The Thrashers(101)

It felt like a sword had been plunged through her chest. “That’s not … that’s not true—”

“We know.” Harding’s mouth pressed into a quick grin. “But unfortunately for Julian … it’s enough for intent.”

Intent. Jodi shivered. This was it. She had handed over the final nail in his coffin.

Standing from her chair, Harding swept to the door before stopping to turn on her painted heel.

“How does it feel?” she asked with a smile. “From all the evidence I’ve gathered, this is your first time.”

Jodi’s brows came together. “First time what?”

“Thrashing someone.” Harding smirked and waltzed out the door without waiting for her answer.





Chapter Twenty-Nine


JUNE

Paige was the first of them to be cleared.

Upon examining the first journal the police had in evidence, it was concluded that it was impossible to have been authored over the course of the school year—pressure of the pen, age of the pages. The journal found in the Millses’ bathroom, on the other hand, was accepted to be real. One by one, Jodi watched her friend’s charges be dropped.

They decided that Oliver Burns’s testimony of the Ride or Die incident wasn’t enough if they didn’t know who was driving, so without the journal, Paige was cleared. Once Jodi’s signed statement about her own identical incident with a glass bottle had been examined by both sides of the case, Reagan suddenly reconsidered if she had truly seen Emily on her street the day the soda bottle was allegedly thrown. All of Lucy’s charges were dropped, too.

Jodi got the text from Lucy just before the West Side Story rehearsal that Wednesday night. Lucy’s dad was already on the phone with his friend in the dean’s office at UCLA. Smiling down at her phone, Jodi typed back that she was glad just as the stage manager called for places.

Jodi set aside one ticket for Julian on the Friday show, but he would never make it.

On Friday morning, Julian Hollister pled guilty to criminal harassment of Emily Mills. The text message and the Google Drive, the eyewitness account of him “putting hands on her”—all of it was on the table even without the fake journal. The prosecution and the defense came to terms on a reduced sentence: six months at the Sacramento juvenile detention center. He was taken into custody immediately following the plea bargain hearing. He would have to get his GED from juvie.

Jodi’s heart was in her throat the entire performance, and by the time the curtain closed, she was already on her way to Rosa’s car in the waiting zone.

“What’s wrong?” Rosa asked.

Jodi buckled her seat belt and wiped away the tear trailing down her cheek. “Nothing. The play was really good tonight.”

The DA’s office wasn’t as ready to talk plea deals with Zack. With his name on the group and his Mustang being used for the Ride or Die incident that Oliver witnessed, they still wanted to pursue him. Also, Emily had told her sister about having sex with Zack in painful detail, so Hannah was now considered a witness.

By finals week, Hannah was more ghostly than ever, shuffling down the hallways and staring off into space. Jodi asked Oliver if she’d been buying from him, but he’d told her no, not since a month ago.

On the last day of school, the DA’s office and the defense for Zackary Thrasher called a meeting. Jodi waited at school after her last final, staring at her phone. Across the quad, she saw Hannah Mills doing the exact same. She considered approaching her, but her stomach was too knotted. If they went to trial, Jodi could be called to testify, and she would have to tell the truths that she knew.

It was almost five o’clock when her phone buzzed.

“Zack?” she said, picking up the call.

“It’s done, Jodi!” She could hear his smile through the phone.

“What? What happened?”

“There was a date discrepancy. An intern on my defense team found it yesterday. Emily said ‘Saturday’ when she meant ‘Sunday’ and I had an alibi for the Saturday. Peter had canceled the morning session and we rescheduled for the evening. I guess the testimony from her sister was super hazy on which day, so the prosecution decided it wasn’t worth it to put it in front of a jury!”

Jodi felt her smile dripping off her face, try as hard as she might to keep it there. “Wow. Peter Kim for the win. So you got off on a technicality?”

“Yeah, I guess.” He kept his voice low. “They dropped all charges, like Paige and Lucy.”

Jodi nodded, trying to unwind this feeling in her chest. “Yeah. Great.”

Like Paige and Lucy.

But he wasn’t like Paige and Lucy. Zack had actually done something wrong. But because of a wrong date, he didn’t have to live with the consequences.

And Julian was in juvie.

Zack must have heard it in her tone. “What’s wrong? Are you … disappointed I didn’t go to jail?”

Jodi cleared her throat. “No. I’m not disappointed.” She looked across the quad and saw a small blond girl with orange shoes on the phone, too. “I’m really happy it worked out, Zack. Call Paige and Lucy. I’ll talk to you soon.” She hung up.

Hannah Mills jumped to her feet and took off toward the door leading inside. Jodi grabbed her things and followed.