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Stalker
Prologue:
“Take a seat Jasmine.” My attorney said. I quietly obeyed and sat down in the chair next to him. We were in a small conference room in the court house. There was a video camera set up on the other side of the table pointed at me, and another video camera pointed at the empty seat on the other side of my attorney. My sister, Jacqueline, was supposed to be in that seat but she was running late. There was a cop standing by the door and the blinds on the window were closed. Soon after I took a seat the judge walked in and took a seat at the head of the table. My sister was trailing close behind him and took a seat on the other side of my attorney.
“Ok. Now I want to hear your girl’s side of the story. Don’t leave anything out and if you ever want a break just say so.” The judge said. Jacqueline and I nodded. “Whenever you’re ready.” He said, leaning back in his chair. I took a deep breath.
“I guess it all started around the start of summer…..”
Start:
“Jasmine! Jacqueline! Wake up!” My mom yelled. She was walking up and down the hall by my bedroom door yelling at my little sister and me to wake up. I grumbled and shuffled to the edge of my bed, sliding my feet into my slippers and making my way over to my bedroom door. I opened it slowly and stuck my head out into the hallway.
“Mom, what time is it?” I asked, rubbing my eyes.
“It’s around eight. Dustin and Nate are waiting in the living room and are already ready to go to Miami. Get your bags and scoot!” My mom replied, smiling at me as she turned and walked back down the hall to the living room. Jacqueline soon poked her head out of her door and looked at me sleepily.
“Did I miss something?” She asked, yawning. I rolled my eyes.
“Grab your suitcase’s and head to the living room. Dustin and Nate are already ready.” I repeated. Jacqueline frowned.
“Why can’t they ever be late?” She asked. I shrugged in reply and pulled my head back into my room, closing the door behind me. I turned around and rested my back against the wall, frowning slightly. Most of my room was cluttered with clothes, shoes, and suitcases. I quickly threw what clothes weren’t in my suitcase into my closet and piled my suitcases on top of one another. Once my suitcases were piled up I made my way towards the living room. Nate and Dustin, two of my friends that live in the apartment next door to us, were sitting on the couch eating bagels, in their pajamas. Every summer Jacqueline, some of our friends, and I go on a road trip to Miami and stay there all summer. Our friends Paisley and Madeline own a huge beach house and have enough spare rooms for all of us so we stay there. My family had lived in Miami when I was little, but moved to New York after my dad got a job offer here. During the summer we go back and visit our old friends and party. Driving down to Miami is always the hardest part because Jacqueline and I go with three of our friends, Nate, Dustin, and Clover and we always bring a ton of luggage. But we try to make it interesting by making the ‘drive down day’ a different clothing theme every year, this year its pajama themed so we all decided to just stay in our pajamas.
“Morning sleeping beauty.” Nate joked. I fake laughed and playfully punched him in the arm.
“You are too funny Nate!” I said. Dustin started laughing and so did I. “I need help moving my suit cases.” I whined, giving them my best puppy dog face. Jacqueline came racing into the room and slid to a stop beside me.
“So do I!” She chimed in, making a puppy dog face too. We leaned our heads together and attached Dustin and Nate with a double puppy dog face. Dustin winced and tried not to look at us while Nate just laughed.
“Fine! I’ll help you move your suitcases!” Dustin finally said, throwing his hands up in the air in defeat. Jacqueline squealed and grabbed Dustin’s hand.
“Good, you’re helping me first.” She said, dragging Dustin towards her room. I looked at Nate and we both laughed.
“Guess that means your helping me.” I said. Nate rolled his eyes and slowly got up off the couch, groaning and stretching when he was finally standing. I laughed and grabbed his hand, trying to drag him towards my room.
“Do you really think you’re strong enough to pull me?” He asked with a raised eyebrow. I gave up and sighed.
“No, I’m a weakling.” I sniffled and started to fake cry. Nate grabbed my waist and threw me over his shoulder. He took off running towards my room and dropped me on my bed.
“Gee, thanks.” I joked. Nate smirked and laughed.
“You’re welcome.” He replied, grabbing two of my suitcases and heading towards the living room once again. I grabbed the remaining two suitcases and slung my duffle bag over my shoulder and followed him. Jacqueline and Dustin were already waiting.
