I inhaled, sighed, then sucked on the burnt paper, exhaling through my nose as smoke swirled into the air. “I get locked up for doing drugs, and what do they do when I get here? Give me drugs to help me recover.”

It was nice to be outside, enjoying the sunshine after all of the rain we had the last week. I could still smell the damp wetness from the rooftops.

“Yeah, but they’ll never legalize the good stuff,” Reggie nodded from his resting place on the other side of the picnic table.

“Good stuff? Like what you gave me?” Whatever it had been, this medical weed didn’t compare.

He snorted, “Sure, you could call it that.”

I sighed when I did not get the answer I wanted and took another drag.

“Your dad come to visit?”

“Don’t think he can stand the sight of me right now. Besides, he’s on a business meeting overseas. I still can’t believe that witch locked me in here. It was just stupid perfume.”

“Didn’t you bash her face in the mirror of that vanity, first?”

“That’s beside the point.” I replied with a small smile. “Even so, that would mean its your fault I got locked in here.”

He chuckled, “Meh, worth it.” He sat up and rested his elbows on the table. “Think you’ll be out in time for prom?”

“In your dreams, Reg.”

He snorted at that, “As long as I’m allowed to dream.”

I shook the ash from the blunt, then looked back at him, “What about Sonya?”

“Oh, she switched sides.”

“Ouch, that sucks, man.” I faced forward again to hide my smile.

Another inhale of medical induced bliss, and I crushed what was left in the hospital provided ash tray. My treatment for the day now over, they would take me back inside to the white rooms, where I would wait out the high before I was brought food, then taken to Dr. Philips, the jerk with a PhD.

“So, when do they allow conjugal visits?”

I cut my eyes in his direction but smiled anyway. “When I’m eighteen.”

“Well, that’s boring.” Reggie stood up and tasted the smoke on my lips. Then, he stepped on the other side of the park bench to leave. “See you around, crazy girl.”

“Enjoy your lonely evening, drug dealer.” He gave a bow at my comment and exited the roof as two nurses came through to retrieve me.

Just one puff. I just needed something to cool me off, make me relax. Reggie after class said it would help me forget what a horrible week I had.

I shifted my eyes between the many white rooms on either side of the hallway. She had overreacted, that trashy stepmother of mine. I just trashed her vanity and broke all of her expensive perfume that she used to lure my father into marrying her.

I was just tweaking, that’s all. It was just one stupid puff, that witch. Is that any reason to ship me off to the state mental institute?