The Significance of Orange Juice

Chapter 16

Chapter 16

“This is all your fault,” I huffed, resting my head against the metal bars behind me.

“My fault?” Jay exclaimed incredulously, pausing slightly to emphasise his shock. I nodded my head vigorously, strands of light brown hair bobbing in front of my eyes. If Jay hadn’t coerced me into participating in illicit activities, then I’d still be at Olivia’s party, laughing at all of the drunken antics. Instead, I was sitting in a police cell waiting for my parents to come and bail me out. Actually, now that I think about it, jail was a preferable alternative to facing my parents’ wrath. I winced internally. My parents would be beyond furious.

Jay carried on talking in the same indignant tone as before. “If anything, it’s your fault – if you hadn’t stacked it, we would have made a clean escape!”

I flushed at the memory. I’d been so intent on escaping our pursuer that I hadn’t even noticed the recycling box on the floor in front of me. I became acquainted with the floor with more speed and force than I would have liked. Jay snickered loudly at my embarrassment.

“You’re supposed to be the ‘pro’ here,” I replied, the air quotes making it quite clear what I thought of his ‘professional’ status. “Surely it’s your responsibility to get us out safely!”

Jay laughed mockingly. “I refuse to take any responsibility for your mistake. I told you to run; it’s not my fault that you have the natural grace of a hippopotamus.”

My temper flared instantly. “Oh? Well, for someone who professes to be an accomplished graffiti artist, you don’t exactly have the skill to back it up.”

Jay sat with his back rigid against the wall, his dark brown eyes flashing furiously. “Christ, do you even hear yourself?” he sneered. “You are so bloody pretentious. I do it for fun, Isabelle. Do you know what that word means? It’s something that I do for a bloody laugh with my mates, but everything has to be a competition with you, doesn’t it? So what, if I’m not fantastic at it - at least I’m not so stuck up that I can’t even have fun anymore.”

“I might spend a lot of time working, but at least I’ll have a career. But don’t worry,” I said patronisingly, not wanting to admit how much his words stung me, “I’ll make sure to drop in at McDonalds to say hello.”

Jay’s teeth were clenched so tight that I wondered if he was going to damage his jaw, before I reminded myself that I didn’t care for Jay Roberts. The conversation ground to a sullen halt, neither of us wanting to admit the veracity of the other’s point.

Without Jay’s conversation to distract me, my mind quickly began to anticipate my parents’ reactions to the news that their only daughter had been incarcerated, however briefly.

Well, at least my parents will have to notice this, I thought bitterly to myself. Despite storming out of the house without an explanation to go to the club, my parents had never bought it up again. If I’m honest, I’d don’t think that they even noticed that I didn’t come home that night. They certainly hadn’t noticed my tattoo yet; I had made the effort to wear long sleeve tops as often as possible, but they hadn’t even registered the change in my wardrobe. I doubt that my parents would have such a disinterested reaction to my brief imprisonment. My lips twisted into a bitter smile. The irony of the situation didn’t escape me; here I was, desperately praying that my parents would ignore my actions when the very reason that I had gone out with Jay in the first place was to try and force some sort of a reaction out of them. It just would have been nice if it had required something less serious than prison before they paid attention to my life.

I’d been unconsciously tapping my head against the bars behind me, a reflex I wasn’t even aware of until Jay slid a hand behind my head to stop it hitting the bars again. “Try and preserve some brain cells, princess. You hardly have enough to waste.” Jay was obviously making a real effort; underneath his usual teasing tone, it was clear that he was still resentful about my accusations.