Overexposed

by Adrianne James

  Since there was no way I was going to make it to the police station, I took a sharp left then a right, cutting through a parking lot and jumping over a short fence behind some buildings to get to my street.

  My heart was racing and my lungs were burning by the time I stumbled into my house. I closed the door and locked it directly behind me before collapsing on the floor, trying to catch my breath. I really needed to work on my cardio.

  “Vi? Is that you?” Dad came around the corner wearing one of Mom’s aprons. It had looked like someone decided to splatter paint him with anything and everything they could have found in the baking cupboard. “What happened?”

  Dad dropped to the floor next to me and started looking at me as if he was searching for a dagger sticking out of my flesh or something. I reached up and swiped a finger across his face, leaving a line behind, and a finger full of flour.

  “Everything. Everything happened. What about you? Did the Pillsbury dough boy set off a flour bomb in the kitchen?”

  “No, I am trying to cook since your mother will be working late tonight. I wanted you kids to have a good meal like the one she makes. Vi, what happened?” He wouldn’t let it go, but I really didn’t want to talk about it. There was nothing I could do about any of it. The day had been one big bag of stinky shit and I just wanted to be done with it.

  “What do you mean kids? Is Jason coming home?” As if on cue, Jason walked around the corner from the living room into the foyer. “They let you go!”

  I jumped up and ran to hug him. I know we don’t normally get along and that things were seriously strained between us, but that didn’t mean I wanted him in jail. The whole point of turning the guys in was to keep Jason from getting into serious trouble in the end. I wrapped my arms around him and squeezed. I felt a quick pat on my back and him trying to step away. I let him go then stepped back, giving him some space.

  “Yeah, they had to. There isn’t any proof so far of what happened. But I will have to help the case against Brock and the others if it comes to it. Dad said I didn’t have to go to school today. What happened?” The three of us went to the dining room to have something to drink while we talked.

  “Let’s see, no friends, laughing stock of the school over some flyers that Brock and his buddies papered the school with showing Ash and I sleeping together—thanks for that by the way Dad—and being cornered on the way home by fourteen guys who wouldn’t let me go anywhere until they told me to run. And that is the quick version of it. I really just want to forget it all happened. Did the repairman come fix my window? I have homework to do.” I stood up to leave, but both Jason and Dad had a look of murder in their eyes.

  “We are going to that police station right now.” Dad shoved his chair out from under him and Jason stood and grabbed our coats.

  “No, we are not. They don’t care. They haven’t even been to his house, or the school. If they were going to do something don’t you think they would have?” They both stood there, not saying a word. “That’s what I thought. I have homework. Call me if you need help with dinner.”

  I left them standing in the dining room and went upstairs. I was hoping I might be able to see Ashley through the blinds, just like when we were little girls. I hoped I would. I really needed at least that kind of contact to keep from going crazy.

  Opening my door, I saw that my window had, in fact, been fixed while I was in school. My room had also been cleaned and vacuumed, making the floor safe again. I dropped my backpack on the ground before walking to the new window and pushing my curtains aside, staring at Ashley’s house, willing her to come to her window.

  After a few minutes, I gave up. I picked up my bag and pulled my homework out. I may have been being harassed but that did not change the fact that if I ever wanted to leave the hellhole that was Willowspring, I had to keep up with my classes.

  I opened my book and began to read about the Spanish American war when I heard a tap on my window. I looked over, expecting to see a bird sitting on the sill. I was halfway off the bed to grab my camera when I saw there wasn’t anything there.

  Returning to the book, I heard another tap, then another. I stood and walked to the window to see a small bead whack against the glass. I smiled and looked across to Ashley’s window to see it wide open and her sitting on the ledge.

  I quickly opened my window as well, and my day finally got a bit better. I managed to get through the day alone, but sitting there talking to my best friend made everything better. Being alone sucked, but at least Ash was there when I just couldn’t stand being alone one more second.

  I WAS AWAKENED the next morning, not by my alarm clock, but by my mother’s incessant knocking and talking through my bedroom door. I peaked from under my covers to see that my alarm said that it was only six twenty-two in the morning.

  “Vivienne! Wake up. If you are not out of bed in two seconds to open this door, I will come in with the spray bottle!” Mom called from the other side of the door.

  The spray bottle was filled with ice-cold water, and it was what she had to use to get Jason out of bed most mornings. Groaning, I climbed out of bed and went to the door.

  Swinging it open, and yawning in my mother’s face, I stood there, waiting for her to tell me what on earth was so important that she wake me up so damn early.

  “We need to go down to the police station before school. The Sheriff called this morning and said it was imperative that we come as soon as we can.”

  “Fine. I’ll be down in a few.” I closed the door and turned around. Looking at my bed, then at my dresser and back again, I was really tempted to just fall back into the soft warmth under my comforter, but I really didn’t want to get sprayed with ice water.

  As I headed down the stairs, I overheard my mom and dad talking to Jason. They were preparing him for the possibility of being held again. They didn’t know why we had to go in to the police station, but they asked that both Jason and I come in with both parents. Didn’t sound so good to me.

