Page 6

Zack was eighteen.

That was all that Jodi could think of as Charity Thrasher gave her a cup of French roast and assured the four of them that Zack wouldn’t spend the night in jail.

“If Greg can get a judge to set bail tonight, he’ll be home in a flash. Don’t you worry.” She squeezed Paige’s shoulder and handed her a cup of cocoa with a slab of whipped cream on top. An unlit birthday candle was stuck in the center of it.

From her spot next to Paige at the kitchen island, Jodi glanced at Lucy in the living room, standing next to the couch and flipping news channels back and forth to find the reports that Mrs. Montgomery had called Paige about.

“New information in the Emily Mills suicide. Several of her classmates have been accused of ‘bullying her to death.’ The five friends reportedly took Emily into their circle, and then maliciously cast her out—”

The channel switched.

“—going by the nickname ‘the Thrashers,’ this clique of five is facing scrutiny as more reports come forward about their bullying and harassment of Emily Mills, and one of them is facing statutory rape charges—”

Footage of the five of them escaping from the vigil played on the next channel. Jodi watched herself run behind Paige and Lucy.

She needed to call her dad.

“Did Zack have sex with Emily?” a soft voice asked.

Her head snapped to Paige, who was watching her with watery eyes, waiting for an answer.

“You’re asking me ?” Jodi said.

“I don’t think he would have told all of us, you know? It would have been a really shitty thing to do to someone like Emily.” Paige paused and glanced up at Jodi. “Unless he actually liked her.”

Jodi blinked, forcing her mind to think about it.

The five of them didn’t talk about sex as a group. Maybe it had to do with the mix of girls and guys, or maybe because three of them had a crush on Zack. Or maybe—Jodi feared—they all considered her a prude, so they talked about it without her. Maybe they thought she’d be judgmental. When Zack had lost his virginity to Lucy in the middle of sophomore year, Jodi hadn’t taken it well. She knew Paige was upset and jealous, too, but she’d hid it better. Jodi didn’t know how to sit with Zack and Lucy at lunch and pretend it hadn’t happened, so she didn’t. She didn’t see any of them for a week. She’d been panicking, hurt that the boy she was in love with had sex with someone else, and afraid that their group would change with it. Lucy had claimed she was “over it” and “moved on” a few months later, but Jodi saw the way she still looked at him. She’d dug herself a grave by being too casual about it. Zack had moved on as well.

She was the only inexperienced one among them, and Julian wouldn’t let her forget it.

Glancing over to where he sat in the dark outside, feet hanging into the pool, she said to Paige, “If anyone would know, it’s Julian. Zack doesn’t tell me about that stuff.”

“I don’t think he did,” Paige rushed to say, “but I just wondered if he told you anything… or if you saw anything.”

“I can’t imagine Zack actually having sex with her.” She jerked her hands away from her coffee cup. “Um, that’s not to say she wasn’t pretty—”

“Yeah. Totally. Of course.”

Jodi nodded, then reached for her coffee again. She thought about how much Zack thrived on respect and attention, and how Emily gave him those things in high doses.

She shook her head and stood from her chair. “I have to call my dad.”

Slipping out of the kitchen, Jodi rounded the corner into the guest bathroom. Her dad was the second contact in her Favorites, after Zack.

He was supposed to be on a quick overnight to Nevada, a trailer drop and back. She listened to the phone ring.

“’Ello?”

“Dad. Can you talk?”

“You okay?”

“Yeah,” she said quickly, feeling the opposite of okay. “I’m safe, but there’s a situation here.”

His voice was tense with worry when he said, “I’m two hours away from Spring Valley, but I can turn around—”

“No, don’t do that. It’s not an immediate emergency.” She took a deep breath and turned her back on the mirror over the sink. “You remember the girl at school who died?”

“Your friend Emily?”

She blinked at the hand towels with the monogrammed T. “Yeah. Well, there’s an investigation into why she killed herself. And they think we bullied her.”

He was quiet for a moment. “Bullied her? You were her only friends.”

Her eyes squeezed shut. “Yeah,” she said weakly. “But they think we did. And… they think Zack had sex with her. And since he’s eighteen, they’re calling it statutory.”

“Where are you?” It sounded like the engine cut out.

“Don’t worry. I’m at the Thrasher home with the others. They—they arrested Zack, so Greg is trying to post bail.”

“Jesus…”

“I know. I’m okay though. I just wanted you to hear it from me. We’re on the news.”

“Rosa called, but I ignored it.” Her mother’s sister was somehow always first to know.

“Okay, I’ll text her.”

“Try to stay with someone tonight, alright? I’ll hurry home but probably not until dawn.”

“That’s fine. Drive safe.”

When Jodi hung up, she texted Aunt Rosa and let her know she was safe and not in trouble. She left the bathroom and went back to the kitchen just as Julian came in from the backyard.

He was looking down at his phone. “Okay, so it looks like there’s not a lot they could have on us, despite all this press. If they were to go for criminal harassment, it would be hard to land.”

