“You come over here to insult me?” Briggs says in a threatening tone.
“No,” Drew says, sounding nervous. “I’ll see you at practice.”
When he’s gone, I say to Briggs, “Do you always do that? Change your story depending on who you’re talking to?”
He doesn’t answer. Instead, he picks up his stuff and leaves. There are still a few minutes left of class, and he took off without even telling the teacher.
He lied to Drew. Or he lied to me. Either way, it’s further proof that Briggs can’t be trusted. He’s only looking out for himself.
I need to do the same. I need to look out for myself. I thought the four of us were in this together, but we’re not. I’m on my own. I have to watch my back around those guys and never let my guard down.
Chapter 18
Briggs
It’s been almost a week since we hit that guy, and the cops still don’t know who he is or what he was doing on the road that night. He’s been unconscious this whole time, so he hasn’t been able to tell them anything. Even when he finally wakes up, I doubt he’ll remember anything, or if he does, I doubt he’ll be able to give them any details. It was too dark, and it happened too fast for him to identify the car or who was driving.
That makes me feel a little better, but honestly, I was never really worried about the guy telling on us. My fear is that Finn or Parker will let something slip. So far they haven’t said anything. I talked to Ariel at school on Tuesday and told her Finn was really high when he went to that party and probably said some weird shit. She said they didn’t really talk. They just found a room and did stuff.
I need to keep a closer eye on him. Out of the four of us, Finn’s the least concerned about getting caught, but he also has the least to lose. He’s not going to college and doesn’t plan to get a job. He’s just going to live off his parents’ money and party all day and night, like his brother does. If he got charged with anything, his parents would hire the best lawyers, and he’d probably end up paying a fine or spending a few nights in jail.
As for me, my father would beat me, then disown me and leave me with no money and no legal help. I’d be stuck with a public defender handling my case and end up serving time. By the time I got out, I’d be left broke and living on the streets. My mom might help me but I wouldn’t count on it. She’d say jail time is my punishment for screwing up.
I don’t know what would happen to Parker. His parents would be pissed, but they’d still help him out. They’d get himlegal help to keep him out of jail, but having this on his record could ruin his plans for college. Even if that happened, he’d still have money and a family, so he’d be better off than me.
Ella doesn’t have money, but she has her father. He’d never turn her away. I’ve never seen a father so involved in his kid’s life. He’s at every one of her school events. He even used to go to her soccer games, where she spent the whole game on the bench.
My father has only been to one of my rugby games, and he only showed up because he was hoping to get business from one of the other dads, a tech guy who’d recently sold his company for over a billion and needed a place to invest some of the money. My father didn’t get him as a client and blamed me because I knocked over the guy’s son during the game. It was an accident, and the guy didn’t even care. My father just needed someone to blame because he refused to believe he wasn’t a good enough salesman to get the business.
It’s after eight and I haven’t had dinner or done any studying. I spent extra time at the gym after practice because it’s the only way I can relieve all this stress. I hit the punching bag for almost an hour, imagining I was punching my father, which I’d actually do if I didn’t need his money. I’m so close to being out of this house and out of his control that I’m not willing to do anything to screw it up.
I need to get my focus back on this valedictorian shit, but not now. Right now, my energy has to be spent on keeping us out of trouble. The more time goes by, the safer we are, and once I know we’re no longer at risk of getting caught, I can put my efforts back on being first in my class.
My phone rings, and I see Finn’s name on the screen. He never calls; he only texts. I already know this isn’t going to be good.
“What’d you do?” I say when I answer.
“I didn’t do it. My dad did.”
I rub my forehead, which is pounding from the headache I’ve had all day. “What is it? What’d he do?”
“He took the fucking car in. He took it in to be fixed. He didn’t even tell me he was doing it. I told him to leave it alone but he did it anyway.”
“Fuck.” I blow out a breath. “Where is it? Where’d he take it?”
“The dealership. It’s there now.”
“I’ll go with you to pick it up. When’s it going to be done?”
“After ten tomorrow, but I don’t know if it’ll be there. They always drop it off.”
“Call them and tell them you’ll pick it up. Actually, no. Maybe it’s better if they drop it off. If we go there they might ask questions, and knowing you, you’ll tell them what happened.”
“I’m not gonna fucking tell. Stop acting like I’m too stupid to keep this quiet. You really think I want to go to jail?”
“When you’re drunk and high, you’re not thinking about that, and you’re doing that shit all the time. You’re probably high right now.”
He doesn’t answer.
