Overexposed

by Adrianne James

  Ashley was ahead of me, her purple dress flapping behind her. Macy screamed out when her ankle twisted in one of the snow-filled potholes that littered the parking lots. Within a few steps, I was at her side, helping her up. She too ditched the heels, and hobbled as fast as she could back towards the school. The snow-covered ground felt like needles on my feet, but I had no interest in finding out what the idiot dealers had in mind for us.

  Ashley reached the locker-room door before us and began frantically pulling the handle, then pounding on the dense metal. No one opened it. The boys were closer than ever and I knew if they caught up to us, we would not be happy campers. I still couldn’t believe my brother was one of the boys chasing us. I still had a hard time believing Willowspring had drug dealers.

  “Forget it, Ash! Just run!” I yelled. She left the door and ran along the building to the corner where the football field was at, and was lined with trees. The lamps were all turned off in the off-season so it was nearly pitch-black. The only faint glow came from the moon shining above our heads and reflecting back off the snow.

  My feet were freezing, and they were at the point of a painful sting, when we made it to the front parking lot.

  “Get back here, you bitch!”

  “You are going to get it!”

  “Stupid bitches, you have no idea who you are dealing with!”

  I gave up on figuring out who the threats were coming from. All I knew was that not one of those boys wanted those pictures getting out.

  “We have to keep going. Should we go inside and get a teacher?” Macy suggested quickly, looking around, watching the boys approach. I looked to the gym door and saw that the boys had separated, some went back to the dance, most likely to look for us.

  “No, they are already in there! Come on!” The girls looked over and saw where I was heading, and followed. I ran us to the edge of the football field and into the forest that surrounded our town. Walking through the forest at night was bad enough, doing it with snow on the ground and in bare feet was ridiculous. Add in the formal attire and you have a recipe for disaster.

  “Ouch! Damn it, Vi. Can we please get the hell out of here. I haven’t heard them in a few minutes. I think we lost them.” Macy said. She didn’t know the woods like I did, like Ashley did, like most of the boys in the group trying to catch us did.

  “No. It’s easy to hide out here if you know what you are doing, and they do. Trust me. We just need to get a bit further.”

  Slinking through the trees, I brought us to the old entrance to a mine that had been shut down at least ten years prior. It was the same mine I had found Brock in all those years ago when I caught him spying on me.

  “This way,” I whispered, climbing between the wooden pieces they had used to try to block off the hole in the side of the mountain. Unfortunately, my dress caught on a corner and ripped. “Damn!”

  “Priorities, Vi. Move!” Macy said as she climbed through, keeping her little dress in tact. Ashley came in and we all moved slowly, and carefully, to the wall along the inside. The cavern the men used as a hub for each tunnel was really large. It allowed us to stand upright, unlike some of the other mines.

  “Do you think they left any old torches or flashlights laying around like they do in the movies?” Ash whispered, all the while clinging to my hand.

  “No. Just feel along the wall. In about twenty feet, there will be a little turn into an alcove. That’s where we are going to wait. Brock and the boys will look in here, they just won’t go in too deep.”

  A minute later, the wall dropped from under my hand and I knew we had gotten to my hiding place. I would spend hours in the alcove the summer before freshman year when Ashley had to go visit her aunt in Florida. I was tired of Mom asking me to make some more friends so I just made them up and spent my time alone. I was happy that way.

  We all huddled together on the ground in the hidden alcove. If we stayed perfectly quiet, we would be fine. Just as I had predicted, I heard Brock and his boys come in looking for us.

  “They have to be in here! There was a piece of Vi’s dress on the boards!” Brock said before teasingly yelling out “Come out, come out, wherever you are!”

  “There is no way those girls went through any of the tunnels. It’s dirty and shit, and girls don’t like dirt.” I heard Jason say. He knew where I was. He was the one who showed me the place. I told him it was too dangerous for a kid to be in the mines, he was two whole years younger than me, and to never come back in there. The next day, he followed me back to the alcove. We fought over who got to be in there for alone time that whole summer.