Lucy stood from the couch and met Julian at the kitchen island. Paige sipped her cocoa with a distant look in her eye.

“What do you mean?” Jodi asked. “What would make it ‘easy?’”

“Well, if we’d done anything physical to Emily, like they’re accusing Zack of.” He glanced at Lucy. “And they’d probably need eyewitnesses.”

Paige shook her head. “But we didn’t. We didn’t do anything.” She looked between Julian and Lucy, waiting for them to agree.

Car lights splashed onto the walls of the dining room, and all four of them looked. Jodi held her breath. Was it the cops? Were they here for each of them now?

A key turned in the lock.

“Hey, everybody,” Greg Thrasher said from the front door, his voice tired and rough.

Jodi darted to the hallway, Paige and Lucy hot on her heels. Zack was closing the front door, his eyes bloodshot and his nice black dress shirt untucked and wrinkled. Greg dropped his hand on his son’s shoulder and said to all of them, “Let’s talk.”

He gestured for them to enter the large dining room where Jodi had joined the Thrashers for dinner on more than one Thanksgiving. Greg hugged his wife before following them in, taking the chair next to Zack. Jodi and Lucy mirrored them, and Charity and Paige sat at the heads of the table. Julian leaned against the wall with his arms crossed.

“I’ve been in contact with Cheryl,” Greg said, nodding at Paige, “but have the rest of you called your parents?”

Jodi and Lucy nodded. Greg looked to Julian. He sighed and rubbed the back of his neck. “They’re in Paris.”

Julian hesitated, and Charity offered, “I can call Nina. They’ll be awake in a few hours.” It seemed like Julian was about to decline, but he just nodded tightly, looking at the floor.

If Jodi’s dad won the award for “Least Involved,” then Julian’s dad was runner-up, but in Ray Hollister’s case, it was more to do with indifference, Jodi thought.

Greg turned his eyes back on the whole group.

“The DA seems to think they have enough evidence to charge Zack for criminal harassment and statutory rape,” he said in his lawyer voice.

Lucy shifted next to her, pulling her hands into her lap and then placing them back on the table.

“What evidence?” Charity asked, voice thin.

“Zack has told me that he has no idea what they have on him,” Greg said. “He did not have sex with Emily. He did not harass her physically or verbally.”

Jodi’s eyes slid to Zack. His gaze was concentrated down on the table runner. His bottom lip wobbled, and he bit down on it.

Before Greg could continue, Jodi cut him off. “There’s a journal.”

Six pairs of eyes looked at her. She glanced at Zack before continuing.

“I ran into Maureen Mills at the grocery store, and she mentioned things I had no memory of—things she learned about in a journal.”

“So it’s Zack’s word against a journal’s? Seriously?” Lucy sat back, running a hand through her hair.

“What was in the journal that she mentioned?” Greg asked her.

Jodi sat forward. “All she said was that Emily tried to kill herself in April, and that I convinced her not to.”

“Did you?” Greg’s eyes bore into her.

Jodi felt like she was under a microscope, like she was back at the police station with Detective Harding. “Definitely not.”

Greg tapped his fingers on the table.

“Why didn’t you tell us?” Paige said softly.

Jodi turned to her. “I didn’t—I mean, it’s not true, so I didn’t think…” She looked at Zack for help, but he was looking at his hands on the table.

“Can they really press charges based on a journal?” Julian asked.

“No. You can’t cross-examine a journal. They’d need more evidence. So they think they have it.” Greg cleared his throat. “They may think they have evidence on all of you.”

A chilled silence fell over the table. Jodi’s mind worked quickly. So, Harding had the journal before the police took them in for questioning, but they didn’t arrest Zack that night, which means they got more evidence since then.

Paige’s voice broke through the tense quiet. “How will we know if they have evidence? Will they arrest us?”

“Not necessarily. I think Zack’s arrest tonight was for show. They wanted it announced before the vigil. They wanted to get you all on camera, and they got it.”

Jodi thought back to Detective Harding scanning the crowd tonight. The news crews covering a vigil for a girl who’d been dead over three months. There was something about the smirk on Harding’s face when Greg came to pick up Zack that night at the police station. This was personal to her. This was a game.

“There’s nothing in the public record on you four right now,” Greg continued, “but once it’s entered, you may receive notice about a hearing.” He rolled his shoulders back and lowered his voice. “Is there anything you can think of that the DA may be using against you? Eyewitness accounts, texts, emails—I know you don’t really email , but…”

Jodi tried to think. They’d never been cruel to Emily. Did they want her around? No. Did they make that known? Maybe? Lucy had a habit of rolling her eyes whenever Emily joined them at lunch without an invitation, and Julian had started walking away from her whenever she brought up topics that were irrelevant. But never Zack. He nodded and engaged and encouraged her to keep talking.

It was something Paige had warned him about often. Don’t encourage her. Don’t make her feel like she’ll always have you in her corner.

Jodi glanced around the table. Paige was bouncing her knee and chewing on her cheek. Zack’s elbows were on the table, his head dropped into his palms. Lucy was looking straight ahead at Greg.

