 

"Oh, hai, hai. Is price OK?" 

"Yes, $120 seems OK, but I'd like to see the place first. But do you mind 
to have a smoker?" 

"Mo man tai - me and my boyfriend are smokers. We wanted another smoker, so 
no complaining?" 

"OK, when can I see the place?" 

"Come over now if you like. Its Flat 11B, 675 George St, City. My name is 
Cindy Mok". 

It took Tracey 45 minutes to travel by bus to the City and to get off and 
locate the right building. She pressed the buzzer for 11B outside the lift 
lobby and was answered by a male voice. 

"Hi - I'm Tracey. I came about the flat?" 

"Cool, come on up" said an Australian male voice. 

Tracey caught the lift to level 11 and turned to the right and found the 
flat and knocked on the door. Cindy opened the door and said "Hi". 

"Hi, I'm Tracey", said Tracey superfluously. 

"Come in". 

Cindy showed Tracey her room and she looked out of the window. There was a 
nice view over the city and the horizon, although it was partly blocked by 
a taller building. 

"We pay $500 a week rent, but we thought $120 was OK for just one bedroom, 
as there's three bedrooms. This is Nathan, my boyfriend. He lives here too, 
but we also have the study which is the third bedroom". 

Cindy was short and slightly chubby. She was dressed a little oddly for a 
Honkey - usually they wore the latest brand name stuff or some would dress 
very conservatively. However, Cindy was dressed in cargo pants with big, 
black, Doc Martens boots and wore a T-shirt, which said "Fuck Off" on it. 
She also had a stud in her nose and wore purplish-pink mascara. Her hair 
was dyed blonde and tied into two ponytails. 

Tracey was shown her room - it was neat and tidy and had enough space for 
her things and a small desk for her computer. 

"Would you like a drink or something?" asked Cindy. 

"Oh, OK, maybe Chinese tea?" 

"OK, I'll see if I can find some!" said Cindy, in a strange tone of voice, 
as if Chinese tea wasn't the usual thing to drink. 

Cindy found a teabag and a cup and boiled the kettle. She poured hot water 
in the cup and put it down on the coffee table where Tracey had sat down. 
Cindy had got a beer for herself and sat opposite Tracey with her feet up 
on the chair under her bottom and opened her can of beer. It was 11 in the 
morning, which Tracey thought was a bit early for drinking beer, especially 
as it was a Thursday morning, but Tracey figured Cindy must have a day off 
from work. 

"So are you a student?" asked Cindy. 

"Yeah, I'm about to start Economics at UTS". 

"Oh, OK, I've got friends at UTS. I studied at Sydney Uni before but I 
dropped out during last semester - it was getting too much." 

"What were you studying?" 

"Medicine - it was really difficult. My parents wanted me to be a doctor, 
but I'm not going to do it - I just want to relax and enjoy myself - I'll 
worry about a career later on". Cindy then giggled and picked up a pack of 
Marlboro Reds that was sitting on the table. 

"Would you like a cigarette?" asked Cindy. 

"Um, yeah, but I'll have one my own, thanks" and Tracey took out her 
Virginia Slims. 

"Virginia Slims, huh? You can't get those here." 

"Yeah - I'd never seen them here before. They're nice. Usually I smoke 
Alpine" said Tracey as she lit up. She took a long puff and then turned her 
head slightly to the right and exhaled upwards. 

"I used to smoke menthols, but now I like these better - they've got more 
flavour and don't taste like chewing gum", said Cindy as she lit up her 
Marlboro and took a long drag. She blew out the smoke through pursed lips 
and then opened her mouth wider and blew a couple of smoke rings. Then she 
looked at Tracey and smiled. 

After both girls finished their cigarettes, Tracey said "So, yeah, I'd like 
to take the room if it's OK". 

"OK, good. You can move in straightaway. But there's one other thing we 
need to talk to you about" 

"Oh?" 

"Yeah. Nathan!" shouted Cindy, "Can you bring it here?" 

Nathan had been in the study while the two girls were talking. He was 
dressed in board shorts and had a torn white T-shirt on. Nathan was tall - 
over 6 and half feet and had dirty brown hair and a goatee. 