“THAT’S how many suitcases you’re bringing?!” Nate shouted. Jacqueline had a total of six suitcases and two duffle bags.
“Yea, why?” She asked looking at Nate, confused.
“You have six suitcases and two duffle bags, Jasmine has four suitcases and one duffle bag, Dustin has three suitcases, and I have four suitcases for a total of seventeen suitcases and three duffle bags, not to mention Clover’s stuff. Where is that going to fit in Dustin’s jeep?!” He asked. Jacqueline shrugged.
“We could always call a party bus she suggested.
“You mean YOU could call a party bus. Not all of us are teen models that have been in Teen Vogue.” Dustin teased. Jacqueline rolled her eyes and ran a hand threw her wavy black hair. Jacqueline and I have been models for about two years now and Dustin and Nate always give us a hard time when we talk about getting expensive things.
“Do you want a party bus or not?” She asked, pulling her phone out of her plaid pajama short’s pocket
“Yes we want a party bus!” Came a voice from the doorway to our apartment. We all turned to see who it was and saw another one of our friends who was going to Miami with us, Clover.
“How many bags do you have?” I asked, attempting to re-position how I was holding my suitcases and duffle bag.
“I have five suitcases and a makeup bag.” Clover replied. “I left them in my car in hopes of having someone help me move them to Dustin’s jeep…… guess that’s not gonna happen.” She joked.
“Ok, I’m calling a party bus.” Jacqueline decided, pushing random buttons on her phone and holding it up to her ear. We all waited in silence. “Hello? I need a party bus to 25 Broadway, apartment 1.” There was a short pause. “Traveling to Miami, 150 North Street.” Another pause. “Ok, thank you!” She hung up the phone and stuffed it back in her pocket. “It’ll be here in ten minutes.”
“Then let’s get all this stuff downstairs and on the street.” Nate suggested.
“Not so fast! Photo time!” My mom said, racing into the living room with a camera in her hand. “Now act like you like each other and smile.” We all dropped our bags and huddled in a little group, my mom started snapping away with the camera and we all started making funny faces. “Ok, one nice photo to show your dad when he gets home.” We all smiled at the camera as the last photo was taken. Once we were done with our photo op I grabbed the camera and started to flip threw the photos. In most of them we all looked pretty goofy in plaid pajama pant shorts and pants and different color tee-shirts.
“Mom, can I bring the camera?” Jacqueline asked. She’s an artistic person so if anyone of us was going to take pictures on this vacation I’m glad it’s her. My mom handed over the camera and we grabbed our suitcases and duffle bags and headed to the elevator. My mom waved us goodbye from the doorway of the apartment as we piled into the elevator. When we reached street level we piled out of the elevator and out onto the street corner and waited for the limo to pull up. Nate, Dustin, and Clover went to get Clover’s stuff out of her car while Jacqueline and I waited by the other luggage. The party bus pulled up before they returned so Jacqueline and I had to start to put the luggage into the bottom of the party bus. We only had two more bags to go before Nate, Dustin, and Clover came back. Clover tossed her suitcases into the bottom of the bus too and we finally climbed into the bus. Nate and Dustin automatically attached the mini fridge while Clover fiddled with the TV. I stretched out on the couch and Jacqueline pulled out her camera.
“Photo time!” She chimed, holding the camera up to her eye. Dustin raised and eyebrow and stuck ‘the thinker’ pose, Nate smirked, Clover made a funky looking face and I flashed the peace sign. She took the picture then turned to the bus driver. “Do you mind taking a picture of all of us?” She asked sweetly. The driver shrugged and took the camera from her.
“Everybody get together.” He said. I jumped on Nate’s back and rested my chin on the top of his head, Jacqueline rested her head on Dustin’s shoulder and Clover stood in the middle of us all, giving Dustin and I bunny ears. The driver took the picture and handed the camera back to Jacqueline. Then, we were on the road. Traffic in New York sucks so it took a long time getting out of the city, but once we hit the highway everything ran pretty much on time.