“We didn’t like her,” Julian finally said. “We talked about it. Maybe someone heard, or saw texts, or took a fucking hint because we were dropping them all over, and still that girl didn’t get it.”

“Did anyone ever get physical with her in any way?” Greg said. “Throwing things, tripping her, stealing books—”

“This isn’t the ’80s, Dad,” Zack said, the first words he’d said all night. “We don’t knock books out of people’s hands anymore.”

“Online?” Greg continued. “Do you have chat rooms or… I don’t know, forums where you would be using aggressive speech with her or about her?”

Between Discord, TikTok, Snapchat, Instagram, and even X, there were a lot of places where it could have happened, but Jodi couldn’t think of anything.

“How can we find out what they have on us?” Lucy asked.

“You can’t. Not unless they want you to know about it.” Greg took a deep breath. “Okay, here’s my suggestion. And I say this as a lawyer and as Zack’s dad. Get your parents involved. Get a lawyer involved. If you get called in for an arraignment, you’re going to want a lawyer ready.”

Jodi saw dollar signs. She rubbed her palm.

“My next piece of advice—and I know you’re not going to like it. It’s time to un-clique. Zack told me what Principal Robbins said tonight. Expulsion. Cracking down on bullying.” Greg cleared his throat. “I’m aware that you all hold a lot of power at that school, but this is not the time to show off. The news is already calling you the Thrashers. This is going to spread through Sacramento fast. The last thing you want to do is to return to school this Monday as a group.”

“What do you mean?” Paige asked, her brows drawn in concern.

“I mean, it’s time to make some new friends. Sure, you all can hang out, just not as a group. Split up your class schedules. Invite more people with you when you do things.” He leveled a direct stare at each of them and said, “But do not continue to exist as the Thrashers while the DA’s office is investigating you as bullies and criminals.”

“Dad. It’s our senior year.” Zack pulled his head from his hands and looked over at him.

“No, he’s right,” Julian said, his expression unreadable. “We need to split up. No more than two of us seen hanging out at a time.”

Jodi felt dark clouds rumbling over her horizon. Splitting up for the five of them usually resulted in Paige and Lucy on one side of the line and Zack and Julian on the other, with Jodi as the floater. If they made “teams of two,” Jodi wasn’t sure she’d ever get picked.

“Does this go on his record? The arrest?” Julian asked.

Jodi’s attention snapped back to Greg as he nodded.

“Will that affect college?” she asked.

“It will if this spins out of control. It’ll affect all of you.”

Lucy cracked her neck, and Paige wiped a tear off her cheek as inconspicuously as possible.

“Yeah, okay.” Zack sniffed. “Whatever.”

Jodi’s chest ached for him. He looked like he just wanted to go to bed.

“I’ll call tomorrow and change my schedule,” Lucy said. “I have a few classes with Reagan I’d like to get out of anyway.”

“We won’t meet under the bleachers on Thursdays anymore,” Julian said. “And we should cancel our trip to Tahoe on Labor Day.”

“Why?” Paige said. “Can’t we just… hang out without pictures?” She looked as scared as Jodi felt. “Why can’t the five of us just… be discreet?”

Jodi watched her chin wobble and wondered how Paige Montgomery, who had friends in every class, five extracurricular projects a semester, an entire dance team in another town that she saw on weekends—how Paige could be that afraid of being lonely. Then Jodi remembered the wild way her eyes searched for help on the street outside Burr’s, how she said she couldn’t breathe, how she felt she was being watched. Maybe it wasn’t being lonely she was afraid of. Maybe it was being alone .

Lucy stood. “No, this is right. We have to make changes.” Her voice was firm, and Paige seemed to nod her acceptance. “I have to get home and talk to my dad,” Lucy said. “My uncle is a defense attorney.”

Julian and Paige followed her into the kitchen to get their things.

“Jodi, do you need a ride?” Greg asked.

She thought of her empty house and the millions of notifications on her phone about tonight’s vigil.

“She can stay, right?” Zack asked. “We can take her home in the morning?” His eyes were red-rimmed.

Greg agreed and left the dining room to make up a guest room for her. Jodi smiled softly at him from across the table, and then went into the kitchen.

Zack said his goodbyes to everyone else from the doorway, and Jodi rinsed the dishes and loaded the dishwasher, swallowing back the lump in her throat.

She heard footsteps behind her and turned to see Zack leaning on the kitchen island. She wiped her hands and faced him.

His mouth was open, like he had words to say if only his throat would move. A harsh sigh fell out of him.

“I’m sorry,” he said, sniffing. He pressed his palms into his eyes and slapped his face awake. “I’m sorry about all of this. I should have listened to you all when you said not to be nice to her.”

Jodi’s breath caught in her chest, but still she asked, “Did you sleep with Emily?”

He shook his head, eyes crinkling in pain. His voice choked out the word, “No.” Then he was reaching for her, burying his face in her neck. His breath was hot on her skin and his arms were tight on her ribs.

She held him as he cried, hoping this moment could be worth all the things she was sure to miss as her life broke into pieces.