Chapter 5
It made Jenna feel a lot better to see the same disappointment she felt on Jack’s face at this knowledge.
She was surprised to see she was in with mostly eleventh graders for Precalculus.
They hadn’t even put her in with her own grade level.
Not that she minded, per se, but she felt a bit out of place.
In her old school, she’d been with the same people for the entire nine years of her education thus far.
Eleven, if she included preschool and kindergarten.
Apparently public schools, even in a small town, liked to mix things up.
A girl with extremely curly blonde hair, jeans, a baggie shirt that hung off one shoulder, and enough makeup to rival a circus clown sat down next to Jenna in Precalculus.
Other than the lack of a school uniform, she immediately reminded Jenna of the popular girls in her old school.
She even had that same hip swaying walk Jenna had always envied.
Despite who her father was and that she came from one of the most prominent families in Seattle, Jenna had never been one of the popular girls.
She was too awkward, too shy. The coordination it took to walk in high heels was not something she’d inherited, unlike Carolyn.
Her older sister wasn’t just one of the popular girls, she’d been the popular girl.
Still was—or she had been before their father had moved them to this small town on the upper Olympic Peninsula.
Jenna had had her friends, sure, but they had been more like fellow book acquaintances. No one she truly missed once she was away from them.
Yet, she felt like a piece of her soul was currently missing. Attached to a boy she’d just met who was across the school in the gymnasium. Was she going insane? Only just that morning, she’d thought he was standing her up and was staring down from one of the school windows, making fun of her.
No, she corrected herself. She’d feared that was what was happening, but she hadn’t actually believed it. That was more lack of confidence in herself than him.
“You’re Jenna Scanlon, right?”
Jenna’s head snapped up. Despite that their teacher had already started introductions and class, the blonde girl beside her was not paying attention. She was looking directly at Jenna with her leg crossed over her knee in the middle of the walkway between the desks.
“As in Scanlon Enterprises, the Scanlon Theatre and Opera House, the Scanlon-Drayer Arena, and Scanlon Eastside Hospital?”
Jenna blinked. The girl listed Jenna’s father’s businesses like Jenna needed a reminder of what her family owned.
While the list was impressive, and also a bit mind boggling coming from a stranger, it wasn’t even half of her father’s true holdings.
He had businesses outside of Seattle too, including Portland and Vancouver.
There was even talk about him building a subsidiary in New York City, but that was kept hush-hush.
The only reason Jenna knew about it was because she liked to read in her father’s home office by the fireplace.
She tended to be quiet enough that he either forgot she was there or thought she was too engrossed in her books to be paying attention to his conversations.
The girl stared at Jenna, her face screaming impatience. From her outfit, Jenna placed her to be high middle-class. Probably one of the richer families in this town. Her hair also had enough product in it to feed a family for a week.
Her mind went to Jack. He was certainly lean for his height, but didn’t look like he was starving. She hadn’t gotten that impression off of Lilly either. In fact, his little sister had a bit of chubbiness to her, but that could also be her young age and not a byproduct of overeating.
Before Jenna’s mind completely wandered off, she nodded to her neighbor.
There was no point in lying, not in this small town.
No doubt, half the school knew who she was and who her father was prior to her arrival.
Her father had not made any secret of the fact that he was moving his family to their summer home so his daughters could experience life outside the city—or at least, that was the reasoning he gave the reporters and his stockholders.
The ideal family man. That was the image her father upheld.
The girl’s impatient expression instantly changed to one of superiority.
She sat up straighter, the action pushing her enlarged bosom out even more.
Jenna’s meager B-cups didn’t even compare.
“Perfect. We’re going to be best friends.
My name is Mindy, but you should already know that.
I basically run this school. You’re only a sophomore, which is unfortunate, but don’t worry, I’ll vouch for you with the others.
” She leaned over some like she was divulging a secret, yet she was speaking loud enough for most of the class to hear. “They’ll listen to me or else.”
