Even as they sped past buildings after buildings, Alison still couldn’t wrap her head around the news. She gazed at the dull and monotonous landscape and skyline that seemed to fade away gradually as the next scenery arrived.

Her mother was quiet for the most part and she handled the news rather well and it was only when calling her father to break the news did she seemed to be in distress.

“Is Father okay?” Alison asked quietly a she thumbed her way through a battered copy of The Finer Arts of Tea Brewing.

“He’s fine. I don’t think we should be worrying about him right now,” her mother replied as she kept her eyes on the road.

“Do you think he will kill Carrie or something?” Alison barely managed to disguise her immense worry.

“Alison! Your father is not a violent murderer!” Her mother chided. “He’s not accepting it well but that doesn’t mean he’s going to do something so extreme.”

“Does he have a gun then?”

“Well…yes, he does but that’s not important right now.” Alison thought she saw a smile flicker on her mother’s face.

Alison turned her attention back to the window. Her phone buzzed and she flipped open the cover. The screen read: Edward.

“Aren’t you going to answer the call?”

“Maybe.” She stared at the phone and muttered, “I’ll show you. I’ll show you while and it just kept vibrating consistently for five whole minutes until it stopped. Alison instantly relaxed and shoved the mobile into her pocket.

“Who was that?” Her mother raised her eyebrows. Alison could literally see the bubbles popping out of her head: My daughter’s crazy. She just talked to her phone. I wonder where she got the crazy genes from. Definitely not me.

“Just someone insignificant,” Alison sniffed.

Suddenly, the car stopped and Alison blinked. They were in front of a small property which would have looked like a normal family house if not for the huge sign with the letters, “Seattle’s Police Station” emblazoned in red and blue. The front door was painted a vibrant red (the first thing which came to her mind was: danger) with tinted glass windows.

“Come on,” her mother grabbed her handbag and opened the front door without waiting for an answer, pushing Alison in ahead of her. The air was colder than outside and at first glance; one would have thought that the room resembled an office.  All the furniture was black, white or grey and there was an overhead television hanging in one corner which displayed news from the Seattle Daily although the sound was muted. Nobody seemed to be paying attention to the television box though. A couple sitting in the corner was crying. The man had his arms held around the woman.

“Why did he do that? Why did he kill her?” The woman sobbed, grieving for the loss of someone.

In another corner, a boy was staring into blank space. His face was ashen and his eyes were bloodshot. Beside him was a man who strangely reminded Alison of her father.

“What on earth have you done? I painstakingly raised you and you have given me so much trouble since Day one,” the man shouted. The boy didn’t seem to be listening, though. Alison wondered what had happened to him.

“Alison, over here,” her mother waved her over and she saw that she stood near the front desk.

The cop sitting behind the desk looked up instantly. “Reporting of crime, m’am?” he asked in a rough voice. The guy was wearing a standard uniform, but he had a lot of facial hair and sideburns for a man. Strangely, his focused gaze and serious face compensated for the dreary look.

“My daughter, Carrie Goodall, was taken here,” her mother said grimly as she pulled out some documents and identity cards from an envelope. She didn’t mention the words “arrested ” or “drugs”, as if she was preserving some remnants of her pride in front of all these strangers and the officer seemed to understand her predicament.

“Ah,” he nodded. He pulled out a folder from under his desk and frowned. “Teen arrested for drug possession?”

“Yes, and keep the tone down,” her mother hissed.

“Come this way,” he got up and headed towards a backroom through a long corridor. Both of them dutifully followed him, and Alison occasionally passed by criminals in cuffs and people being led into custody. Sometimes, there were happy moments there too. One woman was clutching the hands of another boy and she screamed, “You’re innocent, Harry! They finally proved that you aren’t guilty!” Alison smiled at that one.

As the officer unlocked a door and shuffled them in, Alison had to narrow her eyes under the glare of the brightly-lit lamps. There, sat in the middle of the room, was Carrie, her sister. The moment both her mother and Alison took a step towards her, Carrie’s head flipped up, her eyes held a dull, open stare as if she was in a trance.

“Mum?” she whispered and her gaze flicked to the next person. “Alison?” It was the first time in a long time since she had said her name.

