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the cop make a move for the door, like he was going to block me by force if he had to.
    “Lady, I have to go home. There’s nothing wrong in my house, I swear.”
    “This isn’t the first time teachers have been concerned about your well-being, Alex.” She gazed at me steadily, and for just a split second I got the feeling she might know more about my life than I was willing to admit…even to myself. “Nothing final is happening right now. Like I said, DCFS needs to investigate. Legally, we can’t send you home right now.”
    Legally…can’t…send home.
    My brain processed the words in slow motion. They weren’t going to let me go home. Not today, not tonight…maybe not ever.
    I’d seen this happen before. Everyone around here had. But that was for kids whose parents were fucking crack addicts, for kids who went to school with their hair matted and their clothes stinking and torn…or for little girls who got molested. Not for me. Not for one little screw-up.
    I glanced up at the large clock on the wall. The red second hand ticked, and then a bell sounded. End of the school day. End of the week, for that matter. Time to go home and recharge…maybe get into a little trouble here and there…have a little fun.
    I remembered Blanca’s note then. What would she say if I didn’t go home this afternoon? I figured she was waiting for me, by my locker maybe, or outside the school. She’d want to know why I’d been marched out of class, escorted by a cop.
    Maybe getting in trouble with the law could buy me a little street cred? She’d probably find me even sexier now. She seemed like that kind of girl.
    And shit, I could handle her. Use her for a little while, then dump her. That should bump me up the social ladder, and buy me some more time to…to…
    To what?
    “Alex, do you understand?”
    Suzie blinked at me. She didn’t have dark, curly mascaraed lashes like Blanca or my mom. She had on very little makeup, in fact. Not that it looked terrible. I thought the girls around here wore too much makeup.
    “Alex…you’re going to have to come with me.”
    My eyes went back to the clock. The second hand was where I’d last seen it, so a minute must have gone by.
    And I was still in the conference room. Still facing a short white woman who said I couldn’t go back to my life right now.
    “I…I need to go home.”
    “I’m sorry, Alex. We have to—”
    Some part of me knew it was pointless, but I burst out of the office anyway. I wanted no part of what they were saying…well, of what Suzie was saying, since the other two fuckers were only watching. Watching me unravel.
    I headed for my locker. In hindsight, I probably should have headed straight for the door, but certain habits were hard to break. I needed my science notebook for a homework assignment I probably wouldn’t do, and I needed to get rid of the heavy social studies text currently in my bag. I always went to my locker after last period. To my locker, and then home.
    After a few seconds, I noticed the cop trailing behind me. I sped up, cursing the fact that no one could run well in flip-flops.
    I expected him to grab me, or order me to the floor or something, but he just followed from a few feet away. Maybe he was letting me waste my energy, since he knew full well I wouldn’t be making it out of there.
    I almost ran into José as he was packing up by his locker for the weekend. When he saw the cop on my tail, his eyes went wide—saucers of white in his round dark face. I knew his next move would be to cut and run.
    “José,” I shouted, and now the cop did reach out and grasp my shoulder.
    José gave me a look like holy shit, whatever you do, keep your mouth shut.
    “Tell my mom I didn’t say nothing, okay? Tell her I didn’t say nothing!”
    That was all I could get out before the cop dragged me away.

 
     
     
     
     
     
    Chapter 4: In an Instant
     

     
     
     
    I waited in the office for almost an hour, while Suzie made arrangements