Chapter Text
i.
Thursday morning. AP Calculus.
Virgil leans back in his chair, softly flicking through his notebook. Two rows to the front sits this girl with a bob, cheek resting in her hand, similarly going through the lesson’s notes, expression clearly bored. She’s a junior too, he knows that much.
He was planning on talking to her earlier, before the lesson starts. Weeks have passed, it’s clear by now they’re both the class’ ace students. Common grounds and all that.
But stupid Sharon and her stupid everything. His older sister just had to ruin things for him, hogging the bathroom for way longer than necessary. She could spend hours in there and come out looking exactly the same.
Skin-care routine his ass, more like skin-care scam. It’s an essential oil Virgil! Essential, meaning, more important than you!
He could’ve- Well, actually Sharon, essential means the essence of the herb is still-
Shut up Virg, no one likes a know it all, dweeb.
Man, even in his imagination he still loses. Anyway, he ended up getting here later than planned, left with simply not enough time to play up the charm.
What charm? Man there he goes again, catching strays left and right, Richie and Ed mocking him, echoing in his mind. He shudders, thank God those two ran in different circles back at Taos. Why does he have to be stuck with the mean gays, where are the nice ones at?
Lost in his thoughts, Virgil doesn’t notice the sophomore in front of him, unceremoniously dropping his bag beside Reyes, who’s sat by the windows.
“Pffft.” Muffled snickers pop his bubble of thoughts, huh?
“Dude, what happened to your hair?” Shoulders shaking, Reyes asks as he tries to contain his giggles.
Dressed in a light brown suit with matching pants and a white shirt, Allen has cleaned up nicely, damp, wind swept, ruffled hair aside. Scratch that, somehow, it still kinda works for him.
Is this for some type of dare or did Virgil miss an important public announcement?
Kicking back the chair to take his seat, Bart responds back with a bite. “You know Jaime, you don’t mess with a guy’s emotions like that, it’s not attractive.”
“Yeah, yeah. My bad.” Jaime waves him off with an amused grin. “Nice suspenders though. Looks like you walked straight out of the set of The Godfather.”
With a broad smile, Bart says. “Watch out Blue, just might get Mimi to leave you a special surprise on your bed.”
Blue?
With the teacher returning back to class with a pile of print outs, the two start to unpack their school supplies.
“Real talk though, is this all for your court hearing?” Jaime asks quietly, gesturing to Bart’s clothes.
The younger sighs as he rocks back and forth on his seat, balancing the chair on its hind legs. “Yeah, Joan wouldn’t let me leave looking like anything other than “a gentleman” and who am I to deny her.” He says as a matter of fact.
Jaime snorts before concern briefly furrows his face. He asks. “You sure you don’t want me there?”
Bart responds with a small tightlipped grin as he shakes off the older boy’s worry. “Yeah man, it’s not a public hearing, they’re just gonna have you stuck outside. I don’t want to waste your time like that.”
“It’s not a waste, you know I-“
“Morning class, if you could please turn to page 201 for me.” The teacher booms.
Court hearing? Virgil wonders as he flips the pages. His first thought is to immediately report to Tye, clearly something shady is going on.
But Tye has made it perfectly clear that he’s more than ready to move on. And Virgil doesn’t want to remind him of something that’s been dragging him down for so long.
But what the hell is going on with Bart and Jaime?
ii.
Turns out, Virgil was gonna find out sooner rather than later as Sunday rolls around.
It’s little past eleven in the morning and he strolls in to the staff lounge where he finds Ed eating his PB & J for breakfast.
Whilst the Dorados practically live in the centre, due to Virgil’s mom being a paramedic, the Hawkins live a little further away. Not that he has any complaints, Ed Sr is practically a workaholic, whilst his own dad manages a better work-life balance. Luckily the Dorados have worked through their own share of issues, with Senior slowly taking things easier for both his own sake, as well as his son’s. And as much as Ed hates that aspect of his dad, it’s no secret that he can lose himself to his own responsibilities too.
That’s why Virgil is so grateful for their little friend group. The centre’s relocation was a huge project and he can’t lie and say he was dreading the first few months of settling down here in El Paso. Dorado Jr isn’t exactly the definition of sunshine, easily getting carried away by his temper at the wrong times. He’s definitely calmed down over the years, but Virgil still had his concerns, especially considering how stressful the whole thing has been for the both of them.
