Follow Me Home

"Friday."

"Excuse me?" The man's bored expression was temporarily replaced with confusion.

"Everything started on Friday." He nodded but I wasn't sure if he was paying attention.

"Oh yes, yes then. Start from Friday. Did you attend school normally?"

My thoughts traveled back to Friday afternoon . . .

I had practice that day, so I was at the school till five thirty. A lot of kids were, because along with girls soccer, guys soccer, the football team and both cross country teams were still at school. I was finishing up the run at the end of practice, the rest of the team trailing behind. I got some water at the end, getting my ball and the rest of my stuff together, and heading into the school.

"Hey wait up!" I stopped and turned around to find Lilly catching up with me.

"Hey."

"Are you coming to the party tonight?" She asked, drinking out of a thermos she held in one hand, with her soccer bag slung over her shoulder.

"Who's party?" I asked, skeptical.

"Gretchen's. Her parents are out of town and she and her boyfriend are throwing this huge house party. Her brothers even coming in from college, and I'm betting on college guys! Win win!"

"I don't know Lil. . ."

"Oh come on! It's gonna be great. You can go home, shower, get dressed and then I'll meet you there!"

"I don't know, I have nothing to wear."

"Carolina." She swerved in front of me so I had to stop walking. "You have a walk in closet."

"Yeah but-"

"I'll come over and help you choose something!" I thought for a minute, letting my eyes drift away from Lilly and onto the tile walls of our school as we entered through a set of double doors. The main hallway of the school created a cross with the hallway we had just walked into. Ahead of us, a set of double doors faced the north fields: football the track, while behind us, the double doors we had just entered from faced the south soccer fields. The boys locker room and the girls locker room stood identically on the left wall, except the girls locker room was in the north hallway and the boys was in the south.

Five guys walked in now, laughing at something that must have happened earlier. The first three entered together, carrying two bags of footballs and a water jug, while the second two entered behind them, talking to themselves. My eyes darted to the floor, before observing the taller played laughing with his friend. His golden hair glistened with the sweat from a hard practice, and the skin under his cheeks was pink from time outside. His green eyes glistened as he laughed at something I hadn't heard.

"Oooh, I get it." Lilly mumbled, turning around with a wicked grin playing on her lips.

"Hey Sam! How was practice?" I refrained from flinching as Samuel Farmer gave us a head nod and a smile, walking over toward us.

Lilly, what are you doing? I mentally pleaded with her.

"Hey guys, practice was good. What'cha up to?" It was like he could read Lilly's mind. I saw where this was going.

"Oh, nothing much, I was just trying to convince Carolina to come to Gretchen's party. It sounded like fun. Are you going?" Sam, who was standing extremely close to us, if you asked me, turned away from Lilly to look at I. He was so much taller then us we were both looking up at him, and his arms, neck (and what I could see through his T-shirt, his chest) were covered with a light layer of sweat. His eyes met mine and we both smiled.

"Well I wasn't going to, but if you guys are going it sounds cool." He smiled into my eyes what felt like ten minutes, and I felt my heart speed up.

Oh god, he can probably hear my heart beating!

"That's great, we'll see you there then, right?" Lilly asked, nudging me but not waiting for my answer. "We should go change so were not late. See you later Sam! Come on, Caroline."

"Bye Sam."

"Bye Carolina. See you later." I scurried after Lilly into the locker room.

"You gonna change?" Lilly asked me nonchalantly, running a hand through her hair in the mirror.

"What was that?!" I stood in front of her, blocking her way so she would be forced to acknowledge me.

"That?"

"Yes."

"With Sam?"

"Yes."

"Sam Farmer?"

"Lilly! Stop joking. You know exactly what I'm talking about." Lilly laughed and kept walking around me. I followed like a helpless puppy, ignoring the hustle bustle in the rest of the girls locker room.