Nathan walked in and put something on the table. Tracey wasn't sure what it 
was. It had a round base with a long pipe leading out of it, plus a small 
cradle half way up with what looked like a removable bit. 

"What's that?" asked Tracey. 

Cindy giggled. "It's a bong! It's for smoking weed. This is what we meant 
in the advertisement about being "open minded". Me and Nathan like to 
smoke. I thought I should tell you now so that there's no surprises later 
on." 

"Oh", said Tracey. She felt suddenly very nervous. She had never met anyone 
like this before - she had heard a couple of girls in high school last year 
talking about drugs, but she'd never, ever met anyone who used drugs. Cindy 
was an Asian girl! Asians don't do this stuff! It's something western girls 
might do, but not usually an Asian! Tracey felt hot and a little short of 
breath. She didn't know what to say or where to look. She thought she 
should make a run for it, but she somehow didn't want to look like a real 
goody-goody. 

Instead, she said, "Um, I guess it's OK. It's, um, your business I suppose. 
I'm OK with it - no problem", she stammered. 

"Are you sure? We smoke a lot - pretty much every day. If you don't want to 
hang around here, I understand. It's not for everyone." 

Tracey hesitated. This was a way out - she could walk away now and not get 
involved with these people. But something stopped her from doing so. 

"No, really, it's OK. I don't mind at all". 

Tracey watched as Cindy opened a tin box and took out a plastic bag filled 
with little green leaves. She took out a pinch and put it in a small bowl 
that Nathan had brought with the bong. She then reached across the table 
and picked up Tracey's cigarettes. "Can I bludge a smoke off you? I'm 
running low and this tastes good with menthol". 

"Go ahead" said Tracey. 

Cindy took out a Virginia Slim and flicked her lighter, but instead of 
lighting the cigarette, she ran the flame up and down the place were the 
cigarette paper joined. She then peeled off the paper from around the 
outside of the cigarette and removed all of the tobacco and put it in the 
bowl. She then picked up a pair of nail scissors and began to cut the 
tobacco and pot up and mix it together in the bowl. After about 30 seconds, 
she stirred it slightly with her fingers, and then took out a little 
cone-shaped metal bowl from the bong and took a pinch of the Virginia Slim 
and pot mixture and put it into the cone. She then put the cone back where 
it belonged along the bong's pipe and picked up the bong in her left hand 
and her lighter in the right. She then lit the cone and began to suck on 
the top of the pipe. 

Tracey couldn't take her eyes off what Cindy was doing. She was watching 
someone get stoned and it felt strange. She felt herself feeling an 
incredible temptation - she really wanted to know what it was like to get 
stoned. She had gotten drunk once or twice, although only slightly. That 
wasn't anything spectacular, although it was kind of fun. Tracey then 
mentally kicked herself. "What are you thinking of Tracey Goh? You are a 
responsible, hard-working girl. Your parents are paying a lot of money for 
you to study overseas and you have to focus on your future. You shouldn't 
be here with these people - your mother would be furious. Your father would 
be heart-broken," she thought to herself. 

Cindy's bong made a bubbling sound as she drew long and hard on it. There 
was by now a funny smell in the apartment. Cindy finally took her mouth off 
the bong and handed the bong to Nathan and said in a tight voice "Mmmm-it's 
yummy today". 
Nathan smiled and took a hit. "Do you smoke?" he asked Tracey. He meant 
whether she smoked weed. 

"Oh, no, not really, maybe some other time. Look, I really have to be 
going. Is Sunday OK for moving in?" 

"OK". 

Tracey left. She felt nervous. She knew she shouldn't move in with these 
people, but there was adrenalin running in her veins. Moving in there would 
give her a chance to live a different life - she knew that she couldn't 
deny that she wanted to try smoking weed. If she moved in with the typical 
hard-working, boring Asian student type of person, she knew she'd spend the 
next 3 years doing nothing more exciting than maybe having a can of beer at 
a boring party. She'd never experience things that others experienced. She 
knew that knowing people like Cindy and Nathan would open up a different 
world to her. It didn't mean she wanted to drop out or be a drug addict or 
even be particularly "rebellious" - she just wanted to experiment with some 
things and feel like she was living her life, not someone else's idea of 
what her life should be. 

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