Mary Aarons entered the room and walked over to the bed where Jess laid sleeping, she gently pushed him and said.

“Jess honey, you better wake up or you’ll miss the bus.”

“Do I have to, I don’t feel very well?”

“What’s wrong Hun?”

“I just don’t feel like dealing with it.”

“You will have to deal with it eventually, if not today, then tomorrow.”

“I guess, but I don’t want to have to deal with it today.”

“Let’s go, or I will get your father in here.”

Jess rolled over and went back to sleep.

“You leave me no choice.”

Jesse Sr. entered the room carrying a bucket of ice-cold water. He kicked the leg of the bed twice, and after no movement from the bed, he threw the bucket of water on Jess. Jess shot out of bed like a cannon ball.

“WHAT THE HELL WAS THAT FOR??”

“Your mother said to wake up, now go get ready for school, and be sure to get your bedding downstairs to the dryer.”

“FINE”

Jess went through his morning routine and ran off towards the buss. He sat at the back of the bus in the seventh grader section, and kept to himself. The bus arrived at school, and Jess walked in to his classroom. On the way Ms. Edmunds stopped him.

“Hey Jess, I missed you last week, what happened?”

“You didn’t hear?”

“I heard lots of things, but I want to hear it from you.”

“Well I got fed up with my father and ran away, but my parents decided to teach me a lesson, and had me arrested.”

“Wow, that’s bad, did you learn your lesson?”

“No, Not really.”

“That is too bad Jess, if you ever need someone to talk to, know that I’m here. I’ll even give you my number in case its sometime out of school. It’s 555-5743”

“Thanks Ms. Edmunds.”

“Oh, I thought I should tell you, I am no longer going to be Ms. Edmunds, I’m getting married this summer, his name is Ryan, Ryan McGregor.”

“Congratulations.”

Jess hurried off to class and took his seat. The bell rang and Mrs. Jennings quieted the class down, all crowding around Jess and asking him all kinds of questions.

“Quiet down class, I’m sure Jess has many stories, but this is not the time or place for it to be discussed.”

“Yes Mrs. Jennings.”

“If you want, I can answer their questions, just to get it out of the way.”

“Alright, if you really want to, but we will wait until 5 minutes before lunch.”

Lunchtime came, and Mrs. Jennings stopped teaching and gave Jess the floor.

“What did you do?”

“I was trespassing… next.”

“What did you do all day?”

“Well they kind of had like a boot camp thing I did, and then Mrs. Myers came over, and we had school, then I would do homework and then it was lights out again… and you.”

“Did you have the top bunk or the bottom?”

“Well I was there by myself all week… yeah.”

“Was the food awful?”

“What food? Oh you mean that slop they called food… yes.”

“Alright class lets settle down and get to lunch.”

The rest of the day went by normally and Jess went back home, did his chores and homework, and had dinner. IT was a pretty normal day, far less badly than Jess expected. The rest of the week went by just as normally. When Friday afternoon came around, Jess got off the bus and rushed in to call Brian.

“Hey Jess”

“How did you know it was me?”

“Caller ID”

“Ohh, so did you get your license yesterday?”

“Yep sure did.”

“So are you going out tonight?”

“Yeah, I thought we would just cruise the town; are you still game?”

“Yeah ‘m game, but I don’t think my parents will let me go out tonight.”

“Why Not?”

“Well, I really don’t have any friends and if I tell them where I met you, they won’t let me go for sure.”

“Well, Can you tell them you are going to the movies?”

“Yeah I guess.”

“Call me back when you know for sure.”

“Alrighty then.”

Jess went into the laundry room, and asked his mother.

“Mom there is a new kid at school, he was wondering if we could go to the movies?”

“That’s nice dear, what’s his name?”

“Brian, he said if you drop me off his mom could bring me back.”

“Okay dear, but you need to be home by 11.”

“Thanks mom.”

“Jess, don’t make me regret this.”

“Okay.”

Jess went to his room, and called Brian. He hung up and did the homework Ms. Jennings assigned. It was soon dinner, and after they ate his mom took him downtown to the movie theatre. He went inside and waited for her to leave, and then he went around back where Brian was waiting.

“Sup.”

“Hey Jess, it’s about time you showed up, you’re cutting into our fun time.”

“Yeah I have to be home by eleven.”

“Curfew; man that’s a drag.”

“Yeah I know, now let’s go.”

“Alright man, but we have to go pick up Sam.”

“That’s cool.”

“So, how was your week in the clink?”

“It wasn’t bad, you should try it, its pretty relaxing.”

“If you say so.”

“Alright man get in the back so Sam can get in quick.”

“Hey Sam.”

“What up Jess, they let you out I guess.”

“Yeah they did.”

“How was it?”

“It wasn’t bad, it was kind of nice getting away from my life for a week.”

“Cool man.”

“So Brian, I heard Frank got some in.”

“Sweet Sam, let’s see if he’s there.”

“Wait, what’s going on?”

“Nothing you should concern yourself with Jess.”

“Man I didn’t sign up for illegal activities.”

“Come on Jess grow a pair, I mean literally”

“Oooooooo…”

“Whatever Brian at least I have something to look forward to, what’s your excuse?”

“ZING, you gonna take that Brian?”