That’s why befriending Tye and Sam couldn’t have come at a better time. It gave the two boys something else to think about, outside the stress of their dads and the centre, as well as not having to dread about how they’re going to fit in to their new environment, the usual relocation 101 woes. In fact, the summer turned out to be one the best breaks Virgil’s had in a long time and he knows the same could be said for his friend.
The chair screeches as he moves it to join his friend by the table. “What’s up my man E.D.” He greets, prompting the other for their signature handshake.
Chewing through his bread, Ed quirks a brow. “What are you doing here so early on a Sunday?”
“I could ask you the same thing.”
The Argentinian maintains his stare, taking another bite.
“Okay fine.” Virgil complains as he deflates into his seat. “I was supposed to game with Richie this morning but he cancelled on me.”
Rubbing his hands off the crumbs, the younger boy tidies his mess as his face scrunches into a smirk. “So you had nothing better to do basically.”
“I had nothing better to do.” Virgil parrots as he just lies on the table. A pile of crumbs stick to his face.
As he tries to rub his face clean, Nathaniel walks in, chirpy as always.
“Morning guys!”
“Morning.” Ed responds as Virgil just grunts in disdain, crumbs still sticking to his fingers.
Stirring sugar into his coffee, the bald man asks from the counter. “Are your dads done with the meeting yet or is it still on-going?”
The boys share a questioning look before they turn back to the older man, puzzled. Virgil asks. “What meeting?”
Surprise colours Nathaniel’s face. “You guys didn’t hear?” With a final stir, he throws the wooden stick in the trash before joining them by the table. “On Friday we got a call from a probation worker asking for community service. I had no idea what to say so I just passed the call on to Mr Hawkins. Turns out, some kid received a reduced sentence so he could choose what public service he wanted to do. Apparently he wants to volunteer here.”
“No way!” Virgil exclaims as Ed clearly shares the same sentiment, looking at Nathaniel with surprise.
Ed asks. “ `Some kid´, how old is he?”
“No idea, but there were two guys here this morning. Both about your age, one maybe a bit younger by a year or two. I don’t know, I didn’t really get a good look.”
Tone raised in disbelief, Virgil crosses his arms. “That’s crazy. We never had anyone do any community service with us, how does that even work out. What if they’re a drug dealer?” A thought passes his mind and he rushes to lean closer, whispering with conspiracy. “Or an arsonist? A murderer?”
“That’s why they’re having the meeting. You really think your dad would let someone dangerous anywhere near the centre?”
Ed and Virgil share another look.
With confusion, the younger boy mentions. “Wait- but you said there were two guys?”
“Right.” The 24 year old confirms. “From my understanding, I think the community service is just for one of them, but honestly, I don’t really know.” Blowing on his coffee, he takes a sip. “Oh! I just remembered, they go to the same school as you two. Dr D asked them on the way to his office.”
“What?” Ed says, clearly shocked.
Suddenly, something clicks.
“Nathaniel-“ With his crossed arms, Virgil leans against them on the table. “Were these two guys by any chance a latino about our age and a shorter white guy, maybe about a year younger than Junior over here?”
The bald man looks at him stunned. “Yes! How did you know?”
Virgil slaps the table in celebration at his guess being confirmed, Ed looks to him with suspicion, before realisation dawns on him. “Don’t tell me-”
“Thursday. Bart was all dressed up, Dorado here knows for sure, he kept checking him out through the day.”
Taken off guard, Ed curses with a blush. “La concha de la lora Virgil, no I did not.”
“You brought up la concha Eduardo, you are guilty as charged.”
“Motherfuck-“ Before he can properly stand up to yell, Nathaniel intervenes.
“What’s this got to do with the two boys?”
“Right, right. Yeah so Bart, the white kid, was all dressed up. I never actually told Ed and the others this, because, you know.” He finishes the rest of the sentence with a look. “Anyway, during Calc, Reyes and Allen got talking. Turns out, Bart had a court hearing right after school!”
“A court hearing?” Ed repeats.
“Yes! So he must be the one doing time.” Virgil concludes with finality. Damn, he’s feeling real Sherlock Holmes right now. That makes Ed, Watson. It’s perfect.
“This is not good.” Ed complains as he rubs his forehead. It already feels like it’s been a long day.
“Why not?” Nathaniel asks.
Talking more to his friend than the older man, Ed answers. “What exactly are we going to do when Tye’s here and they’re around?”
“Oh.” Virgil winces. “Right, maybe they won’t be allowed to help out here anyway, like I said, we’ve never had any convicts as volunteers before.”
