Bad Boy

Rating: T / PG-13 (Language and Mature Situations)

Disclaimer: All Characters from "Malcolm in the Middle" are owned by the Fox and Linwood Boomer, the show's creator.

Summary: Reese has always been something of a bad boy, but he finds himself in more trouble than he bargained for when he begins hanging around with a new crowd.

Author's Note: This takes place in season six. The first two chapters are loosely based on Malcolm's and Reese's storyline in the episode "Chad's Sleepover," where they find out how unpopular they are.

Chapter 1

Reese opened his eyes with a splitting headache to the intolerable sound of the alarm bright and early on Monday morning. He had barely slept the night before with only a few periods of fitful dozing now and then. He had been dreading this morning all weekend. Rolling over with a sigh, he slapped the buttons on the top of the alarm to activate the snooze feature. Maybe five more minutes would help him feel better.

Unfortunately, five more minutes wouldn't be possible because Malcolm and Dewey were climbing out of bed before he turned off the alarm. Reese rolled onto his side with his back to them, praying that maybe they would leave him alone for once. No such luck.

"Reese, what the hell is your problem? You better get up or mom's going to kill you. You know how she is when we're late for breakfast." Malcolm said. He was right. Their mother, Lois, ran the house with an iron fist. She didn't tolerate even the slightest violation of her rules. Something as minute as being a few minutes late for breakfast would still lead to being grounded. She never broke or bended under any circumstances—for that would be a sign of weakness. If Lois showed the smallest hint of weakness, chaos would surely break out in their household. The brothers despised how she ruled over their every move, but deep down they knew that she did it for their own protection. They weren't exactly poster boys for good behavior. "Reese, I'm serious. If you piss her off first thing, she'll have it out for all of us for the rest of the day" Malcolm continued.

Reese groaned and sat up in his bed. He'd only been awake for five minutes and Malcolm was already on his nerves. He loved his brother (although he would never admit as much in a million years), but he also loathed that Malcolm would always be their parents' golden child due to the achievements he earned thanks to his genius-level IQ. He had been taking advanced classes in school since he was 10 years old. Without realizing how hurtful it was to their other sons, their parents often referred to Malcolm as "this family's only chance at making it." Malcolm got into his fair share of trouble too, often being the mastermind behind many of their schemes, but his punishments never seemed quite as bad as Reese's.

Reese knew that he was their parents' least favorite son. The only thing that he had going for him was his impeccable talent for cooking, but he rarely got to do it because he was grounded so often. Though he had stopped being a school bully after his first year in high school, he still didn't have any real friends because he found it difficult to talk to people unless he was insulting them. He acted tough mainly to hide the fact that he was very sensitive and secretly feared rejection. Rather than suffer ridicule and torment from his classmates, he channeled his emotions into anger and solved his problems with his fists when the need arose. Sitting on the side of his bed, Reese placed his head in his hands and rubbed his aching temples because he knew today would be no different. He knew the incident that happened Friday night would probably land him in at least one fight before the end of the day, which would lead to suspension from school and worse—his mother's wrath. If he could only be more like his brothers, the humiliation that he was about to face at school might not bother him so much. He would be able shrug off their insults and keep his anger in check.

Reese's oldest brother, Francis, was a serious trouble maker throughout his childhood, but his years in military school had turned his life around. Even though he dropped out before he graduated, his knack for cleverness and determination had helped him become a respectable married man with an honest job. Dewey, the second youngest, was never much of a problem child. Although he shared his brothers' passion for mischief, he was good at playing the "cute and innocent little kid" card, which often granted him mercy when he got in trouble. In addition, Dewey was nearly as smart as Malcolm and had a natural gift for music—making him the second most likely to succeed in the family.

Reese's only chance at redemption from the "least favorite" role lied in the youngest of the five brothers, Jamie, who was still a baby. No one knew how he would ultimately turn out, but at the tender age of one he had had already attempted to kill their mother by pushing a cabinet on her.

"Are you feeling okay Reese?" Dewey asked as he pulled on his jeans, jarring Reese from his thoughts.

"What's it to you?" Reese shot back, immediately shifting into his normal defensive approach. "I can still beat the crap out of you, if that's what you're worried about."

