What Could Possibly Go Wrong?

"I've got a plan!" Marge finally announced, beaming with pride. It was perfect, foolproof, even. There was no way it could go wrong as long as everyone stuck to it and didn't begin arguing like they always did.

Marge turned to the other girls, only to find them all yelling at one another. Again. She sighed in exasperation.

"That won't work, you idiot!" Rachel scowled.

"Oh yeah? How about you try thinking of something better!" Sarah yelled back.

"Maybe I will!"

"Guys, stop this! We have to-"

"Stay out of this, Millie!"

"Well, what if we-"

"Nope! Won't work."

"But you didn't even let me-"

"Nope, nope, nope."

"Rachel! You won't even give me a-"

Rachel emitted a buzzer noise, and Millie socked her in the chin, sending her crashing to the floor. Sarah cheered, "Yeah, show her who's boss!" Across the room, leaning against the wall in a dark corner, Diana watched the commotion, a look of amusement on her face. Her dark, black hoodie blended in well with the shadows. It was rather creepy. But, then again, that was just Diana’s aesthetic. It would be almost like a treat to see Diana in something that wasn’t the main component of a moody teenager’s wardrobe.

Rachel stumbled back up to her feet, fuming. She launched herself at Millie just as Marge grabbed her by the legs and pulled her back, just in time. She fell to the hard, tiled floor again.

"Guys, seriously, cut it out now," she ordered. Her voice was traced with venom, and the three bickering girls went quiet. They might have all been as different from each other as you could get, but they could all unanimously agree on one thing: if you like all of your body parts intact, don't make Marge angry.

"Like I said before, I have a plan,” Marge repeated, waiting to see how they would react. Rachel huffed, crossing her arms. "Well, it's about time! We've just been standing around here for hours!"

"It's been eleven minutes," Millie replied flatly, looking up from her watch.

"Well, it's been too long, anyhow,” Rachel shot back. Sarah rolled her eyes.

“Okay, am I going to get to speak at all today, or are we going to keep going with this? Because last time I checked, our friend needs serious help, and I don’t think she would appreciate it if she knew that instead of going over what we’re going to do to save her, we were standing around arguing like a bunch of toddlers.” Rachel’s face went red, but she kept her mouth shut. She crossed her arms defiantly and pursed her lips. Millie looked down at the floor, picking at her thumb and blinking rapidly. Sarah nervously rubbed her neck with her hand. It made everyone, even Marge, uncomfortable to think about poor Kat locked in her own home, probably scared out of her mind.

Marge looked back and forth at the three of them. “Thank you,” she said, crossing her arms. Diana walked over as leisurely as though she owned the place, and asked Marge coolly, “So, what’s the plan?” 

***

“So let me get this straight,” Sarah said, trying desperately to hide the tremor in her voice as Rachel cackled beside her. “Diana and Rachel are going to hijack a police car, Millie is going to have to knock someone out, and you and I have to climb a six story building?! ARE YOU OUT OF YOUR MIND, MARGE?!” Rachel punched her playfully, laughing, “Come on, Sarah! I thought you were the daredevil of our group!”

“No!” she replied incredulously. “You’re the daredevil! Or maybe Millie. Or Diana. Or anyone who’s not me! I’m probably the comic relief of this group, now that I think about it!” Marge rolled her eyes as Rachel doubled over with giggles.

“Look, Sarah,” Marge began, “it won’t be that bad. Rachel’s dad is already a police officer, so Rachel and Diana can just take her dad’s car without him noticing. The two of them are old enough to be able to have a license, or at least old enough that they won’t look suspicious. Plus, Millie’s already okay with having to knock someone out. She’s concerningly good at it, actually.” Marge turned to Millie, who admitted, pleased with herself, “I’ve gotten plenty of practice, mostly with Rachel!” Rachel glared at her, shooting daggers with her eyes.

Upon seeing Sarah’s pale face, Marge added quickly, “Plus, it’s not like we’re going to climb all six stories of the apartment. Kat’s dad lives on the fourth floor, so we’re only going up until there.”

“You say that like it makes it better!” Sarah exclaimed, stomping on the tiled floor with her hard, laced boots. “Marge, this is insane! This is crazy!” Sarah shook her head. “You’re crazy!”

“You know who else is crazy, Sarah?” Marge shot back, menacingly advancing toward her. “Kat’s dad. If I'm crazy, then he's insane. He's dangerous, Sarah. Which is why we need to get Kat out of that house before something bad happens. Are you willing to shoulder the fact that if Kat gets hurt, you had the chance to do something to stop it and you didn’t take it?” The room went very, very quiet. Sarah didn’t answer. Diana looked back and forth between the two girls. 

“What are we still standing around here for, then?” Sarah finally said quietly.

***

Peeking her head around the corner of the wall, Diana scanned the living room, searching for her father. “Alright,” she said to Rachel, who was behind her. “It looks like he isn’t home. His car wasn’t in the driveway anyway, but I wanted to make sure.”

