Jesse walked into school the next morning, looking half-dead from his sufficient lack of sleep. He had stayed up all night at Badger's house, smoking weed and watching movies with him and Pete. He sneaked back into his own house successfully around 3 AM the previous night and went to sleep at about 4 AM. His parents rarely ever caught him sneaking in or out anymore; in fact, they had basically given up on him ever since he started his "rebellious streak" several months ago. He hated that term. He felt it wasn't a streak, but rather a way of life. He didn't think he was ever going to "grow out of it" like he had overheard his mother saying to his father.

He walked into his chemistry class with about five seconds to spare before the final bell rang. He was relieved when Mr. White didn't say anything to him- he was worried that he might've somehow found out that he skipped his detention yesterday. He sunk down in his seat, pulling the hood of his jacket further over his head to the point where it was almost covering his eyes.

"Alright class, get out your homework while I take attendance. I'm going to walk around in a minute and check if you completed it," Mr. White announced, looking around the classroom to see if everyone was present that day.

Jesse rolled his eyes and pulled his hood off, running his hand through his hair. He hadn't even bothered to bring a pen and paper to class with him this time. What was the point? He was almost positive he was going to either drop out or get kicked sooner or later anyways.

Mr. White stood up from his desk with a notebook, starting at the front of the room. He gave small nods and whispered names to himself as he took note of who had their homework and who did not. He made his way to the back of the room, where Jesse was sitting.

"Mr. Pinkman?" he questioned, glancing at the empty table in front of Jesse.

Jesse shook his head. "I don't have it," he said quietly.

Mr. White sighed as he walked back to the front of the room and set the notebook on his desk.

Jesse stared out the window, beginning his deep daydreaming as Mr. White's chemistry lesson was a muffled sound in the back of his head. He started thinking about his life. He had always had a little bit of defiance in him, but only fairly recently had started doing things that were considered to be delinquency. It started at the beginning of his sophomore year of high school. He didn't know exactly why, he just knew that he had this burning feeling inside him to do everything that his parents and his teachers wouldn't want him to do. Once he started doing that, he developed a feeling that he would never grow up to have a life that would be considered "normal." He thought he was either going to die at a young age from drugs or murder, or end up in jail. He couldn't control his actions and he didn't care about what the results from them would be. He still had a small sense of fear in him whenever he was in trouble, but he tried hard not to show it. It was lessening quicker with each time, and he knew it would eventually be gone.


"Hey, Jesse. Want some?" Badger asked, holding up a bag containing a white powdery substance.

Jesse's face turned from confusion to shock. "Is that…?" he started to ask but didn't finish his question.

"Yep, meth," Badger replied casually with a smirk. "Want some?"

"Isn't that stuff.. like, addictive?" Jesse asked slowly.

"Nah not really, me and Badger have been using it for a while," Pete chimed in.

"And this is the first time you've mentioned it to me?" Jesse questioned suspiciously.

"We just met you a few months ago, we didn't know if you were some kinda undercover cop or somethin'" Badger responded.

Jesse stared at the meth and scratched his head. He nodded unsurely. Badger opened the bag, putting some of the powdery substance on the table and shaping it into a perfect line with a credit card. Jesse got a nervous look in his eyes. His eyes jerked up in Badger's direction as he handed him a rolled up dollar bill to snort with. Jesse gulped as he grabbed it. He brought the dollar bill to the table, putting it to the line of meth. He pressed his finger on one of his nostrils and held the dollar bill up to his other nostril. He closed his eyes gently and took a sharp breath in. It hurt his nose as it went it, but it quickly passed and he felt pleasure. He wasn't sure if the drug had actually started working yet or if this was the kind of "sugar pill" effect from thinking it was going to have an effect on him right away. His heart was practically racing out of his chest. He held his hand up to his heart and felt it beating. He closed his eyes again. It was as if everything was in slow motion almost, like time was moving so slowly even though in reality it was moving at normal speed.


Jesse awoke to the sound of his cell phone ringing. He had a grumpy look on his face as he squeezed his eyes shut and then opened them, trying to straighten out his blurred vision. He took his phone out of his pocket and looked to see who it was. It was his mom. His eyes went directly to the upper right corner of his phone, where the time was. 1 PM. "Shit," he whispered to himself.

"Hey," he said as he answered the phone.

"Jesse," his mom said loudly. "Where are you?! Your school called me earlier and told me you weren't there, and I called you five times before you picked up your phone. Where the hell are you?"

Jesse rolled his eyes. "Relax mom, I'm at Badger's. We stayed up late and I accidentally slept through morning. I'm fine."

"Jesse, that is not okay. You better march yourself home right now, and I mean it," his mom warned angrily.

Jesse huffed as he stood up off the floor. He noticed that Badger and Pete were still sleeping, so he just left without saying anything to them. He walked home, feeling so drowsy and out-of-it that it was almost difficult for him to walk.

He finally reached his house, dreading the moment that he was going to walk inside and be attacked by his mom's questions and lectures. He went in through the backdoor. As soon as he opened the door, he saw both of his parents sitting anxiously at the kitchen table.

"Jesse, have a seat," his mom spoke, sounding like she was trying very hard to stay calm.

Jesse took a seat at the end of the table, cautiously watching and studying the looks on his parents faces. They both seemed angry and impatient, but also looked like they were almost trying to hide it.

"Jesse, your mother and I have been thinking a lot," his father began. "And your behavior lately has been very unacceptable." he paused for a moment. "If you continue to behave like this, you can't live in this house anymore."

Jesse drew his eyebrows together in confusion and he looked back and forth quickly between both of his parents, and became frustrated when neither of their facial expressions changed. "Are you serious?"

"Yes," his mom answered. "We can't have this type of influence around Jake."

Jesse's thoughts went haywire as he tried to wrap his mind around this. Were they kicking him out?

"You need to stop hanging around with the wrong crowd of people," his mom added.

Jesse seemed as if he was about to explode as he responded to this. "The wrong crowd?! Why can't you guys just understand that this is how I actually am?"

"You used to be good! You never would have acted like this a few years ago," his mother yelled as her eyes watered.

"I don't hang out with wrong crowd mom, I am the wrong crowd," he said through clenched teeth.

His mom put her face in her hands, starting to cry very lightly. His dad shot a stern stare to him and Jesse could've sworn he saw his dad's face transform to a shade of red in anger.

Jesse slammed his hand on the table and stood up. He raised his eyebrows as he looked at his parents. He looked as if he wanted to say something but didn't know what to say. He walked out of the kitchen and made his way upstairs to his bedroom. Were they serious about kicking him out? They couldn't possibly be serious. They wouldn't just kick out their son because they don't like the way he was acting.

He walked into his bedroom and slammed the door behind him, locking it. He laid down on his bed and stared up at the ceiling. He didn't want to live with his parents anymore anyways. Maybe he could live with Badger instead, his life would be much better there.