Page 23

CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE

Precisely 10 minutes later, Garret shows up at my door holding my wet clothes. “You forgot these.” He tosses them to me. “And here, you can have this, too.” He holds out his sweatshirt.

I throw the wet clothes on the floor and snatch the sweatshirt from him. “But you said I couldn’t have it.”

“I was joking. Come on, Jade. Like I really care if you take my sweatshirt.”

“Thank you.” I give him a quick hug. I can’t seem to stop this hug thing. It’s happening without my control.

“You’re welcome. So where do you want to have breakfast? Do you want to go to Al’s? I know we’re going there tomorrow but—”

“No, Al’s is only for Sundays. Otherwise it ruins the tradition. Let’s just eat here. We don’t have to go out.”

“Ugh. I hate the cafeteria, especially at breakfast. Their eggs are like rubber.”

“The food there is good. You’re just spoiled.”

He spots the letter on the floor. “Is that it? Is that the letter?”

“Yes.” I pick it up and shove it in my desk drawer. “I’m trying not to think about it right now. Let’s just go eat breakfast.”

Despite Garret’s protests, we eat in the dining hall. A few minutes after we sit down, Ava saunters over wearing black yoga pants and a pink tank top, her hair pulled back with a thick white headband.

“What happened to you last night?” She takes a seat next to Garret, acting like I’m not even there. She moves over until she’s so close she’s touching him. “You left the party and never came back.”

“I had better things to do.” Garret pushes the eggs around his plate with his fork, not even glancing Ava’s way. “Why do you care if I left? Did you have something else you wanted to tell me?”

Ava’s eyes wander over to me and remain there as she leans over and whispers something to Garret.

He quickly shifts away from her. “We’re done here, Ava.”

She gets up, leaning over so that the cleavage from her fake boobs is practically in his face. “This goes both ways, Garret. You want me to keep my mouth shut to your dad, you better start acting like a real boyfriend.”

“What’s your problem, Ava?” The words shoot out of my mouth before I can stop them. Seeing her hanging all over Garret that way just set me off. “Why do you care if Garret and I do stuff together?”

She tilts her head and pouts her glossy pink lips. “Aww. The poor little orphan girl doesn’t understand. Garret, you should really explain how things work around here. You shouldn’t keep leading her on this way. It’s just sad.”

Garret stands up and gets in her face. “Go. Now.”

Ava smiles, pleased with herself. She takes her time walking away.

I lean across the table. “How does she know I don’t have parents? Did you tell her that?”

“You think I’d really tell her anything about you? Or us?”

“Then how does she know?”

“Everyone knows. It’s not some big secret. The people around here live for gossip. They always try to dig up whatever they can about people. Not just you. Everyone.”

I glance over at Ava’s table. She’s sitting with Sierra checking messages on her phone. “She really hates me, doesn’t she? Sierra does, too.”

“Just be glad they’ve left you alone. Normally if they decide they don’t like you, they make your life hell. But I’m sick of them pushing people around. They did it in high school, but they’re not freaking doing it here. And they’re definitely not pulling that shit with you.”

“Are you saying they had something planned?”

“When you first got here they were going to take you out for dinner pretending to be all nice and then leave you out in the middle of nowhere. In the dark. And that was just day one.”

“And they told you this?”

“I overheard Sierra talking about it at that party I took you to. I told her and Ava if they did anything to you I’d come after them.”

“You didn’t have to do that, Garret. I can handle myself. You should’ve just told me what they were up to and I would’ve taken care of it.”

“You can’t just take care of it. It’s like I keep telling you. It’s all a game. Bribes. Blackmail. That’s the only thing that gets them to back down.”

“So you bribed them or what?”

“I didn’t have to. My family practically runs this school. They donate a ton of money. My dad and grandfather are on all these boards and committees. They have a lot of influence here.” He glances over at Sierra and Ava. “If I wanted to, I could get those two kicked out of school. Well, maybe not Ava. At least not now.”

“Why? What did she say to you? And why was she telling you to act like her boyfriend?”

We hear Ava laughing from across the dining hall. Garret picks up his tray. “I can’t sit here anymore. Let’s go.”

On the walk back to my room, he’s quiet. Too quiet.

“Okay, I know you’re hiding something from me, Garret, so what is it?”

He sits down in my desk chair, leaning back and tapping a pencil on the desk. “My dad, or more likely Katherine, thinks it’s time for me to get a new fake girlfriend. Apparently Courtney isn’t generating enough press for the Kensington name so she’s been replaced by Ava.”

“Why Ava?”

“She was on some stupid reality show last year so she gets photographed a lot at events.”

“When did you find this out?”

“Ava told me at the party last night. I didn’t believe her so I called my dad and he confirmed it. He said it was both his and Katherine’s idea but I know it was all Katherine.”

“Do Ava’s parents get a say in this?”