“Well, yo’ family is so po’ that you eat cereal with a fork to save milk”

“Oh yeah, well yo’ daddy so ugly he looked out the window and got arrested for mooning.”

“Come on guys that’s enough of this.”

“Shut up Sam; we can bring you into this too. Truce Jess?

“Yeah whatever.”

“Looky there, there’s Frank.”

“What up fellas?”

“Nothin’ much Franky.”

“Who we got back here?”

“This is Jess, we met a couple weeks ago.”

“A’ight. What can I hook ya’ up with?”

“Heard ya got some greens in.”

“Yeah man, how much you want?”

“Oh, I guess 10 bucks worth.”

“A’ight here ya’ go. Now… where did this come from?

“Found it in the street.”

“That’s correct.”

Brian pulled away and turned towards the highway. A couple of blocks later flashing lights appeared behind the car. Brian pulled over and took off running, Sam followed suit. Jess was trying to get out of the back seat when the officer tackled him to the ground and cuffed him. After a short chase the other officer returned, unable to catch up with Brian and Sam.

“Alright son, it looks like were going to have to take you in.”

“Whatever.”

“After we search the car, We’ll be on our way. Now is there anything in the car we should know about?”

“Um…”

“Spit it out Son we don’t have all night.”

“Well, they just bought some greens not even 2 minutes ago.”

“Thank you son, now is there anything else?”

“Not that I know of, I really didn’t know them very well.”

“Okay well were going to take a look. Have a seat back here. Dispatch… this is officer Davis, we have a 10-200, can we get a K-9 unit out here?”

“10-4 ETA 20 minutes.”

“Alright Son now we have to wait for the K-9 to show up, so what can you tell me about those guys you were with?”

“Their names are Brian and Sam. Brian just turned 16 yesterday and I don’t know how old Sam is I guess 15.”

“Do you know their last names?”

“No I said I didn’t know them very well.”

“How did you guys meet?”

“Well Brian was my cellmate a couple weeks ago and Sam is his friend who was also in jail.”

“So you’ve been to juvenile detention before?”

“Yeah.”

“How old are you son?”

“12”

“You are 12 years old and have multiple stays in Juvenile detention… don’t you think you should obey the law a little bit more?”

“What are you my father? I mean it’s none of your business what I do with my life.”

“You’re right its not, but you really need to think about where your life is going. Do you really want to spend your teen years in jail? Don’t answer that, its rhetorical. Now where do these guys live?”

“Well Sam lives over at 13th and maple in the brown house, I don’t know where Brian lives.”

“So why are you out with guys you met in the detention center two weeks ago that are 4 years older than you?”

“I don’t really have any friends, and they were nice to me and it seemed like they were in there for having fun, and I haven’t really had any fun in over a year now.”

“Alright just sit tight a couple more minutes and when the K-9 gets here we can transfer the scene.”

The K-9 unit showed up and officer Davis left to take Jess to the Detention center. They arrived after a short drive and they booked Jess in. They came and got him and brought him into an interrogation room. Where his father was waiting.

“Dad what are you doing here?”

“Well Jess It’s a law that your parents must be present for any criminal questioning, so here I am.”

“What’s going to happen to me?”

“Well they have you on drug possession charges.”

“Those weren’t mine I swear.”

“Well Jess I am not sure that matters.”

Officer Davis entered the room and sat down.

“So Jess I guess, do you want to tell me what happened tonight.”

“………..”

“Come on Jess.”

“Well Brian picked me up at the movies and we went and picked up Sam at his house. Then we drove over to the warehouse district and bought some greens from Frank. And then got pulled over by you.”

“I know that but is there anything else.”

“NO I ALREADY TOLD YOU EVERYTHING I KNOW.”

“Calm down Jess we just want to figure out what to do with you.”

“What is that supposed to mean?”

“Well Jess, we can charge you for drug possession or we might be able to get you a plea bargain where you testify against Brian, Sam, and Frank.”

“Well what kind of time am I looking at if I take the plea bargain?”

“Well I will have to talk to a DA but probably 6 months to a year.”

“And if I don’t take it?”

“Well the maximum sentence would be until you turn 18.”

“Huh and what kind of time will the others get?”

“Well they can be tried as adults so they could get as much as 10-15 years.”

“Well let me talk to my dad for a second and get back to me about the terms of the deal.”

“Alright I’ll make a few phone calls.”

“Dad what should I do?”

“Well Jess you would be stupid to not take it I mean you take 5 years over months, for someone you don’t even know that well to know his name.”

“Yeah well I guess we will just wait to see what he has to say.”

---- -------

“Okay guys I made a couple of phone calls and the DA said that you can plead guilty for misdemeanor possession if you testify against Brian and Sam. It carries a maximum sentence of 9 months.”

“Well that sounds like a deal.”

“That’s great… did I tell you that they apprehended Sam and Brian at Sam’s house.”

“THAT’S GREAT.”

“I thought you would feel that way. Well we should get you in a cell.”

“Can I have a minute?’

“Make it quick.”

“I am sorry dad. Will you forgive me?”

“Of course Jess, you have to know that I love you, no matter how much you think that I hate you, always know that I love you more than anything.”

“Tell mom I am sorry too.”

“Will do Jess, now stay out of trouble.”

“Thanks dad.”

“Alright Jess let’s go.”

A/N Reviews are appreciated. Hope you enjoyed reading.