SVH05-All Night Long (4 page)

He was out the door in a flash. Heart pounding with fear, Jessica started after him, but her foot caught on that same loose board and she flew forward, her knees slamming into the splintery floor. The tears shot forth now, streaming down her face at the pain. She rolled over onto her butt and dusted off her hands. There was a huge scrape on her left knee, dripping blood down her shin.

"Scott!" she screamed, not caring how scared or childish she sounded now. Maybe he was waiting right outside the door. Maybe he was just messing with her. She struggled to her feet and whipped the door open. All that greeted her was blackness. Scott was already gone.

***

Okay, do not panic,
Jessica thought, hugging her arms against a cool breeze.
You're only half naked, barefoot, and alone in the middle of the woods with no flashlight and no sign of a path. It's not that big a deal.

Her bottom lip started to tremble as she heard a twig crack, and she looked wildly around at the trees. She was going to die out there. She was going to freeze to death or get eaten by a bear or get attacked by some crazed, sick lunatic escaped from a local mental hospital.

God, I really have to stop watching horror movies,
she thought.

Another snap of a twig and Jessica was on the move. She couldn't just stay there. It would take Elizabeth at least until morning to figure out that she hadn't come home, and then another few hours to crack and tell her parents that Jessica had lied and gone to the lake. It could be twenty-four hours before anyone even came looking for her, and when they did, how were they supposed to find this place in the middle of nowhere? No. She was going to have to be strong and find her way back to the beach. Back to her bag and her clothes and her cell phone.

Taking a deep breath, Jessica set about looking for the path she and Scott had followed up to the cottage, but it was nowhere in sight. Why did all the trees have to look so maddeningly alike? How did Scott expect her to find her way out of this maze?

I
hope he stumbles into a bear trap, Jessica thought, shoving aside some tree branches as she delved into the woods.
He deserves it, after he kidnapped me and brought me up here.

There was a distinct rustling in the bushes behind her, and Jessica's heart went into panic mode. Tingling with goose bumps, she thrashed her way through the underbrush with new determination, ignoring the twigs that scratched her bare legs and arms. Soon she had even forgotten that she was cold.

Why did I drop out of the Girl Scouts?
she chided herself as she trained her eyes on the ground, looking for a path. Maybe if she'd stuck with it, she would know how to find her way out of a situation like this. But no. She had told Liz that the Girl Scouts was for goody-goodies, and Elizabeth had shrugged, just letting Jessica walk away. Why hadn't Liz tried to convince her to stay? She would have stayed in the Scouts if her sister had
really
wanted her to. The more Jessica thought about it, the more she realized Elizabeth really was to blame for all of this.

Finally, Jessica located what appeared to be a

narrow dirt path. Things were looking up. She strode determinedly along the path, already thinking ahead to the conversation she would soon be having with Liz. No doubt Liz would give her the old "I told you so" line, but Jessica had the perfect answers. It was Elizabeth's fault that she was even out there. Sisters were supposed to protect each other. Elizabeth should have insisted that Jessica stay home. Therefore, it was Liz's responsibility to sneak out of the house and drive up there to get her. That was that.

After what seemed like hours, Jessica finally found Lance's cabin-the place she had thought they were using as a lunch spot and for its bathroom, but which had apparently been intended as the venue for a sleepover party. She started up the front steps.

"Well, well. Look who finally found her way back."

Scott emerged from the doorway, beer in hand. If the redness in his eyes was any indication, he was flaming drunk. Jessica shot him a look of death and shoved by him right into the house. She limped into the bathroom and took a look at her injured

leg. It was a mess of blood and dirt and it stung like mad. Holding back tears, she cleaned up the mess and several other scratches on her arms. There were no Band-Aids in the cabinet, so she grabbed a paper towel, tore off a corner, and stuck it over the wound, where the blood held it in place. Back in the living room, Scott watched her with an amused expression, sipping his beer as she limped along and searched the room for her bag.

"Where's my stuff?" she asked finally.

