Ten minutes on the road, Cara's cellphone began to vibrate. She answered quickly, too distracted to look at the caller ID. "Hello?"
"Cara?"
"Mom!" Cara's heartbeat quickened.
"Cara, where are you? Where's your sister? And why is my car gone?"
"Um..." Cara came to an intersection filled with slow-moving cars. She slowed down to 10km/h. She felt frustrated and distracted. "What are you doing up?"
"Cara, answer my question. Where are you?"
"Um..." Cara didn't want to get Kailee in trouble. But then something popped into her head. What if Kailee wasn't at the party? To be safe, Cara realized she had to tell her mother what was going on. "I'm going to get Kailee."
"Get Kailee? Where? She should be in her room."
Cara sighed. "Yeah, but she wasn't. I found her bedroom window open. I think she might've went to that party."
It was Ms. Jenson's turn to sigh. "Why didn't you tell me?"
"You were sleeping."
"Barely! And you could've woken me up!"
"I know... Listen. I'm on it Mom, okay? I wanna do this the right way and I'll bring Kailee home."
"Okay... Just stay on the phone with me."
"No, Mom, I need to focus on the road, okay? I'll have my phone nearby if you need to call. This won't take me long."
Ms. Jenson sighed again. "Okay. Please be careful Cara."
"I will. I'll talk to you later. I love you."
"I love you too." They hung up.
Cara made it to the Center's house ten minutes later. What took her twenty minutes that night, could've taken her ten minutes or less to get to that house on a gracefully flowing road. The Center's home was the only house on the street blaring with music and surrounded by badly parked vehicles. After Cara found a space to park her mother's car, she headed towards the trembling house filled with Halloween decorations. She moved past a group of smokers on the front porch - who nodded at her politely - and went into the house, not surprised to find the door unlocked. What startled her, was how loud the music was as she stepped into the front hall. Music blared in her ears as she made her way to the main room.
🎶 No more favors
Need more paper
No more favors
Need more paper 🎵
She found the living room easily, which was next to the staircase and where the music was coming from. The beat of the song made her ears tremble. The living room was overflowing with teenagers. The couches had about ten teenagers squished together on each. Things were scattered all over the floor. Empty glass cups, shoes, pieces of clothing, etc. Cara let her eyes wander over each teenager, looking for a familiar face. Right away, she could see that her sister was not among any of the teens on the couch. But, she spotted Tevyn and Hazel cuddled up on the corner of one of the couches. Hazel was laughing at something Tevyn had said. Tevyn noticed Cara at the living room entrance and his eyes widened. He grinned. "Heyyyy Cara! You joined us!"
Cara stepped into the living room and a few curious, judgmental eyes turned on her. But she was quickly dismissed as everyone went back to being fully invested in their conversations. "Um," Cara said. "You know where Kailee is?"
Tevyn covered his mouth with his hand and laughed. "Ohh!" Hazel giggled and touched Tevyn's arm. "She's upstairs," he said, an amused look on his face. Hazel laid her head on his arm.
Cara thought she looked drunk. Tevyn probably was too. Without letting him get another word in, Cara said, "Thanks," and headed towards the stairs. She took the steps two at a time. Upstairs, she found herself facing many doors. Three doors down, she noticed three boys standing around - whispering, it seemed. They seemed very giddy and excited. It appeared that one of them had his ear pressed to the closed door, trying to listen to what was going on on the other side. The others were trying to push him out of the way so they could get a turn. Cara walked over to them. She recognized one of the boys. Noah's friend. What was his name? He was there the night Kailee went to the movies.
He noticed Cara. "Oh, hey. You're Kailee's sister aren't you?" The other two boys turned and stared.
Cara nodded, ignoring the two boys checking her out. "Yeah. You know where she is?"
The boy ignored the question. "I didn't think you were coming."
"I'm not staying long. You know where Kailee is?"
"Uh..." The three boys all looked at each other. Two of them tried to hide their smiles. One of them said, "I, um, think she's busy." That made the other boys' smiles widen. Cara had a strong urge to see what was behind the door. Without wasting any time, she stalked past the three boys and threw the door open, stepping in.
