Chapter 5

The day of our release we were taken to the shower as soon as the lights came on. When we finished we were given the clothes we had worn to our court date, minus the shoes and socks, to change into. I noticed my clothes were a little baggy, and I didn't bother with the coat or tie.

"Alright, when I call your name step up to the bench and put your right foot on it," Officer Bowers announced, "Jacob Bailey."

I did as instructed, and Officer Bowers attached the ankle monitor to my leg. "Alright, this monitor will provide a real time GPS update of your location as long as it's on. You can go anywhere on campus and to your community service and any doctors' appointments or curricular activities, but go anywhere else and you'll be back in here for the remainder of the sentence. You're also not supposed to wear shoes, but the ankle monitor doesn't tell us that, so you're on the honor system. Got it?"

"Got it."

"Alright, go through that door and down the hallway to the third door on the left."

The door led to a lobby were our parents were waiting. My mom hugged me enthusiastically.

"Oh, I'm so glad you made it through ok."

"The care packages really helped."

"You liked the books?"

"And the, um, surprise."

"Well, we have another surprise waiting for you back at the house." I looked at her quizzically.

"Not that kind of surprise," Dad explained, "but I'm sure you'll enjoy it."

We started walking out to the car, passing a local news reporter who called out a question about the upcoming recall election.

"The asphalt's not bothering your feet? Is it?" Mom asked.

"No, I guess I've got pretty thick calluses by now."

"That'll come in handy for the rest of your sentence," Dad remarked, "I suppose it will feel pretty strange when you can finally put shoes on again."

"Right now it feels strange just not being in a prison uniform."

We drove back to the frat house, which had a crowd of people standing outside, with another news truck. As I got closer I realized that they were from the other fraternities and sororities on campus. They were all barefoot and wearing shirts that read "Free BKE."

"We got those shirts, too," Dad said, "but they wouldn't let us wear them to the jail."

We parked on the street and the assembled crowd applauded as I stood on the lawn, savoring the feeling of the warm grass underneath my feet.

"There's breakfast waiting for you inside the house," Mom said.

Entranced by the thought of real food, I made my way through the crowd and into the kitchen, where the sisters of Sigma Delta Omega had made us breakfast. I piled my plate with bacon, eggs, and waffles and went to find Jesse.

"Jake, they've got real coffee!" he shouted when he saw me.

I took a cup and we went out on the porch to eat with our parents. For the first few minutes things were pretty quiet as we wolfed down our food, but eventually the conversation turned to our relationship.

"So are you guys still interested in girls? Mr. Kim asked.

"I mean, sexually, yes," Jesse responded, "but I've kind of fallen in love with Jake while we were in jail, and I want to have a relationship with him, to the extent that being on house arrest will let us."

It was the first time Jesse had said he loved me and I grinned widely. "I'd like that too."

"Well, I guess this whole thing has had a silver lining, after all," My dad said.