Seventeen

Mason

Sheriff’s Office—The Interview Continues

Monday, April 2

11:37 a.m.

Kopitzke: I understand Kadence and Lauren DeSanto got in a pretty big fight not that long ago.

I hesitate because I’m not sure how much he already knows, or how much I should say.

Mason: Where did you hear that?

Kopitzke: We’ve been talking to people at your school. They say the fight was over you.

Well, that’s just awesome. Denial is on the tip of my tongue, but I can’t help thinking that I shouldn’t hold anything back. The fight was stupid, but if it helps them find Kady…and still…I don’t like the way he’s looking at me. Like he’s judging me. The detective must sense my indecision.

Kopitzke: Do yourself a favor, Mason, and tell me what happened.

Mason: Well…you see…it was last hour on the Thursday before spring break. We were all…beat, you know? I had three midterms plus this really big project that was due the next day. I know Lauren had been killing herself all week over some big English poetry project.

So anyway I got to my locker and there was this lime green Post-it note near the handle. It said: Please. Need to talk. Meet me by the flagpole? L

I knew “L” meant Lauren, so I waited by the flagpole and sure enough she showed up. She asked if I wanted to take a walk, so that’s what we did.

We didn’t say much right away, which was strange because I thought she needed to talk so bad. It was as if she was waiting for me to start things, which made it kind of awkward, like, was I supposed to know what we needed to talk about?

Kopitzke: Sometimes girls assume guys can read their minds.

I stare at him for a second, and he stares back. The corners of his mouth turn up. I can tell he’s trying to be buddy-buddy so I keep talking. Whatever. I’ve already started. There’s not much point in stopping now.

Mason: So anyway, we kept walking—first out toward the athletic fields, then down one straightaway on the track, then onto the cross-country course. From there we took the path that runs through the woods and so we ended up at the F.U. Fort.

Kopitzke: The what?

Mason: Oh, it’s this old junker place in the woods. It’s been there forever. It’s not huge, only enough room inside for four people, maybe six if you really crammed them in. There was this old couch in there to sit on. Pretty gnarly but it was either that or the ground, and since the snow had just melted, it was still pretty muddy. So we ended up sitting down and we talked.

I hesitate as I remember our conversation. We mostly talked about Kady. Lauren had been really sad all winter, what with her voice and not being able to sing, and Kady having gone all hermit on her (and me) with her writing and recording. We missed her. We wanted things to be like before. Without Kadence, it was like we’d had a massive power outage and were trying to light our lives with little battery-operated candles. That’s how Lauren put it, and that sounded about right to me.

At some point she started to cry and she laid her head on my shoulder. And that was that. Something about having her curled into my side, her dark hair falling over my chest…it was complete instinct. It wasn’t like I thought about what I was doing, but the next thing I knew my fingers were under her chin. I tipped her face up to mine, and…then I kissed her.

I mean, it was all on me. I kissed her. At first, she didn’t even kiss me back. But then, yeah, after a bit she got into it.

The whole time I was kissing Lauren, I was thinking, Stop. Stop, you idiot. And when it was over we were both like, crap, that did not just happen. I remember the first thing out of Lauren’s mouth was, We cannot tell Kady. Please don’t tell Kady. Which was fine by me. That was the last thing I wanted to do.

Because this would kill her, Lauren said.

Mason: Anyway, I don’t know how, but Kadence found out about me and Lauren being in the fort together, and the next day at lunch, she stormed over to where Lauren was sitting and yanked her up by her hair.

Kopitzke: Her hair?

Mason: I know. Lauren yelled something like, “What the hell?” and Kadence went all ballistic. She yelled, “You slept with my boyfriend?” super loud. Everyone heard it. I was like, Holy crap. And Lauren was like, “Are you insane?” Because we hadn’t done anything close to that. And Kadence was like, “I know everything!” She was devastated. It was tearing me apart inside.

Kopitzke: Then what happened?

Mason: Then Lauren turned her back, and Kadence grabbed her around the shoulders and spun her around. I don’t think Kadence pushed her exactly, but Lauren went down hard. People were yelling “Fight! Fight!” because two girls fighting is pretty rare, and those two best friends fighting…

I glance down at the tape recorder and stop talking as my thoughts go someplace dark. I should have stepped in. I should have manned up and owned my part in the whole thing. I shouldn’t have left Lauren alone to defend herself. The trouble was, I didn’t know who I was supposed to go to. Was I supposed to rush in and comfort my girlfriend? Or was I supposed to help my friend, who was lying on the floor?

I remember some guy was standing behind me in the doorway to the cafeteria. He nudged me in the shoulder and said, “Dude! Did you really sleep with Lauren DeSanto?” And it froze me solid, right in the spot where I was standing.

Kopitzke: Did Lauren fight back?

Mason: No. She stood up and walked out of the cafeteria like it was nothing. It was almost eerie how calm she was. And the whole time, Kadence stood there crying. Some girls went up to her. I wanted to go to her too. I really did. I wanted to tell her that it was all a big misunderstanding. But I couldn’t talk to Kadence. Not there in front of everyone. So...anyway, I tried to talk to Kady after school, but she wouldn’t give me the chance to explain. We hadn’t talked at all in the days before her show at Cuppa Cuppa. That’s why I didn’t go.

Kopitzke: I was going to ask you about that.

Mason: I thought it would be too upsetting for Kady to have me and Lauren both there. I didn’t want all our shit to distract her from putting on a good show. But if I’d known…if I’d known it was going to be my last chance to see her…Please! I don’t care about anything else. I’d give anything to see her again.