Justice for All (The Outcast Book #1) Page 4

  Chapter 6

  Josie and I cut first hour about three times a week. Most of the time it’s because Josie needs a caffeine fix down at Starbucks. If she’s in a generous mood she’ll buy me a cappuccino; if she’s not then I’ll use my lunch money for the day. I can use the caffeine fix early in the morning too.

  Since it’s the day before homecoming, Josie says, “You got yourself a homecoming date yet?”

  “No.” I haven’t even considered asking out a boy since Dylan and I broke up. “You?”

  “Nah. I don’t do dances. I hear there’s going to be a wicked party over at City University.”

  “A college party? Aren’t we a little young for that?”

  “You might be, but I’m not.”

  “Yeah, right.”

  “You want to go or not?”

  “Sure. When is it?”

  “About ten. Why don’t I pick you up?”

  “You have a car?”

  “I can borrow one.”

  “Borrow as in steal?”

  “What? No. I can borrow my mom’s.”

  “Oh. Awesome. I’ll meet you at the curb, though.”

  “You embarrassed of me?”

  “No! It’s just my sister wouldn’t want me going to a college party.”

  “So don’t tell her.”

  That becomes harder when we open the door to Starbucks and there Jessica is behind the counter, wearing a green apron over a white top and tan pants. I start to turn around, but it’s too late. The way her eyes narrow, I know she has seen me.

  “Shit,” I squeak.

  “What?”

  “That’s my sister. The normal-looking one.” The other baristas look more like Josie and me with hair dyed bright colors, tattoos on their skin, and piercings all over while Jessica looks like she just arrived from a PTA meeting with her brown ponytail, clear skin, and just two earrings. Her eyes are narrowed to glare daggers at me while her cheeks are turning bright red.

  “You mean the one who looks like she wants to strangle you?”

  “Yeah, her.” I trudge over to the counter. “I didn’t know you were working here.”

  “I got hired a couple days ago,” Jessica says. “Aren’t you supposed to be in school?”

  “We’re taking a study break.”

  “Does your teacher know that?”

  “Uh-huh. She wanted some coffee, so I volunteered. Me and my friend Josie.”

  “Hi,” Josie says, giving a shy wave.

  Jessica looks her up and down and then says, “You’re the one who’s been putting ideas into Robin’s head, aren’t you?”

  “What? Your sister looks totally awesome now.”

  “Uh-huh,” Jessica growls. A couple of people get in line behind us, so Jessica has to put on a fake smile and say, “What will you two kids have?”

  We place our orders and then pay. I make sure to put a little extra in the tip jar. Jessica whispers, “We’ll talk about this later.”

  I’m not looking forward to that. I’m sure it’ll involve a lot of shouting followed by grounding me for weeks or months. I take my cappuccino from the end of the counter and then take a sip. I try to savor it since it’ll be my last one.

  ***

  As expected, Jessica grounded me for two months. Making that stick will be a lot more difficult. I text Josie to tell her to park far back from the house and not under any circumstances to come to the door. I’ll sneak out of the house to go to her.

  On the night of homecoming, Jessica peeks into my room at nine-thirty. She clucks her tongue at me. “I said no electronics.”

  “I’m doing my homework,” I say, lowering my iPad.

  “Do it on paper like in the old days.”

  “You mean back in the Stone Age when you were in high school?”

  “Exactly. And lights out at ten. Got it?”

  “I got it. I’m not a baby.”

  Jessica snatches the iPad off of my bed. “I wish you wouldn’t act like one. I don’t like having to be the bad guy, but Dad left me in charge of raising you.”

  “I don’t need raised.”

  “I know, you’re fifteen. You know everything already.” She snorts at her little joke. “I thought that when I was your age. You’ll figure out eventually it’s not true. I just hope it’s not after doing something too stupid.”

  “Whatever,” I grumble.

  Jessica stares at me for a moment as if trying to think of something to say. Then she turns and goes. I wait until she closes the door to hop off my bed. I already have the tiny black leather skirt and black crop top on a hanger in my closet. All I have to do is grab the hanger and change.