“They were all for it. In fact they want me to go out with Ava for real. For some reason they like me. I have no idea why. I barely know them.”

“Why didn’t you tell me this last night?”

“We had enough going on last night.” He sees the distrust on my face. “I swear I was going to tell you about this. I just wanted to wait until after you had your talk with Frank.”

I’m not sure I believe him. “So you still didn’t tell me what she said to you just now.”

“Why do you have to keep talking about this? Just forget it.”

I stand in front of him determined to get answers. “I didn’t like the way she was whispering in your ear and whatever she said seemed to really piss you off. Just tell me what she said.”

He sets the pencil down and folds his arms across his chest. “You heard what she said. She wants me to act like a real boyfriend or she’ll start telling my dad about us again.”

“What does that mean? Take her out on a date?”

“Uh. No. She has plenty of guys who will take her out. And those guys can take care of her other needs as well because I’m sure as hell not doing it.”

“Wait. So she wants you to have sex with her?”

“It’s blackmail, Jade. Ava can get sex anywhere. She doesn’t need me for that.”

“Hold on. Let me get this straight. So if you sleep with her, then she won’t tell your dad about us. But if you did sleep with her, there would no longer be an us. So that logic makes no sense.”

He laughs, easing the tension that Ava has built up between us. “Yeah, she’s not that smart. She’s just being a bitch because she doesn’t like the fact that I’m with you.”

“Doesn’t she know we’re not dating? Tell her we’re just friends.”

He smiles just slightly and gazes at me with those gorgeous blue eyes. “Ava can see that you and I are more than friends.”

“What do you mean? It’s not like we’re making out in the hall.”

Garret unfolds his arms and holds both my hands. “Jade, aside from you, everyone on the planet can see that I’m completely crazy about this girl from Iowa who runs constantly and is addicted to potato chips.”

“Have I met this girl? Because she sounds really cool. I think we could hang out.” It’s a dumb response, but I wasn’t expecting to him say such a nice thing and I got nervous.

“I don’t know what you do to me, but whatever it is, I guess it shows on my face because everyone knows how I feel about you. Not just Ava.”

“Is my face showing anything?” I turn it right and left.

He holds it straight again, his hand cupping my chin. “No, because you’re not into me yet. I haven’t won you over. But I’m working on it.” He gives me a quick kiss.

Garret has totally won me over. I’m just trying desperately to hide it and I don’t even know why. Maybe because I still don’t trust him.

I go over and open the drapes in my room, letting the light in. “When does this fake relationship start?”

He sighs. “Next week there’s a charity event we have to go to but it’s during the day and it’s just for an hour, if that. They’ll get some photos of Ava and me together and then I’ll leave. But I’ll probably be forced to take her to that political fundraiser at my house in a few weeks.”

“That sounds fun,” I say in my most sarcastic tone.

“Yeah, I know.”

I lie down on the bed and gaze up at the lights. They aren’t even on and yet they still make me happy because Garret went to all that work to tack them up there. “She’ll probably get you drunk and have her way with you.”

Garret joins me on the bed, staring up at the ceiling. “I don’t get drunk anymore.” He reaches over and holds my hand. “And the only person getting her way with me is the one who’s lying next to me right now.”

My lips curl into a smile and I get that strange feeling inside that I can’t quite explain. A feeling I’m still not used to, but one I crave to have again and again.

“Jade?” He keeps looking up.

“Garret?” I say, mimicking him.

“Just in case I haven’t made myself clear, I like you. I like you a lot.”

My smiles grows. “I like you, too.”

We lie there quietly. I know I should call Frank but I also know that doing so will take away how good I feel right now and I just want a few more minutes of this.

“I think we fell asleep.” Garret sits up and checks the clock by the bed. He nudges me. “We just slept for an hour.”

“Really? It didn’t feel like an hour.” I get up from the bed. “I need to call Frank. I can’t keep putting it off.”

Garret comes over to me. “Do you want me to stay here while you talk to him?”

“No, I need to do this alone.”

Alone. There’s that word again. It’s the only way I ever do things.

“Okay. I’ll be right upstairs if you need me.” He holds his arms out. “But first, practice time.”

“Ugh, not again,” I groan, slumping my shoulders and pretending to be annoyed.

He picks up my arms and drags them around him. “I think you’re getting worse at this, Jade. Now tighten your arms up.”

I hug him and keep hold of him because now I’m really getting nervous about talking to Frank. What if he knew about my mom and never told me? But he wouldn’t keep something like that from me, would he?

Garret waits for me to end the hug, like he always does, but several minutes go by before I finally let him go.

“Still needs work,” Garret says, kissing the top of my head. “Come upstairs when you’re done with your call.”

When he’s gone I shut the door and get the letter from my desk drawer. I sit down at the desk and call Frank.

“Hello?” His voice sounds tired.

“Hi, Frank. It’s Jade.”