  “Are you sure, man? Your sister isn’t a normal girl. She doesn’t like to get dirty?” I could hear the boys’ footsteps moving closer and closer, and I was more than glad for the pitch-black atmosphere we were sitting in.

  “Not at all. Trust me, she isn’t here.” Then their footsteps faded away. Jason had just saved us.

  “WHAT ARE WE going to do?” I asked the girls as we huddled together trying to keep warm.

  “First, we need to get the hell out of here and get warm,” Ashley said shivering.

  “Then I need to call my Dad and tell him not to pick us up. Can we stay at your house tonight?”

  “Yeah, my folks won’t mind. I think my feet are frozen. They really hurt.” I tried to rub them to warm them up, but they hurt even to touch them.

  “Here, let me help you.” Ash stood up and held out her hands. She had somehow managed to keep her shoes on the entire time. When I grabbed on and pulled up, the weight on my feet felt like a million little pin pricks, almost as if they had fallen asleep and were trying to wake up, but much more painful.

  Macy stood and put her arm around my waist as well, and we hobbled out of the mine. I knew it was more than cold that was wrong with my feet, as each step felt slick. Macy had lost her shoes as well, but was walking just fine. I reached down to touch the sole of my foot and felt a wet stickiness. When I brought my hand closer to my face I could see the stains of what I assumed was blood.

  We were not far from my house, only a five-minute walk under normal circumstances. However, this was far from normal.

  Once we got out onto a street with lamps, I could see how not normal it was. I swear we looked like we belonged in a horrible teenage horror movie, not small town Willowspring. Although, come to think about it, all the horror movies were based in small towns.

  All of our dresses were covered in dirt and soot from the mine, torn from the entrance and from the forest. Our panty hose were ripped, and our legs scraped and a little bloody. The once perfect pin curls in Ashley’s hair were no longer, and there was a leaf sticking out of Macy’s up do. I didn’t even want to know what I looked like.

  Opening the front door without being noticed was not going to be easy. First of all, I wasn’t supposed to be home. Second, it was still an hour until the dance was supposed to end. And third, our front door squeaked.

  Fortunately for us, and very disturbing to me, my parents had decided that with no kids in the house they would entertain themselves in their bedroom. Loudly. Gross.

  Macy had to stifle a giggle as I gagged all the way up the stairs. When we got into my room, I quickly closed the door, and turned on the music to drown out the sounds of my parents.

  “I think I will be scarred for life.” I said with a shudder. The girls just laughed at me. Laughed! If it had been their parents, it wouldn’t be so funny.

  “Well, at least we didn’t have to explain this.” Ashley said, motioning to our clothing.

  “True. What are we going to do?” I asked them as I stood up to get something for us to wear. I pulled out three sets of pajama pants and three sleep shirts.

  “We need to tell someone. We should tell our parents and ask what they think.” Macy said. We all started to undress and change.

  “But what about Jason? I know he was in there, but guys, he’s fourteen. If he gets busted for this, he won’t ever be able to leave this town. He’s my
brother. Aren’t I supposed to protect him and shit?” I flopped down on my bed and threw my arm over my eyes. I did not want to think about this, but there really was no other option.

  “Vi, your brother may be young, but he was part of the group that chased us through town! He is one of them. Maybe the best thing you can do is turn him in before he gets in too deep.” I knew she was right. I also knew that he and I didn’t get along very often, but I didn’t want him to hate me. Not liking me is fine, not loving me is too hard to imagine.

  “Can we maybe just leave our parents out of it for now? Maybe if we told Mrs. Nash, she could keep the tip anonymous?” I peeked out from under my arm at Ash and Macy who were looking at me like I was insane.

  “I am sure she could say it was anonymous, but we were just chased. Through town. In the snow. I don’t think it would take Sherlock Homes to figure out it was us.”

