Chapter Two

Jesse and Aunt Jenny were tied at four houses each – and Jesse was about to buy a railroad - when there was a knock at the front door. It sounded like someone was making a halfhearted attempt to tap "shave and a haircut, two bits," in fact.

"That's probably the mail… Could you get it, Jesse?" Aunt Jenny inquired, gesturing with her head to indicate that getting up from her cross-legged position might be a little harder than getting into it had been.

"Sure, no problem," Jesse replied, standing up in a swift motion and walking over to the door. It was odd, he thought to himself, that he responded to requests from his aunt so differently than he did those from his parents. Maybe it was because Aunt Jenny didn't nag at him, didn't snap at him… To say no to her would just be mean.

He opened the door and was surprised to find, instead of the mailman standing on the step, there stood a slim, short girl around his age, with long, dark-brown hair and glasses, dressed in a pair of khakis and a green T-shirt with white writing proclaiming the initials of "O.U.".

"Oh! Hi!" she exclaimed, looking a little surprised to see him as well, "I just wanted to drop off this package for Ms. Carlow." She extended a small white-and-blue box to Jesse. "The postman delivered it to my house by mistake yesterday."

"Okay," Jesse replied, "I'll give it to my aunt." At his words, the girl narrowed her eyes a moment and snapped her fingers.

"Oh my God," she whispered. "Jesse Pinkman?" He blinked a moment before he realized that the girl had looked familiar in a way that he hadn't bothered to try and put his finger on. Then it all clicked, and he wondered why it hadn't before.

"Deanna Escobar," he replied with a nod. "You still live next door?"

"Haven't gone anywhere. Where have you been?" Deanna teased. "I haven't seen you since grade school… Well, I think, at least. I guess I figured you moved."

"No, I've still been around. I guess we just haven't had classes together," Jesse replied. That they hadn't run into each other made a lot of sense – Deanna, even back in grade school, had been an ultra-brain and Jesse a slacker who didn't show up half the time (at least from fifth grade on) and never did half the work even when he did, preferring to sit in the back, sketching and daydreaming.

They had been friends, somehow, despite the difference. They had kept ending up in each other's classes, sitting in the same rows, and walking the same way home from school.

In elementary school, it was a chance of random selection to end up in a class together, whereas middle school and high school tended to be split up by ability – so when seventh grade had rolled around, the two stopped cropping up in each other's line of sight. If Jesse thought hard about it, he was pretty sure he'd caught a glimpse of Deanna going about her business somewhere in the meantime, either at school or when he was visiting his aunt, but he couldn't place it.

Deanna hadn't changed very much, physically, since Jesse had last seen her. He knew that if this were some kind of teen romance movie (not that he was into any of those), the gawky, mousy-haired girl would have shed her glasses for contacts, put her hair up and be sporting a rockin' bod, but other than being a bit taller and looking a little older, Deanna was still gawky and mousy as she ever was.

"Yeah, well," Deanna quipped, putting her hand on her hip. "You shouldn't be a stranger." She jerked her finger in the direction of Jesse's yard. "I live next door. You should come by one of these days when you're visiting your aunt. I miss you."

"I missed you, too," Jesse replied, sticking his hand in his pocket – though he wasn't quite sure if the words were true. He couldn't really remember actively thinking about Deanna in the years since they'd drifted apart. "And I'm not visiting, I moved in, yo." He moved one foot back, hoping she wouldn't insist on asking why he'd moved in. There was no part of that he wanted to talk about, not with anyone and particularly not with someone he hadn't talked to since his idea of rebellion was sitting behind the house and pretending to smoke candy cigarettes.

"You did? Then you really have no excuse!" she continued as Jesse reached out and finally took the box from her. "It's not like you don't know where I live. Anyway, I better get back."

"Yeah, you must have some new… chemical theories or something to go discover," he replied flatly. Jesse's sarcastic jibe got a good-natured laugh in response.

"My dad's the chemist, not me," she responded, pushing her hair over her shoulder. "I'm don't know if I'm really looking forward to Chemistry this year – can you imagine if I mess up? Pretty embarrassing, right? But thanks. I'm honored." She placed a hand to her heart and smirked, then paused before adding, "But anyway… See ya soon, I hope." Deanna waved and made her way back off the ledge before walking down the sidewalk and crossing her own yard, disappearing out of Jesse's view.

"Who was at the door?" Jenny asked as Jesse returned to the game, sitting down and gazing at the board and flicking his stack of fake money with his fingers.

"Deanna Escobar. She had this package for you," Jesse said, handing his aunt the box, which she placed off to the side.

"Nice girl," Jenny replied, smiling.

"Yeah, I guess." Jesse shrugged. He stared down at his fingers a moment, flicking the cardboard back and forth as he wondered how much he himself had changed.

Not at all, he decided finally, but couldn't figure out whether that was good or bad.

"All right, I'm gonna buy this railroad. Vroom vroom, yo."