Who do I trust

24 January (The day Jessica came by)

Binghamton is classified as being in the top 10 of "most cloudy and rainy American cities" we experience more rain in summer than your average city, and when the sun comes out everything around seems to show life. Back when I was young I would play outside in the sun with Jessica, she used to apply sunscreen to her face so she wouldn't burn her face and turn red, I would laugh and tease her when she was burn and call her "the red giant" because she was and still is taller than me...

Jessica is White in skin color and I am coloured or some people may call it "a person of color" . My mom is a black woman and my dad is a white man, so I wouldn't burn up in the sun as much as Jessica would, one time she got into trouble with her mom when we were in primary school, she tried to dye her blond her and turn it black like mine so we would look alike but she didn't get permission and her mom caught her reading the hair dye instructions just before applying it, it was so hilarious, it was the joke of the year.

It now had been 3 years since Jessica once went to live in Lafayette, Louisiana and a year and few months since her parents and baby sister had died from a car accident, her visits home since their death had drastically decreased, she would come to visit once in 2 months and stayed for a day before going back.

We had now grown distant and I had learnt to make new friends at Varsity.

On January 24th, it was a very cold day since it was winter, we hadn't opened at school from the winter holidays (Christmas and New Year) So both mom and dad were with me in the house and we were watching some comedy movie which

Kevin Hart was starring in, I forgot the name of it because I wasn't paying close attention, something on social media about local girls going missing caught my attention for a few seconds but before I could read more into it I received a text from Jessica "Hey Lazy Lizzy, I'm going to be in town for a few days, I want us to grab some drinks later on and reminisce about our

friendship" ...

I got excited and jumped off the sofa, that's when mom asked "What's wrong Lizzy?"'

Dad glared at me with his genius curiosity look, That's when I said "Jessica is coming to town and she invited me for a few drinks this evening" Dad turned down the T.V volume and asked with concern "Do you think it's safe for two girls to have drinks all alone at night?"

Mom supported dad and said "I know Jessica is your childhood friend but I don't get her ever since she started to stay at Lafayette, I don't think she's that old innocent Jessica we all knew, she wears expensive clothes and accessories but she failed to tell you her occupation"

I felt like both my parents were against my idea to have drinks with Jessica so I responded by saying "Jessica has been going through a rough patch ever since her family died, she needs my support as a friend. And besides, her uncle will look after us at the bar, it's not too far from home" knowing full well that I was lying about her uncle.

Dad is not someone who loves speaking so he responded with "I don't want you to be a statistic of the local missing girls around this neighborhood that we see on t.v"

Mom concluded "I don't love where this is headed, but you can go"

I got over excited and texted Jessica back "I will be on the wait, can't wait to catch up".

Jessica came around to my house at 19:00, and she was bubbly than ever, she met my mom at the door and shared a few jokes with her before mom could call me downstairs...

Jessica was sure a changed person and her style of wearing was as if she was a pimp.

She had white big Balenciaga kicks on, a matching tight python skin coloured Gucci tracksuits, a black fury scarf around her neck that matched with her snow hat, a Luis Vuitton custom designed handbag, big earrings and had Versace sunglasses on, even though it was not sunny at that time of the day plus it was winter!

So we left the house and pretended as if Jessica's uncle was waiting for us around the corner so mom wouldn't get worried.

After we left , Jessica kept on telling me wonderful stories about Lafayette and how best of a life she's living, she was on her phone most of the time on the walk to the bar and had to take a few calls, the man on the phone sounded impatient but he hung up as soon as we arrived at the bar.