"Oh, right." Scott went to the trash can and pulled out her quilted bag, which was soaking wet and covered in sand and muck. "Guys got a little out of hand. Sorry."

"They threw my bag in the lake?" She grabbed the impossibly heavy bag from his hand. Digging through it, she found that the minidress she had worn for the drive up and the jeans and shirt she had brought in case it got cold were soaked through. Plus her makeup bag and everything in it were ruined. She bit her lip, trying not to think about the hundreds of dollars' worth of stuff she'd just lost. All that mattered was her phone. If her phone was okay...

She finally dug it out and let the bag hit the floor

with a wet smack. Hands trembling, she attempted to turn the phone on but got nothing but a blank screen.

"Ugh!" Jessica groaned in frustration. "You owe me a new phone!" she shrieked at Scott.

"Not my fault you left your stuff unattended," Scott replied, laughing, as he crushed his beer can and flung it toward the sink.

"Where's your cell?" Jessica demanded.

"I don't know," Scott said, holding his arms out and leering at her. "Why don't you frisk me?"

Jessica eyed him, appalled. "You're a psycho, you know that? You can't keep me hostage here. I have to get home!"

"I have to get home!" Scott mimicked in a high-pitched tone, getting right in her face. Jessica pulled back, disgusted by his sour breath. She couldn't believe she had thought that this guy was sophisticated and too good for games. Clearly he was more immature than any of the guys in her class. "Good luck, Jess," he said. "Everyone else already went to bed, and this place doesn't have a landline. Hate to tell you this, but you're stuck here until the morning."

He burped and popped open another can of

beer. Jessica shoved her hands into her hair and considered her options. Even if she tortured Scott until he agreed to take her home, he was too drunk to drive now-especially on the winding lake roads. But there were six other people in this house. One of them had to have a cell.

Jessica whirled on her heel, tromped down the hallway, and banged on the first door. Loud music pounded from inside. So loud she was sure that whoever was in there couldn't hear her. She tried the door, but it was locked. Heart pounding, she went to the second door, but before she even lifted her hand, she heard the noises coming from inside. Definitely not the kind of thing she wanted to walk in on. Feeling desperate, Jessica tried the third door, but she could smell the sweet stench of pot smoke coming from inside. It was no use. Everyone there was either drunk or stoned. No one was going to help her.

"Give it up, Jess," Scott said from the end of the hall. "I suggest you make yourself comfortable on the couch."

Jessica narrowed her eyes at him, a new thought occurring to her. "Fine," she said, walking toward him. "But I'm freezing to death in this bathing suit.

I think I left my sweater in your car. Where are the keys?"

"Nice try," Scott said with a snort. "No one drives my car but me. But I like your determination. We're a lot alike."

Jessica screwed her face up in disgust. "I'm nothing like you," she said, stepping past him.

Feeling trapped, she looked frantically around the living room one more time, hoping to find a stray phone or a set of keys, but there was nothing but beer cans and discarded clothing. Not caring whose it was, Jessica yanked an oversized SVU sweatshirt from a chair and pulled it on over her head, then grabbed the blanket from the back of the couch and threw it over her legs as she sat on the musty cushions. She stared straight ahead, hugging her knees tightly under her chin so that Scott wouldn't get any ideas.

"You know, I do have a full bed in the last bedroom...," Scott said suggestively. "I bet you'd be a lot more comfortable in there if you want to join me."

"I'd rather eat dirt," Jessica said, gripping herself even more tightly. Scott laughed and turned out the light as he

staggered down the hall. "All right, then. See you in the morning. Or, more likely, afternoon, considering how wasted everyone is."

A second later, a door slammed and Jessica was finally, finally left alone. And finally able to let herself cry.

***

CHAPTER
4

elizabeth groaned when her alarm clock started beeping on Monday morning. She switched it off and rolled onto her stomach, bunching her pillow up under her cheek.

Just
a few more minutes, she thought with a yawn.

She had been having the most perfect dream. She had been alone in the darkroom at school, developing pictures of a beautiful lake, when Todd had come up behind her and slipped his arms around her waist. Elizabeth had turned and he had pulled her into this amazing kiss....