“Hi, Jade. Do you have any fun plans for tonight?” Frank coughs loudly into the phone.

“No, I don’t have any plans. Are you sick or something?”

“Yes, I woke up with a cold this morning. Probably from too much activity.”

“Did you go out last night? I called and you weren’t there.”

“Ryan’s girlfriend insisted I go to the movies with them. I told her it would ruin their date night but she kept insisting I go so I did. Chloe’s a very nice girl. Very considerate. I hope it works out with those two.”

“Wow, you haven’t been to the movies in years.”

“Yes, I know. Chloe’s right. I should get out more. I had a good time. So did you do something with your friends last night?”

“Um, yeah.” Technically, Garret is a friend so I’m not really lying.

“What did you do?”

“We just hung out here.”

“You and Harper? I thought she went out on Friday nights.”

This small talk is making me anxious. I just want to get this over with. He either knows about my mom or he doesn’t. I stand up and start pacing the floor, but my movement is limited by the short phone cord so I stand in place, twirling the cord around my finger.

“Harper was at a party so I hung out with Garret.”

He’s silent for a moment. “Well, as long as you had fun.” I can tell that Frank still hates Garret for ignoring me all those weeks. And he isn’t too thrilled with me, either, for letting Garret back in my life.

“Frank, I have something to ask you.” I’m so nervous. But I shouldn’t be. It’s just Frank. He’s practically my father.

“Go ahead. What do you need to ask me?”

“I, um, I opened that letter you gave me. The one from Mom.”

“Yes.” He moves away from the phone to cough again. “So what did it say?”

“Well, it wasn’t about her hopes and dreams for me. It said something really strange. I’m not even sure I believe it.” I hold up the letter with the familiar handwriting. Just seeing it makes me shudder. “She said that a man attacked her back in college when she was working on a political campaign. She said he, um, he raped her. And that’s why I’m here.”

There’s a loud noise as the phone on Frank’s end drops either to the table or the floor. “Frank? Are you still there?”

Jumbled sounds fill the line, then I hear his voice again. “What else did the letter say?” His tone is almost angry.

“She said that the man left her almost dead on the side of the road and that when she woke up in the hospital nobody believed her story. Not even the police. Or the doctors. No one. And then she got threatening phone calls.”

Frank remains silent. All I hear is his labored breathing.

“She said somebody purposely caused an explosion at my grandparents’ house. But I thought you said they died in a fire. Isn’t that what you told me?”

His breathing gets faster, causing him to cough again.

“Frank, did you hear me?”

“Yes.” He clears his throat.

“So what do you think?” I feel a giant knot forming in my stomach when he doesn’t answer. “Why aren’t you saying anything?”

The silence continues. I wonder if he passed out, but then I hear him breathing hard again.

“Frank, did you know about any of this?”

After another long uncomfortable silence, he finally speaks. “Yes, Jade. I knew about all of it.”

“What?” I slump down on the floor, leaning my back against the wall, the letter still in my hand. “What do you mean?”

“Your mother and I were friends back then.”

“I know you were friends, but in this letter she said she didn’t tell anyone. Well, she told the police and the hospital workers, but they didn’t believe her.” I quickly scan the letter again. “She said the only other people she told were her parents and a counselor and—” I find the section and read it again. “And a reporter from the newspaper.” It finally hits me. “Were you the reporter?”

“I was her friend first, Jade. That’s why she told me. But yes, I was the reporter. I was working at the newspaper covering the caucus. Your mother was hoping I could convince my editor to do a story on what happened and maybe get the guy to confess. But I couldn’t do it. There was no evidence. I never told anyone your mother’s story. Even after all these years.”

“But everyone who knew either kept quiet or was . . .” I flip the letter over.

“Killed.” His tone is cold. It doesn’t even sound like Frank.

The phone is silent until I’m able to speak again.

“So my grandparents—it wasn’t an accident?”

“No. This man knew your grandparents wouldn’t keep his secret. Plus their deaths were a warning for your mother to keep quiet.”

“Why didn’t he just kill her? I don’t understand.”

“I don’t either. I’ve never understood that. And luckily he never found out that she told me. If he had, I probably wouldn’t be here right now.”

“You’re scaring me, Frank. What really happened back then? And why didn’t you ever say anything to me?” My hands are now shaking and I drop the letter on the floor.

“I didn’t think your mother would ever tell you about this. If I’d known that’s what she wrote in that letter, I never would’ve—” He stops.

“Never would’ve what? Let me see it?” I get up from the floor, my anger building again. “Why would you hide something like that from me?”

“It’s the past, Jade. And you need to leave it there.” His tone is stern and somewhat threatening.

“What is wrong with you? Why are you acting like this? Tell me what happened. My mom was crazy so half of the stuff in this letter probably isn’t even true, right?”

“It’s all true. And your mother wasn’t crazy when she wrote that. She didn’t even drink back then. She was as normal as you and me.”