Waiting outside the lines

Chapter 25

I slowly walk toward the hidden police car realizing I don't know what I'm gonna say. We still have quite a while until Wayne's supposed to come. They're gonna ask why I'm not inside. I decide I'll just wing it and go up to the car. I pull up the car cover so it doesn't cover the window. Tom looks at me startled,"What are you doing here? Your friend might be here soon."
I stare at him still trying to figure out what to say. I'm just so confused and my head's spinning because of what's going on. Lenny, the one person I was able to tell, turned out to be Jake's 'bestie'. That's the third time I had a chance to tell someone and it didn't work out. I mean, is this supposed to be a sign telling me that I shouldn't tell anyone?
My thoughts are interrupted by Tom's voice, "Janet?"
"Huh? Yea sorry. I just remembered we were supposed to meet half an hour ago and he hasn't shown. So Lenny told me to come out here and we'd figure it out."
"Why hasn't he come out yet?" Jeremy asks, not looking at me. What is his problem? "He's in there talking with Jake. He said he'd be out here in a second." Jeremy nods and it becomes silent. Then I say,"Lenny also said Tom would take me home so you guys could figure out what to do next." Tom looks at me weird. "Okay. I'll take you when they come out." I nod calmly even though I'm freaking out inside. I was really hoping he'd take me before they came out so I didn't have to see them again.
After about a minute or so Lenny and Jake come out. Jeremy sees them and gets out of the car to take the car cover off. As they're still walking towards the car I turn to Tom,"Okay let's go now."
"No we have to figure out what we're gonna do." He responds, sounding a little worried. He walks up to them and I hear him say,"So what's the plan now? The girl told me you said I was gonna take her home." Lenny glares at me but then smiles as if he's amused I was smart enough to make something up like that. He looks at Jake and they smile at each other like they were playing a prank on us and something was about to happen. Lenny turns back to Tom,"Yea you take her home and we'll figure something out." I get an uneasy feeling in my stomach. It can't be that easy. Getting away from them I mean. It has to be part of their plan. I sigh, mad at myself for letting that backfire.
"Okay let's go then." Tom says, walking me to the closer car. I get in the car and Tom closes the door. When he closes it Jeremy says,"Okay we'll take the one that's hidden then."
"Okay. We'll see you later." Lenny says, then goes on,"Actually, wait for a second, Tom," then he gets closer to him and Jeremy and starts whispering something. I knew it. I knew there was something else. I see Lenny whispering and then Jeremy's eyes get a little wide. What is he telling them?! Anger begins to build up in me. I try to keep it in but can't and punch the door a little harder then I planned. There's no dent or anything but it made a loud noise that made all four of them turn around. I sit there pretending to be interested in something in the car, like nothing happened. They go back to their conversation and I take a deep breath. Finally, after about two or three minutes (which seems like forever when you're sitting in a car waiting), Tom gets in and starts the car, not saying a word. I look at him expectantly as he waits for a car that's coming out of a parking spot. Getting annoyed, I say,"Soo?"
"'Soo' what?"
"Soo is everything okay?"
"Yea. Why wouldn't everything be okay?"
"Well you guys seemed really into your conversation. It seemed pretty important."
"No everything's fine."
"Okay." As it's silent, I try to think of what their plan could be. Well if they were fine with Tom taking me home it must have been part of their plan. But why? They must have wanted to know where I was gonna be. As Tom turns up to the main road I say,"Um can you go right?"
"Why? Your house is the opposite way."
"Yea but I think I'm gonna go to my friends house for a while. We have a huge project due by the end of the week so I want to start on it." I respond, lying through my teeth.
He looks at me suspiciously but still turns right. As we drive in silence, I think of another plan. "You know actually I'm just gonna walk the rest of the way. You can just drop me off right here."
"No I'll take you. It's not a problem."
"I know it's not a problem I just want to walk a little bit."
"Well it'll take longer for you to get there if you walk." I could tell that him knowing where I am was important. It wasn't totally obvious but there was something in his voice...
"Fine then I'll run. That's actually better then walking. Thanks for the idea. You can stop now."
"No I will take you."
"Why? Do you think I'm going to run away or something?" I laugh trying to annoy him. I can tell its working because he starts tightening his grip on the wheel. "Fine. I'll stop in a few minutes." I subtly take a deep breath and relax glad that my plan is working so far.
