The Girl Who Chased Stars

XIV

"This can not be happening."

Skai paces around our cell anxiously, while a fat, pudgy, officer watches her with amusement from an office around the corner.

"Skai?" I mumble. "Why are you so freaked out? Our parents will come get us."

Skai looks at me and throws her hands in the air, completely exasperated. "And what the Hell do you think is gonna happen to us when Our parents find out we're in prison?!"

"Actually... We're not in prison Skai, we're just in jail... At the moment. Prison is bigger, and has more lesbians."

Skai's eyes shoot daggers, and I giggle.

" Wouldn't that be fun?" I slur, " if we went to prison? I bet we would make some money, maybe make a tv show out of it."

Skai continues to completely ignore me, so I try to get her attention by slipping my arms around her waist. "You could be my Alex." I say into her shirt," And I'd be your Piper."

Skai pushes me off, and grimaces as if merely being in my presence is the biggest disgust in the world.

" You know you are really stupid when you're drunk." She spits angrily.

The lash stings, and I can't help but ask her, "why are you so pissed? You were happy when we were at that stupid club twenty minutes ago."

"Damn it, Amy! We're in a jail cell! My parents are going to kill me!"

I nod, and say stupidly "Well, my parents will be okay with it. They told me that I needed to get out of the house more..."

Skai stares at me for a full blown minute. She doesn't even blink once, which is extremely impressive.

" I heard about a lady that couldn't blink." I say to Skai. " I actually think she died."

"Wow." Skai says.

" I know." I reply.

Suddenly, she bangs on the cell door. " Sir!" She screams, " Police dude! Can I get a different cell!?"

I start to play with Skai's hair. " why do you want a different cell?" I ask.

" Because. If I don't get a different cell there is a very serious possibility that I will go to prison. For freaking stabbing you with my mascara brush, considering that's the only thing the police didn't take from me."

That shuts me up for a while.

Suddenly, I hear a commotion from behind the closed door, and Skai bolts up. "Shit." She says, "I think that's my mom."

Sure enough, the door slams open and an extremely skinny lady comes bursting into the room. I'm taken by surprise, because the woman holds a small infant in her arms, and behind her trails two young boys who look to be about seven or eight. Twins, it seems like, except it's sort of hard to tell, because everything's hazy.

" SKAI LEE MITCHELL!"

The sudden outburst surprises me, and sends a burst of adrenaline throughout my body. Abruptly, I stand up a little too quickly. The room spins.

The lady gives me a strange steady look, and then turns her attention back to her daughter. "You are in so much trouble! I'm not letting you out of the house until you're twenty seven! Do you understand me!? You'll be spending you're days cleaning, and making up for this embarrassment on yourself, and our family! Deadbolts on all the doors! You can say goodbye to your social life, young lady! And personally I don't even-"

"Is she really going too do all that?" I discreetly ask Skai. "No." She replies. "It'll probably take her only a week to forget all of this. Right now, she's just putting up a show for the cop. She's pretending to act like a responsible parent. It's all an act."

Skai's voice drips with venom, and even though I'm as drunk as my uncle Sean on thanksgiving, I can still see that there is something Skai isn't telling me about her family.

From my peripheral vision I see a quiet figure walk through the side door. My father.

It takes me only a moment to realize that something isn't right about him. He should be standing right next to Skai's mom. He should be screaming at me. His face should be red from anger.

Instead he just seems defeated, and broken.

The police officer quickly unlocks Skai and I from the cell. I can tell he's trying to get us out quickly, probably hoping to avoid any extra outbursts from Mrs. Mitchell.

"Now look." He says, " you two young ladies are lucky. Because you both don't have any previous records, I'm going to let you off with a warning. No more illegal clubs...." He pauses for a more dramatic effect, choosing to stare hard at me, " and drinking underage is a serious crime."

Skai rolls her eyes, and then her mother grabs her hand in a death grip, and drags her out of the building.

I look at my father, and he turns without a word. I follow him out of room, and then to our car.

It isn't until we pull onto the highway that I finally break the silence.

" say something." I beg quietly. " Yell, scream, punish me."

My dad keeps his gaze on the road.

" Dad. You're scaring me. I'm sorry, okay? I shouldn't have gone with her."

I can feel the drunken haze dissipating, and my head has begun pounding painfully.

" I'm sorry." I say again.

I can feel tears in the corner of my eyes. Never in my life have I ever seen my father like this. It was absolutely terrifying. I would be so relieved if he were to just suddenly burst. To scream and tell me how much trouble that I am in.

Instead he looks down at his knuckles, which grip the steering wheel so hard that his whole hand is turning white.

I watch with horror as he suddenly sobs.

"Amy." He cries.

"You're mother has cancer."