Eduardo looks unconvinced as he responds. “Maybe.”
Hours pass and Ed is found playing a soccer match with some of the centre’s kids whilst Virgil is indoors, finishing up homework. It’s a friendly match, but if anyone asks, Ed’s team is winning by a landslide. Double dribbling, he’s mocking his current opponent, a 12 year old, as he keeps the ball just out of the other’s reach.
There are no friends or guidance counsellors in the world of football.
“Eduardo!” His father yells, waving at him to come, distracting him. He loses the ball.
Fuck.
With a pissed grunt, he jogs out of their makeshift field to where his dad is waiting for him. Pulling at the bottom of his t-shirt, he wipes the sweat off his face. “What do you want?”
“We have two new volunteers joining us today. I want you to show them around, familiarise them with the facility and their responsibilities. They’re both from your school, Bartholomew Allen, Jaime Reyes, you know them?”
Briefly closing his eyes, he groans at the news. Virgil was right, damn it. “Yes. Tye hates them dad! Why didn’t you tell me about this before?”
Taken by surprise, his dad asks. “Are they bad people? Did they do something to him?”
Eduardo doesn’t even know where to begin with the whole story, how to remotely get the nuances of the whole situation across. “No it’s- it’s difficult to explain, Tye used to be friends with Jaime and-“ He struggles.
His dad raises a hand up to stop him. “Have they done anything specific to directly make you and your friends uncomfortable?”
With a dramatic roll of his eyes, he huffs. He knew his dad wouldn’t get it. “No but-“
“Okay, then I expect you all to work through your differences and get along. Look around Eduardo, we need all the help we can get.”
Without much thought, he does ends up scanning their surrounding. One of the kids trips on the uneven mounds of the field.
“Don’t you think I know that!” He says defensively with a slight raise in his voice and grit teeth. “But Bart is literally a convict, he might make the kids here uncomfortable.”
“Robert and I spoke to him and his probation worker for hours Eduardo. We both agreed that he’ll be a good fit for this centre.” The older Dorado briefly pauses, conflicted on whether he should share this with his son. “Oyé, Eduardo. Bart and Jaime both seem like sincere kids. I could easily see you getting along with them, that was one of the reasons why I accepted them in the first place.”
“Again you’re just assuming things! You just go on and make decisions without thinking to even talk to me-” He vents, again raising his voice.
“I think you should at least give them a chance. If they still continue to make you and your friends uncomfortable then I promise, I will remove them from here. But until then, please try to cooperate with them, for the sake of the centre?”
As frustrated as he is with his dad, they’ve been having a good understanding for the past year. He knows his dad means it.
“Ugh, fine.” He relents. “Where are they?”
Eduardo honestly can’t say if the sight he’s greeted with surprises him or not. Perched on the floor, Allen is on his knees with an arm stuck in the vending machine, clearly trying to make a grab for one of the items. Reyes is crouched behind him, pulling at his friend in an attempt to free him.
He clears his throat. The two immediately turn to face him, upon which the older boy yanks Bart out of the vending machine in surprise, both stumbling backwards with a yelp on the floor into each other.
“Oh, shit. Blue, you almost fucked up my arm! Ow.” Bart complains as he gets up.
Back on his feet, Jaime ignores him as he tries to explain themselves. “Eduardo! Hi, we were just waiting here, I promise we weren’t doing anything strange.”
Ed just crosses his arms, face quirked with doubt. “Really? Cause it kinda looked to me like he was stealing from the vending machine.”
Bart dramatically rolls his eyes. “You steal one thing and suddenly-” Jaime interrupts with an elbow to his chest. “Ow! I mean- look I was starving and put in some change. This moded machine ate it all up and now I’m still starving and 3 dollars poorer.”
“He’s telling the truth. Honest to God.” Jaime reiterates, strangely desperate.
Ed relents, making way to the vending machine as he stands beside it. “Yeah, this one’s a little broken. You need to give it a couple hits.” He reluctantly explains as he demonstrates his point, banging it at the side three times. A small pack of sour candy falls out, as does the spare change.
The younger boy makes celebratory sounds of delight as he grabs them, before fixing Ed with a beaming smile. “Thanks.”
Eduardo simply grumbles out a “Yeah, welcome.” averting his eyes a second too quickly.
The smile never leaves the younger’s face as he and Jaime follow Ed around, while he explains the facility’s layout to them, introducing all the different staff.