  I groaned loudly but knew they were right. We had to do it. Plus, the sooner we did, the sooner they were dealt with, the better off we would be.

  “Macy, you should call your dad. Tell him we didn’t end up liking the dance, and Ashley wanted to come home, so we are all together at my house since hers was locked or something.” She nodded then got up to go find the house phone. I realized that we all left our purses at the dance, but at least our cameras were safe with us.

  Macy came back into the room, giggling even more than when we had come in the first time.

  “Do I even want to know?” I asked with a little worry to my voice.

  “Oh you mean, do you want to know that your parents were in the kitchen, feeding each other grapes, your dad in his boxers and your mom in a little tiny robe?” Ew, mental image not needed.

  “Yeah, thanks for that. Wait, what did they do when you walked in to use the phone?” Our house phone was an old one with a cord and everything attached to the kitchen wall. The cord was long and could reach all the way into the living room but it was still a pain in the butt. I was so glad when Dad got me my own cell phone. Who knows how long that would last.

  “They jumped ten feet high! Your dad ducked behind your mom and asked what I was doing there. I told them we decided to stay here instead because Ash was upset over her nondate and wanted to be close to home. They just nodded, while I used the phone real quick, and said good night when I ran back up here.”

  “Okay, that is pretty funny.” Then we all died of laughter. It took a few minutes to calm down, but it was a needed break from the scary insanity of the night.

  “Should we look at the pictures?” Ashley asked. She looked between me and Macy with worry. What if we saw too much? Or what if there wasn’t enough there to do anything about it? What if the pictures showed Jason better than any of the others?

  “Yeah, we need to know what we are giving to Mrs. Nash on Monday,” Macy said before I could object. The two of them picked up the cameras and took them to my desk. Hooking the wire up to my camera first was habit. Plus, I knew I had taken fewer pictures than Macy had since I stopped the minute I realized Jason really was part of the drug-dealing ring. There were pictures of the group from far away, and some from a bit closer, then the closest ones. The ones that showed most of the boys faces. The ones that showed the baggies of white powder. That was it. Nothing showing them putting the baggies into the other kids’ backpacks.

  I made a quick copy of the files onto my hard drive, then switched the camera out for Macy’s. The first of her photos were very much like mine. Then, they showed more of the individual people. She had zoomed in on Brock, Nate and the other Varsity boys. Unfortunately, Jason was in the background of more than one. She had the boys putting the bags into their backpacks. She even had them noticing us, then chasing us. The looks on their faces in the pictures was pure anger. I quickly copied the images to the hard drive along with mine and gave Macy her camera back.

  Monday was not going to be a good day for us.

  MONDAY MORNING seemed like it arrived way too soon. I was in a daze all of Sunday, and any time I tried to talk to Jason, he walked away from me, locked himself in his room, or left the house to hang out with his friends. I tried telling Mom his friends were no good, but she didn’t want to hear it. She assumed I just didn’t like them because Nate stood Ashley up. I really wished that were the only reason I thought they were bad news.

  I tried to eat breakfast, but my stomach was in knots. I was just pouring out my soggy cereal when Ashley came through the door. She looked about as nervous as I felt.

  “You ready for this?” she asked, looking around. She was probably looking for Jason. I don’t blame her. I wasn’t looking forward to running into any of those goons.

  “No, but we don’t have much of a choice, do we?”

  “Did you tell Jason?” she asked as we walked out the front door. I shook my head no, and we walked to school in silence. Macy said she would meet us at the school because she didn’t feel like driving to the south of town.

  “Do you really think this is smart? Telling on a group of drug dealers?” I asked her. I had been trying to think of a reason not to tell. I knew technically it was the right thing to do, but I thought it was normal to make exceptions for family.