  I make sure to turn off the light before I climb out the window. There’s a ledge just below the window for me to climb onto. It’s good that my feet are small enough that I can walk along the ledge without too much trouble once I slip my shoes off. I use one hand to keep my shoes and purse pressed to my chest while the other I use to help maintain my balance.

  I tightrope walk along the ledge until I get to the trellis on the side of the house. When I was little Mom used to grow roses on the trellis; Jessica and I have a brown thumb, so we didn’t try to keep the roses growing. I drop my stuff onto the ground and then scamper down the trellis. I slip into my shoes, grab my purse, and then scurry away, keeping low to make it hard for Jessica to see me.

  Josie is waiting for me in a blue station wagon at the end of the block. “This is your mom’s car?” I say as I drop onto the passenger’s seat.

  “It’s a classic,” Josie says. She got her license a couple of months ago, so she goes a little slower than the cars around us. It’s slow enough that I can touch up my makeup without worrying about being jolted too much.

  “You planning to get there sometime tonight?” I tease her.

  “If I ding this thing at all, Mom will kill me.”

  “Ooh. The badass Goth girl is scared of her mommy.”

  “This from the girl terrified of her sister.”

  “All right, fine. You could go a little faster.”

  “Whatever.”

  It’s about a half-hour before we get to the campus of City University. Josie must have been here before, because she navigates around the campus with ease. She winds past a bunch of brick buildings to houses with Greek letters that are for frats or sororities. I can tell which one she’s going to from all the cars already parked out front, the lights on inside, and the music I can hear with the doors and windows of the car closed.

  “Here we are,” Josie announces. “Stay close to me and be cool.”

  “What do you think I’m going to do: wet myself?”

  “Maybe.”

  “Whatever.” I roll my eyes at Josie and then get out of the car. I hope I don’t look too uncool as I weave my way through discarded beer bottles, to the porch of the house. There are a bunch of kids up there, drinking, smoking, and giggling. My stomach begins to churn with nervousness. I thought I could handle a college party, but to actually be here, I feel like when I was in kindergarten and we went out to the playground while the fifth graders were still using it.

  Josie has to pretty much drag me up the steps. There isn’t anyone to check invitations or IDs, allowing us to walk right in. The living room of the house is even more heavily populated; there’s enough smoke to make my eyes water. My nose wrinkles and I realize not all of this smoke is from tobacco.

  There’s a keg in the kitchen with a stack of red plastic cups. Josie takes two, filling one for each of us. I hold mine with both hands to keep the cup steady. “Be cool,” Josie whispers into my ear again.

  The nerves in my stomach become a raging storm when a couple of guys approach us. They’re both pretty cute, one taller and blond and the other shorter and dark-haired. I hope it’s not too obvious that I’m blushing. To try to cover it up I lift my cup for another sip.

  “You girls must be freshmen,” the blond guy says. “I don’t remember seeing you around and I know I wouldn’t forget
that.” His eyes are more focused on Josie’s chest than her pink hair.

  “Yeah, we’re freshmen,” Josie says with an airhead giggle. “I’m Josie and this is Robin.”

  “Hi,” I mumble.

  “I’m Brad and that’s Evan,” the blond guy says. “You girls want to dance?”

  “Sounds awesome,” Josie says. She takes Brad’s hand to follow him into the living room. Evan doesn’t take my hand; he just trudges beside me as we trail Josie and Brad into the living room. There isn’t a lot of room to dance, which is good for Evan and me. We just bob our heads to the latest Kanye track while sipping from our cups of beer.

  Josie and Brad are a lot more into it; his hands are all over her as they dance. I keep waiting for Evan to touch me or even to say something, but he doesn’t. Am I the ugly friend being foisted on him? If that’s what he thinks—

  He finally leans closer to ask, “How old are you really?”

  “Eighteen.”

  He snorts at that. “Come on. Really, how old?”

  I sigh and then say, “Fifteen. Is it that obvious?”

  He takes my arm to lead me onto the porch. We lean against the railing. When Evan offers me a cigarette, I take it. “Are you going to tell?” I ask as he lights the cigarette.

