“Are these the kids who toilet-papered this property and yours?” one of the cops asked.
My brow scrunched, confused. Then a wizened old man stepped out from behind the line of blue-clad officers. He looked us over one by one and then nodded. “Yep. I caught it all on video, as you’ve seen.”
“Wait, we didn’t do anything to his property,” Damon said, earning a shhhhh and a kick from the friend on his other side. “What? We didn’t! We only TP’ed Chase’s house, and he said it was okay.”
“Well, young man, I happen to know that the Hansens are in Florida right now, so I don’t see how you could have gotten their permission to do this to their property,” the old man said, hitching up his pants with both hands.
“Oh, I don’t know, cell phone? Text? Email?” Damon said. “What year are you living in?”
“Would you shut up?” Lauren spat from behind us.
“You should probably listen to your friends, there, kid,” Skinny Moustache said.
Damon hung his head, muttering something unintelligible under his breath. Though I swear I heard my name in there, and I was sure I heard the words “stupid idea.”
“What part of your property was compromised?” the officer asked the old man.
“That tree over there,” the old man said, gesturing at the small shrub Carina and I had attacked last. “That little tree is on my side of the property line.”
Carina and I exchanged a rueful look. If only we hadn’t decided to decorate that last little shrub. But how were we supposed to know it wasn’t on Chase’s property?
“What if they offer to fix your tree?” Lauren suggested.
“No way! We didn’t touch that tree! That was the girls!” one of the other kids cried.
Oh my God, I hated these people.
“Well you’re the ones who supplied the toilet paper!” Carina countered.
“But it was her idea,” Damon said, nudging me with his knee.
“You said it was okay! That Chase said it was fine and that was enough!” I cried.
Suddenly we were all yelling at once. I couldn’t believe this was happening. I’d just wanted to have a teeny bit of fun. Kids my age did stupid, dangerous, even life-threatening stuff every damn day and never got caught, but the one time I stepped my pinky toe out of line I had cops manhandling me and yelling at my friends.
It was too bad I didn’t put Get arrested for doing something dumb on my bucket list.
Suddenly, a whistle pealed. I winced, and everyone fell silent. “All right. All of you. Up! Let’s get you down to the station. We’ll sort it out there.”
The boys began to protest, but Carina, who was clearly so over this, just got up, lifted her chin, and walked directly toward the line of police cars parked on the street. I looked back at Lauren, giving her my most pleading eyes.
“Don’t worry. I’m on it,” she said. “I’ll be right behind you.”
Feeling a heavy dread unlike anything I’d ever felt before, I joined Carina at the police car at the front of the line. “I’m so sorry about this,” I said. “Do you really think your dad is going to be that mad?”
“Please. Do you know how many times me and his manager have had to bail him out of jail?” She scoffed. “It’s about time it was the other way around.”
And I never would have thought I could have smiled right then, but I did.
* * *
• • •
It took a ridiculously long time for the police to get our forms filled out with our names, ages, and addresses, and to take our statements. Throughout the whole thing, I alternated between being so nervous I could barf, and feeling straight up angry. This was all so unfair. There had been so many underage kids there who were drinking—actually breaking the law—and here we were getting booked for misuse of toilet paper. What a world.
Parents began to trickle in, and everyone got a stern talking-to before being let off with a warning. When Adam Michel arrived, the clerk at the front desk asked for a selfie, and Adam immediately obliged, telling his assistant to post it and hashtag it #babysfirstarrest.
“Dad!” Carina protested. “I wasn’t arrested!”
“It’ll get so many likes, though,” her father replied, giving her a noogie.
Carina lifted a hand in my direction as she ducked her head and was escorted by her dad’s security detail out the back door.
“See you soon, Tess!” Adam called back to me.
And I swear the looks on everyone else’s faces almost made this whole debacle worth it. Adam Michel knew my name. Ten-year-old me was doing cartwheels.
Tarek showed up to pick up Damon. Which was weird, since everyone else had parents to pick them up. But maybe Damon’s parents were currently away. He looked so angry when he signed his cousin out, his jaw set and his eyes sharp.
“Lauren told me what you did to Tess. Are you freaking kidding me?” he snapped.
“What do you mean? I didn’t do anything to her! It’s her fault we all got dragged down here!” Damon replied.
“This is the last straw, Damon. I swear,” Tarek said. “Let’s go. Mom and Dad are waiting.”
Damon looked like he was about to argue, but Tarek stared him down until he walked out the door. I felt a lot more relaxed with Damon gone from the little holding cell they were keeping us all in. Having to sit next to him all that time until Tarek showed up had made me itch all over. I was so glad I hadn’t had the chance to kiss him. Who cared about the damn list? I didn’t want a guy like that anywhere near me. And now I didn’t even have to count our small kiss on the slopes, because I knew his last name. He’d given it to the cops when they were filling out the forms. Dumas. Pronounced Doo-mas, but easily revised into Dumb Ass, if you asked me.
Loretta was the last to arrive. Which was fine, because I needed a little time to myself to chill.
I stood up from the uncomfortable metal bench the second Loretta strode through the door. It was after midnight, and she wore actual jeans under her wool coat. That was a shock. I couldn’t believe the woman even owned jeans. But more surprising was the sight of her face without any makeup. It was like looking at a ghost version of my powerful grandmother. Her skin was pale and wrinkled, her eyes seemed to retreat into her head without her usual eye makeup, and her lips were very thin. I almost wouldn’t have known it was her, except she took the same businesslike, no-nonsense tone with the officer who greeted her, as she did with everyone who worked for her.