Page 13 of Steel & Jenna
Jack was coming up fast on his bike. Despite the cool morning, he looked heated and had a bit of a sweat. He must have been pedaling double-time to make it. Skidding to a halt, his brakes squealed in protest. Jenna finally was able to make out what was behind his bike. It looked like a little red wagon had been attached to one of the back metal pieces on the bike. A blanket and pillow inside told her that he’d had a rider in it, but what was with all the rubber bands?
“You’re late!” she announced, but joy filled her voice. “I thought I’d missed you and you were already inside.” She left out the part where she thought he was making fun of her while watching her wait for him outside. That was such a mean thought, and she was ashamed it had ever crossed her mind.
“Sorry,” he apologized. He quickly dismounted and started to walk his bike to the rack to the left of the school. Right next to the tree she’d been waiting for him under. “I had to drop my sister off at the elementary school.”
Hehad to? Where were their parents? It hadn’t escaped her notice that he’d been the one taking her shopping in town too, likely for school supplies.
“That’s sweet of you.” Maybe he just wanted to see her off on her first day? But that wasn’t how he’d phrased it. “What grade is she?”
Jack bent to put a lock around his bike and the rack. “First. She’s actually got my old teacher this year.”
Jenna had guessed he was a local, but had secretly been hoping he was a transplant like her. At least then he could give her some advice on what to expect.
Grabbing the pillow and blanket from the wagon, Jack put them inside his backpack. Seeing her watching him, he explained, “It’s more comfortable for Lilly than sitting on the cold metal.”
Her heart did that stupid flip-flopping motion it had done whenshe’d seen him with his sister in town. He put being a good big brother over what their peers would say if they saw him carrying around a ‘blankie’ in his bag to high school. Jenna might have been in private school the first nine years of her education, but she was sure public school kids could be just as mean and judgmental.
As if sensing where her thoughts were, he let out a light chuckle. “Don’t worry. They give us the same lockers each year. I can put them in my locker before anyone sees. Not that I care if they did, but why make trouble?”
His confidence warmed her soul. How was he so sure of himself? She envied that trait a lot.
“Let’s get you to class.” Jack gestured towards the school.
Jenna did a double take, completely forgetting they were late. She nodded quickly and then turned to head towards the entrance again. They were only partway up the sidewalk before she realized what he’d said. ‘Getyouto class.’
“Aren’t you coming to class, too?” she asked with a trace of fear. She did not want to walk into class on her first day without knowing at leastoneperson.
“Once I get my usual lecture from Principal Foote, sure.”
“Usual lecture?”
He nodded, placing his hand at the small of her back to guide her up the stairs. It seemed like a ridiculous gesture. She knew how to walk up a set of stairs, and it wasn’t like it was that many stairs, but it still made her swoon inside. “I’m late from dropping off my sister at the elementary school. He doesn’t think that’s a reasonable excuse for arriving at or after the bell. So I take my detention like a good boy and then go pick her up from the after school program. They usually end around the same time, so it works out fine.”
Jenna’s jaw dropped some as they entered the school, Jack holding the door open for her. “You say that like it’s a normal thing?”
He shrugged, “It is. She was in kindergarten last year, but it still started at the same time and then she was in the after school program through the afternoon. We’re nearly keeping the same schedule, only she’s now got a full day of classes instead of a half day.”
“But… But…” He was talking like he was his sister’s sole caretaker. “I don’t understand. Where are you parents?”
He gave her a long glance out of the corner of his eye. “That’s a conversation for another day. Plus, Principal Foote is going to be coming around the corner any second.”
They headed down the long hall of red lockers until they stopped before a specific one. Her eyes landed on the number, seventy-two, and memorized it. If she was lucky, she would get a locker close to his.
He unlocked it with ease. Inside, Jenna saw a single picture that looked to be personal. Everything else, the old stickers and the writing, seemed too old to be his. He’d said he was a sophomore too on Saturday, which meant this locker had been his the year before but not longer than that. She knew that the town had separate elementary, middle, and high schools.
“Did you get a class schedule?” he asked as he placed his sister’s blanket and pillow in his locker. Nothing else was inside, which was expected as they hadn’t gotten any books yet.
Jenna reached into her leather shoulder bag to pull out the paperwork she’d gotten the week before when her parents had brought her to the high school for the first time. Her dad had wanted to walk her inside today, but Jenna had protested. She’d told him it was for the sake of appearances, when she’d really just wanted to wait for Jack to arrive. Plus, she knew he had to get back to Seattle.
She handed him the piece of paper as he slammed the locker closed. Just as he took it, a wiry man with gray hair and flakes on the shoulders of his dark suit came rushing around the corner. There was no hesitation in his step as he beelined for them.
“Mr. Duncan!” the principal snapped. “Late again! Not a good way to start off this year!” He was already pulling out a stack of yellow papers from the inside of his pocket. Jenna didn’t know what they were until Jack spoke.
“I’ll be late tomorrow, too, if you want to save yourself the time and hand me another detention slip.” Jack wasn’t even looking up at the man. His eyes were on the schedule she’d handed him.
Mr. Foote’s scowl deepened. He removed two pieces of yellowpaper and held them out to Jack. “You’re not going anywhere in life, Mr. Duncan. Just like your father. Why not just save both of us the time and energy and just not show up tomorrow, hm?”
Jack reached up to blindly take the papers, not bothering to reply. But Jenna could see it, the way he stiffened his shoulders and how his lip twitched like he was trying not to frown. What Mr. Foote had saiddidaffect him. He just wasn’t showing it.