A door slammed somewhere in the house and Elizabeth's eyes popped open. Half an hour had passed. Heart in her throat, she sat up straight in bed and flung the covers aside. She couldn't believe she had let herself doze off again without hitting the Snooze button. What was wrong with her? She was never this irresponsible.

"Why am I so tired?" she asked herself, rubbing her groggy eyes.

Then she remembered. She had stayed up late studying for the tour guide test. And when she had finally finished, she had sat up in bed even later, wondering where the heck her sister was.

Jessica!
Elizabeth thought, suddenly wide awake. She sprinted through the bathroom joining her room to her sister's, hoping to find Jessica snoozing safely in her bed. She threw the door open and froze. Jessica's bed was unmade, as always, but clearly had not been slept in. There were clothes strewn on and under the sheets and pillows. The room was still and cold.

Slowly, Elizabeth walked into the room and lowered herself onto the mattress, her stomach clenching in fear. What if something had happened to

Jessica? What if she and Scott had gotten into an accident or something? She remembered the way Scott had peeled out of the Casa parking lot in his Viper the week before. What if he'd peeled out right into a tree this time?

Elizabeth took a deep breath and reasoned with herself. If Jess had been in an accident, they would have heard by now. And this was, after all, Jessica. It was far more likely that she had merely decided she was having too good a time to come home. It wouldn't be the first time. Jessica was selfish enough to forget all about Elizabeth and the trouble they would both be in when their parents found out that they had lied. Selfish enough to not even think about the fact that people would be worried about her.

She never even
studied for the test, Elizabeth thought, starting to fume.
We've only been talking about this forever, and now suddenly, just because some stupid guy walked into her life, she doesn't care at all.

Irritated, Elizabeth got up and went back into the bathroom, slamming her sister's door behind her. She piled her hair atop her head-no time to wash it-and got in the shower, where she used her

anti-Jessica adrenaline rush to scrub herself down in record time.

That's it. She's going to have to get herself out of this one. I am
not
covering for her,
Elizabeth thought determinedly as she brushed her teeth.
Not this time.

"You girls had better hurry up or you'll be late for school!" Alice Wakefield shouted up the stairs.

Elizabeth froze with her toothbrush jutting from her mouth, her heart dropping at the sound of her mother's cheerful voice. She stared at herself in the mirror. Her parents were going to freak. They were going to be so mad and so scared when they realized Jessica had never come home. And they were going to blame Elizabeth as well. After all, when they had come home from their movie the night before and assumed Jessica was in her room, Elizabeth hadn't told them any different. It had been after ten o'clock on a Sunday night. Any normal sister would have told her parents so that they could deal with the situation. But Elizabeth? Nah. She had kept her mouth shut so that Jessica wouldn't get in trouble, and had just prayed that she would sneak in the back door soon.

That was how she always sucked herself into covering for Jess. Wanting to protect not just Jessica,

but also her parents. And if she was really honest, wanting to protect herself, too.

"That would be my superhero name," Elizabeth muttered wryly as she wiped her mouth with a towel. "The Clueless Protector."

"Liz! Jessica!" her mother shouted.

"Coming!" Elizabeth shouted back.

She slipped into a pair of old jeans worn to velvety softness and yanked a long-sleeved T-shirt over her head. Quickly she retightened her pony-tail and shoved her feet into a pair of laceless sneakers. The moment she grabbed her book bag, her cell phone trilled.

Elizabeth's heart leapt as she groped in the bag for her phone. The number on the screen was unrecognizable.
Crap.
Maybe Jessica
was
in some kind of trouble.

"Hello?" Elizabeth cried into the phone.

"Liz! Omigod!" Jessica screeched.

Elizabeth clutched the phone and spoke through her teeth. "Jessica, where the hell are you? Mom is downstairs right now expecting us to come down for breakfast."

"She doesn't know I'm not there?" Jessica said hopefully.

If Elizabeth could have strangled her sister through the phone, she would have. "No. Not
yet"
she said pointedly.