“Carrie, dear.” Her mother took a step towards her, her smooth hands outstretched as if she wanted to embrace her daughter until a female officer restrained her.

“Please sit down,” the female cop said politely. “Both of you,” she added as an after-thought. She decided to nickname the guy as “Officer Dude” and the woman as “Officer Chick”

Alison numbly took a seat and her mother followed suit. Officer Dude sat between them as he surveyed Carrie’s profile. Her sister now had an official police record to her name. It wasn’t good news.

“Mrs Goodall, it is understood that your daughter, Carrie Goodall, was found in possession of a packet of cannabis and cocaine,” Officer Dude said professionally.

“Impossible!” Her mother slammed her hand down on the table, an unusual act given her usual timid personality. “Carrie, darling, tell them it isn’t true!” she screamed hysterically.

The officer chick came over hesitantly, looking as if she was about to put her mother in handcuffs too. Instead, officer dude raised his hands in an authoritative manner and coughed. “Evidence is now being processed as we speak and rest assure, the police will not incriminate the innocent. At the same time, the guilty will not be spared.” He sounded like someone out of Law and Order.

Helen Goodall’s agitation visibly subsided as she calmed down before facing the officer again, waiting for him to speak. Officer Dude looked impressed for some unfathomable reason and he continued, “Your daughter was arrested with four other suspects including Jessica Hampton, Jane Kingston, Robert Benson and Josh Brown. Do you happen to recognize any of these names?”

Helen Goodall frowned. “Jane Kingston is our neighbors’ daughter but Carrie has always told me she is a very down-to-earth and good girl. As for the others, I’ve never heard of them.”

Good, my foot. Alison shot her sister another look and instead of responding with one of her signature glares, Carrie looked defeated and weary. She gave Alison an apologetic look before looking down at the table again.

“Alison?” Her mother turned to her. “Do you know the others from school?”

“Well, I..” Alison stammered.

She could feel Carrie’s gaze creeping on her skin. When her brown eyes met Carrie blue ones, she suddenly felt this sense of regret. If only she had told her parents about Carrie’s issues, her sister wouldn’t have wound up being arrested and running a possibility of being persecuted. She was responsible for Carrie’s predicament. She hadn’t been a good sister. Alison was afraid to tell on Carrie in the initial stages because Carrie might spill the beans on Edward and towards the end, she feared that the revelation will make Carrie angry so she didn’t do anything.

I’m such a fool.

“Alison, don’t blame yourself,” Carrie whispered. She looked like a fourteen-year-old again, vulnerable and in need of protection and Alison, being the big sister, was supposed to be the protector. She unwittingly ended up being the evil witch, the villain who spoilt everything for everyone. No wonder Edward didn’t want her.

“No, it’s my entire fault. You’re here because of me,” Alison sobbed.

“Don’t say that. I was just too naïve. I shouldn’t have trusted Jane. I should have believed you,” Carrie muttered. “Jane betrayed me in the end. Alison, you must believe me-” she begged. “I didn’t do drugs. Jess and Jane were the ones who went on high taking that stuff at Josh’s party. They offered it to me but I refused. I really didn’t know how the drugs eventually ended up in my pocket. I’m sure that Jane was the one who implicated me. She must have acted on Jess’ orders. You’re right, Ali, she’s a bitch,” she cried out.

“Language!” Her mother snapped immediately, as if preventing her daughter from swearing was an important priority right now.

Endless thoughts swirled within Alison’s mind. “Jess and Jane set you up?” she asked disbelievingly.

“Yes, I swear. They did the urine test but it was positive. I didn’t take drugs, I really didn’t !” Carrie howled in a hysterical voice. Officer chick came over and pinned her down on the table and Helen Goodall finally snapped.

“You take your hands off my daughter,” she demanded angrily.

“Stop it!” Alison moaned, putting a restraining arm on her mother.

“SIT DOWN!” Officer Dude commanded loudly and everyone quieted down. This cop really had a subduing effect to him.

“Miss Goodall, from your conversation just now, I’m assuming you know who the suspects are?” Officer dude turned to Alison now and he frowned. She could totally see his mind nitpicking and running through the details of what Carrie and she had said. She might as well give in.