Jenna bit her tongue to keep from asking, “Or else what?” because she really didn’t want to know.
This girl was shallow, petty, and clearly had a superiority complex a mile wide. Jenna didn’t want to be anywhere nearer to her than she had to be.
“I heard Principal Foote assigned Jack Duncan to escort you around today. Don’t worry about that.
I’ll do it now.” Mindy said it with a trace of martyrdom, like she was sacrificing her life to the cause.
“There’s no reason to make your life harder by committing social suicide by being seen with the likes of Jack Duncan. ”
And yet, Mindy knew his name. From experience, Jenna knew that the students who truly didn’t matter in the social hierarchy went unknown. They were present, but no one knew or remembered their name. Sometimes, not even the teachers.
Jenna’s spine stiffened. In the five minutes that she’d been involved in this conversation, Jenna knew which of the two she’d rather have escort her around on her first day. Her inner woman even added her two cents: for the rest of her life.
“I appreciate that, but I’ll be just fine with Jack.”
Mindy’s eyes narrowed just slightly. Were she anyone else than her father’s daughter, Jenna had a feeling that Mindy’s sweet facade would have fallen completely at the rejection.
“Trust me,” she said with a slight sneer.
“Jack Duncan is not the sort you want to be seen with, especially on your first day. No one else will want to talk to you. And if he’s anything like his father, then your life might even be in danger just by being around him. I’m doing you a favor.”
A favor Mindy would no doubt be expecting repayment for. Jenna had played this social game her entire life, in and out of school. There was nothing Mindy was throwing at her that she hadn’t already dodged or been subjected to.
But Mindy’s words about Jack did catch her attention.
Though she wanted to ask what Mindy meant, she knew better than to.
Mindy’s view would clearly be twisted towards her cause.
Regardless of his father’s supposed sins, Jenna would rather hear about it from Jack than Mindy.
She’d seen how he was with his little sister.
That was proof enough in her eyes that he was not evil, even if his father was.
Though Mindy’s comment about his father did fit what she knew or suspected about his life. Something clearly was going on since it appeared Jack was raising his little sister more than their parents were.
“I’ll take my chances,” Jenna told Mindy.
Then, to solidify her point, Jenna faced forward once more.
She pulled her pencil out of the binding of her notebook to start taking notes.
The teacher—Jenna had missed his name—was already launching into an explanation of what lessons they would cover over the year and what to expect on their midterm and final exams.
“His father killed his mother,” Mindy sneered at her.
Shocked at those words, Jenna’s head snapped to the side to look at Mindy.
The blonde nodded, that air of superiority like an aura around her.
She leaned back a little in her chair as her face drooped into the fakest pout Jenna had ever seen.
She even blinked her eyes like she was trying to clear away non-existent tears.
“It was so sad. The entire town knows he did it too, but no one will arrest him. They say he buried her body in the backyard of their trailer.” The last word was spit out with venom, completely contradicting Mindy’s sorrowful demeanor.
Even if that was true, that only made Jenna feel sorry for Jack, not scared of him.
Jenna came from a life of privilege and her family was whole.
Despite how she didn’t fit into her mother’s perfect view of a debutant life or how much her mother wished Jenna was more outgoing, Jenna had never doubted her mom’s love for her or her sister.
In fact, it was that love that made both her parents so overprotective and driven, wanting to provide the best life for their daughters. To lose a parent…
Jenna winced. She couldn’t even fathom a life without her mom. To have one parent murder the other? Unimaginable.
Though Jenna did not reply to Mindy’s accusation about Jack’s family, the other girl preened as if she’d won a battle.
“Ask him, if you don’t believe me. I’ll give you to the end of the day to decide who you want your friends to be at this school.
” Mindy shifted herself forward as if she was going to start paying attention in class.
“Believe me, you don’t not want me as your friend. ”
The ultimatum was clear, the line drawn in the sand.
But it didn’t matter. Jenna’s heart had already made the decision for her.