One Week - By Nikki Van De Car Page 0,17

a relief.

When we arrive at the train station, I pay the driver and try not to think about the huge dent that just put in my $500. Jess steers me onto the right train to Sacramento, because obviously I have no idea where to go. It can't be that hard to figure out if Jess can manage it, but I just don't seem to have the capacity.

“How long until we get to Sacramento?” I ask.

Jess checks his ticket and shrugs. “Three hours or so. Not bad.”

“And then when does the train leave for Chicago?”

Jess gives me a look. “I have no idea. My schedule is, as you might imagine, a little off at this point. I'm supposed to be arriving in New York tomorrow morning, and clearly that's not going to happen.” He sighs. “I'll have to call my mom to let her know I'll be late. That'll be fun.” He slings his duffel up onto the rack and sits in the window seat, as usual.

I slide in next to him, thinking. “You know, you never answered me before about why you're going home in the middle of term. Was your mom who you were fighting with on the phone?”

“What?” Jess asks, confused. “When was I on the phone?”

“Yesterday, at the bus station,” I explain. “Before you went off to go get drunk,” I add.

“So you were what, eavesdropping?” He doesn't sound pissed, just curious. “Or following me? How did you know I was in that bar, anyway?”

“I wasn't following you…exactly.” Jess looks at me skeptically, and I feel my face turn red. “Okay, I was kind of following you, but only because I couldn't remember what bus to take, and there wasn't anybody to ask, and I knew you were going to the same place, so I figured I would just get on whatever bus you did. Only you didn't turn out to be the best person to follow, did you, seeing as how you decided to miss the bus and pass out on the street instead?”

“Uh-huh,” Jess smirks. “You're pathetic, you know that? You couldn't run away from home if you had your driver Carlos to help you do it. And why are you running away?”

“Why are you going home?” I counter.

Jess doesn't answer. No shock. Well, I don't feel inclined to share my reasons if he's going to be all secretive and weird about his. I fiddle with the straps of my bag, and wish I'd thought to see if the train station had a newsstand with some books or something. Nobody ever tells you that running away is mind-numbingly boring most of the time.

“The fight was with my mom,” Jess says suddenly, breaking the silence.

I look up, surprised. “Yeah? What was it about?”

He shrugs uncomfortably. “About why I'm coming home.” He stops, and I give him a second, but then gesture for him to go on.

“Yes?”

“UCLA kicked me out,” he mumbles.

I blink at him, surprised. I mean, poor hair-dyeing decisions aside, Jess just doesn't seem like the type to get kicked out of anywhere. I bet he does all his work, has a campus job, is a member of various school organizations—just your ordinary, B-average, parties on the weekends and studies during the week college kid. Dweebier than some, maybe, but still.

“What happened?” I ask gently.

“Campus security found enough pot in my dorm room to fill a joint the size of a dachshund. It looked like I was selling it.”

“But you weren't,” I say.

Jess shakes his head.

“So, what, did somebody plant it in your room? Somebody with a grudge?”

Jess looks embarrassed. “Not exactly.”

“What then? You weren't actually planning to smoke all that yourself?”

“Uh, no,” he coughs. “I was…well, I was holding it for a friend. A bunch of friends, actually, who all used the same supplier, and they all had class when the guy was going to come by, so I just took all of it from him for them, and then campus security showed up like five minutes later, and I got busted.”

My mouth twitches. I can't help it. “You got busted because all your drug-dealing friends were in class?”

Jess gives a self-conscious half smile. “Yeah. Pretty hard-core, huh?”

“So why not turn in your friends? I mean, some friends they are, letting you take the fall. And how did the school know you were getting their deliveries?”

“They didn't.” Jess stretches his legs out and leans back in his seat. “The cops were after the supplier guy, but of course the campus had to be involved,