Marcus got high. Insanely high.

The first few days since Ginny disappeared, he was extremely anxious. He couldn't eat, couldn't sleep, hell he couldn't even blink. The only thing that put his racing mind at ease was a fat blunt.

He got the weed from his friend Dylon, who charged way less than any other dealers at school. He also learned that if he was smoking weed, he didn't feel the constant throbbing ache in his head that was caused by his concussion, so he didn't intend on stopping any time soon.

On Wednesday after school, Marcus sat beside his open window and smoked until he felt physically numb. Max came into his room unannounced and asked, "What the fuck are you doing idiot?". "Ah, coming into my room without knocking, good to see something's never change." He told her while still facing the window. "You know you're not supposed to be smoking that shit." She told him. He chuckled, "What're you going to do? Tell mom?" He taunted. "You've always been a fucking snitch Max. A snitch with no boundaries or a moral code." He told her before taking another puff of his blunt. Max rolled her eyes at her twin. She went to his chair and snatched the blunt from his fingers. "What the fuck?!" He exclaimed while turning to her. She took a hit of the blunt and blew out the smoke. "Stop being dramatic. Ugh, you would be the one to get high off of the worst shit. You should contact my guy, I'll give you his info." Max told him before passing him his blunt back. "Why the hell are you being civil to me? After all these weeks of bullshit?" Marcus asked her. She shrugged, "You're my twin. You've done worse stuff to me so I consider this water under the bridge for us." She told him. He rolled his eyes, his sister was exhausting to keep up with. "Whatever Max. Shut the door on your way out." He told her while waving her off.

Melody was laying face down on her bed while blasting random songs in her AirPods. She was bored out of her mind. Her grandpa offered to let her play blackjack with him and his friends from the neighborhood club but she didn't feel like playing card games with a bunch of old men. Her nona was at Bible study and her mom was working a 48-hour shift at the hospital. Melody ultimately decided to do what she always did and went to Marcus's house.

She skated to his house and immediately saw him through his open window. She went to the side of the house where his window was a shouted, "Your mom would kill you!". Marcus looked down to his best friend and laughed before shouting back, "At least it would've been worth it.". Melody shook her head before climbing up to his window.

Marcus rolled his eyes as Melody fell into his room with a soft thud. "I could've just opened the door for you." He told her. "You couldn't have made that offer a few minutes ago?" She asked while grabbing her now sore arm. "You should put ice on that." Marcus told her. She glared at him and flipped him off before taking his blunt smoking it. "This shits week as fuck." She told Marcus. "At first yeah, but I've smoked an entire baggie." He told her. "You what?" She asked him in shock, "Mama Ellen really is going to kill you." Melody told Marcus. "She'll never know!" He told her, Melody scoffed, "Your eyes are so red, I could see them from down the street, and your entire room smells like lollapalooza. She's going to know." Melody told him while taking his blunt again and smoking it.

Melody decided to help her best friend out and filled his eyes with the eye drops she always kept on her for these situations and sent him to shower and get the weed smell off of him while she worked on getting the smell out of his room. After 3 cans of air freshener, the smell wasn't completely gone but it was hidden well enough so that hopefully Marcus's parents wouldn't be able to tell.

Melody was still over at the house when Ellen arrived home. "Mel, we're having pot roast for dinner! You should join us." Ellen told her. "Of course!" Melody told her.

At dinner, Marcus was experiencing the effects of the weed and spent the entire time giggling and zoning out. Over the course of the evening, Ellen grew more and more concerned, "Marcus are you feeling alright?" She asked him while using the back of her hand to feel his forehead for a temperature. "Huh? Oh yeah mom I'm feeling great." He told her before sitting back and sliding down his seat. Ellen stared at him suspiciously, "Uh-huh... maybe you should go lie down for a few minutes." She told her son. He got up from the table and walked slowly to the living room before dramatically falling back into a laying position on the couch. Melody bit her tongue to avoid laughing at him.

After dinner, Ellen dropped Melody off at home. Melody went inside and went into the living room. "Hey grandpa, the Bakers made pot roast and sent some home for you." Melody told him. "Shhh!" Her grandfather cut her off, he pointed to her mother who was passed out on the couch. She still had her coat on and she was still wearing her glasses. Melody sighed and went over to her. She took her glasses off and put them on the coffee table and draped a throw blanket over her. She kissed her moms forehead and went back to where she was originally. "Now about that pot roast..." her grandfather whispered. She chuckled before handing him the Tupperware.

The next morning, Marcus and Melody got a ride to school from Loraine. "Oh Melody, did I tell you about Tina?" Loraine asked her granddaughter, "No nona but I'm sure you will now!" Melody said sarcastically, "Hey you little smart ass, knock it off!" Loraine scolded before telling her the details of the gossip she knew about. When they got to school, they walked straight to the red hallway with their other friends.