  “All right, let’s go.” I came around the corner and pulled my shoes on. Jason passed me a Pop Tart on the way out the door. We all piled into Dad’s car and no one said anything. Not out to the car, not in the five-minute drive, and not on the walk up the stairs to the door of the little police station.

  Opening the door to the station put an end to the silence. We were hit with a wall of noise, arguing and shouting from a room full of people. The varsity hockey team and their parents to be exact.

  The parents were screaming louder than the children, but not at their children, at the Sheriff. The minute they realized we had walked in the room, the anger turned onto us. Apparently, we were being painted as the liars.

  “What kind of girl tells the police that a boy is dealing drugs just because he wouldn’t date her?” Brock’s mother yelled.

  “What kinds of parents allow that kind of behavior?” another angry parent called out.

  “Hey! What the hell are you people talking about? Check the pictures! Mrs. Nash has them all!” Ashley called from behind me. I didn’t even know she was coming in, but I was so glad she was there.

  Taking her place by my side, we linked arms. Then, I felt yet another arm slip into my other one and when I looked, I saw that Macy had come in as well.

  “I thought you weren’t allowed to talk to me?” I whispered while the adults yelled on.

  “I can’t let you take the fall for these idiots, no offense to your brother.” We all giggled then tried to pay attention to what was happening before us.

  “Listen up!” The Sheriff stepped up to stand on top of his desk. “I have heard all of you and I will be talking with a few people again. Get the kids to school, and I do not want to hear about any more harassment of anyone. If I do, whoever is behind it will spend the night in lockup.”

  Everyone began to move toward the door to leave, and each time I was passed I heard a different word for bitch, or liar. Some got creative and came up with things like calling me an attention grab
bing lesbian and others just shoved passed the three of us. Once everyone was gone, I knew it was our turn.

  “We didn’t lie. Did you ask Mrs. Nash for the memory card?” Macy said.

  “I did, and she told me that she was never given a card, or saw any pictures, that you just told her what you saw, and she had no proof.”

  “That is such a lie! Why would she lie like that?” Ashley asked, looking between the Sheriff and us. Like her, I couldn’t believe what I was hearing.

  “So what now? Do we get in trouble for being honest?” I asked, getting really annoyed. I had a feeling that everyone in the room could hear the annoyance in the tone of my voice.

  “Well, unless someone comes forward from the group, I have to let it go. I cannot keep looking into it when there is no proof. I don’t have enough to go off of for a search warrant to search for the drugs, I don’t have anyone stepping forward saying they bought the drugs. All I have right now is a case of high school bullying when it comes to you girls and those flyers. I don’t even have enough evidence from Macy’s truck or Vi’s room to say that yes, it was Brock and the other boys from the team.”

  “But you caught Brock fighting Jason in the front yard! You know that is why they were fighting, because of what Brock did.”

  “Actually, the boys didn’t tell me why they were fighting.” I turned around to see my parents standing next to Jason, staring at him with looks that could kill. I let go of my girls and walked back to my family.

  “Jason, please, you have to tell him the truth. You know they won’t leave us alone as long as we are still living here.”

  “I swear, Jason Daniel Blake, you better open that mouth of yours up right now. This isn’t about you anymore, your sister has been threatened and chased and bullied at school. And for what? To try and keep you safe. Time to do the same for her. Right. This. Second.” I had never seen my mother look so angry. Her eyes were wide and her nostrils were flaring. It looked and sounded almost like she was talking through gritted teeth. I was really glad that she was talking to Jason and not me.

  “Fine. Is there anyway telling you all this will keep me from being in trouble? You know like they do on all those cop shows?” Jason asked.

  “Depends on what you tell me. Come on, let’s go talk. One of your parents has to come with us.” Jason took Dad with him into one of the rooms meant for questioning. The rest of us all sat there in silence. Ashley and Macy’s parents really didn’t know what to say to anyone.

  That is until my mother decided it was time to clear the air.

  “So, go on, tell me what a horrible parent I am. One kid gets into selling drugs and the other gets your children into a situation where they are harassed.” Mom just looked between the other adults in the room before standing and pacing back and forth in front of the desk.

  “You said it,” Macy’s father said. I flipped around furiously. I was about to ignore everything I had ever been taught about being respectful to my elders. That is, until Macy did it for me.

  “DAD! I have told you and told you. All we did was do the right thing. And if you ever happened to ask, Jason was trying to do right by his family, even if he did it the wrong way. I can’t believe you said that!”

  “Young lady, do not speak to me that way. She brought it on herself and I don’t care what his reasons were, any person with half a brain knows that selling drugs is wrong. And this one? She gossips about everyone any time she gets the chance, so this whole project was nothing more than a stepping-stone for her. No, I am perfectly content in my views on this family, and on how you will not spend any more time with them. I have been nothing but nice and polite to Vi every time she was in our home because she was your friend, but getting you to lie to us, and getting you involved in all this? I am sorry, Macy. It is just too much. I need some air.” Macy’s dad stood and walked out the door.

  My mother was crying softly, wiping tears from her eyes and Macy looked like she wanted to punch her father right in the nose. I didn’t blame her, I wanted to punch him too.

