Jess went through the breakfast line and sat down next to Brian. Brian introduced him to the others.
"So Jess, this here is Paul, and that over there is Sam."
"Hey guys."
"So Jess who was your visitor earlier?"
"Oh that, it was my girlfriends dad."
"The one that died?"
"Yeah man, I called him to see if he could get me out of here, but they would only release me to my parents."
"Man I tried to tell you to call your parents, but you wouldn't listen."
"Easy Brian its his first time in here you know."
"Shut up Sam! He knows I'm just razzing him. So Jess, when is your court appearance.?"
"They haven't told me yet, when's yours?"
"I don't have one, I getting out of here any minute now."
"What about you guys, when are you getting out of here?"
"About Now."
"Ditto."
"So I guess I'll be here all by myself then."
"Yeah, you should have called your parents, they could have gotten you out of here."
"Well I guess that's something good to know."
"Yeah it really is, So when you get out of here, you should give me a call, we'll go do something."
"Sure Brian, but what's your number?"
"Oh my bad dude, its 555-3943 that's my cell."
"Alright man, see you on the other side."
Jess was led back to his cell after breakfast, where he spent the day napping, after all he didn't sleep well last night. After what seemed like days, the door opened and he was taken to lunch. Jess ate quietly as he was now the only one in the cafeteria. He finished his lunch and he was taken to the library where he picked up a book, The Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe. As he flipped through the pages, he thought of Leslie, and all of the time spent in their own magical land. Jess was sound asleep when they came and got him for dinner, he ate quickly and went back to finish the book. It was soon lights out and Jess put the book down and tried to sleep, he wasn't really tired as he slept most of the day, but he tried regardless. Jess was dreaming about his parents, and what he thought they would do when he returned home. Then there was another pound on the door.
"Aarons wake up lets go."
"What's going on?"
"This is your first day of drill. LET'S GO LET'S GO. NOW Drop and give me 40!!"
"Whatever."
"Aarons, is that any way to address me?"
"No sir"
"What was that I didn't hear you."
"SIR NO SIR"
"That's better. Now Count it out"
"ONE…TWO…THREE……FORTY!"
"Good now on your feet Aarons."
"SIR YES SIR"
"Aarons, come with me its time for school. This is your teacher Ms. Myers."
"Ms. Myers, what are you doing here, I thought you retired?"
"Well Jess I did but I still teach here when need be. I never thought that I would see you in here, but its none of my business. Now let's get started."
Jess sat there and daydreamed as he often did two years ago when he was in her class. At about 12 a guard entered the room with a lunch cart. Ms. Myers stop teaching, and they ate together in silence. They finished lunch, and Ms. Myers finished her lesson, Jess was then taken and was given a shower before his court appearance. Jess stood in front of the judge, legs shaking.
"Jesse Oliver Aarons Jr. After hearing the evidence before me, I find you guilty of Trespassing and sentence you to 1 week in Juvenile Detention."
"Alright your Honor."
Jess sat on his bunk, and thought about the coming days, he didn't know how he would make it through it but before he knew it, he was standing behind the glass in his street clothes waiting for his parents. There was a buzz and the door opened. Jess walked out to see his father for the first time In a week, he didn't know how he would react, but his father watched from a distance, did a big come on wave, and went out to start the truck. Jess got in and they started off towards the house. There was an awkward silence in the truck as they drove back home, and nothing seemed to break it, then Jess decided to just get it over with.
"So, how much trouble am I in?"
"Well Jess, we're not really mad about you getting arrested, we're more disappointed that you didn't do your chores, and we are really disappointed in these grades that you are bringing home."
"Sorry, but I just can't keep going on like this."
"What exactly is that supposed to mean?"
"Well I can't stand it anymore, I have to go on everyday like nothing happened, but something did happen, I lost my best friend."
"We're sorry that she died, but you can't do anything about it, you just have to keep going, you know its what she would want."
"How would you know what she would want, you didn't even accept her for who she was, you didn't even remember her birthday!"
"You know Jess I am really sorry for getting on to you on her birthday, but it doesn't change the fact that you needed punished. Your grades are pathetic,and they need to be brought up, or you'll have to stay back a year while your class moves on to middle school."
"Maybe its for the best, they're all jerks anyway."
"Jess now you know that's not right to talk about your classmates like that."
"Really… they all made fun of me after Leslie died, and they still do, they don't know how much it hurts to lose your best friend."
"No they don't, but you are a stronger person for it, just remember everything that you went through. Now go on up to your room and we'll finish this conversation."
"FINE!"
Jess went upstairs to his room, he opened the door to find May Belle playing with her dolls.
"Jess! You're okay!"
"Yeah May, what did you think would happen to me?"
"Well Tammy said that Jenny said that Christine said that her brother Brian was in a cell with you and that you got beat up by the guards."
"Wow May, I can't believe you listened to them."
"May Belle, can you go downstairs? Jess and I need to talk."
"Okay Daddy."
"Alright now, I guess the question is did you learn anything from your experience?"
"No, not really, I was scared for a little while, but I think I adjusted well."
"Do you think that upon seeing that side of the justice system, you are less likely to go back theree?"
"No, not really I mean if I would have to go back, I really wouldn't have a problem with it."
"Jess, now your mother and I have talked over the last week, and we felt awful for doing that to you, but…"
"YOU, You did that to me, it was awful, I mean they asked me all kinds of questions, they gave me a cavity search, and they put me in the cell naked, how could you knowingly put me through that."
"Jess, your mother and I thought it might help set you straight, maybe you would respond and try harder, because if you keep up what you're doing, that's exactly where you will end up, in JAIL,"
"Whatever, now If I try harder, will you get off my back?"
" Maybe, but we still expect you to do your chores everyday, and if your grades don't improve and you pull another stunt like that, I'm afraid we'll have to send you to boot camp."
"Alright."
Jesse left the room and Jess lied down on his bed, it had been a long week. He thought about what his father had told him, that if he continued what he was doing, he really didn't care at this point and he snuck downstairs and grabbed the phone. He called Brian.
"Hello."
"Hello."
"Who is this?"
"Its Jess."
"Oh hey, so they finally let you out huh?"
"Yeah it was only a week."
"I guess, but I've never been there longer than a couple days."
"Wow, you should try it."
"No thanks."
"So you said we'd do something."
"Yeah, but not tonight, my mom won't let me out, I get my license on Thursday, I could pick you up on Friday, and we'll go out."
"Sounds good."
"Just give me a call Friday afternoon, if you still want to go."
Jess hung up the phone and went downstairs.
"Who was that honey?"
"No one mom."
"You were just on the phone, there had to be someone on it."
"I tried to call Mr. Burke, but he didn't answer."
"Why would you call him?"
"I told him I would call when I got out."
"How did he know you were in there?"
"Well I used my phone call to call him."
"You called Mr. Burke over us; Jess you need to know that we are always here for you no matter what."
"You don't act like it. You didn't even come to my court appearance."
"Jess honey, we already knew what was going to happen, and the sheriff thought it would be better for the program if we weren't there."
"Whatever, I'm going to bed."
Jess went back upstairs hung his blanket up and lied down again. He knew the names would fly at school tomorrow, he rolled over and passed out, it had been an extremely long week.
