Page 75 of Rules for Rule Breaking
Suddenly, the door swung open, and the two leapt away from each other and folded their hands in their laps. A man in a public safety T-shirt walked in with tired eyes and the lower half of his face dark with stubble.
“My name is Dan, and I’m a public safety officer here at BU. Are you both students?” he said, all in one breath.
“No. We were visiting friends,” Winter said.
“Do you have IDs on you?”
“No,” Bobby lied.
“How old are you?”
Bobby considered lying, but he knew he and Winter didn’t looktwenty-one. The pause he took told the officer everything he needed to know.
“Look,” Dan said. “Students have already started moving into their off-campus housing, and it’s a huge party month, so we’re backed up here. If you call your parents and have them pick you up, then you’re free to go, and it’ll save me having to do extra paperwork.”
“Our parents are in North Carolina,” Winter said.
Dan sighed. “Fine, then I’ll need to speak to them on the phone. If they clear you to go, then I’ll release you. Sound fair?”
Bobby and Winter nodded.
“Okay, you,” Dan said, pointing to Bobby. “Come with me.”
Bobby reluctantly left Winter behind and entered the hallway. Dan gave him back his phone. As soon as the lock screen lit up and the picture of Bobby and his parents smiled back at him, his spine went cold. He found his mother’s number in his recent calls, and his finger hovered over the green call button, but something within him couldn’t do it. It was nearly three a.m., and according to the pin he’d dropped her earlier, he was safe and sound in his hotel room. He imagined his mother hanging up the phone and immediately breaking out her knitting needles and sitting alone in the dark, waiting all night for him to return home. In a snap decision, he pressed the number just below his mother’s—Jacqueline’s. She answered almost immediately.
“Hey, Mom. I got caught at a party at BU, and the campus police need to speak to you. I’m really sorry, but can you please talk to them so they’ll let me go?” he said as quickly as he could.
He heard Jacqueline take a deep breath on the other side of the phone. “Fine. Hand over the phone,” she said in her deep newscaster voice she used for the school news station.
Bobby bit his nails as Dan spoke to Jacqueline. Dan was a phone pacer, so he walked up and down the hall as he spoke. Bobby tried to listen, but he could only catch bits and pieces. After a few short minutes, Dan handed the phone back over.
“You and your sister are free to go,” Dan said. “Just be careful.”
Bobby contorted his face. “My sist—? I mean, yes, sir. Thank you.”
“Your mother is still on the line. Good luck. She sounds pissed,” Dan said, clapping Bobby on the shoulder and walking off.
Bobby slowly put his phone to his ear and muttered, “Hey, Jack. Thanks. I—”
“That girl is toxic, Bobby,” Jacqueline spat. “You spend one week away with her, and now you’re drinking and getting arrested? She’s a bad influence on you.”
“I didn’t get arrested. We went to a party, just like you go to Carly Bishop’s house every week when you think I’m not paying attention.”
“Why can you have fun with her and not me?”
Bobby’s anger bubbled to the surface. “Because you broke my heart!” he whisper-yelled. “And I don’t mean two weeks ago when you dumped me. I mean months ago when you decided you wanted to, then never did.” Bobby wiped his face but was surprised when his hand came away dry. “I have to go, Jack. I don’t think we should talk again.”
“Before we ever dated, we were best friends, Bobby. What happened to us?”
“You made me feel like I was nothing. Friends don’t do that,” Bobby said, clenching a fist. “I know I made mistakes, but I never intentionally did anything to hurt you.”
“I know, and I’m sorry for the way I handled things.” She paused. “I’m glad to hear you’re having fun, though. Truly.”
“I’m sorry too. I didn’t even notice that you weren’t happy for all that time. Or maybe I did notice and didn’t care as long as you stayed with me. That was wrong. Thank you for helping me tonight. You didn’t have to do that.”
“I wanted to,” Jacqueline said. “I want you to be happy, okay?”
“I want you to be happy too,” Bobby replied, but Jacqueline was already gone.