Noah's friend tried to stop her. "Wait-" But it was too late. What Cara had stumbled upon was too shocking for words. There were three people she recognized in the large room, one of them being her sister. There was rap music being played, different from what was blaring all over the rest of the house. The scene in the room that mostly caught Cara off guard, was her sister lying in the bed. Not by herself though. Noah had half of his body on top of her and was kissing her neck. He only had boxers on. The worst part was that Kailee only had her underwear on. It was very thin and didn't cover much, but not as bad as the fact that her upper body was nude. Not only that, but one more person was in the room... James. His shirt was off and he had a phone in his hand. Was he filming? "Yesss lil bro," he said. "Now, this is hot!" He laughed. "You know what to do next."
Noah slid his hand down to Kailee's underwear. He gently pulled at it. "Take your panties off," he said softly in her ear. Kailee hesitated.
"You're doing great Kailee. You're lookin' hot babe."
What the hell? Cara thought, as James moved his phone around in different angles. Is he directing? She was in utter disgust and, sick of watching, she unfroze from her spot by the door. "Kailee!" she exclaimed.
Noah turned around. Kailee jumped in surprise, pushing Noah off of her. Her blue eyes were wide. "Oh my God!" She reached for her shirt and covered her chest.
James was amused by Cara's sudden appearance. "Yeahhh. So the hot big sister joins in on the party."
Cara ignored him. "Kailee, come on, get dressed and let's go." She had a hard time keeping her voice from trembling. Kailee climbed off the bed and furiously began to get dressed.
James' face began to get serious. "You're really ending the party this soon?"
Cara couldn't believe him. She stepped forward. "What the hell, James?"
He ignored her and looked at the three young boys behind her. "Yo! I thought I told y'all not to let anyone in!"
"We- we tried-" the boys were speechless.
Kailee threw her shoes on and headed towards Cara with her head down. She walked right past her sister and out the bedroom door. Cara shot James one more glare before she turned on her heel. "Bye Cara!" James called after her. Cara hurried down the hall, her fists balled up. James was such a joke! She raced down the stairs after her sister. As she sped past the living room, she noticed that Tevyn and Hazel weren't there anymore. She didn't have time to ponder their whereabouts. Kailee was already out the front door.
Cara caught up with her outside in the chilly air. "Come on," she said, her voice calm. "The car's parked over here." Kailee hugged herself tightly and followed her older sister. Cara led the way to their mother's vehicle, a focused expression on her face. She wasn't sure how to handle the situation, but she knew her sister needed support most importantly. And that was exactly what she planned on giving. She glanced back to see Kailee walking slowly with her arms wrapped tightly around her upper body. The top she had on was thin and, just like her shorts, didn't cover much. Cara took her heavy white sweater off and handed it to her sister. "Here. Take this. It's cold."
Kailee took the sweater, let out a little, "Thanks," and wrapped it around herself.
As soon as both girls were in their mother's white Range Rover, Cara pulled onto the road. For the first five minutes of driving, there was an awkward silence. Cara couldn't help but shoot side glances at her sister every few seconds. Kailee was sitting in the passenger's seat, a blank look on her face, staring straight ahead. Cara felt the need to speak. Or at least get her sister to talk. She cleared her throat. "Are you, um, okay?"
The expression on Kailee's face didn't change. "Yeah," she mumbled, her mouth barely moving. Cara nodded her head awkwardly as she kept her eyes trained on the dark road. Kailee sighed. "Does Mom know?" Her voice was more audible.
"Um..." Cara couldn't lie. "Yeah." She knew their mother was probably standing by the living room window, anxiously waiting for them to return home safely.
And, as soon as Cara finished that thought, the timing falling perfectly in synch with everything, her cellphone began to vibrate. She picked up and right away, her mother's worried voice filled her left ear. "Cara! Is Kailee with you?"
"Yeah," Cara said into the phone. "She's right next to me." Her sister glanced at her. "We're heading back right now."
Her mother let out a relieved sigh. "Oh, thank God! Can I speak to her?"
"Um..." Cara glanced at her sister. "We're almost there. We'll talk to you then." There was a slight pause.
Then her mother said, "Okay."
After hanging up, Cara looked at her sister and tried to flash, what she hoped, was a reassuring smile. Kailee didn't return one back. Instead, she said, "You're gonna wait till we get home to tell Mom what happened?" Before Cara could answer, Kailee quietly added, "Better in person than over the phone, huh?"
Cara glanced over at her sister's neutral face. "No. It all depends on what you wanna tell her." She got no reaction. Her sister swallowed and stayed quiet. She knew Kailee was probably relieved and grateful. Cara knew how serious the situation was, but she was also determined for her sister to know that she had her back. Afterall, it really seemed like Kailee needed someone.