"Well, I figured, 'Here's the guy Carolina's been in love with for about. . .four, five years?' So, I just figured, it's about time you two did something other then lend each other pencils in Spanish. And Bridget's party is the perfect time to do it." She twisted the lock on her gym locker till it sprang open, then grabbed some clothes form the bottom of it and closed it again. "So are we ready? We'll stop at my place to grab clothes, then to your place to get ready I think. Bigger bathroom."

She wore a poker face, reading my expression. I weighed my options.

"Get in the car."

~~~

Pulling into my driveway, Lilly skipped up to the porch while I took my time closing the car door. Her comfort at my house was evident as she retrieved the key from under the small stone statue at the window sill. She entered and dropped her bag in the entrance way before climbing the stairs. Behind her, I entered from the door she had left open on its hinges.

"Please state her last name for the record." The investigator interrupted my memory.

"Lilly Ford." He scribbled something down.

"O-R-D. And are you and Ms. Ford very close?" I shrugged.

"We both play on the varsity soccer team at my school." He nodded.

"So why would Ms. Ford know the location of your spare key? That seems a little odd." His tone held accusations, and the idea that a highschooler as naive as Lilly could be to blame for such horrific actions increased my doubt in the police.

"My house is usually empty. All of my friends know about the key."

"Hmm." His scribbling increased in speed. "And you proceeded to go to the party that night?" I thought back to when we pulled into Gretchen's house. . .

I shut the car door behind me, adjusting my skirt. I had allowed Lilly to choose my outfit for the night, and she had dressed me in beige one shoulder dress with brown riding boots. The top of the dress was composed entirely of gold sparkles, fading on the way down until the fabric was revealed. She had straightened my hair and lined my eyes with liquid liner and blood red lips. The dramatic face made me self conscious, even with Lilly's assurance.

With the added time of painting my nails gold, Lilly and I had missed the fashionably late curfew. Gretchen's house shook with the volume of the stereo, and the voices of several drunk, laughing adolescents could be heard from outside. I wondered what the neighbors thought.

Lilly seemed thrilled, she grabbed my hand and bounced up the steps. The door opened before we could reach it and an older boy left with his arm around a younger girl. Both seemed drunk. I wondered if they'd be safe to drive.

"Caroline! It's great to see you!" Gretchen's greeted me as a came in the door. She had her arm around a taller man, who I assumed to be her long term boyfriend. He seemed to be dragging her, as she placed no weight on her feet. Gretchen was on the track team when I was. She was never a very good runner.

Lilly led me inside, past large crowds of people. I glanced briefly into rooms as we passed them: a living room was turned into a beer pong arena, while the dining room transformed into a dirty dance club. I followed Lilly, giving the occasional nod to people who greeted me.

Lilly led me into the kitchen, where smaller groups of people spoke to each other under the buzz of the stereo in the next room. She turned to a guy who I didn't recognized, but she must have known him. After a brief hello, they kissed. She might have been ditching me then, or she could have been about to introduce me to him, but I would never find out. Someone tapped me lightly on the shoulder, and I turned around to see Sam Farmer.

"So you showed up." He said, smiling his white teeth at me. I smiled back, because he had one of those smiles that lit up the room and made you so happy, you had to do it too. He wore dark jeans and a button down shirt, unbuttoned slightly at the top. It rested nicely on his tan collar bones, providing a sneak peak to the muscle he had underneath.

"Yes I did." He nodded.

"I'm glad, I was hoping you would. Can I get you something to drink?" I nodded, and he turned and headed to the table behind him that was overflowing with beer bottles and red solo cups.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"Ms. Donovan, What can you tell me about . . .Jinx Everheart?" A young policeman scrunched his eyes at a manila folder in his hands. He sat on the side of a metal table in the center of the investigation room. Across from him, a young girl, 16 year old Jessie Donovan, wrung out her pale hands across from him.

