Chapter 34 – [Monday April 8, 2002]
Amber’s own spring break far surpassed in her own mind what she perceived Jordan’s to be like (and likely did in reality as well). She, her sister Anna, and her parents had traveled to their family’s timeshare in Hawaii for the week. The tan she returned with helped her to regain some confidence and actually reduced her sense of jealousy for her school menace, the teen-author.
Why do I even care that people think she’s so great? Does she even know how to dress? Does she know how to carry herself? Does she got a tan like THIS? She’s the lowest hanging fruit of BCS. Who even cares if she’s popularity or not? The bully had thought to herself that morning walking onto the bus feeling self-assured as ever.
Nicole on the other hand had spent her spring break helping her mother with her housekeeping jobs around the Ballard area and was pissed she didn’t get to keep any of the money; it all had to go toward the school bill. When she returned to school by Monday morning, she was in a pissy mood and wanted all the more to make someone else’s life as miserable as her own.
Why does that tall brat Jordan get all the breaks? What!? She writes some stupid story and they start throwing money her way and send her across the country on a tour? What about me? I work really hard! I deserve—
Her thoughts were cut off by seeing her friend Amber, walk down the aisle of the bus toward her usual seat near the back.
“Looks like you had a good break.” Nicole tried to hold back her smile despite her putrid mood.
“Yeah it was really amazing Nicole, I want you to come with us sometime. Dad says you can. It’s just awesome.” She said as she sat, almost glowing, and looked out the window. “So what’d you do? How was break back home?”
“Pretty crappy all in all. I didn’t even get to keep any money. It all had to go to my bill.” Nicole said dryly.
“Oh that sucks. Sorry.”
“Yeah. But, whatever. At least I can salve my pain with a little havoc on someone else’s part…Here she comes.” Looking up at Jordan who was just entering the bus and receiving a number of high fives on her way down the aisle, Nicole’s blood boiled with jealousy.
“Yeah I guess.” Amber said with little enthusiasm.
“Hey what’s up sticks? Have a good trip on your world stilt tour?” Nicole stuck her foot out to trip the tall girl as she walked by but Jordan had long become accustomed to her tormenter’s games and she easily stepped over it and made her way several rows back. Jordan made no other response.
“What if we just laid off a while Nicole?” Amber whispered calmly. “Why do we care so much about a stupid seventh grader anyways? It’s not like she’s taken anything from us. It’s not like she knows how to dress or comb her hair…or like she can play a single sport. She’s good at one thing. Why are so bothered by that?”
“What the hell Amber? What’s wrong with you?” Nicole waved her hand in front of Amber’s face and snapped her hands.
“I don’t know. I just think we’ve been wasting a lot of time all jealous about her gaining a little popularity and maybe it’s a little overkill. I mean. Doesn’t it say something about our lives if all we have to do is try to make someone else miserable?”
“What the hell is that supposed to mean Amber?” Nicole said hissed defensively.
“Sorry Nikki, I didn’t mean it like that. I’m just saying maybe I’m getting tired of it right now.”
Just then Joey Michael and another player, an 8th grader, from the school’s baseball team got on the bus and walked right past both Amber and Nicole and sat across from Jordan, high fiving her and congratulating her on the national broadcast of the story, asking her about Natalie Portman, and generally making a big deal of her spring break trip. The snub had felt duplicitous and intentional to the pair of girls, namely Amber.
Almost instantly, her sense of goodwill and gratitude melted off and the cold sheen of ice returned to match her counterpart’s. “That fucking bitch!” she whispered.
“I thought you just sai—”
“Shut up! This is war now.” Amber said with fire in her eyes.
During English class that morning Mr. Johns had tried to further gauge the damage in the fractured relationship between he and Jordan by calling on her several times for answers, which had been met by short verbalizations and grunts.
When the bell rang at the end, he called for her to stay after class and she had acted as though she hadn’t heard, scurrying out the door and down the hall.
Wow. He thought, apparently the rift is pretty serious. I’ve got some work to do.