  “No. That doesn’t mean I want to go to jail.”

  “For what?” I ask. He gives me a pitying look. My face turns warm at the realization of what he meant. “Oh, that. Yeah, um, I guess that’s smart.”

  “What about your friend? How old’s she?”

  “Sixteen.”

  “Shit.”

  “Is Brad going to…you know?”

  “He might.”

  “Oh. Should we do something?”

  “Be my guest.”

  I stare at Evan for a moment, seeing if he really means it. When he only takes a drag on his cigarette, I toss mine to the ground and then head back inside. I’m just in time, as Brad is taking Josie upstairs.

  I rush over to grab Josie’s wrist. “You can’t go up there.”

  “Why not?”

  “You know what he’s going to do?”

  “Um, yeah.” She studies me for a moment and then starts to laugh. “Oh, I get it. You think I’m still a virgin?”

  “Aren’t you?”

  “Hell no.” She laughs again and then pats my shoulder. “You should go home before your sister finds out you snuck out.”

  “Josie, you can’t do this—”

  “Whatever.” To Brad she says, “Come on.”

  “Hey! This girl’s only sixteen. She’s still in high school,” I say loud enough that heads turn our way.

  “Narc,” someone grumbles.

  “That was so incredibly uncool,” Josie growls.

  “Totally,” Brad says. “Let’s go, babe.”

  I stand helplessly at the foot of the stairs as Josie goes upstairs with Brad. I can’t hear the door shut over the loud music, but I imagine it in my head. I squeak with surprise when Evan takes my arm. “You want a lift?”

  ***

  When I get in Evan’s Land Rover, I fully expect to look in the mirror and see myself with dirty blond pigtails and a pink party dress. I feel like when I was little and Jessica would have a birthday party with all her older friends. While I combed the hair of my Barbie dolls they would be talking about boys and music and grown up stuff like that.

  “There’s nothing to be ashamed of,” Evan says. “You were trying to be a good friend.”

  “That’s not how she sees it.”

  “Yeah, well, maybe she’ll change her mind.”

  “I doubt it.” I’m not in the mood to be comforted right now, so it’s just as well that Evan decides to shut up. He asks me once or twice for directions, but that’s it.

  When he pulls up to the curb, I expect him to drag me into the house by the ear. He just stops the car and says, “Here we are. You got a way inside?”

  “Yes.”

  “Awesome. In three years or so, maybe you can look me up. I mean, you’re pretty cute for a high school girl.”

  “You think so?”

  “Yeah. You’ve got this whole badass biker chick look going on.”

  I can’t help giggling at his description. “I guess that’s close enough.” I lean across the seat to kiss him on the cheek like a big brother or uncle. “Thanks,” I say and then climb out.

  He gives me a little wave before pulling away. I hurry across the street, keeping low again to make it hard for Jessica to see me. I take off my shoes to climb up the trellis and then slide along the ledge to the window for my room. I hope Jessica won’t be sitting on my bed waiting for me; I heave a sigh of relief to see she isn’t there.

  I slip out of my clothes, into a flannel nightgown I usually reserve for that special time of the month. I’m still feeling about as yucky as I usually do then, so it seems appropriate. With a sigh I slide into bed; I crush a pillow to my chest to cry into it.

  When Jessica wakes me up in the morning, I brace myself for her to scream at me about last night. Instead she asks, “Your friend’s name is Josie, right?”

  “Yes. What about her?”

  “She’s in the hospital. They found her in a park this morning.”

  “Oh my God! Is she all right?”

  “Her mom says it’s not too bad. She asked about you.” Jessica takes my hand. “Robin, what did you do last night?”

  “Nothing. I was here all night.”

  “Uh-huh. You put your makeup on to go to bed?”

  I notice some mascara and black lipstick staining my white pillowcase. “I forgot to take it off.”

  “Don’t lie to me, Robin. If you know what happened, you need to come clean.”

  “What’s Josie saying?”

  “I’m asking you.”

  I’m pretty sure Jessica is giving me the steely look Daddy used in the interrogation room. Like those criminals, I crack under that look. “It was just a party. At the college.”