After a couple minutes he finally stops on the side of the road. "Okay. Here's your stop." I'm about to get out but Tom grabs my arm before I do. The way he grabs me reminds me so much of the way Jake grabbed me that one night that I get chills on my arms. I'm glad I'm still wearing the jacket so Tom can't tell. I sit back down a little scared, him still holding my arm, as he says,"Oh I almost forgot. Here's my number in case you need anything." I put out my hand out for him to give me the paper that was in his hand but he has another idea. Instead he moves his arm close to my face then moves it suddenly, about to put the paper in my hood. But then he changes his mind and is about to put it in my jacket pocket. I panic for a second and swiftly move my hand so it's in the way of his. I put my hand in my pocket and am instantly glad that I did because I feel the wetness of blood in it. He looks at me kind of weird for a second but then goes back to what he was doing. He reaches down to my jean pocket and slowly puts the paper in that pocket, looking at me with the same eyes he did when we were alone in the car before. Then he pats my pocket and smiles. I try to smile too and get out of the car. As I go towards the sidewalk Tom says,"You should probably take your jacket off. It's starting to get warm."
"No I think I'll be fine. I'm actually kind of cold. Well thanks for the ride. Bye." I say walking away. Tom starts driving back towards the Ice cream shop as I walk the other way, relieved that my plan worked. At least for now.
About ten to fifteen minutes later I decide its safe to check myself for bugs. Of course, by bugs I mean trackers. If it was really important to know where I was going Tom wouldn't have just let me go. I first check the paper Tom gave me which did have his number. I decide to keep it just incase I needed it later. I unfold the paper all the way and try to make it as smooth as possible. I go down on one knee and roll the bottom of my jeans up to below my knee.
I learned from my uncle that when there are trackers in paper there is always a little bump caused by the tracker in the paper. It is extremely small but it's there. To find where the bump is, you're supposed to rub the paper against your arm like you would do against the end part of a table to make a paper less wrinkled. Because I don't have someone else to do it on my arm, I have to do it on my leg which is a little harder cause the skin is usually rougher on legs than arms.
So I do that with the paper and try really hard to feel if there is a small bump. After about a minute or two of doing that, I decide there's not a tracker in the paper. I get up and think of other places he could have put it. He did touch my jean pocket. I put my hand in my pocket but don't feel anything. I think again and realize he almost put the note in my hood. Of course that's where it's at! I mean why would someone put a note in someone else's hood? I look around making sure no one was close by and take my sweater off. Right as I do I realize it was an amazing idea to keep it on because the whole bottom of my shirt is soaked in blood. I think about how someone might see me when they drive by but they'll be going too fast to even notice. I pull up my shirt exposing my bloody cut. I'm relieved when I see some dry blood is slowing down the bleeding but it's still coming out. I have an idea to help stop the bleeding but first things first. I have to find the tracker. I put my sweater inside-out and shake it as if I was airing it out. I hear a very small 'clink' sound and look at the floor. I don't see anything but keep looking around. Finally I see what made the sound and pick up a metal tracker a little smaller than a dime. I put it up to my face and see a faint but blinking red light. I contemplate over whether or not I should squash it but I already know I can't. If I do they'll lose signal and know something's up. I can't leave it on the ground either because they'll see that I'm not moving and know I found it and ditched.
As I examine the tracker some more, I hear the faint sound of a car. I turn towards the sound, which is driving in the opposite direction of my house towards me, and get an idea. First, I put my jacket back on so I don't scare the driver away. As the sound gets closer I see that it's unfortunately a minivan. I sigh and put my thumb out and wave with the other hand. To my advantage, the driver is a woman in her early thirties. She gets slower and rolls down the window. "Are you okay, sweetie?" she asks. Must be a mom. "Ya um I was just wondering if you could take me to my friends house? It's not that far it's just I've been walking for a long time and my feet are starting to hurt." I try to talk as if I'm in pain but not too obvious or else she might see right through me. "Oh of course I'll take you! You can come in the front if you want." I open the back door and say,"It's okay. I'm fine back here. That way I can stretch my legs." As I sit down I sigh in relief, just to add to my lie. She looks at me with eyes of sympathy through the front mirror. As I close the door, I dispose of the tracker by putting it under the chair I'm sitting on. So what I'm doing isn't so obvious I pretend to be fixing my shoes. When the tracker is in a well hidden place I close the door and she starts driving. Before she gets far I pretend that someone's calling me. "Hello." I say into my phone. "Oh ok. Awesome!" I pause to make it believable. "Thanks." I hang up from my fake phone call and say to the lady,"My friend is close by and is going to pick me up so you can drop me off right here." She stops and I get out. "Thank you so much!"
"No problem honey." She says and drives away. I go into the woods when she's too far away to see me and start walking home, hoping the police don't ask the nice lady for questions when they find the tracker.