“Yes, I do know all of them. Jessica is the head of the Mean Girls’ Gang,” Alison started.

“Ali! You can’t tell them this stuff!” Carrie said, horrified.

Alison shook her head. “It’s no use now. We’ve to tell the police everything.”

Carrie slumped back in defeat. Even Alison could tell that Carrie couldn’t come up with some clever plan to bail herself out. There was nothing left to do but reveal everything about the MGG and the BBG. There was a thing one must know. It was the unspoken rule in Cornwall Institution that no one spoke of the existence of the MGG and the BBG. Like the prime minister, they’re invisible yet they wield a huge amount of authority and no one ever dared to cross their path by telling people about their illegal activities- well, at least, no one until now. Alison was sure that Carrie and she  were one of those few people who were trapped in the most unusual circumstances and she had enough of the MGG’s snobbish attitude and how they evoked fear in people. It was time to end it and it wasn’t as if she had much of a choice.

“Well?” Officer Dude demanded impatiently.

“In our school, we have two gangs, the Mean Girls’ Gang and the Bad Boys’ Gang,” Alison continued more confidently. “Jessica is the leader of the former while Robert is the leader of the latter.”

“Are they street gangs?” Officer Dude wrote down something in his navy blue notebook.

“They aren’t that simple.  I think street gangs are usually formed for fun sometimes but as far as I know, Jessica’s father is the famous Andrew Hampton and everyone knows he is a powerful man. It is a rumor,” Alison stressed. “- and I don’t know how true it is, that her father paid a lot of money or had some hold on the school’s administrative committee such that the teachers included pay a blind eye to all their activities.”

“Activities? Can you specify some of them?” Officer Dude looked really intrigued now.

Alison racked her head, trying to fish out some information which either Angela or Alex had said. But at this moment, Carrie’s strangled voice rang out loud and clear.

“Drugs is one of their forte. Andrew Hampton smuggles drugs, both in and out of the country.”

“You do realize that lying is a criminal offence in the eyes of the judge,” Officer Dude warned with a piercing look.

“It’s the truth,” Carrie insisted adamantly, with more vigor then before. “I once overhead Mrs. Hampton told Jess during our monthly sleepover that her father was arranging a meeting the next morning with some of the drug syndicate dealers. Jess asked why was her dad engaging in these illegal activities and her mother replied, “How the hell are we supposed to afford all these luxuries then?”. I was so scared that I just hid in my bedroom.”

“Anything more?” Officer Dude was scribbling furiously now and there was a glint in his eyes. Alison had a feeling that he was the type of guy who sought after adventure.

“This might be hard to believe but…” Carrie winced. “Jess and Jane are streetwalkers.”

Alison could hear her mother draw in a sharp rasp of breath. “Why would they do that?” Alison found herself asking, not exactly comprehending the situation.

“They do it for the “thrill”. Every time we skipped class, they’ll head over to one of the pubs and hook up with some guy. They even tried to convince me to do it.”

“Did you do it?” Officer Chick asked. She was practically hanging on to Carrie’s every word.

“Mabel,” Officer Dude barked. “Sorry, sir.” Embarrassment colored Officer Chick’s cheeks.

“Did you do it?” Alison repeated the question.

“Yes,” Carrie whispered with only a moment of hesitation. “But only once, I swear.”

Hearing her answer, Helen Goodall stood up quickly and knocked over her chair but she didn’t even notice. “Carrie Goodall, I’m utterly disappointed in you,” she snarled and slapped Carrie twice- leaving a red palm mark on her daughter’s face. Carrie was in mortified shock as she shook and fell onto the ground, her legs having turned into jell-o.

“No! Mother, don’t!” Alison screamed. She rushed to help Carrie up but Officer Chick got there before she did. “Sit up,” Officer Chick instructed sternly and shoved Carrie roughly back to her seat.

“Both your father and I trusted you so much but you created all these trouble for s,” her mother uttered angrily. “How the hell did you become like this? You weren’t like this in Japan!”

“I’m sorry, Mum, I’m so sorry…” Carrie wailed as her childlike face twisted into a picture of sorrow.

