Paper Towns~ A Continuation

Chapter 3. It's Nice To Have Friends You Can Count On

As I walk to my dorm room after a day of agonizingly long classes, I try to find a reasonable solution to Margo's problem. A reasonable solution that, in the end, won't leave either of us rotting in jail for the rest of eternity.

I contemplate whether or not the police will go easy on Margo when they find her. After all, she attacked that boy in self defense. It wasn't her fault that her boyfriend was hurting her.

I know, deep down, that the police will still charge her for murder, though. There's no proof that Margo killed him in self defense. In their eyes, she's a cold blooded murderer that needs to be detained.

I think this to myself as I pass by a group of students loitering by a bench. I hold up my hand to my face, blocking the sun's rays from my eyes.

Maybe we can run for the rest of our lives. We could be the ultimate procrastinators, procrastinating jail forever.

I find a few holes in that plan, too. For starters, there would be the no money issue. Then there would be, if we ran away, the worried family issue, the no food issue, and the cops-looking-for-Margo issue (which is already existent).

I quickly wipe that plan from my mind and sigh. Being a criminal is tough work.

Just then, I feel my phone vibrate in my pocket.

"Lacey. Hi," I say, answering the call.

"Hey Q," she replies with a nervous tone. "I've gotta talk to you about something. And you've gotta be 100% honest."

"Um, sure?"

There's a brief silence on the other end. "Do you know something about Margo that I don't?"

I blink. How could she possibly know about Margo?

"What? No," I respond unconvincingly.

"I though we were gonna be 100% honest with each other!"

"I am! I'm, overall, an honest person. Anyways, why would you think I know something about Margo that you don't?"

Lacey's sigh, which is muffled over the phone, is quiet. "Well, you were acting pretty weird on the phone earlier, when I told you about the police checking peoples' houses. You were, like....uber weird. You obviously know something about Margo's whereabouts, Q."

I bite my lip, staying quiet. Lacey has me cornered and she knows it. Can she be trusted with Margo's secret? "Listen....can I call you back later? I promise I'll call back."

Lacey stays silent on the other end until she asks, "You promise?"

"Promise."

She hangs up, and I run to my dorm room, determined to see if Margo will let Lacey in on the secret.

~

"18 year old Margo Roth Spiegelman is accused of murdering Peter Prior, an innocent teenager. Officials still can not find Spiegelman, and say she's still at large. We advise you to lock your doors...."

I come in on Margo, who's wearing a pair of jeans and an oversized green sweater, sitting on my couch, watching a news program about her on my mini T.V. She chuckles a bit.

"Look, Q, I'm famous," Margo Roth Spiegelman says, nodding towards the television. Her eyes look red and puffy from crying, but I don't say anything. I only sit next to her on the couch.

We stay in silence for a little while. "Amazing," Margo says, watching the news cast.

"What is?"

"This," she replies. "This. It's amazing how a little paper girl like me can transform into a....into...." She pauses. "Into something that's....not a paper girl. Into a monster that people are hunting down with pitch forks and torches, without even knowing the full story, first." Margo Roth Spiegelman looks into my eyes, and says, "It's amazing how people can transform, Q."

I blink. I know I should say something, but I just reach for her hand, and she reaches for mine without hesitation. Our hands interlock, and we stay that way for a bit.

"I think we should let Lacey in on the secret," I blurt out.

Margo's hand immediately recoils. "What?" she whispers in disbelief, almost disgust.

"Wait," I say, trying to save myself. "Wait! Listen, she called me, like, 20 minutes ago. She's really suspicious of us, Margo! Lacey thinks I know something about you disappearance. I don't know what to do!"

"Well, I'll tell you what not to do. Don't tell her about me. Don't you dare," she barks, standing up from the couch.

"I thought that everything was cool between you and Lacey!"

"It is!" Margo yells at me. "I just can't believe that you would be so uncareful, Q! I trusted you with my secret because I thought you could keep it!"

I stand up, too. "Hey," I say in a calm, level voice. "I am keeping the secret. That's why I came to you before I told Lacey. To see if we can trust her."

She opens her mouth as if to speak, but then closes it. Margo fumes for a couple minutes. Then she says, slowly and carefully, "Do you think we can trust her with this big of a secret? That could decide the rest of my life?"

"Yes. She's our friend, Margo."

"Well then," she says quietly. "If the great Quentin Jacobsen thinks we can trust her not to tell someone about me, then by all means, tell her."

I stare at her.

"Pick up the phone and tell her, Q!"

So I pick up my cell phone and call Lacey. When she answers on the first ring, I begin to tell her everything.

I tell Lacey about Margo's money problem, and how she got a rich boyfriend to help her out. Only, as time went by, he began to abuse Margo. She had to defend herself against him, and, with a pair of scissors, accidentally killed him. I tell Lacey about Margo coming to my dorm in the dead of night and about the dumb ass cop not checking my dorm properly.

"So, as you can see, me and Margo are in a bit of a predicament right now," I laugh, wrapping up my story. "And....I told you our secret because we think we can trust you not to tell anyone."

Lacey stays silent on the other end of the phone.

"Lacey?"

"Yeah. Yeah, I'm here."

"You okay?"

"Yeah."

"...."

"So....Margo's there, at your dorm, right now?"

"Yeah," I say, trying to speed up conversation. "You wanna talk to her?"

"Um....I don't know if I'm ready for that right now. Listen, I've got to go. I'll call you back in a few minutes." Lacey hangs up quickly.

"What did she say? How did she react?" Margo asks me, pressing for details.

I put my cell phone back into my pocket. "I don't know. She was really weird about it."

Margo's face drops. "Oh."

"Hey, cheer up. She's gonna call back soon."

She seems to brighten. "Really?"

My phone buzzes, and I put Lacey on speaker phone. "Hey Lacey," Margo says to her.

"I just called the cops on you guys. They should be at your dorm any minute."

Margo's mouth hangs open.

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