"I'm so ready for break." Fiona told the group. "You've mentioned that about 1000 times already." Marcus told her, making everyone else laugh. Fiona groaned, "Whatever! I'm just ready to leave this fucking school." She told him. The first bell rang and Fiona dramatically flopped backwards on a beanbag, "Fuck this." She said before standing up and walking to class with their friends Garret and Rachel.

Melody was about to walk to class when Marcus grabbed her arm. "What?" She asked him, "Shh.." he said while discreetly showing her the bag of weed he had on him. "Let's go." Melody told him. She grabbed his hand and pulled him outside to the courtyard.

"This is good." Melody said while passing their shared joint. "Way better than that shit you had yesterday." She told him. "Yep, got this weed from Erica." He told her. "Sweet innocent Erica? The girl who doesn't talk in art class?" Melody asked. Marcus nodded. "Damn, didn't take Erica for a pot head." Melody told him.

They were smoking for about 30 minutes before an administrator caught them. The weed was confiscated and now they were in the front office waiting for their parents. The schools resource officer was with them and asking them questions. "Where did you get the weed?" He asked the two kids. "I plead the 5th." Marcus told him, "You can't do that here." The officer told him. "Actually I can, my uncle's a cop. I know my rights." Marcus told the officer. The officer shook his head and turned to Melody, "Where did you get the weed from?" He asked her. She remained completely silent and crossed her arms over her chest.

"Where's my son?" Ellen asked as she entered the front office, Lenora and Anthony were right behind her. "In here ma'am!" The officer shouted. The three adults came into the office and stood behind the children. "These two were caught smoking weed in the courtyard, they won't give us any information about who gave it to em." The resource officer informed. "May we have a moment to talk to our kids? Alone?" Lenora asked, he nodded and gave them the room.

"What the fuck! This is the shit you two are doing at school now? Why can't you just skip class like any other normal children?" Lenora asked them angrily. "You're so grounded." Ellen told her son. "You're grounded too. And you're going to Mass every Sunday." Lenora told her daughter. Melody groaned, "I wouldn't complain if I were you missy, it could've been so much freaking worse. Get your ass in the car. I hope that weed was worth it." Lenora told her daughter.

The two got suspended for three days, and their parents weren't happy. "What the hell has gotten into you Marcus?! Again with the weed?" Ellen scolded as she drove. "At least it isn't fucking cocaine." Marcus told her. "Don't start that shit with me. I'm talking about how you continue to smoke weed despite your father and I telling you to stop." Ellen scolded. He rolled his eyes and turned away from her.

"I can't believe I gave birth to such an idiot." Lenora said as she entered the house with Melody and Anthony. "It's one thing to smoke weed, it's another thing to get caught doing that shit at school. I have to get to work soon, but don't even try leaving this house while I'm gone. For the three days that you'll miss at school, your ass will be here on lockdown." Lenora told her daughter before storming upstairs to get dressed for work.

"Well, she's lame." Anthony said while opening his bottle of scotch and pouring some into a glass. Melody rolled her eyes, "Grandpa it isn't even lunch yet and you're drinking?" Melody said. "You're judging?" He shot back. "Touché." Melody said. "I don't know why she's so uptight, you and nona don't give a shit." She told him while crossing the living room and plopping down on the sofa. "I don't know where she gets that either. She's been like that since she was a kid, Anthony Jr was always the fun child." Her grandpa told her while laughing.

That night, Melody was in her bed drifting off when she heard knocking at her window that startled her awake. She immediately knew who it was and scoffed before she quickly opened her window. "Marcus, what the hell?!" She whispered harshly. "That was too damn loud." She told him. He smiled smugly before slipping into her room. "Ellen and Clint aren't home, so I decided to step out for the evening." He told Melody, who rolled her eyes and huffed. "By that do you mean you went to buy more weed?" She asked him. "You know me so well!" He told her exaggeratedly. "How are you even able to afford all of that shit? You spend like $200 on it every month." She asked him. "Nana's pretty generous, and I just so happen to be her favorite grandchild." He told her while flopping onto her bed.  Unannounced to anybody, Melody's grandfather bursted into her room. "Didn't I tell you about climbing up to that damn window?!" He asked while pointing to Marcus. Marcus put his hands up quickly, "I hope one day you lose your grip and bust your ass!" Anthony continued to tell him before he turned to leave, "Good to see you gramps!" Marcus called out, "Good to see you too kid!" Anthony yelled back from down the hall.

For the next hour, Marcus and Melody talked and did each other's nails. Marcus was very good at painting nails because he painted often. He was putting a clear coat over Melody's now coral colored toe nails when he suddenly got a call, from no other than his sister. He answered and put it on speaker, "What you fucking weirdo?" He asked, "First of all, rude, and second, I think you need to start hightailing your ass back here, mom said she's going to be back in 15." Max told her brother. "Shit. Well, I gotta go Bambam, see you tomorrow!" He said while walking towards her bedroom door. "Bye bubs, see ya!" She said.