Jaime and Bart seem friendly enough, but the whole thing is just so weird, it’s draining. After having covered everything that Ed deemed important, he decides to share the burden. “Over here is the staff lounge, technically you guys aren’t really allowed in but since we are practically always understaffed, volunteers can also use it for lunch breaks and stuff.” He explains on their way in.
Virgil freezes mid-writing. Meeting Ed’s eyes, he can just hear the guy gloating in his face without even a single word being passed between them.
“Hey Virgil.” Bart greets energetically.
“Uh, hey guys.” He responds with a type of uncertainty.
A moment of silence passes.
God, it’s so fucking awkward. Where can Virgil delete himself from this situation.
Ed joins him by the table and the two follow suit.
Jaime speaks up. “So, you guys help out here after school?”
Virgil nods with a forced smile. “Yeah.”
“What homework are you doing?” Bart asks as he tries to glean a look.
“Physics. AB.”
“Oh, crash.”
"Crash?"
"Yeah crash. Cool."
“Oh yeah, cool.”
“How’s it going?” Jaime asks.
“Uh, it’s going. Okay, I guess.”
“Cool.”
“Yeah… cool.”
…
Ed is clearly enjoying himself at Virgil’s expense, leaning back, eyes lit up.
Bart drums his fingers for a bit to fill the silence, looking around restlessly before he tries. “So who else volunteers here? It can’t just be you two.”
Virgil is clearly dying inside, so Ed takes over. “Asami and Tye. They help out about twice every week. They used to come by almost every day during the summer but with school, it’s less frequent.”
“Hey I know, why don't we call-“
“Bart.” Jaime interrupts with a charged look and a subtle shake of his head. The auburn haired boy simply huffs back, indignantly tilting his seat to balance on it.
Okay this is getting ridiculous. If he and Virgil are going to need to suffer through this, they should at the very least get something back in return. Sure, Tye has supposedly moved on, but if they could get any information that they know he would actually want to know, then might as well.
“So,” Ed starts, casually. “What’s this about community service? And how do you two know each other? You’re new too but Tye’s mentioned seeing you around during the summer.”
Jaime stills. Looking to his friend from the corner of his eye, Bart chuckles nervously before an earnest expression roots itself on him. “You know, it’s all actually a really, really, super sad story. What can I say-“ Bart gently grabs Jaime by the back of his neck, rubbing it affectionately. “Jaime over here saved me from a life on the streets. You know, things can get real bad out there. Just a couple months back, I was just down the block, making a living off of dealing yo-yos, and now? I play with them. I hear Hollywood’s gonna write a movie about us.” He finishes, tone all too serious.
“Yo-yos?” Ed repeats with a confused squint.
“Like- what is that, some type of drug or something?” Virgil whispers, not at all hiding his blatant curiosity.
Completely straight faced, Bart answers. “No, literal yo-yos. With the string and you go-“ He mimes a yo-yo toss. “You see, it’s a booming market.”
Ed and Virgil don’t even bother with a response, glaring at him, completely unamused. Jaime in the meantime is clearly doing a bad job at restraining a grin. “Don’t worry guys, he grows on you eventually, like mould.” He ruffles the younger’s hair into a mess.
“Hey! Stop it!” Bart tries to slap him away.
Well that was a complete waste of time, the two other boys think as they watch.
Whilst the walls of the new rooms were a priority that needed to be painted, Bart suggested that since the weather was on the milder side today, they could start with some outdoor work. Honestly, Ed just shrugged them off. He has his own stuff that he had to tend to, so he wordlessly left, letting them sort themselves out. He covered their tour, so now it was Virgil’s turn to be stuck with them.
Hours pass by and he wonders whether Virgil survived his turn.
Survived would apparently, be the understatement of the century, considering what he’s seeing before him.
Lazing on the terrace floor, cartons of pizza are sprawled around them as Virgil and Bart are deep in conversation.
Long forgotten, Virgil’s phone is found playing a clip of some video game walk through in the background. Ed picks it up.
“I’m telling you man, it works!”
Bart shakes his head in amused disbelief, licking his fingers clean of the pizza grease. “Nuh uh, I gotta see it with my own two eyes. That build makes literally zero sense and all those videos were pure clickbait, not a single one of them actually used it. You just proved my point!”
“You’ve never seen nuclear fusion in person, doesn't meant it doesn't exist. Is that the type of person you want to be?” Virgil counters.