  “A college party? Are you crazy?”

  “I didn’t do anything! I had a few sips of beer. That’s all. I swear.”

  “Uh-huh. What about Josie?”

  I hang my head with shame. I’ve already said this much; I might as well confess the whole thing. “There was this guy named Brad. She went upstairs with him. I don’t know any more than that.” Tears bubble up in my eyes. “I tried to stop her, but she wouldn’t listen. She told me to go home.”

  “Jesus, Robin. You didn’t think to tell anyone?”

  “I didn’t want her to get into trouble.”

  “God, I wish Dad were still here. He’d rip you a new one. Consider yourself grounded for the next six months. I catch you sneaking out and I’m going to call the court and ask them to put you in the roughest foster home they can find.”

  I’m sure that’s an idle threat, but now isn’t the time to test Jessica. “I got it.”

  “Go put on some clothes. We’re going to the hospital.”

  “Yes, ma’am.”

  ***

  I’m glad they took Josie to Redoubt General, not St. Joseph’s; I’d hate to be there again so soon. Josie is in a room to recover from whatever Brad did to her. Jessica and I stopped in the gift shop for a bouquet of flowers. It feels cheesy, but I need to make some sort of gesture to show how sorry I am.

  There’s a fat woman with frizzy brown hair whom I assume must be Josie’s mother. Her plump face turns red when she sees me. “You must be the friend. Why did you leave my daughter with that animal? Huh? You see what he did to her?”

  She motions to the bed. Josie is asleep, seemingly peaceful enough despite two black eyes, a bandage over her probably broken nose, and a fat lip. My hands start to shake as I look at her, my mind flashing back to when I saw Daddy in the morgue. This isn’t so bad and yet it’s the second time in as many months that I’ve had to see someone I care about in bad shape.

  “I’m sorry,” I mumble. “I didn’t want to.”

  “What kind of friend
are you? You take her to a college party and then you abandon her?”

  I look up sharply at Josie’s mother. “I didn’t take her to the party.”

  “Don’t you lie to me, missy. She said it was all your idea. My poor baby!”

  Jessica comes to my defense to say, “Look, Mrs. Walsh, Robin couldn’t have done that.”

  “What makes you so sure of that?”

  “I know my sister—”

  “You know her so well you let her run around at night to wild parties?”

  “And what about you?” Jessica shoots back. “You let her go off to this wild party.”

  “Are you blaming me for this?”

  “I’m not blaming anyone. I’m only saying—”

  “How dare you!”

  While they continue to argue, I drop the flowers in the pitcher of water beside Josie’s bed. Some of the sympathy I felt for her drains away at the thought of her telling her mom it was my idea to go to the party. That’s as much of a lie as everything she has told me about her parents. Her mom looks like an overbearing stage mom, not the neglectful type.

  I bend down to growl, “I’m so sorry, you goddamned liar.”

  Her eyes open into slits; she has probably been awake this whole time. “Robin, wait,” she says. With a groan she sits up in bed. Her mother brushes me aside to wrap her in a hug that prompts Josie to wince. “Mom, could Robin and I have a minute?”

  “All right, honey.” Her mom glares at me. “Try not to hurt her any worse.”

  She stomps out of the room. Jessica raises an eyebrow to me and then follows after Josie’s mom. I hope they don’t try to kill each other in the hallway.

  “You’re such a liar,” I say as I pull up a chair. “You’re a spoiled middle-class girl too.”

  “I’m sorry.”

  “And you told her the party was my idea.”

  “I panicked. After what he did, I didn’t want to get in worse trouble.” Tears start to pour from her bruised eyes. I reach for a tissue to hand to her. “I should have listened to you. I shouldn’t have gone upstairs.”

  “What did he do to you?”

  “Nothing. I mean, not like that. He wanted to, and I thought I did, but once we were up there and he said to take off my clothes…I couldn’t do it. I asked to leave and then he got really super pissed. He beat me up. It was so bad I passed out and when I woke up, I was here and Mom and a cop were asking me all these questions and what was I supposed to say?”