“I think it’s going to jail,” Emery retorted flatly.
Rachel released a hearty belly laugh. “Well, that’s an accurate statement. I wonder if they’d let us go if we offered them blow jobs.”
Emery’s face must have shown her total shock.
“I’m just kidding.” Rachel threw her head back and laughed. It was loud and raucous and filled every space in the drab room with a happiness Emery hadn’t felt in a very long time.
“I wonder how long they’ll keep us here,” Emery wondered out loud.
“I heard this is an all day sting with Chandler. I think he got arrested last night and got out of it with my dad’s help if he agreed to help the cops with this. My dad is awesome.” Rachel shook her long raven locks out of her face. “I mean awesome at getting criminals off, not awesome as a dad,” she added matter-of-factly.
“Wow. I’m pretty sure he’s not going to be in a mood to help me.”
“My best friend?” Rachel said with mock shock. “Of course he will.”
Emery shook her head. “He doesn’t even know me.”
“He doesn’t know any of my friends or anything else I do. All he does is work, so he’ll believe me, his only daughter, was set up by his client.”
“You’re crazy.”
“But you will learn to love that about me, Emery.”
They talked about celebrities, movies, and books. Rachel talked about boys and Emery listened. Rachel talked about school and Emery listened. Emery was parched, her throat scratchy from talking without anything to drink.
They talked for hours and hours before the cops came and lined everyone up so they could be transported to the jail. The cops had brought in three other guys during the long day. The two groups had basically ignored each other.
As two male officers escorted all of the people in cuffs out of the room, Emery glanced around and recognized one of the guys from her school. Great, I was hoping to keep this a secret.
“Um, excuse me,” Rachel’s voice was an octave higher than normal and she batted her eyes at the younger male officer closest to them, “I really need to use the restroom.”
“Not going to happen,” the officer snapped.
“But we’ve been in here for hours and I have to go,” Rachel whined.
Emery chuckled at the obvious change in her demeanor.
When whining didn’t work, Rachel’s tone changed again. “All right, I’ll pee on myself and then you’ll have a mess to clean up,” she said defiantly.
“Fine,” the officer huffed and then nodded at the other cop.
Rachel smiled in an angelic way and walked off toward the bathroom. “Oh, you’ll have to take my pants and underwear off for me. You don’t mind, do you?” Rachel swiveled her hips suggestively at the cop, whose face turned the color of beets.
Emery shook her head. This girl had busted through every single wall Emery had constructed in a single afternoon. The rest of them waited in the corridor silently while the police officer took Rachel into the bathroom. When the pair came back out, Rachel was smiling like the cat that ate the canary. Emery was scared what that smile was about.
As Rachel joined the group, she looked pityingly at the cop. “Thanks for that. Sorry my thong gave you so much trouble. You know…” Rachel paused and a mischievous smile appeared on her pouty lips, “if you’re like that with your girlfriend, I feel sorry for her.”
The cop’s eyes widened and he started to say something, but she interrupted.
“Or maybe your boyfriend?”
“I-I don’t…” the officer sputtered. “I’m not gay.”
Laughter inadvertently escaped Emery’s mouth and floated through the hall, shocking her. The other three guys that were arrested smirked as well. Rachel practically preened.
The officers escorted all five of them quickly out of the mall and into a van. As the van jostled her and the other detainees as it bumped along the road to the jail, she thought about how she hadn’t heard that kind of laugh in three years. The knowledge was like a light shining on everything she’d missed; the gym meets, the friends, the boys, and all the things kids take for granted. She’s missed it all.
Phil had not only taken her virginity, but her laughter, her goals, and her dreams. And she’d let him.
CHAPTER THREE
Tell Me a Secret
She’d never been naked in front of anyone. Ever. The female cop hadn’t even batted an eye at her standing there without a thread on. She hugged her left arm to her body and looked anywhere but into the eyes of the cop. To say it was humiliating would be the understatement of the century. After the body cavity search, she’d been given a ratty orange jumpsuit and escorted to a cell where Rachel was waiting. Her new friend’s face was stark white and her eyes were double the size they were a few hours before. They didn’t say anything to each other as Emery moved into the cell and sat on a bench along the wall opposite Rachel.