Rebel, Bully, Geek, Pariah (30 page)

“Switching to zip ties?” Mama asks.

I rub my emancipated wrists in relief.

“Nope—no ties, no cuffs,” the guard says, and smiles at me. “You made bail.”

I tilt my head back, startled. “I what?”

“But . . .” Mama shakes her head. “I didn't post it yet. We're short.”

The guard shrugs. “Guess you've got a fairy godmother, then.”

Mama promises to meet me out front, and I follow the guard in a daze to a small room, where I'm handed an unfamiliar set of clothes.

“These aren't mine,” I say.

“Yours must be in evidence,” he says, and shuts the door.

I hurry into a too-large pair of jeans and a too-small white T-shirt, and then I'm shuffled into a room marked “Discharge,” where I blindly sign some papers and take a large envelope stuffed with my purse and the green knit hat.

Huh. Must not be any “evidence” on this.

I pull the hat over my curls and follow signs with arrows to the lobby. I'm walking around in a fog, trying to figure out who might have bailed me out. Not Aunt Ellen, or Mama would have known about it. But who else did I know with the money to . . .

A light, like a tiny ray of sunshine, pierces through the walls of this awful gray place as realization dawns. I
do
happen to know a girl with a lot of money.

And she still owes me two hundred bucks and one violin
, I think with a grin.

My guess is confirmed when I push open the door to the lobby and see the grim look on Mama's face. She's staring through the glass walls toward the jail parking lot, her arms crossed.

“This really doesn't help your case,” she says to me without taking her eyes off the lot.

When I step up next to her, I see what she sees.

And they see me, too.

All three of them, jumping up and down and waving like maniacs. I can tell they're cheering, even though I can't hear them through the thick glass.

Boston and York are holding signs and pumping them in the air like strikers on a picket line.

FREE SAM!

An intercom crackles to life in the lobby, and I hear a distorted voice say, “Disturbance in the east lot.”

I move toward the door to warn them, but Mama grabs my arm, holding me back. I use my free hand to shoo them away, but either they can't see it or they don't care. Andi steps forward and tugs at her shirt, holding the front flat for me to see the words written there.

ALL OF US.

She turns around and stretches so I can read the words on the back.

OR NONE OF US.

I know things are bad right now. I know I've got some mistakes to pay for, some wrongs to right. And normally that would make me wish myself away to some far-off place—but seeing
them all waiting for me outside, for once—
for once
—I don't want to be anywhere but right where I am.

Two officers cross through the lobby, brushing past me and Mama and heading straight for the door.

“Run!” I cry with glee as the sliding glass doors open.

The boys drop their signs and turn in the same direction, knocking heads. I'm laughing out loud now. I don't care what Mama thinks. Andi jumps in surprise at the sight of the officers coming their way. She gives me one last big wave, then takes off running after the boys, who are already halfway to the street.

The three of them zigzag across the lot as if dodging pursuers, but the officers outside are still by the doors, just shaking their heads at these crazy teenagers. Grandma would have called them fools. I call them friends. And as I watch my friends racing out of the lot like escaping inmates, I laugh.

I laugh until I cry.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

WRITING CAN SOMETIMES be a solitary pursuit, but this book has been a collaborative effort from the start.

My first thanks goes to Jennifer Laughran. I am grateful every day for your honesty and advice. Every author should be lucky enough to have an agent they trust this much.

I have an incredible team at Bloomsbury. My editor, Mary Kate Castellani, helped me dig deeper to bring these four characters to life. Cindy Loh believed in this idea in its infancy. Beth Eller, Linette Kim, Erica Barmash, and Cristina Gilbert are the best book champions an author can ask for. And there would be no book to champion without the collective editorial skills and creative minds of Melissa Kavonic, Pat McHugh, Diane Aronson, Nicole Gastonguay, Colleen Andrews, and Donna Mark. Thank you all so much.

Extra special thanks to Kelly Thompson, who made the third act a million times better with one brilliant suggestion . . . to Gemma Cooper, who gave Sam her name and therefore her voice . . . and to Amy Dominy and Bill Konigsberg, who helped
me believe in myself when my confidence failed at the eleventh hour. You are all brilliant.

To Mom and Dad and Kimmy K, who read that version of this book many years ago that no one else will ever see . . . thank you for loving these characters before they even had a story. To Matt, who dealt with more than the usual whining and moaning this go-around . . . thank you for your patience. To all my friends and family, who continue to support this crazy dream . . . thank you for your endless enthusiasm. I love you all to pieces.

And finally, to Derik, thank you for being the Will to my Grace. I think a girl only gets one of those in her lifetime, and you were mine. I miss you every day.

Copyright © 2016 by Erin Jade Lange

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publisher.

First published in the United States of America in February 2016

by Bloomsbury Children's Books

E-book edition published in February 2016

www.bloomsbury.com

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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Lange, Erin Jade, author.

Rebel, bully, geek, pariah / by Erin Jade Lange.

pages cm

Summary: After a party gets raided by the police, four teenagers who barely know each other find themselves on the run in a car with a trunk full of stolen drugs—and in the next few hours they will make decisions that will determine the course of the rest of their lives.

ISBN 978-1-61963-498-5 (hardcover) • ISBN 978-1-61963-499-2 (e-book)

1. Teenagers—Juvenile fiction. 2. Fugitives from justice—Juvenile fiction. 3. Juvenile delinquency—Juvenile fiction. 4. Interpersonal relations—Juvenile fiction. 5. Trust—Juvenile fiction. [1. Fugitives from justice—Fiction. 2. Juvenile delinquency—Fiction. 3. Interpersonal relations—Fiction. 4. Trust—Fiction.] I. Title.

PZ7.L26113Re 2016 [Fic]—dc23 2015014043

Book design by Nicole Gastonguay