Chapter 26
“Wait — what?” I say, grabbing Trystan’s arm. “He’s not her dad. Someone told me her dad died a long time ago.”
“He’s her stepdad. Her mom’s fifth husband.”
“But he’s too young to be her stepdad.”
“Her mom likes younger men. All her husbands have been younger than her.”
“Shit.” I squeeze my eyes shut. “I just hit the principal’s daughter. I’m gonna kicked out of school.”
“Nah. Dad won’t let that happen. He’ll just throw money at whatever project Principal Edwards wants done.”
“Like a new school,” I mutter.
“What?” Trystan says.
“Nothing. Forget it. Let’s go home.”
We go to his car, and on the drive home, I keep thinking I just helped Twisted Pine with their plan to build another school. Brock will have to donate tons of money because of me. Money that will be used to expand the school.
Maybe that’s not a bad thing. I haven’t seen the school trying to do anything illegal or cover stuff up, like Jackson claims they do. Maybe he was wrong or just made it up, so I’d get the info he wants from Braden to help the Legion team win.
I’m so confused right now. Everything was fine this morning, and then Shayla told me that story about Andrea, and Kristen had to open her big mouth, and now everything’s gone to hell.
At five, I’m in my room when I get a call from Jackson. I’m guessing he heard what happened.
“Hey,” I answer. “You heard?”
“Yeah.”
“I couldn’t help myself. She wouldn’t shut up. She said I couldn’t see you anymore and then called me trash.”
“I know. She told me.”
“You talked to her?”
“Just now. She said she’d had a fight with her mom right before that and she just lost it.”
“And you believed her?”
“If you knew her mom, you wouldn’t question it. Her mom’s really tough on her. It’s not a good relationship.”
“And that excuses what Kristen said to me?”
“Not at all. I’m just telling you what she said.”
“And now you’re mad at me for hitting her.”
“I’m not mad. But it does make things harder. You’ve got a spotlight on you. People are going to be watching you. Wondering if you’re really who they thought you were.”
“Jackson, I don’t know if I can keep playing the good little girl with perfect manners who never gets mad. It’s not me. I don’t fit in there and people are eventually going to figure out it’s an act.”
“You don’t have to be perfect. Nobody expects that.
You just need to play along. The people there all have their own demons.
Things they wouldn’t want anyone to know.
But they don’t show that side at school.
That’s all you have to do. Just play along when you’re there and be yourself when you get home. ”
“I may not even go there anymore after hitting the principal’s daughter. Why didn’t you tell me he was her dad?”
“I thought you knew.”
“No! I had no idea.”
“Rumor, I can’t talk right now. I’m supposed to be with team. I was just calling to give you an update about your dad. The guy I hired to find him just got back to me.”
“Yeah? What’d you find out?”
“He couldn’t find him at any of the rehab places around LA. I had him check some other places, even some outside the state, and he couldn’t find him at any of those either.”
“Maybe he used a fake name.”
“He checked for that. I can have him check again but as of now he says there’s a good chance the rehab story isn’t true.”
“Then where would he be?”
“I don’t know. Rumor, I really have to get going. We’ll talk more tonight, okay?”
“Yeah. Bye.”
I put the phone down and lay down on my bed, staring up at the ceiling.
What a shitty day. How could so much go wrong in one day?
After that fight at school, I have no clue what’s going to happen next. Will Braden kick me out of his inner circle for hitting Kristen? I’m sure she’ll tell him to, which will end my plan to take down Braden and help Jackson.
As if the fight wasn’t enough to ruin my day, Jackson calls, telling me he can’t find my dad. Where the hell is he? Why won’t Brock tell me? What is he hiding?
And that story Shayla told me about Andrea. Is any of it true? If it is, I’m either living with a killer or dating one.
My life’s a mess. And I have a feeling it’s about to get a lot messier.
THE END