Emily
Emily floated up to the surface. Everything was floaty. Dreamy. There was pain there somewhere, but it was a distant thing. Far far away in a galaxy long ago … or something like that.
But there was a thing. Something she had to remember. Something she had to tell Jared. Or somebody. It was Jared, right? Her brother? Thoughts were like clouds that skidded away as she tried to touch them. Only clouds didn’t skid.
They … something.
She floated, head filled with nothing but a vision of clouds floating like she was. Not skidding … drifting, that was it.
Sometime later she surfaced again. There was something urgent. Something she had to tell Jared. If only she could remember.
She tried to lift her hand to her head, as though it would help her remember, but she couldn’t move it. Not one or the other. Her hands were so heavy. Or were they bound? Either way, they wouldn’t move. She couldn’t reach out for the thought, bring it closer.
Jared was in danger. If only she could remember.
The thought skidded away like a cloud.
Only, clouds don’t skid, she told herself as she went under again.
He left to meet Aaliyah. Despite the earlier resolution to keep her away for her own protection, he needed an ally. He’d just have to be strategic about it, keep her safe. More than that, if he was honest. He couldn’t bear to leave town without seeing her.
He told her to meet him a few blocks away. He didn’t want to stay too near Gran’s place and chance that she’d send someone to bring him back or call Dad to send someone, maybe even the police. He couldn’t risk them coming for him or for Emily’s phone. Not yet.
That meant he had to loiter at the corner where he said he’d meet Aaliyah, afraid the whole time that someone would call the cops like they had at his mother’s place. He was beyond relieved when Aaliyah drove up. He got in as quickly as he could. She drove off the same way. Not burning rubber, but certainly not sticking around.
“Where do you want to go?” she asked, risking a look away from the road to take him in.
“Somewhere we can talk.” Between his mother’s death and Emily’s near-death, he thought his heart was too broken to beat even for Aaliyah. Their relationship was way to the back of his mind. Or should be. But the very sight of her made his pulse rate jump. Just because he shouldn’t want her didn’t mean he didn’t.
Maybe this was a mistake.
“Coffee shop?” she asked.
“Aren’t you afraid someone will see us? Report back to your parents?”
Her mouth twisted. “I don’t care about that anymore. I spent a lot of time hating myself for giving up on you, especially after I heard about your mother. I didn’t know if you’d even want to hear from me, but I had to try. I told my parents my future didn’t mean all that much if I went into it as someone I couldn’t respect, who’d desert her friends in their hour of need.”
He looked at her, but it hurt too much. He had to look away again, because hope was rising, and all hope had been to him lately was a lying bitch.
“They understood that?” he asked, gazing out the window.
“Not exactly. Dad gave me a speech about there being different rules for you and me—girls and boys, black and white. About how I was never going to get the benefit of the doubt, so I couldn’t give people any cause for doubt in the first place. About having to get into the system to change it. Basically, anything he thought would change my mind.”
“And your mom?”
“She gave me back my phone. I think she understood that you can’t let other people, even your parents, define who you are. If all you ever do is what’s expected, what you’re told, you never change the world. You never expand anyone’s mind.”
Like the police seeing Emily as a cutter and stopping there. Only Aaliyah was saying so much more and he felt like he was only getting the tip of the iceberg.
“I’m glad you texted,” he said.
“Me too. I’m so sorry to hear about your mother. What’s happening with Emily?”
He told her. Everything. They’d reached the parking lot at the coffee shop now but didn’t get out. Aaliyah just pulled into a spot, turned off the car, and swiveled in her seat to give Jared her full attention. It was so good to have her back in his corner. He’d always had friends, but they were hang-around friends, the kind you had fun with, did specific things with like go to the movies or the mall or indoor skydiving. Not the kind you really talked to. Not until Aaliyah. When he lost her, he lost more than his heart.
And now he’d be moving away. He told her that too. He didn’t know what this conversation meant in terms of them, but he couldn’t keep that from her. Especially if he was going to ask for her help. She had to know everything.
When he finished, she said, “Wow,” and left it there for a minute, absorbing everything. Then, “Do you really want coffee?”
“No.”
“Then what do you want to do?”
“Really? I want to find out the truth. I need to confront Carla and clear Emily’s name.”
Aaliyah pulled back in shock. “She’s already hurt your sister,” she said. “What makes you think it’s safe for you? Because there’ll be two of us? Even if she doesn’t do anything crazy, why would she confess?”
“I don’t know,” he said, scraping his fingers through his hair and raking his scalp, as though the sensation might stimulate his brain. “I have Emily’s phone. Maybe I can bluff her out, make her think there’s something incriminating on here. Maybe she’ll come after me for it.”
“Jared!”
“That’s where you come in. I don’t want you inside with me. I’m never going to put you in danger again—of getting arrested or anything else. I’ll have Emily’s phone on speaker, so you’ll be able to hear everything. Plus, I’ve looked it up, and there’s an App that lets you record phone calls, in case we get anything useful for evidence. The law says it’s okay if you have the consent of one of the parties. Well, I’m consenting. You’ll be on the other end of the line, so you’ll be consenting too. No matter how you look at it, we should be covered. Anything else the phone picks up while on speaker is just happenstance, right?”
Aaliyah’s eyes were wide, frightened. “It’s a good plan, except for one thing—the part where you head into danger.”
“My mother …” his voice gave out on him for a second. He swallowed down the pain before he choked on it and started again. “My mother’s been killed. My sister nearly so. I can’t sit on the sidelines. I have to do this for them.”
“Your mother wouldn’t want you to put yourself in danger.”
“Like you said, at some point, you have to make your own decisions. Well, I’ve decided.”
She leaned in and took both of his hands in hers. “You really are an amazing person. I can’t believe you wondered why I’d pick you. I can’t imagine picking anyone else.”
He stared at her, shocked to silence. She didn’t know about his anger, how he sometimes wanted to lash out at his father or the world. He’d have to tell her that too. Everything. Let her decide, if he survived this. He wasn’t going to let the anger rule him, but he wondered whether that was just something he told himself. Maybe it all started with denial. Maybe what he had to do was face it. Work on it every single day. Like Emily would have to face her issues. Maybe they could work on them together.
He leaned forward and kissed Aaliyah. He suddenly couldn’t help himself. She met him halfway. But it felt strange to be kissing her right then with everything else going on, and he didn’t let it last.
Aaliyah looked sad as he drew back, and he said, “It’s not you. It’s the timing.”
“Sure,” she said. “Let’s get this done. What’s the App?”
He told her, and she downloaded it as they sat there in the parking lot. Then they were off toward the Meyers’ house, hopefully to find his mother’s killer.