Over the course of the remainder of their trip in Washington D.C., Jordan had pretty much been bedridden and Mr. Johns had tried to make himself as scarce as possible. He even had rented the adjacent hotel room to make all the obvious bodily function issues less ‘in your face’ that final night in which Jordan was out of the hospital but not yet home. Mrs. Johns had helped look after her but she was uncomfortable as well and Jordan had insisted that she could take care of herself.
The ride to the airport on Friday morning had been tense and quiet. Jordan’s responses to questions and invitations had been about as short and nippy as those he had witnessed in class on this particular Monday morning. Clearly, she had not taken the news about her dad and the board vote very well.
In a conversation at the D.C. airport with his wife when Jordan had plodded away to go to the bathroom, she had finally scolded him for telling the girl about the private political details of the school and shelter.
“What were you thinking Tyler? Why would she ever need to know about that stuff? She’s a student! How could that possibly be helpful?”
“I just…she…I don’t know…I just felt bad for her…that we found out all this personal stuff about her and I wanted to let her in on a little of our lives…to be fair…”
She shook her head, “That’s a dangerous game Tyler. You have no idea how this could play out for you. You’re the teacher here. You need to know better.” Her voice had taken on a motherly and instructive tone.
“I know…I know…it was stupid…it’s just been so awkward on this trip…maybe you were right in the first place…that we shouldn’t even have come…I hope this doesn’t come back to bite us somehow…maybe we should’ve protected ourselves…looked after our family first…”
Adrian had smiled inside knowing she was right, “Tyler it’s ok; no harm no foul and in this case. I’m sure all that’ll come from it is a strained or broken relationship with your student; but maybe she’ll come around. It’s not like the board meeting minutes are private and you didn’t spill the beans on the blackmailer’s name. So you haven’t dug yourself some kind of legal hole though.”
“It’s just so dumb. I wish none of this would’ve happened and we could go back 10 days and try it one more time.”
But of course it had happened and that Monday morning after spring break, the inexperienced teacher felt as though all the work he had put into building a rapport with Jordan and investing in her writing and trying to mitigate the damage her father was causing had all gone to pot.
It makes me want to not even try so hard if this is all that happens… He couldn’t help but think to himself as his next class filed into the classroom. I’m not sure how much of this I can take. Maybe I should’ve just played ‘chicken’ with that bastard Yates.
“So I guess our mom’s are besties now huh?” Alex said as she crammed three French fries in her mouth. The two were sitting together outside on a stone wall side by side looking out over a spit of the Puget Sound. The playground was to their left and they could hear smaller kids screaming and playing.
“What? ‘Besties’? What the hell does that mean?” Jordan asked genuinely confused, poking a few fries of her own in her mouth.
“You’ve never heard of ‘besties’? It means best friends, best buds, pals; it’s what we are. Our moms – they’re like old chums hanging out all the time again.” Alex said smiling and happy to be back at school in her most comfortable realm again.
“Oh. Really? They are?”
“Jordan! You haven’t noticed how they’re always going to coffee together? They’ve practically gone every Friday. Why do you think you’re home all afternoon or over at my place all the time? My mom’s pretty mad at your Dad too. I didn’t realize he was being such a jerk.” Alex said just trying to make conversation. She, in fact, had heard quite a bit more about the divorce case, lawyers, and stress than Jordan.
“Yeah he’s kind of lost his mind.” Trying to change the subject, Jordan asked, “So how’s your dad doing? What’s it been like with him home? It’s been what, two months now?”
Alex smiled brightly. “I can’t even tell you Jordan. You haven’t been over much when he’s home from work have you? He’s like a totally different person. I mean he’s still dad. But really, I’ve had to get to know him all over again for the first time. So in some ways it’s been hard and in other ways it’s been really cool; cuz he knows me…like for real…but yet not really, you know?”
Jordan nodded her head.
“Like the other day we went out to ice cream together as a family. (Never used to happen when Dad was drinking). And for some reason he knew that I always eat Rocky Road Ice cream. So weird!” She smiled. “But yet he like totally forgot that I’ve been looking forward to being on the track team this spring for like pretty much as long as I’ve been alive.” She almost rolled her eyes.
“Wow that is weird. I bet it’s kinda fun though.” Jordan said, encouraging her.