“His police car? I thought that was the one we were borrowing. How are we going to get it if it isn’t-”

“Not the police car, you twit. His normal car, the one he took out to go do whatever the heck it is he’s out doing right now.” As Rachel blushed, Diana opened the door and the two of them stepped outside. They were met with a blast of ice-cold evening air, and Diana pulled her hood above her head and quickly shoved her hands in her pockets. Jesus Christ, it’s cold, she mentally grumbled.

She dug around in her pockets until she felt what she was looking for, her father’s car keys for his police car. She looked down at them. They were much simpler than most of the other car keys she’d seen other people have, including her ex-mother, whose keys were practically buried in keychains and souvenirs. On the contrary, there weren’t any keychains or unnecessary accessories attached to Diana’s father’s keys to make them pretty and jangly. It was simple, like him. Like Diana.

And very unlike her ex-mother. Perhaps that was why she and her father never really clicked with her. Perhaps that was why her ex-mother had left.

Perhaps that was why Diana had decided to spite her ex-mother by becoming the most simple, stereotypical teenager possible.

Tossing the car keys up in the air and catching them as they came down again, Rachel and Diana approached her father’s police car. Diana unlocked the front door and climbed inside with Rachel close behind her. Rachel bounced her knee up and down, a sign Diana knew meant that she was nervous. 

“Are you sure this is going to work?” she asked anxiously. Diana rolled her eyes and mocked, “Well, now you sound like Sarah. What, are you scared?” Rachel’s face flushed, and she explained quickly, “No, of- of course not! It’s just- this is a police car! Aren’t there going to be, like, cameras and voice recorders everywhere?”

Diana scoffed. “Wow, Rachel. Have some faith in my planning skills! I’ve already taken care of all of that. Besides, my dad trusts me enough to not have them activated most of the time when he’s not at home, so we’re good.” Diana noticed that Rachel looked very uncomfortable.

Groaning, she slammed the car door shut and turned around to face her. “What is it?! You’re holding us up!” Rachel looked at the floor, and mumbled, “I feel kind of bad…we shouldn’t be stealing a car, let alone a police officer’s car. Why can’t we just call the cops on Kat’s dad?” Diana shook her head, sighing. “The police officers aren’t going to believe a bunch of teenagers. Especially with my record.”

Before Rachel could ask what Diana meant, which Diana knew she was going to do, she inserted the key into the hole and started the car, feeling it rumble beneath her. She set her hands on the steering wheel, trying to hide the fact that they were shaking, and took a deep breath.

She carefully reversed the car out of the driveway, making great care not to bump into their unwisely placed mailbox. As Diana finally got out of the driveway and turned the car around to drive out of their street, Rachel sighed, “It’s a good thing you have a license, otherwise I’d be scared out of my mind right now.”

Diana turned the wheel the wrong way, forgetting that the directions are swapped when reversing, and she bumped into the concrete curb. The car abruptly lurched backward, and the sudden momentum threw Rachel, who had forgotten to buckle herself, back against her seat. Rachel turned to Diana with wide eyes.

“See, that’s the neat part about this. I actually don’t have a license,” Diana admitted breezily.

Rachel swiftly clicked the seat belt into the buckle, terrified.

***

Panting, Sarah leaned against a nearby light pole, her heart pounding. Marge and Millie turned back around to face her. “Sarah, come on! We have to go!” Marge shouted. Millie looked at Sarah with concern. Sarah slid down against the wall, still gulping air as though she’d been holding her breath for the past ten minutes. 

“I can’t keep going,” she panted. “I just…I just can’t. I can barely breathe. I’m so out of shape. And breath.” 

Marge groaned. “Then we’re going to have to go on without you! Do you want to get Kat out of there or not?!”

“I do! I just can’t run for this long!”

“Then how do you expect to climb that apartment building with me, huh? It’s not like I’m going to be able to carry you up there!” Marge shook her head. “This is stupid,” she muttered. She turned to Millie, who looked conflicted.

“Come on, Millie,” she ordered, turning to look at Sarah one final time before running off. Millie turned back to Sarah, a rueful look on her face. She sighed, “I’m so sorry, Sarah. J-Just stay here for now, we’ll come get you after we rescue Kat. I promise.” And then, she was gone too. Sarah longingly watched her friends the whole way as they ran, leaving her behind, until they were just specks against the setting sun. Sarah lowered her head, tears brimming her eyes. Her feet hurt. Her legs hurt. Her lungs hurt. Her chest hurt.

And her heart was broken.

Who am I kidding? she realized. I’m useless. I couldn’t even run for ten minutes, how do I expect to be able to climb a building? 

She wasn’t a daredevil. She wasn’t athletic, clearly. She wasn’t even funny enough to be comic relief material. She was just…her. Nothing special.

And not only was she awful at everything, she was a coward. A sneak. She thought about how she had figured out before anyone what Kat was going through, and how she had done absolutely nothing to stop it or let anyone know. She still remembered that fateful evening, at a sleepover. While everyone else was in the bedroom doing dares and games, she had gone wandering around the house looking for Kat, who had gone to ‘use the bathroom’ and had never come back. She’d approached Kat’s dad’s room, and creaked the door open.