"No, I wasn't really worried about it. But since you brought it up, I'm sure mom wouldn't be too happy if she knew that you and Malcolm snuck out Friday night to go to a party." Dewey responded as he pulled on his jeans.

"It wasn't a party. Just shut-up about Friday night, I don't want to talk about it." Reese said.

"Awww…what's the matter, Reese? Did some hot girl laugh at you when you asked her to dance?" Dewey taunted. He knew he had the upper hand because Reese and Malcolm would be grounded for weeks if their mother found out about them leaving the house without her permission.

"I said shut up Dewey! You won't be able to tell mom anything when your jaw is wired together!" Reese shouted, rising from the bed. He felt his hands instinctively curl into fists as he loomed over his younger brother.

"What's going on?" Malcolm asked, coming out of the bathroom. He could feel that things were about to get ugly. Reese was already going to be late for breakfast and he didn't need extra punishment for beating up Dewey to top it off.

"Dewey said he's going to tell mom that we snuck out Friday night." Reese told Malcolm.

"Hey! Leave me out of this Dewey! Whatever problem you have with Reese right now doesn't involve me. If you tell her then I'll be grounded too!" Malcolm could feel his anger rising to match that of his brother's. He hated when Dewey used blackmail to get them under his thumb. The kid was smart, no doubt about it.

"Would everybody just SHUT UP? I just want to forget that Friday night ever happened!" Reese tried to sound tough, but anguish in his voice was very obvious. He had spent the entire weekend silently brooding over the incident and it was catching up with him. "Just leave me alone!" his voice cracked as if he might cry. An awkward silence washed over the three of them. It was a rare occasion when Reese showed that he actually had real feelings. Even Dewey knew that it was time to keep his mouth shut. "What are you all staring at?" Reese asked hatefully, overcoming his urge to cry. He plopped down on his bed, angry with himself for almost letting his emotions slip in front of his brothers.

"It's really bothering you isn't it?" Malcolm asked with genuine concern.

"What? Oh, you mean the fact that everyone in the whole school hates us and thinks we're losers? Or could it be the fact that they're all going to be laughing at us when we get there because we crashed their stupid party and made complete fools of ourselves?" Reese spat sarcastically.

"What's the big deal? So everyone hates us. They always have. It's not like it's something new, Reese." Malcolm reasoned.

"I know, but I guess they've never actually told us to our faces that we're losers and they hate us before. I thought at least a few people liked us…well, me anyway. It's just…different now. We're the laughing stock of the entire school! Don't you see that? How could it not bother you?"

"Don't let them bug you Reese. They just don't like us because we're unique, that's all. We're different from other families." Dewey spoke up in an effort to help the situation.

"Yeah, we're all rejects! That's why we're different. At least you two have something going for yourselves. You both can say that everyone's just jealous of you cause you're smart. What's my excuse?"

"Oh, come on Reese! Why is this bugging you so much? Since when have you ever cared about what other people think? You usually just beat the crap out of them and move on. What's your deal?" Malcolm asked.

"I don't know! I told you that it's different now! You're so damn smart, why don't you tell me what's wrong? Maybe you could use me for another one of your little psychology projects and make me look like an even bigger loser than I already do!"

"Ok, I made a mistake! Besides, that was last year. I though we were past that."

"Well, we're NOT! Just get the hell out of my face! Both of you!" Reese shouted.

"What is going on in here?" Lois appeared in the doorway. "What's wrong with you boys? You've only been up for a few minutes and you're already at each others throats! I can hear you screaming all the way in the kitchen! Your breakfast has been on the table getting cold for ten minutes. I get up early every morning to make sure that you get a decent meal before school and none of you even appreciates it. My God, Reese! You're not even dressed! That's it. Forget about breakfast because you don't have time. You're all grounded this afternoon so you better be back in this house at 3:30 on the dot. You have five minutes to finish getting ready and get out the door. Now move it!"

Malcolm rolled his eyes. "Way to go Reese." He gathered his books and walked out of the room.

"Yeah, thanks a lot, Reese." Dewey added, turning to follow Malcolm.

"Why is it my fault? Dewey started it! Why is everything ALWAYS MY fault?" Reese screamed as he put on his clothes. He grabbed his backpack and stormed through the house, slamming the front door behind him.