Flight Risk

Capitulo Quince

Brian looked like he wanted to get on Ash's case, but I cut him off with an, "I can't go just yet. My parents are on their way with Rosie. If I leave, Rosie'll be sad and my parents will know why I left."

"Dude, you're 18. That's an adult by the world's standards. Who cares if your parents know why you left?"

"Because," I rolled my eyes, "we're only 18, which is not old enough to drink. We both know there's going to be lots of that going on at the party. Would you want my parents crashing the party and getting us all in deep shit?"

"Fine," she huffed as she crossed her arms impatiently, "we'll wait, but for the record. The graduation party set up by your student council is lame."

"Ash," Brian said warningly.

"All I'm saying is that this is such a buzzkill," she shrugged, looking away from Brian and I.

"Have you been drinking Ash?" I asked completely floored.

"And if I had?"

"Where'd you get it from?"

"Zach of course," she responded with another one of her snotty eye rolls, "he's the only one of us old enough to buy it."

The way she said it made me want to strangle her, because I honestly couldn't see what her problem was.

"Zach wasn't drinking too, was he?"

"And if he was?" she asked, an eyebrow raised in challenge.

"He just left to go find his car," I stated flatly as I began to walk away to catch him before he could leave.

"So?"

"He was drinking," I replied, stopping momentarily to connect the dots she was so obviously overlooking.

"And?"

"What do you mean 'and?' What if something happens? What if-"

"Hey, hey, hey!" Brian said, as put a hand on each shoulder and held me at arm's length. "Don't worry so much. He does it all the time. Nothing bad has ever happened. Just let him go."

A nagging feeling in the pit of my stomach just wouldn't subside. I couldn't just let it go, but the sound of a car peeling out and loud obnoxious "Woohoo!" in a voice that I recognized, let me know that it was too late to do anything about it.

With a sigh, I let Brian take me by the hand and lead me around to the various stations being run by the school faculty.

We waited for an hour before Ashley's incessant whining and a tiny wriggling fear in the back of my mind finally got the best of me. I pulled out the cell phone my parents had given me as an early graduation gift and hit the speed dial associated with my mom. It rang several times before going to voicemail. The tiny wriggling fear began to grow into something more as anxiety took hold and I speed dialed my dad. It picked up after a few rings and I sighed in relief as I said, "Hey Dad, where are you? I've been waiting for an hour now."

But the man who responded wasn't my dad and confusion followed shortly thereafter by dread hit me like glass of cold water.

"This is Officer Jensen with the Granite Falls Police Department. Did you say this phone belongs to your father?"

Any hope that I had dialed the wrong number died then and there and I was suddenly filled with nervous energy as I responded with a wary, "Yeah."

He wasted no time telling me to inform him of my location and to stay where I was at because a police cruiser would be there to pick me up in a few minutes. Needless to say that increased my anxiety tenfold.