There she saw Kat, sitting at the foot of the bed, a haunted look on her face. Blood and tears dripped down her face, and Sarah noticed a long, deep cut at Kat’s forehead. Sleeping in the bed, behind Kat, was her father.

In his hand was a broken glass bottle. He gripped it by the neck, and it had been smashed near the middle. There was no doubt that he’d cut Kat with the sharp, jagged edges of the broken glass. Blood dripped from his hand onto the white, linen bed sheet.

Kat wiped her face, looked down at her wet, bloody hand, and shuddered. 

That was when Sarah had left. And she hadn’t told anyone about what she saw.

Kat had returned later, presumably after washing her face, and when questioned about the scar on her forehead she’d nervously explained that she’d hit her head on the sharp edge of a cabinet door. Sarah said nothing. How could she say anything? She was terrified. The fear of what Kat’s father might do to her had gripped her tight, and kept her mouth shut.

Of course, that was months ago. Obviously her friends had figured out that something was up when Kat hadn’t come to school for four days, with no explanation or even a quick text saying ‘hey, I’m sick, I won’t be at school for a while’. So, Marge, Rachel, and Millie had realized that Sarah knew something they didn’t, and they’d squeezed the truth out of her. Marge had never looked at her the same. Neither had Rachel, or Millie.

Sure, they said it was fine, and that they understood that Sarah was under immense pressure, but since then every look they gave her, every word they said to her, had some kind of underlying tone. Some hidden look that still haunted Sarah.

And even Sarah still felt disgusted at herself. I’m an awful human being. And an awful friend, for that matter.

Her mind racing from all of these thoughts, Sarah just sat there for a full five minutes, trying to slow down her pounding heartbeat, breathe deep enough to finally soothe her aching lungs, and keep tears from spilling down her face.

Then, she took one more deep, shaky breath, and slowly got to her feet.

***

“Turn left! No, not that way! LEFT, DIANA!” Diana cursed under her breath and swung the steering wheel the other way just in time, and the end of the police car came dangerously close to a nearby pole as it drifted sideways for a few seconds before righting itself and continuing forward.

“FOR CRYING OUT LOUD, DIANA, DO YOU NOT KNOW THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN LEFT AND RIGHT?!”

“You know I’m dyslexic and under pressure right now, cut me some slack here!” 

“We are going to DIE because of you! We’re going to CRASH this car because you CAN’T TURN THE RIGHT WAY!”

Diana would have given anything to correct Rachel and say that she meant the ‘left way’ without getting a prompt smack in the face, but instead she growled, “Shut UP! I’m trying to focus on the road!”

There was too much traffic. Diana was trying her best to concentrate on driving safely, she really was, but she hadn’t figured out how to turn the siren on yet. Still, thankfully most cars were giving her a wide berth.

But she was still nervous.

“Is this the right button?” Rachel asked, carelessly leaning over Diana and pointing to a switch on the back of the steering wheel. In doing so, Rachel had accidentally pushed Diana’s arm, causing her to move the steering wheel too far to the left. 

“THAT’S THE TURN SIGNAL, YOU IDIOT!” Diana yelled as she scraped against the side of a large, black car. She immediately turned the steering wheel around again, and the now-damaged car’s driver, a middle-aged, straw-haired man, turned to look at her with fury, which soon turned to confusion when he realized that a high-schooler was driving a police car.

“You’re going to be the one to get us killed if you don’t GET OFF OF ME!” Diana shouted angrily. Rachel leaned back in her seat. “And you made fun of me for not knowing how a car works! You don’t even know what a turn signal is?!”

“If you know what it is, then why haven’t you been using it for the past fifteen minutes?!” Rachel shot back.

Diana screeched as she swerved around a nearby car, almost crashing into it in the process. Beads of sweat dotted her forehead as she took a deep breath. Rachel gave Diana a nervous side-glance, finally realizing that it wasn’t a good idea to make her more stressed than she already was, especially when she was driving.

Without a license.

In a stolen police car.

Breaking probably every traffic law to ever exist.

As the car continued forward, Rachel thought she saw a familiar face walking along the sidewalk. Huh, she thought. That girl almost looks like Sarah… As realization coursed through her, Rachel suddenly gasped, scaring the wits out of Diana.

"What?!" she yelled. "What is it now?!" 

"We just passed Sarah! Turn around, TURN AROUND!" Diana groaned, muttering irritably as she made a U-turn.

As the police car approached Sarah, she backed away, nervous as to why a police vehicle had suddenly driven toward her.

Rachel threw the door open, jumped out of the car, and ran toward Sarah.

"Oh my goodness, I never thought I'd be so happy to see you!" she shouted, ecstatic.

"I never thought you'd ever look so happy to see me either," Sarah joked. Rachel paused again.

"Hey...what's wrong?"

Sarah sighed, holding herself with her arms. "Millie and Marge left me behind," she admitted, just as Diana was exiting the car toward her as well. "It's alright though, I was...I was just slowing them down anyway."

Rachel and Diana exchanged a quick glance, and Rachel held out her hand to Sarah.

"Come on," she said, smiling. "We'll show them."