Page 135
Story: Electricity
“Hey?” I said.
“It’s about time,” Sarah said, as Lacey pulled open the window and popped out the bottom screen with a well-placed punch.
“Come on in,” she said, and offered me a hand.
Two people pulling on a third made the trailer wall easier to scale, although I still landed like a brick inside. I looked between them afterward—the mood was somber, there were tears in both their eyes. “I’m sorry?” I guessed.
“I told her, Jessie,” Lacey said.
“And now I feel like the world’s shittiest friend,” Sarah said.
“That was the whole point of not telling you—I didn’t want you to feel bad.”
“Too late.” Sarah said. “Plus, I feel even worse now, that you thought you couldn’t tell me. I don’t need to live in a bubble. And then—I was such a bitch—oh my God. What the hell, L-bows, what the hell.”
“Hey,” I said, patting her.
“It’s just—if I’d known—I’d have—I can’t believe it!” she said, and Lacey’s eyes flashed with worry, until Sarah said the exact right words. “He just—does that, and then keeps acting normal? All the time?”
I settled in beside her. “Yeah. That’s kind of his thing.”
“I’m not even the first,” Lacey said, taking a spot on Sarah’s far side.
“It—fucking sucks. For me. I can’t even begin to imagine what it was like to be you.” She threw her arms wide in disbelief. “How have you—school—prom? Jesus!”
I met Lacey’s gently bemused expression over Sarah’s head.
“It hasn’t been easy,” Lacey said. “It’s been like—the worst thing ever, actually. Knowing that nothing bad was going to happen to him? That what he did to me doesn’t count? It’s made me feel pretty worthless, honestly.”
“That is not true,” I said, reaching behind Sarah to grab Lacey’s arm.
“No, I know. But—that’s how it feels inside, yeah? Which is why I changed my mind.”
Sarah raised her head again and smudged running mascara aside. “About what?”
“I’m going to the cops. For real. I’ll tell them everything that happened.”
“Really?” I asked.
“Yeah. I’m done hiding. I can’t stand by while you take bullets for me, Jessie, that’s not fair. If the word gets out it happened, so be it—at least then people will know.”
“But why would they believe you now, when you said they didn’t want to before?” Sarah asked.
“It doesn’t matter if they believe me. What matters to me now is that I tried.”
I pushed myself up onto my knees. “What if there was a way you wouldn’t be going to the cops alone?” I had Lacey and Sarah’s full attention.
“You could ask other girls to go in with you!” Sarah shouted.
“I can get Mason to turn in Danny!” I said, at nearly the same time. “Wait—what?”
“If there’s other girls,” Sarah said, looking between us, “why not ask?”
Lacey’s brows furrowed. “What’s your Mason thing?”
“We know Mason has pictures—and we know he didn’t delete them all. I think I have something that’ll make him turn in Danny. I just need a day.”
Lacey’s eyes locked with mine. She knew what I was capable of—and things about me that Sarah didn’t know. “You’re sure?”
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