From What I Remember

The cop stares me down, “Can you get back in the car, son?”

“Yes, sir,” I say. I climb back into the Jeep. I shouldn’t have gotten out in the first place.

The cop begins to write up our ticket, which is when Lily pops open the door and jumps out. Oh, no. Bad idea.

“We’re late because we were doing our civic duty,” Lily a

“Get back in the vehicle, miss,” the cop says.

Lily doesn’t move. “We helped catch some thieves in Ensenada.”

“Sure you did. Could you get back in the vehicle?” The officer rolls his eyes; he’s heard it all before.

“Seriously. We helped the police arrest two dangerous criminals. Juan, could you get out here?” Lily demands.

“As I’ve already explained to your friend, I can’t make any exceptions here.”

Juan scrambles out of the rear seat, dives over the middle row, and clambers out of the car, like he’s at Lily’s service or something. She has that effect on people.

“Can you get your friend, the police chief of Ensenada on the phone?” Lily asks Juan. “And could you have him tell”—Lily leans in and reads the officer’s name tag. The officer scowls at her, not pleased with whatever her game is—“Officer Kwan, here, how we helped catch the criminals, the ones who stole thousands of dollars of merchandise from your jurisdiction, actually, from the San Diego area.” Lily looks at Officer Kwan with a knowing nod, like she’s happy to be so informative.

“I’m going to ask you one last time to get back in the vehicle. Or I’m going to have to take you all in to the station.”

Lily crosses her arms and stands her ground. Shit. We’re all going to end up in jail. Juan takes out his phone and dials. He says a few words in Spanish and then hands the phone over to Officer Kwan.

Officer Kwan looks at the phone like he’s being handed a dead pigeon. He doesn’t dare take it.

“Please, sir. It’s the police chief from Ensenada. Will you just talk to him for a minute?” Juan pleads, pushing the phone on him. “He’ll explain everything.”

Officer Kwan stares down at Juan. There’s a long beat where we all wait anxiously to see what Officer Kwan will do. Slowly, reluctantly, he takes the phone and dubiously puts it to his ear. He turns away from us, walks a few feet down the road, and listens for what seems like hours. Time moves in slow motion as we all keep our eyes on the officer, wondering what happens next. Finally, Officer Kwan heads back our way, talking on his radio.

“I need a Suburban. Now. Any in the area?” Officer Kwan says. “Okay, send it.”

He walks back over, hands the phone to Juan, and approaches Charlie, who’s still sitting in the driver’s seat.

“So what time is graduation?” he asks Charlie.

“It’s at noon, sir,” Charlie says. I don’t think I’ve ever heard Charlie use the word “sir.”

“Where is it?”

“Freiburg Academy. La Jolla,” Lily answers.

“You kids are in a real pickle, huh?”

“Yes, sir,” Charlie responds.

“Okay, it’s go

And just at that moment, a huge black-and-white police van screeches to the curb right behind us, and stops. With caged windows and massive bolt locks on the back doors, it’s like an armored vehicle. Scratch that—it is an armored vehicle. It’s the kind of van police use to transport large numbers of prisoners to jail. I remember Mr. Dewhurst calling it a paddy wagon in history class. Shit. Is this the way we’re going to arrive at graduation?

“Get in the vehicle, kids,” Officer Kwan instructs us. “It’s the only one big enough that’s available right now. Officer Spittani is going to drive you back to school. If you have a shot in hell of getting to graduation at all, you’re going to have to leave the driving up to us. I’ll have someone bring your car around later.”

Without saying much of anything, probably because we’re too much in shock, we all file into the van. There are rusted benches on either side, and as Officer Kwan shuts the heavy metal doors at the back, Charlie, Lily, and I settle onto one bench while Kylie, Will, and Juan sit on the other, across from us. All we’re missing are the handcuffs.

A police officer sits in the driver’s seat. This is obviously Officer Spittani. He turns and talks to us through the wire cage that separates the front from the cargo area.

“You kids ready to rock and roll? Seat belts on, we’re go

Officer Kwan waves as we peel out and back onto the highway, sirens blaring.

Despite the minor detail that we will be arriving at school looking a lot like common criminals, I am psyched. Because we actually might make it in time for graduation. The mood starts to shift.

“I don’t believe it,” Charlie says. “Juan, you the man.”

“I try,” Juan offers, smiling.

Will reaches over and squeezes Lily’s shoulder, “You rock, Lily Wentworth. Even though you can be a huge beyatch, I feel like kissing you.”

“Yeah, don’t push it, Bixby,” Lily says.

Kylie looks at me and smiles for the first time since Manuel’s house. “Thanks,” she says.

“I didn’t do anything,” I say. “It was all Lily and Juan.”

“You tried. Thanks for that. And thanks, Lily,” Kylie says. She and Lily lock eyes for a minute. I’m sure a million thoughts are exchanged between them in those six seconds. Things I’ll never understand.

“You’re welcome. Now, do your part and rock out that speech. Make us pay attention,” Lily says.

“’Kay,” is all Kylie offers.

We all sit back, glued to our seats by the sheer force of velocity. The siren blasts. Red-and-white beams flash and whirl from the top of the van as we speed through San Diego at light speed.

heck it out, buddy,” Dad says, pointing to Kylie’s name in the program. I already saw it. She’s the thirty-fifth name on the list. I looked for it as soon as we got the programs. Her name is also listed on the front, as valedictorian. And on page six, under Honors. According to the program, Kylie gives her speech and then the headmaster and then the commencement speaker, who is some guy named John Block. Then, I think, they name all the seniors, and people come up and get their diplomas. Last night, I decided I wasn’t coming to graduation. I didn’t care about seeing Kylie. I stopped wanting to see her at 9:15 p.m. when I found out she lied to us. She’s never done that before. Mom said she must have a really good reason. Mom told me that if I didn’t come, Kylie would be disappointed. I didn’t care. But then I woke up this morning and I wanted to see her again. She still wasn’t home so I decided to come to graduation.

Mom made me put on my khaki pants and my blue blazer and a tie. My neck feels really big in this tie. I want to take it off and throw it in the bushes. But Mom would be mad. It’s my only tie. My sunglasses keep slipping down my nose.

When we got here Kylie wasn’t here. We’ve been waiting twenty-eight minutes and she still isn’t here. Mom says she’s on her way. We’re sitting on foldout chairs on the big lawn near the library. All the graduating seniors are sitting in foldout chairs across the lawn. Almost all the chairs have filled up, but there are still five empty chairs. One of them must be Kylie’s.

“Do you think Kylie’s coming?” I ask Mom.

“Of course she is,” Mom says. Mom and Dad keep looking at each other. They’re worried about Kylie. They’re wondering why she’s not here. Just like me.

If I were graduating from high school I would be the very first one in my chair.

Why is she taking so long? She’s never away from home. And now it feels like she’s never home. I guess this is what it’s going to feel like when she goes away to college. I don’t like it. I’m going to miss her. A whole lot.