“Yeah, it’s totally new. Sad in some ways. But really good. He says he’s gonna come Wednesday to our meet too…Hey will you come?” Thinking for minute she added, “JOEY’s gonna be there.” She smiled and raised her eyebrows. “I heard what happened on the bus this morning. You really showed Amber and Nicole what’s up!”
“What?! All I did was sit there and talk to a couple boys.” Jordan said feigning ignorance.
“Whatever girl! You loved every minute of that!” She was giggly with joy. “I’m gonna be running the 100 meter dash and the four by 100. And your boy Joey is doing the same plus the 200 meter and I think he’s doing the high jump too.”
“He’s not my boy Alex.” Jordan said firmly with a straight face. She couldn’t hold it for long however and in an instant they both burst into laughter.
“So how was your trip? I never really got an update. It was like you dropped off the face of the planet after you left.” Alex asked nonchalantly and not knowing about any of the drama.
“Oh…well…it was ok…I guess.” Jordan replied quickly taking a long drink.
Alex rolled her eyes seeing through the ruse and said, “Yeah, it sounds like it. Anything else?” She raised her eyebrows and looked at Jordan.
“Well…” the young author said in a whispered voice, leaning over toward her friend, “I ended up in the hospital again.”
“What?! Jordan! What’s wrong with you? Jeez! What happened?”
“SHHHH!” Jordan glared at her friend. “I got another infection. I had to wear one of my things on the plane because it was an all night flight and then I didn’t have a change of clothes and I couldn’t change in the bathroom because Mrs. Johns kept following me everywhere so I had to have it on for like 18 hours or somethin—”
“Like…wet?” Alex asked with a disgusted look on her face.
“Well…yeah…It was an all night flight and it got a little wet and I got stuck—”
“ICK!!!” Alex interrupted again, making a shivering action with her arms outstretched in mock gagging.
“Are you gonna let me talk or what Alex? Besides, you’re on the verge of hurting my feelings. This is my life remember? And I don’t think it’s that funny.”
Alex snapped out of her chipper mood and looked a bit more serious. “Sorry Jordan. I just…Sorry.”
“Well…so…Natalie Portman was pretty disappointing. She wouldn’t hardly even talk with me. She just ate and looked at this fancy phone she had and was texting. It had a color screen, which I had never seen before. That was cool I guess. When I asked her about the Star Wars movie, she said she couldn’t answer any questions about it because of some contact she signed or something. The only thing that happened was we went to breakfast with her and she ignored me and the Johns’ and then we left. It was SO lame.”
“Oh really? That’s super lame.” Alex said truthfully.
“Oh yeah…and when I was in the hospital, my dad called and tried to apologize to me or something. It was really weird. I couldn’t figure it out. At first I wondered if he was trying to butter me up or manipulate me or something, but then I just wondered if something had happened to him. He called me again this week too as soon as I got home ‘just to check on me’. I swear, he hasn’t shown me this much concern and attention since I was like three. It was the strangest thing ever…”
“Wow Jordan, that is strange. He didn’t say anything either time? Like that something happened?”
“Well, not really. But after I talked with him in the hospital, the weirdest thing of all happened. And I think I figured out why my dad was calling so much…” Jordan went on to tell Alex about Mr. Johns’ revelation regarding the Hope Seattle board vote and the blackmail accusation. She told her how angry she had become at Mr. Johns and how tense the remainder of the trip had been.
“That’s heavy. I can’t believe your dad would do something like that.”
“In a way it is shocking. But in another way I can see it. He’ll do almost anything to get what he wants. It’s just another thing in a long line of terrible things he’s done. I feel like I’m getting to know my real dad little by little over the past six months.” Jordan said with little emotion.
“Jeez. I’m really sorry Jordan.”
“What a jerk too; Mr. Johns? Way to stand up in class every day and preach principles constantly and tell us how we have to ‘stand up for justice’ – but then when you get a chance to do the right thing, you bend over and take it up the tailpipe?”
Jordan hadn’t heard the figure of speech before but she laughed and agreed. “Yeah, seriously. He’s pretty unbelievable. I’m so angry at him – and so is my mom. What a joke!”
The ball rang, and the two friends got up to face the rest of their day.