When we reached Virginia we decided to stop for the night at a hotel. We’d start driving again at seven the next morning and hopefully reach Miami by midnight. The bus driver said he’d sleep in the bus and that we could leave our bags in the compartment so that’s what we did. After we finished checking in at the hotel lobby desk we took the elevator up to our room floor and went to check out our rooms. Nate and Dustin shared a room and Clover, Jacqueline and I shared the other. Since there were only two beds in each room Jacqueline and I decided to share a bed since it would be less awkward because we’re sisters. There was a knock on our door, and since Clover and Jacqueline were scooping out the Jacuzzi bath tub, I answered the door. Dustin and Nate were standing out in the hall with a video camera connected to a laptop.
“Wanna post a video?” Dustin asked. I shrugged.
“Sure, why not.” I stepped away from the door to let them both in and they got to work setting up the laptop and video camera. Three years ago we had started a band called Moonshine Magic, Clover was the bass guitarist, Jacqueline was the lead guitarist and sometimes the pianist, Nate was on the drums, Dustin was basically our manager, and I was the lead singer. We made a website for the band and are always posting random videos and stuff on it for fans. It’s a lot of fun. When Dustin and Nate finished setting everything up I called Clover and Jacqueline in and told them what we were doing, then we all took seats on the bed in front of the camera and started live streaming to the website.
“Hi guys!” I said, waving at the camera, laughing. “We were on our way to party it up in Miami and just stopped for the night and decided to make a video.”
“So we decided to do a short question and answer with you guys.” Nate added.
“So send us some questions and we’ll answer as many of them as we can.” Clover said. Dustin rolled off of the bed and took a seat at the laptop.
“To Clover, is your hair naturally that shade of orange?” He asked, clicking away at the computer screen.
“No. I was a blonde when I was little but when I joined Moonshine Magic I wanted to look different so I dyed it orange-red and added some purple streaks.” She turned her head and pointed to the purple streaks in her hair.
“Next questions for Nate, how old are you?” Nate gave Dustin a look and Dustin shrugged.
“I’m seventeen. And before you ask everyone else’s age Dustin’s seventeen, Jasmine’s sixteen, Jacqueline’s fourteen, and Clover’s sixteen.” Nate answered. Jacqueline slapped him in the back of the head and we all started laughing.”
“Jasmine, how tall are you?” Dustin asked, clicking around some more on the computer screen.
“I’m six feet tall.” I answered.
“Jacqueline and Jasmine, are you guys twins?” Nate, Clover, and Dustin started to laugh and Jacqueline and I just rolled our eyes.
“We get asked that all the time.” I started.
“But no, we aren’t twins.” Jacqueline finished.
“I’m sixteen and Jacqueline’s fourteen. Pretty sure we can’t be twins.” I said, giggling. Dustin closed the top of the laptop and took a seat on the bed again.
“I guess that means that it’s time to go to sleep, so goodnight everyone!” Jacqueline said, blowing a kiss at the camera. I waved, Clover smiled, and Nate gave a peace sign.
“Clear.” Dustin said, meaning he had turned off the live stream. He and Nate picked up their equipment and we said goodbye. They went to their room and Clover, Jacqueline and I climbed into bed and had just turned off the lamps over our beds when another knock on the door sounded. Since Clover’s bed was closer to the door she groaned, rolled over and bounded to the door, throwing it open.
“What?” She said, slightly irritated.
“Truth or dare?” Nate asked, leaning against the doorframe.
“Dare.” Clover replied, turner her back on Nate and walking into the room. I turned the light on over the beds and sat up; Jacqueline sat up to and smiled.
“I dare you to go down to the front desk and start crying.”
“Why am I crying? What’s my motive?” She asked, raising an eyebrow.
“You lost your mom. Act like a five year old who lost their mom and started crying.” Nate replied, taking a seat on the edge of Clovers bed. Dustin walked in soon after and took a seat on the floor across from the beds. Clover thought about it for a second then smiled.
“Ok, I’ll do it. Who’s gonna watch?” She asked, heading towards the door. We all jumped up and followed after her. Instead of taking the elevator this time we took the stairs. There was a spiral staircase leading down to the first floor so, being the children at heart that we are, we decided to slide down the railing. When we reached the bottom of the staircase Clover walked up to the front desk while the rest of us hid and watched her. When she reached the front desk she started bawling.