Bart dramatically points to the sky. “Uh, the literal sun says hello? And that’s something that actually makes sense, your build wouldn’t even uphold the game’s mechanics.”
“Would so! What’s your user name? I’m going to make a believer out of you.”
With a grin, the younger boy is happy to answer. “It’s-“
The Argentinian clears his throat.
Mirroring Bart’s joyful expression, Virgil looks up to him. “E.D! Just in time. We’ve got you your fave, pineapple pizza, the food of the devil.”
Joining them on the floor, he questioningly accepts the box. “Uh, thanks.”
“Don’t knock it ’till you try it Virg.” Bart winks at his friend.
Okay, Eduardo must have died and woken up in some sort of weird alternate reality. Because what the hell could he have missed in a couple of hours that lead to Virgil, seconds away from previously passing out from awkwardness, and their group’s local most trashed white boy of the year Bart, to suddenly becoming the best of friends.
“Dorado you missed a wild one, having Jaime here was insane. The guy practically dug up the entire yard in two hours.”
Folding up the empty cartons, Bart protests. “Hey, I did my fair share of digging too!”
Virgil simply smiles in response. “Look up the definition of digging in the dictionary. I don’t think you’ll find cheering, patting the ground flat and mowing the lawn there.”
A light laugh complements the scenery as Ed takes a good look at the formerly uneven field the kids and him would trip over all too often.
It really does look good. Playable.
Bart joins him in looking out towards the vast space of the grounds. “Don’t worry about the patches. We planted some grass there too. Hopefully it won’t take too long until they grow to even the field out, but at least it’s something, you know.”
Ed finally breaks his own speechlessness. “Where did you get the seeds from, we don’t have any here at the centre?”
With a small shrug, the younger boy points behind him. “Bought some at the DIY store down the road.”
The latino points out with suspicion. “The closest DIY store is 5 miles from here?”
The black boy is quick to quell his doubts. “The kid literally ran there and back, can you believe him?”
With surprised eyes, Ed looks questioningly back to Bart.
For all his loudness, Bart is sheepish as he quietly answers. “Just wanted to get the job done and needed the jog anyway.”
The Argentinian looks down to his half eaten pizza slice. “I missed a lot it seems.”
Virgil huffs a laugh. “You sure did man. Hey, did you know Jaime’s mom is also a paramedic? She works some of the same shifts as mine, what are the chances!”
Ed hums in acknowledgement, before realisation sets in. “Where is Reyes anyway? Did he leave already?”
Folding up his own empty pizza-box, Virgil answers. “Had some appointment or something?” He looks to Bart for confirmation.
“Yeah.” Is all the younger says, not bothering to elaborate any further as he continues quietly looking back to the field. A moment passes before he appears to recall something. “Oh! I need to get a signature from one of your dads to confirm my service hours, do you know where I can find them?”
Eduardo responds. “They’re usually hard to find around this time, it’s a big building and there’s a lot to do.”
“Actually, you know what, don’t sweat it. I’ll go grab my dad. I’ve got to talk to him anyway and we don’t want you getting lost.” Virgil adds as he stands on his feet, dusting himself off.
Moving to follow him, Bart is about to join him before the oldest waves his hands to keep the boy seated. “Nah it’s alright. I’ll bring him here for the signature so that we can also show off the revamped field, you guys stay, I’ll be right back.”
Ed quietly chews in silence, eyes fixed to his food.
“Your dad mentioned you’re a soccer-head, excited to break in the new field?”
He looks up, meeting lime green eyes. “… Sure. You guys did good work I suppose.”
“You suppose?” Bart’s mouth quirks in amusement.
The nerve of this guy- “Why do you even care so much, you play?” Ed counters brazenly.
Bart snorts as he shakes his head. “No, not really. But I love running, which- they’re practically the same thing, aren’t they?” He asks with a knowingly coy smile.
The older boy is appalled. “A football player can easily become a runner, but the other way round? Not a chance.”
“Really? But soccer is nothing without speed.”
“Those with skills have the speed, it’s common sense.”
“So you’re saying if someone has the speed, then they got the skills.”
“No, if you have the skills, then you’ve got the speed.”
“Hmm, I’m not so sure about that.”
“It’s true. It’s a fact.”
“I don’t know. I know a lot of guys who’ve got the skills but no speed.”
“Well then they suck. You can’t have the skills without the speed and I’ve got both! End of story.” Eduardo exasperates.
