Page 107 of Thrown for a Loop
“Okay.” He glances over to give her a secretive smile. “I love a nice morning run with a hot chick.”
The compliment makes her glow for about two minutes. Butthen, as they drive up College Avenue, the blue lights from two cop cruisers and an ambulance are unmistakable in front of Filbert Hall.
“Holy shit,” Chase says. “Are they in front of…”
“Entryway F,” Zoe says slowly.
“Do you think—”
“God. I don’t know.”
He grabs his phone off the center console, where it’s been charging, and curses before throwing it back down again.
Zoe picks it up herself and sees that Chase has missed fifteen calls. Some of them from her mother. “Oh my God. What happened?”
“When did they start calling?” he asks, steering toward the lot.
“Um…” She scrolls. “A couple hours ago. At five forty-five. I mean… wecouldhave been out running.”
“For more than two hours?”
“We stopped to watch the sun rise.”
Chase turns into the Filbert lot and brings the truck to a sudden halt in the first open spot. He kills the engine. “I’ve got to get over there.”
“Go,” Zoe agrees, handing him his phone. “Find out what happened while we were out for a run.”
The old truck’s door squeaks as he pushes the door open and steps out. But then he stops to look back at her before he goes. “I love you,” he says. But the seriousness of his expression makes her heart twist.
“I love you, too,” she whispers.
The door slams again, and he’s gone, jogging toward the emergency vehicles.
Alone now, Zoe takes a shaky breath. And then another one. This is so bad. She slips out of the passenger seat with her gym bag and walks the long way around the building, which puts her on the far end, by entryway A.
When she turns the final corner, the bunheads are all outside, watching from a safe distance. And when one of them notices Zoe, she gasps. “Coach is looking for you!” the girl says. “Did you hear Chase is in trouble?”
Zoe’s heart all but stops. “Whathappened?”
“They took Joon-ho out on a stretcher. He took some drugs, and Chase wasn’t around to help.”
“Drugs?” Blood begins to pound in Zoe’s ears. “Is heokay?” she gasps.
Melanie has latched on to Zoe’s arrival now, and she whips her cunning face in Zoe’s direction. “They wouldn’t tell us the truth about Joon-ho,” she says. “It looks bad. And now I think Chase is going to get arrested.”
“Why?” Zoe demands. She can see Chase by one of the cop cars, talking animatedly and then grabbing his head with both hands. Like he’s distraught.
“The cops were waiting for him,” Melanie says, with glee in her voice. But Zoe is too upset to care about Melanie’s games. She’s never been so afraid. She feels shaky all of a sudden. Like the coffee in her otherwise empty stomach might stage a rebellion.
And then her mother appears, her face as stormy as she’s ever seen it. “Zoe,” she barks. “Over here.Now.”
Zoe follows her over to a split rail fence, out of earshot of the others. But before her mother can even start yelling, they’re joined by a female police officer. “Are you Zoe Carson?” the woman asks. Her voice is gentle enough. She’s a pretty Black woman. Petite. With big brown eyes.
“Yes.”
“Zoe,” her mom snaps. “She needs to ask you some questions.”
“Okay.” Zoe gulps. “But what’s happening? Is Joon-ho okay?”