“Mrs. Goodall, would you PLEASE calm down?” This time, Officer Dude looked really pissed. “I’m sure you don’t want to end up being put in handcuffs as well.” He meant it. Alison saw that Officer Chick’s hands were practically itching to the cuffs she had locked onto her belt. She frowned.

Her mother didn’t sit down but instead, jabbed a finger in the direction of Carrie. “Will she be prosecuted?”

“Yes, madam,” Officer Dude said regretfully. “I’m afraid, underage streetwalking is illegal and in spite of your daughters’ claims, our lab tests have come back, proving that she did consume drugs and hence, she will be bearing two charges to her name. But if she is willing to testify in court, she might get a lighter sentence. For the time being, she’ll be on probation.”

Alison observed Carrie carefully. Her sister was in midst of digesting all these and she bowed her head down. Her impassive face showed no signs of sadness but only acceptance of her fate. Her mother seemed as if she was about to cry but couldn’t. Only Officer Chick looked visibly unconcerned.

“Thank you for your cooperation. As for the involvement of Andrew Hampton, we’ll conduct another investigation for this to verify the validity of your statements and we’ll not contact you until further notice,” Officer Dude said in a monotone voice but he sounded disappointed, as if he was putting down a book after reading pages after pages of a good story.

“Is my sister granted bail?” Alison asked hopefully and Carrie gave her a grateful glance.

“Yes, she is, but we’ll need one of her parents to sign the form. I assume that Mrs. Goodall..?” he trailed off uncertainly.

“Mother? Let’s post the bail and just bring Carrie home?” Alison tugged her mother’s sleeve, feeling like a six-year-old kid making a request again.  Her mother’s body remained immobile and unmoving at her touch.

“Mrs. Goodall, the police’s time is precious, would you like t-” Officer Dude repeated.

“No, I’ll not be posting bail for my daughter,” Helen Goodall interrupted coldly.

“But Moth-”

“Mu-”.

“Speak no more, my decision is final. Carrie needs to learn how to pay for her mistakes.” With that, Helen Goodall stormed out of the room in a flourish, ignoring the pleas and leaving both her daughters staring after her- one looking ashamed and the other looking stupefied.

***

“Mother, wait up!” Alison weaved through the streams of people just to catch up with her mother whose footsteps were quickening. At this rate, she wouldn’t be able to make her stay and convince her to bail out Carrie. There was no way her mother would want to torture her own daughter by letting her rot in the cold prison cell for several nights when there was a much better alternative option.

Some people stared at her curiously. Normally, she would be disturbed by the fact that she was the focus of everyone’s attention but for now, nothing was more important than saving Carrie.

Suddenly, her mother stopped. She was staring at someone straight ahead. Alison practically sped through the corridor and her heart almost stopped when she caught sight of someone.

No, a family, would be more specific. The entire Kingston family was in the waiting area. Edward was there too. Alison could feel her blood curdle with trepidation after registering this startling fact. All the Kingstons looked up when they spotted Alison and her mother. There was a mixture of emotions of their faces and none of them were pleasant.

Mr. Kingston gave them a courteous and rueful smile while Mrs. Kingston turned away as she dabbed at her cheeks with her flowered embroidered handkerchief. Alex waved at her cheerily. He was bending over the latest adventure flick book on Jackie Chan. Alison smiled back and her eyes inevitably shifted to the stone figure next to him. She sighed.

Edward was staring blatantly at her and a deep “V” frown creased over his forehead. There were shades of dark eye rings and he had his five-o-clock shadow, a sign that he hadn’t shaved. He almost looked like a tramp, well, close enough if you count resembling a gutted homeless person who could be a model at the same time. Edward looked suspicious as his glance flickered between Alex and her simultaneously. She realized she hadn’t told him about Alex but this was not the best time to talk as everyone would attest to.

Helen Goodall noticed Edward and she nodded to her daughter. “Aren’t you going to go over to say hello to your boyfriend?”

“Maybe, next time,” she murmured, inviting a disapproving glare from her mother.

Suddenly, a cop led a disheveled -looking girl out to the waiting area. “Jane Kingston,” the cop announced. There were gasps of delight emanating from the matriarch and a sigh of disappointment from the patriarch. Alex and Edward merely shrugged indifferently. “Oh, Jane!” Mrs. Kingston’s embraced her daughter, her bony figure crushing against Jane’s soft body.

