Free Hell's Hotel by Lesley Choyce

she thought about Emma. But the way she felt about her parents was another story.
    â€œI want to do something that will make them really mad.”
    â€œHey, you’re sitting with the world authority on how to get parents ticked off.”
    â€œI knew you could help.”
    â€œThat’s what friends are for.”
    â€œDon’t tell me yet. Let me bribe you for information first.” Tara ordered a couple of slices of Black Forest cake and two espressos.
    The plan was simple. Don’t call home. Don’t go home. Hang out on the street, check into the nightlife, get a little culture, have a little fun.
    It was a new feeling for Tara. Six o’clock rolled around and then seven. She’d been away from home for almost twenty-four hours. She hadn’t called. She knew her parents would be worried, but they deserved it for what they had done to her. She wasn’t going to cave in and retreat, not until she’d had at least one night on the street.
    Just when Tara felt like they had walked everywhere around downtown and checked out everything, Jenn pulled a little bottle out of her purse. She opened it and popped three pills in her mouth, then held out three more for Tara. “Try some. They’ll cheer you up.”
    Tara looked at the pills. She knew that Jenn had fooled around with all kinds of drugs, and normally Tara would never touch any of it. It was sometimes hard to stop herself from giving lectures on the dangers of this stuff. But that was the old Tara, before her life had been turned upside down. “What are they?”
    â€œNothing that’ll do you any harm.”
    Tara admitted to herself that they looked pretty small, pretty harmless. Right then, she decided to trust Jenn. After all, Jenn was the only one who had remained loyal to her. If she couldn’t trust her best friend, who could she trust? She popped the pills in her mouth and swallowed hard.
    As it grew darker, more kids appeared on the street. Craig was there as well as a couple of girls Tara had met before. They seemed like a friendly crowd. “I thought things would be pretty dead on a Thursday night.”
    â€œThursday night, Friday night. It’s all the same here,” Jenn said.
    Tara started to feel good, really good. Her head felt light and she wanted to laugh. After a sleepless night the night before, she had been starting to feel tired, but now she felt wide awake. She had a tingling sensation in her fingers and the funny notion that her feet weren’t attached to the rest of her body.
    Jenn recognized that her friend was finally high. “What do you think?”
    â€œI think I’m on another planet.”
    â€œYou are,” Jenn said. “And wait till you see this.”
    They walked down King Street. To Tara, all the lights looked like jewels, the people looked almost like they were dancing. Everything looked different and amusing as the street lights lit up the downtown. The cars and buses moving down King seemed like exotic, giant animals, purring and roaring. “It’s a jungle out there,” Tara said, then giggled.
    They arrived at Café Chebucto, a hole-in-the-wall club for kids on King. A bunch of kids with band T-shirts and ripped jeans hung out in front of the place. A sign above the door said, “Thursday Night Jam.”
    Jenn seemed to know everyone. Some guys smiled at Tara and she had a hard time not laughing. Everyone looked so funny. It was only a couple of bucks each to get in. Jenn was expecting Tara could pay, but Tara realized she was broke, having spent the only money she had on cake. She suddenly felt very disappointed. She wasn’t going to get to go in and hear the music.
    â€œNo problem,” Jenn said. “Watch this.”
    Jenn walked up to a couple of men in suits waiting for a bus. “Excuse me. Could you help me out with some change? A couple of quarters maybe, so I can get something to eat?” Tara watched as one