All he gets in response is a lop-sided grin. “… Never even questioned it boss.”
A heat crawls along the older boy’s skin. Whether it’s from frustration or something else, he doesn’t know.
This fucking guy, Ed thinks. Okay, sure he can play it cool too, he can spin this to his benefit. Eduardo is grown after all, no longer dictated by how easily his blood can boil.
That’s more of a self reminder, than anything.
“No idea how Reyes puts up with you on the daily, can't even imagine how he got stuck with you in the first place.”
The underlying cheekiness that seems inherent to Bart briefly disappears as he directs his attention to the cartons of trash. Clearly thinking back to something, he looks distracted.
For some reason, the younger humors him. “We actually ran right into each other.” Bart laughs to himself, almost in disbelief. “I don't even believe in that type of stuff but I can’t lie, it almost felt like fate that day.”
Ed straightens up in suspicion. What the hell is this guy talking about-
The younger’s wistfulness passes all too soon before Ed can say anything about it and Bart’s signature teasing smile cements itself back in place. “It was love at first sight, what else can I say hermano.” He sighs dreamily.
Oh.
So Eduardo was right? All along, they're together after all.
Something is pulling at him, disappointment? But why-
Bart snorts. “I’m just messing with you dude, it’s all jokes.”
Oh. Now he’s pissed.
“You joke about being gay a lot, do you?” The older boy asks snidely.
Bart quirks a brow at him, taking note of his unease. “Joke about being gay? Nah. But if you’re asking about joking around and being gay, then yes, practically all the time.”
Oh.
Eduardo has been on a rollercoaster of thoughts in just the past thirty seconds alone, clearly he has some self reflection to do.
iii.
In the meantime, Virgil is found whistling, walking the halls, heading directly to his dad’s office. The chances of him actually being there are slim, but it’s always a good shout to check first.
Bart seems like a good enough kid. The type to jump face first into a pile of snow. He’s simply got that lightness to him.
Maybe this whole thing, this whole mess between Tye and Jaime, is ultimately all really just one big misunderstanding.
After all, even Jaime with all his hulking strength, uprooting an entire field, the guy just couldn’t hurt a fly. He was literally sidestepping away from the ants, in fear of flattening them.
Despite heading to the office in search of his dad in the first place, Virgil is still surprised to find him there, leaning against the edge of his desk, talking away on the land line.
“With all due respect, the point of a fund raiser is to gather as much as possible and what you have given us to work with doesn't exactly set the precedent for this. Please understand-“
Virgil gets comfortable in his dad’s office chair, he’s clearly going to be waiting here for a bit. Grabbing the ball of rubber bands, he toys with it as he slowly spins the chair around, absent-mindedly trying to keep up with whatever his dad is discussing.
The white of loose sheets on the opposite end of the desk, away from his dad, catches his attention. He quietly rolls closer to them, trying to glean a better look of their content.
They’re copies of something. He skims the pages.
BILL OF INDICTMENT... The State of El Paso v. Bartholomew Allen... Case Number: EP_IIIIIIII_IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIBA... The defendant Bartholomew Allen is accused over the following count(s) of offence(s): COUNT I Criminal mischief in the first degree (Section IIIIIIIIIII, El Paso County Penal Code): The defendant is charged with causing damage to… COUNT II Grand larceny (Section IIIIIIIIII, El Paso County Penal Code): The defendant is charged with stealing property with a value exceeding... COUNT III Theft of property (Section IIIIIIIIII, El Paso County Penal Code): The defendant is charged with stealing property valued at less than… COUNT IV Obtaining a controlled substance by misrepresentation (Section IIIIIIIIII, El Paso County Penal Code): The defendant is charged with obtaining a controlled substance by fraud... COUNT V Unlawful distribution of controlled substance (Section IIIIIIIIII, El Paso County Penal Code): The defendant is charged with selling, giving, or delivering a controlled substance... COUNT VI Unlawful possession of controlled substances by a person without a prescription (Section IIIIIIIIII, El Paso County Penal Code): The defendant is charged with possessing... COUNT VII Possession of a controlled substance with intent to distribute (Section IIIIIIIIII, El Paso County Penal Code): The defendant is charged with possessing a controlled substance... COUNT VIII Conspiracy to distribute a controlled substance (Section IIIIIIIIII, El Paso County Penal Code): The defendant is charged with conspiring to distribute a controlled substance...
...
"Virgil?"
He looks up to his dad. The man simply sighs.