“Snuff it, Mum, this is sooo embarrassing,” Jane winced, pulling away. Mrs. Kingston looked hurt but she added brightly, “Let’s go back, now! I’ve an apple crumble in the oven, which I know it’s your favorite dessert…”

“Hang on a moment,” Mr. Kingston said sternly. “Jane, we’re not going home until you explain everything fully to us.”

“Gosh, Dad, can’t you be a freaking less uptight.” Jane rolled her eyes.

“Both your mother and I have given you too much leeway,” he continued loudly. “How many times have you been arrested?”

“John!” Mrs. Kingston shook her husband urgently. “It’s no use telling her that now. Let’s go home.” Her eyes flicked across the room. The raised voices had attracted the attention of several people, including the police officers who made no move to interfere. They were all clearly enjoying a good show.

“Paula, can’t you see it? We’ve spoilt our daughter!” Mr. Kingston exploded. “It’s all because of us she got into so much trouble even though she’s only fourteen this year, fourteen!”

“You can’t blame her. It’s all because of the bad influence of her best friends.” With this, Mrs. Kingston shot Alison and her mother an accusing look, as if blaming them for introducing Carrie to Jane.

“Don’t accuse the Goodalls,” Mr. Kingston hissed back. “You know very well that Jane was the one who brought Carrie astray. If anyone is in the wrong, it’s us.”

“Benjamin! How can you say that of our daughter?”

“Look at Jane, she’s atrocious. She’s a fine example of our bad parenting. What have you got to say for yourself?” Mr. Kingston retorted , his usually calm face rippled with anger.

Alison gaped openly at the sight. A lot of people were surrounding them now and everyone craned their necks to find out what was happening. At this moment, Officer Dude arrived and  he broke into the circle and said, “Clear off now. Please do not make a scene here.”

“Let’s go,” Mr. Kingston conceded and marched towards the door. As he passed by Alison, he murmured, “I’m sorry for your sister. It is Jane’s fault and I’ll make sure she would be taken into hand.” Before Alison could reply, Mr. Kingston had moved on and he was gone. Mrs. Kingston put a hand around Jane who shook it off.

As Jane passed by Alison, she sneered under her breath, “Carrie Goodall got her just desserts. She didn’t even realize I slipped something into her vodka last night. Such a dimwitt,” Alison opened her mouth to retort but closed it again.

“You, young lady, you’d better steer clear from my daughter or else,” her mother hissed to Jane as she walked past her despite the latter’s nonchalant attitude.

And then there were two. The brothers walked next to each other, visibly uncomfortable with the close proximity to their sibling. Alex grinned and thumped her on the back.

“Yo, Ali.”

“Hi, Alex,” she breathed.

Only the elder brother stopped. He continued staring at her with no shame and Alison looked down. Alison’s mother noticed the tension and she spoke, “Hello, Edward, such a pleasure to see you.”

“Hello, Mrs. Goodall, ” Edward answered coolly. “Nice to see you too.”

“Things are alright between you and my daughter?” Her mother sounded mildly interested.

He hesitated after a tiny beat of silence. “Yes, we’re both fine-” he turned to her. “I hope.”

“Hmmm,” Alison hummed in a low voice as she pretended to be interested in an ant on the floor.

“Meet me at the Lakeside Restaurant at 5pm tomorrow,” he lowered his voice.

“Mmmm,” she mumbled accommodatingly and Edward walked towards the door, but not before casting a brief longing backward glance at her.

“Alison,” her mother started.

“I know. I know. I won’t meet him tomorrow since I don’t have your permission,” Alison answered wearily.

A smile twitched on Helen Goodall’s face. “On the contrary, I was hoping we could hit the malls.”

“For what?” It seemed like a weird occasion to go shopping and Alison wasn’t in the mood either. Although she had recently made up with her best friend, her relationship with her boyfriend was on the rocks and her sister was in custody.

“Come on, don’t you youngsters always tell us adults to chill out?” Her mother grinned, looking ten years younger and showing Alison a glimpse of her youthful playful side. “We’re going to select an outfit so that you can dazzle your boyfriend,” she declared.

****