Chapter 14
“Then who, Jesse?” I ask him.
“Did you do something to earn this, Jess?” Drew asks, and something in my stomach turns over at the implication.
“Like what?” Jesse asks, only making matters worse.
“Boys are asked to do things all the time,” Drew says. “And sometimes these things don’t seem very bad, and it doesn’t seem like you’d be hurting anyone, and –”
“Stop it.” I can’t stand any more of the conversation. I’m not sure Jesse knows where Drew is going, but I do, and the fact that I’m a puker may come into play and be driven home.
“How did you get it, Jesse?” Drew asks again, but Jesse’s just staring at him. “Who gave it to you?”
“You mean like was it payment for sex?” Jesse asks, and he is so clearly horrified that I want to smash Drew for bringing the thought into his world. “Or like that kid who was posing for porn?”
“What do you know about that?” I ask.
“There was this kid,” Jesse tells me, “and he had a mini cam and he posted his pictures on the internet and people paid him. And I think he even like. . .you know. . .touched himself and he like charged for it and. . .”
Drew looks at me as if to say, See? The kid knows more than you think. Or maybe, See? You don’t have any idea what your kid is doing.
“Jesse isn’t doing that,” I tell Drew. And if he dares ask me how I can be so sure, I’ll tell him the truth. Jesse doesn’t have a minicam. I hate that that is the only way I know for sure.
“So how did you get it?” Drew asks him.
“I was just holding it for a friend,” Jesse says. What was it Jon Stewart said about Willie Nelson just holding the one and a half pounds of marijuana they found in his van for twenty five friends?
“What friend?” Drew asks.
“What difference does it make?” Jesse asks.
“That person is in danger,” I tell him. “Don’t you see that? Look at your room, for Christ’s sake. Jesse! I know you want to protect this person, but protecting him from the bad people is much more important than protecting him from the good ones.”
“This isn’t squealing on someone,” Drew tells him, but Jesse isn’t budging.
“Honey, I know–” I start.
Jesse rises from his seat at the table so fast that his chair falls over behind him. He glares at me. “You think you know everything! But you don’t!”
“So tell me,” I yell after him as he heads for his room.
“No way,” he yells back before slamming his door.
