The Thrashers(4)

“Did she really OD on prom night?”

Jodi’s feet were moving, her body following like a marionette led by its strings. Someone called after her, but she pushed aside the sliding glass door and disappeared inside. The cool blast of AC on a muggy July evening pushed air into her lungs as she steered herself toward the downstairs bathroom. She threw herself inside and locked it before she took her next breath.

Jodi leaned on the sink. In the mirror, she saw a short girl with a plain face. Someone people would describe her as “curvy” to be polite. She pressed her eyes closed, and concentrated on her breath.

Pale blue eyes rose up from the depths of her mind where she had buried them. A smattering of freckles on a thin nose, and teeth too wide for a small mouth.

Jodi turned on the taps. Her own eyes stared back at her from the mirror, brown and dark-lined. Hand soap was the only thing on the counter, so she pumped some Crabtree & Evelyn into her palm and counted to thirty as that voice slithered against her ears, dreamy and haunting.

“Sometimes I wonder what it would be like to be you.”

Jodi looked up from her biology book. “Me?”

Emily nodded, her thin blond hair shimmering around her cheekbones. “A Thrasher.”

The ding of a new text jolted her out of her thoughts. It was an unknown number with a Sacramento area code. All the message said was—are you having a nice summer?

She stared down at the screen, trying to place the number, waiting for it to make sense.

A knuckle rapped against the bathroom door, and Zack’s voice sounded through the wood—“Jo?”

She quickly dried her hands and twisted the doorknob. Zack leaned against the frame, his eyes cautious and his shoulders blocking out the rest of the party.

“Can I come in?”

She stepped aside for him. He locked the door and sat on the closed toilet seat. “What’s going on? Paige said you freaked out.”

Rolling her eyes, she leaned back on the sink. “I didn’t ‘freak out,’ okay? Just … somebody asked about Emily.” Jodi pushed her thumb into her opposite palm, rubbing the pressure point. “The last two weeks of school were bad enough. I didn’t know it was going to continue into summer.”

“That’s why I wanted to come to a St. Joseph’s party. I thought no one would mention it.” He ran a hand through his hair and glanced up at her. “You don’t have to feel … guilty or anything.”

She looked down to her shoes and muttered, “I don’t feel guilty.”

“You’re hiding in a bathroom.”

She leveled a glare at him. “I just … Don’t you think about her?”

“Yeah. A lot,” he said, voice rasping. His eyes seemed to glaze over as he thought. “She’s everywhere, you know? I think I dream about her sometimes. I can never remember it, but I get the feeling like I do.”

Jodi nodded. “I do, too.”

Just last night, she’d dreamt they were doing homework together like they used to. She’d woken up just when Emily asked, “What time is the limo picking me up?” Jodi had stared at the ceiling for the next hour until she heard her dad moving around.

Zack jumped up from the toilet and took her elbows. “Come on. Let’s go play beer pong or something.” He pinched her side, and she jerked away with a yelp. He smirked in that way that made her stomach tumble.

Three harsh pounds of a fist on the bathroom door. Before Jodi could yell for them to chill, a deep adult voice bellowed, “Come on out.”

Zack’s brows pulled together as he opened the door, coming face to face with a police officer with a thick blond mustache.

“Zackary Thrasher?”

Jodi blinked and registered the quiet coming from the dining room. The group of twenty had vanished. Someone’s joint was still curling smoke up to the chandelier.

“Yeah?”

“I need you to come with me, son.”

Zack glanced back at her. “Sure. Where we going?”

“We have a few questions for you down at the station.”

Jodi felt her pulse hammering in her veins. “This can’t wait till morning?” she asked, her voice cracking.

The blond cop’s eyes slid to her. “Jodi Dillon?” Her heart choked her as she nodded. “You, too.”

Zack stepped in front of her. “Officer, this isn’t necessary. If we call my dad, I’m sure—”

“What’s ‘not necessary’ is me Breathalyzing you and ordering a drug test when we get to the station. Would you like to make it necessary?” He lifted a brow, and his mustache twitched when Zack swallowed thickly. “Let’s go.”

Zack moved out of the bathroom and Jodi followed. The cop filed in behind them as Zack led them out the front door and across the lawn full of whispering teenagers trying to hide their red cups. Some of them had their phones raised high overhead to capture the moment.

The cop turned to the remaining party and yelled, “I’ll be back through in an hour! Clear out!”

There were two cop cars parked in the cul-de-sac, their red and blue lights off but their headlights bright on the front of the house. Another cop was assisting someone getting into the back seat of the first cruiser—Julian. Paige and Lucy were already inside, looking straight ahead with their lips shut tight as Julian slid in. The door closed with a thud.