Page 44 of All the Ways You Save Me
I hover by the stairs with a mix of alarm over what my best friend did to inspire this kind of reaction, desire to be there to support him, and apprehension about being detected and pissing off Jason’s dad even further.
“Is this yours?” Jason’s mom Colleen’s voice drifts in now. “I found it in your pocket when I was doing your laundry.”
I blink, my mind running through all the contraband itemsthat might have been in Jason’s pocket. Condoms? He’s been hanging out with Liza Blum again, and I wouldn’t be surprised if they were doing it. But Jason’s mom is a doctor, and I always got the feeling she’s not an idiot when it comes to teenagers and sex. She’s more likely to be glad he’s using protection than mad about it.
I hear the crinkle of a plastic bag. Shit, did they find his weed? But then Phil’s angry voice carries down the stairs again. “Is this cocaine? Are you usingcocaine?”
Shaken, I grab the railing and sit down on the bottom step. This past weekend when Jason and a few other guys from the swim team had disappeared at the party at Tom Burke’s house, I suspected they weren’t just smoking weed. But I thought it was an occasional thing he did at parties. I can’t believe he’d bring it home with him or carelessly leave it in a pocket.
“Uhhh…” Jason mumbles. “Well…”
“Have you lost your damn mind?” Phil bellows. “What is the matter with you?”
“This is highly addictive,” Colleen cuts in. “Not to mention a gateway drug to even more powerful substances.”
“It was just once at a party,” Jason says, his voice subdued.
“It’s never once at a party. I treat patients all the time who believed that, and now they’re battling addiction, their lives ruined.”
“That’s not going to happen to me.”
“Damn right it’s not,” Phil roars. “Do you know what could have happened if you got caught with this? You could be arrested, and there goes your future. Princeton isn’t going to take a kid with a criminal record. Have you thought about that?”
Jason remains silent, and I’m sure he’s shrugging. I wish I could be there to support him, and maybe give him a punch in the face, too. His parents are right, heisputting his future at risk, all for a good time at a party. It’s not the first time he’s taken this life his parents have given him—nice house, nice car, collegefund—for granted. But it’s the first time he’s really put it in danger.
“I’m going to flush this down the toilet,” Colleen says. “Is there any more?”
“No.”
It takes me a moment to realize the thumping I’m hearing is Phil’s footsteps on the stairs directly above me, from the main floor up to the second-story bedrooms. Another set of footsteps follows, along with the sound of Jason’s voice yelling, “Stop!” Less than thirty seconds later, the house vibrates with a series of violent bangs and crashes.
My eyes widen, and I sprint up one set of stairs and then the other, skidding to a stop in the doorway of Jason’s bedroom. Heart pounding, I heave out a breath of relief that the noises I heard weren’t Jason and his dad in a physical altercation. Instead, Phil is yanking the drawers out of Jason’s bureau and flinging them on the floor.
Jeans, T-shirts, and baseball uniforms scatter along with balled socks, a handful of condoms, a white envelope, and a bunch of other junk. Phil grabs the envelope and flips it over. A stack of photos floats to the floor. Next, he reaches for a small, zippered pouch and spills out a toothbrush, comb, and toothpaste.
“What are you doing?” Jason bends over to gather the photos, and as he shuffles them together, I spot a picture of me and him with Madeline along with a handful of other images, mostly of Madeline, before he shoves them into a book. “You’re not going to find anything else in here.” He picks up the condoms and stuffs them in his back pocket.
Phil continues to flip drawers and toss things from Jason’s closet before he’s finally satisfied that there are no drugs anywhere. He stands in the center of the room, breathing hard. “I’m of half a mind to ground you until you graduate. You wantto ruin your life and risk going to prison, I’ll show you what that looks like.”
“What?” Jason says, his voice tinged with panic. “You can’t do that. I have baseball this spring. I’m a varsity starter.”
“You should have thought of that before you brought drugs into my house.”
Jason gapes at him. “If you ground me, I’ll miss out on all the parties and prom and everything. It’s senior year… You can’t make me stay home.”
“I can if you want access to your college fund. This is utterly unacceptable. You’re putting your entire future on the line.”
“It was only one time.” Jason spots me in the doorway and looks at me with pleading eyes. I’m so pissed at him, I can’t believe he put himself in this situation, and a little part of me hopes his parentsdoground him until the end of the year. Maybe then he’d appreciate what he has. But Jason is my best friend, and I can’t let him miss out on all the fun of senior year. Besides, he’s just enough of an idiot to sneak out and risk his parents paying for Princeton, too.
“They’re mine,” I blurt out before I can stop to think.
Jason and his dad turn to stare at me.
“What?” his dad stutters.
“The drugs, they’re mine. A guy gave them to me at a party.” I hang my head, hoping to look convincing. “I was feeling really down about my dad, and he said they’d cheer me up. But Jason saw him, and he took the bag from me before I could use it.”
Jason’s mouth drops open.