“I-i-I can’t find my mom!” She wailed in between sobs. The man at the front desk looked completely lost as he tried to comfort her. She continued to cry hysterically and kept repeating that she couldn’t find her mom.
“Do you know what room number you’re in?” The man asked, trying to be helpful. Clover shook her head and sniffled. “Well do you know where you last saw your mom?”
“I think it was when I was upstairs.” Clover sniffled. I giggled and Nate hit my arm to shut me up.
“Truth or dare?” He asked Jacqueline. We were all sitting on a couch with a huge newspaper spread open to cover our faces.
“Dare.” Jacqueline said, excitedly.
“I dare you to go pretend to be Clover’s mom.” Nate whispered. Jacqueline stifled a laugh and immediately jumped off of the couch and bounded over to Clover, slinging an arm around her shoulder.
“Sh baby mom’s here!” She exclaimed. She then turned to the man at the desk. “Thank you so much for taking such good care of my baby, I don’t know what I’d do if I ever lost her.” And with that Clover and Jacqueline turned and headed towards the elevator. The man at the desk was so confused that I couldn’t help but start to crack up. Jacqueline and Clover got into the elevator and disappeared. Nate, Dustin and I followed in the second elevator. We met up back at ‘the girl’s room’ and all busted into hysterics.
“I can’t believe you guys actually did that!” Dustin said.
“I wasn’t about to back out of a dare.” Clover replied.
“Neither was I.” Added Jacqueline. When we had started to slowly calm down Clover looked at Dustin.
“Truth or dare?” She asked, smirking.
“Truth.” He said. I pouted.
“That’s no fun Dustin.” I chided him. He smiled and chuckled.
“It may not be fun for you, but it’s the smart choice.” He replied.
“Fine party pooper, have you ever got so drunk that when you woke up the next morning you had no idea where you where or what happened the night before?” Clover asked. Dustin thought for a second then shook his head.
“Nope, never.” He answered. “Jasmine, truth or dare?” He asked me. I thought for a second before answering.
“Dare.”
“I dare you to spray ketchup on yourself so you look like you’re bleeding and run around the hotel screaming.” Dustin dared, I frowned slightly and sighed.
“Fine, but you’re going to owe me a new pair of pajamas!” I whined. I got up and walked out of room, sliding down the staircase railing once more and snuck into the kitchen. I grabbed a couple handfuls of ketchup packets and snuck back out. Thankfully there weren’t many employees in the kitchen at one in the morning, or else I would’ve been caught. Hurriedly I squirted the packets up and down my arms, some in my hair, and more around the stomach area of my shirt so it looked like I’d been stabbed there. Once I looked bloody enough I took off running around the first floor of the hotel screaming at the top of my lungs. Once I had finished on the first floor I ran up the stairs and around the second floor. People started to look out the door and a couple people tried to help me but I kept running and screaming all the way threw the hotel. Once I finished that I ducked into the nearest closet and attempted to get as much of the ketchup off of me as I could. I ended up making it look worse so I finally gave up and ran back to my room, screaming. When I reached the door to my room I gave one final scream and banged loudly on the door until Dustin opened it for me.
“Jesus I could hear you the whole time!” He exclaimed, closing the door behind me.
“Yea, you got quite a pair of lungs on you.” Clover added.
“Thanks, I have singer lungs.” I joked. “Now I have to go get this ketchup off of me.” I frowned, holding up my arms so everyone could see the mess I had made of myself.
“Gross.” Nate commented. I laughed and headed towards the bathroom.
“Night guys!” I called over my shoulder.
“Night.” Came everyone’s reply. I went into the bathroom and locked the door behind me. First I tried to scrub the ketchup off of my shirt, but when that didn’t work I gave up and started scrubbing it out of my hair and off of my arms instead. After I had cleaned up as much as possible I stopped to look in the mirror before leaving the bathroom. I pulled my long brown hair up, out of my face and tied it into a pony tail. Finally I left the bathroom and climbed into bed. The lights were off and Clover and Jacqueline were already asleep. Before closing my eyes I glanced at the alarm clock to check the time. The bright red numbers read 2:30. I sighed and rolled over, closing my eyes to try to get as much sleep as possible.
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