  “Thanks for trying, Macy.”

  We went back to a silent waiting game, staring at the door that Jason, Dad, and the Sheriff had gone through. After twenty minutes or so, it opened and they came out. Jason’s eyes were red rimmed and his shoulders hunched.

  “Jason told us as much as he could. He is going to have a court date for his role in all of this, but being so young, and the fact that he is the one who came forward, I am going to recommend that the prosecuting attorney take all of that into account. He is also going to be required to take a drug test. He said he never did the drugs, but was just delivering, but we have to make sure.”

  “Absolutely.” My mother stood and my father shook the Sheriff’s hand. We all left the building to climb into our respective cars, when Jason hung back.

  “Vi? Can I talk to you?” I looked over my shoulder at my little brother. For the first time in a long time, he really did look like a little kid.

  “Yeah, Mom can we walk to school from here?” I reached into the car to get out my backpack before she even answered. She looked from me to Jason then nodded her head and climbed into the passenger seat.

  “Be safe, you two,” Dad said through the window of the car before driving off.

  Jason and I watched the three cars drive away then just stood there. I looked at the buildings, and noticed that there were thirty-six cracks along the side that faced us. I studied the trees that were bare and covered in the snow that fell the night before. I looked over and saw the old playground that was too rusted over to actually be used by children so it became inhabited by teenagers looking for a spot to make out at night. Then I looked at my brother. I saw the wet eyes, the sniffling nose, and the slight frown to his lips.

  I saw that he refused to look me in the eyes and that he found the layer of dirty snow under his feet to be more interesting than anything else around us. Reaching out I rubbed his back with one hand until he looked up at me.

  “I am so sorry, Vi. I should have told someone sooner. I never thought it would get this bad. I thought that they would just scare you into doing what they wanted and I could still make some money.” Then he did something I hadn’t seen him do since he was about ten years old. My brother cried in front of me.

  No matter how angry I was at him, he was my little brother and he needed me to be his big sister. I opened my arms and took him in a big hug. We stood there for a few moments before he sniffled again and pulled away.

  “What happened in there?” I looped my arm through his like I did with Ashley or Macy and gave him a little tug. We really did need to head to school.

  “I told him everything. That Dad lost his job, about the grocery jar, and about how I heard Brock talking to one of the JV guys in my math class about making some extra cash. I asked him about it and well, you know the rest. I wish I knew who supplied Brock, but he kept that real quiet. I told him how I begged Brock to leave you, Ash, and Macy alone but he wouldn’t. Said I couldn’t handle taking care of anything. That he would do it his way.”

  Listening to Jason talk made me angry all over again. Not at him, well, a little at him, but mostly at how Brock was turning it all around on us. Saying we made the whole thing up. And how on earth could Mrs. Nash tell the Sheriff she never had the memory card, that she never even saw any pictures? It just wasn’t fair.

  “You didn’t know what to do. I get that. We really didn’t either. I hadn’t wanted to say anything at all at first. Then I thought about you. I knew I had to say something. I couldn’t let them ruin your life. You and I both know that the plan to be a miner like Dad is out of the question now. There are no miners like Dad anymore with the exception of Macy’s dad. And I bet it won’t be much longer till he is gone too. You can’t have a record and get out of here.”

  The town came alive around us on our cold walk to school. Cars drove past us and other kids rode their bikes or walked by us. We were taking our time going to school. Jason and I rarely ever reall
y talked and I think we both wanted to make the time last a bit longer.

  “I still want to be a miner. I like that fact that every man in our family has mined these mountains. But you are right about one thing, I have to be able to go to college to do it now. Is it dorky that I want to be like Dad? Hard working with a family in a small town. Every one of my friends wants to leave and never look back, even you. I don’t see what is so bad with Willowspring.”

  “There is nothing dorky about that. I think that is a really great thing to want. I know you can have it too, you just have to stay away from idiots like Brock.” We both laughed and crossed the town square.

  “I wonder why Mrs. Nash lied to Sheriff Vincent,” I said. It was going to bug me until I found out and I knew that just asking her wouldn’t get me anywhere.

  “Who knows, maybe the old git finally started to lose her mind and forgot she ever had it. Or she lost it and didn’t want to seem stupid in front of him.”

  “That makes sense. She practically made Macy lie to him the day her truck got smashed up. Said something about not wanting to look bad.”

  Jason and I crossed the final street to the school and had to go our separate ways. I hoped that the team would leave him alone. They didn’t know that he ratted them out to the Sheriff so that should keep him safe for at least another day.

  Or so I thought, until the Sheriff pulled up with his lights flashing, followed by two other squad cars. I didn’t even know our town had more than the Sheriff and Deputy Max. If he pulled in cops from the next town over, things must be really bad.

  All three of the cars opened at the same time. It looked almost choreographed or something. Ashley and Macy had spotted me and Jason, and had raced over to our side to watch with curiosity.

  The three uniformed men, and two giant tan and black dogs on leashes, headed to the front steps. Watching the students part to let them pass was almost like watching Moses part the Red Sea.