"Jinx." She inhaled deeply, a pink blush rushing up behind her ivory skin, disappearing as she exhaled. "Jinx is Carolina's boyfriend."

"Please state her full name for the record." Jessie's eyes scrunched up in confusion.

"The record?" The policeman turned around and pointed to the other side of the wall.

"There. Right there, theres a camera. It's recording you, and we'll replay is later to see what evidence we can come up with. All we wanna do it help, so theres no reason to be nervous. So can you repeat your answer?"

Jessie Donovan took another deep breath and looked directly at the black circle that she believed to be the camera. "Jinx is Carolina's boyfriend. Or ex-boyfriend. They recently broke up."

"How old is Jinx?" The policeman asked.

"I'm not sure. He doesn't go to school with Carolina and me, but I'm not sure if he goes to another school. I know he's had some family issues, but Carolina never really dished on him, I think he's had some family issues. I hear he has his own pad though, so that's an upside I guess. Oh, and he has this sick motorcycle, Helen and I saw him pick up Carolina once and she said if she and Carolina hadn't been friends, she totally would have-"

"Can you tell us about the time you saw him?" Jessie's thoughts went back to a few months ago . . .

In the halls of her high school, Jessie Donovan opened her locker and ran her fingers through her red curls, looking at her reflection in the small mirror that hung in the back. She put two pieces in the front, then more, then pulled back the top, before sighing and putting the whole thing up into a ponytail. Two lockers away from her, Carolina Castillo closed her locker with a thud.

"Hey Jessie, is track canceled?" She slung her backpack over her shoulder, holding her phone in her hand.

"Yup, too much rain. Soccer?" Jessie took out her book bag and closed her locker.

"Same. Walk to the parking lot?" Jessie nodded and the two began to walk together. "Is everyone ready for counties?"

"I hope so, we could really use to rank better this year then last year. With all the seniors leaving, this may be our best shot." Jessie said. The two exited the building and began walking out of the school.

"Hey Jessie! Wait up." Another girl, Helen Bennett jogged up to the girls.

"Hey Helen, did you hear Kevin broke up with his girlfriend? Nows your chance . . . " Jessie teased, hitting her playfully.

"Speaking of boys, Carolina, is that your boyfriend on the motorcycle?" The three girls turned to the front of the parking lot, where a black motorcycle had just pulled in. The man riding it was unidentifiable, wearing a black leather jacket and helmet.

"Yup, that's him. That's Jinx." Carolina said, dwindling with her friends instead of going over to him.

"You don't sound too excited, is everything okay?" asked Jessie.

"We're just in a little fight. It's not a big deal. I should get going though, I'll see you later Jess." Carolina left the group and went over to the motorcycle. The boy riding it took off his helmet and said something to Carolina, who made a face and said something back. He reached under bike and grabbed another helmet, throwing it at her like a basketball. She caught it harshly, before making one more remark to him and putting on the helmet, then sitting on the bike. She wrapped her arms around his back and they rode off.

"Is that the only act of physical violence you've seen Mr. Everheart commit?" The man asked. Jessie squirmed in her seat.

"Act of . . .violence?" She hesitated. "I mean, I guess. I haven't really seen him other then that. There's some pictures on facebook, I think. I don't know. . . he didn't hit her or anything. At least, not that I saw. Do they think he hit her?"

The policeman ignored her question. "Jessie, did you attend a gathering at Gretchen Littleton's house on Friday evening?"

"Yes. That's why I'm here, isn't it? Because of what happened?" The policeman nodded.

"Yes, yes. Did you see anything that night that would give you an idea of what happened? Any suspicious actions?"

"You mean like the people at the party? You think someone at the party started the fire? It was all high school kids, I mean, no one would do that. . . "

"I'm afraid that's what the evidence points to. We have reason to suspect that Jinx Everheart may have started the fire that night. He was the only one there with a history of violent activity." Jessie wrung her hands out again, wrinkling her brown. In a few moments, she spoke again.

"But. . .if Carolina's ex-boyfriend started the fire that night, that would put her in a lot of danger. . . "

"Yes ma'am. That's what we're thinking."