  “Yes, it is. Plus, do you honestly think they will leave us alone knowing we have pictures?” She was right and I knew it. I could hope that if they didn’t get in trouble they would know we didn’t say anything and they would leave us alone. However, I highly doubted it.

  As we walked up, I could see that Macy’s truck was in the parking lot. She hopped out as soon as we got close and waved hello.

  “You have the SD card right?” We were going to show Mrs. Nash Macy’s card since she’d gotten the most images, and the clearest ones.

  “Yeah, let’s get this over with.” Then the three of us walked into the building as a single unit. We were sticking together and we were doing the right thing. Even if it meant throwing my brother under the bus.

  ***

  After an hour of sitting outside the principal’s office, the receptionist asked us to go to class. We had told her that we needed to talk to the principal right away, that it was an emergency, when we came into the office. She told us to have a seat and she would get Mrs. Nash. She didn’t. We reminded her it was very important, and that we would all make up our classwork for photo class, but that we were not going anywhere without seeing Mrs. Nash.

  Well, Macy and Ashley insisted, I was about to listen to her and go to class. I was still on the fence about the whole turning my brother in thing.

  After all of Ashley and Macy’s ranting, the principal’s office door opened. Mrs. Nash stood in the doorway in all of her scary glory. Hands on her hips, hair in a bun, and a serious look on her face.

  “Girls, please come in.” She stepped back and motioned for us to go through the doorway. Like good little students, we stood and walked single file into the office. “Now, what is so important that you are missing class to talk to me?”

  “Something happened at the dance. We weren’t sure who to tell, but we thought if we told you, you could either talk to the boys’ parents, or call the cops or whatever it is that would stop them,” I said. Mrs. Nash still looked confused, and I realized that I didn’t actually tell her what happened. “Macy, show her the pictures.”

  Macy turned on her camera and brought up the pictures on the LCD screen in the back. She handed the camera over to the principal, who took a few minutes to flip through them.

  “What am I looking at girls?”

  “Well, Ma’am, that is a group of students, passing around drugs and talking about selling them. Then there are also the pictures where they started to chase after us,” Ashley said quietly.

  “Viviennne, you do realize your brother is in these images?” I nodded slowly, tears welling up in my eyes. I was a rotten sister. “Then why show them to me?”

  “Because what he is doing is wrong and dangerous, and if someone doesn’t stop him, it could really affect his life. He is only fourteen. He can
stop now, and not ruin his life.”

  “And what about the other boys? You realize that by turning them in, you may be ruining their lives if anything comes from this? No college will look at these boys with a drug conviction on their records.” I had thought about that, but they were not my concern. Jason was.

  “Let their families worry about them,” I said with a shrug. Maybe that was cold, but it was true.

  “Girls, thank you for being concerned enough to bring this to my attention. I will keep this card and look into it further. If you see anything else, let me know. But girls, it seems that you are taking this assignment too seriously.”

  “But,” Ashley began but the look on Mrs. Nash’s face was enough to shut anyone up. I bet there were retired Marine Generals that this woman could scare.

  “Go to class girls.” Mrs. Nash stood up and walked to the door without another word. She opened it and just stared at us, waiting for us to all file out, just as we had filed in.

  Walking through the empty hallways to Photo class was actually kind of sobering. I mean, Mrs. Nash was acting like we were the ones who had been in the wrong.

  “Why is it I feel guilty for telling the truth?” Macy questioned. She was walking slowly, shuffling her feet as we went.

  “I don’t know. But I feel like maybe we should have just told our parents first. Maybe they would be able to do something differently than we did.” Ashley looked at me and then to Macy.

  “I told you guys telling Mrs. Nash wasn’t a good idea. I just hope she does something about it. Come on, we might be able to make it to the last few minutes of class.” I pulled the classroom door open and everyone froze and stared at us. I handed Mr. Bennett our late slip and we sat down.

  “Girls, we are going over when to use the rule of thirds versus the golden spiral in composition. Turn to page thirty-three and follow along.”