Better Late Than Never

Chapter 6

JENNA RACKED HER BRAIN, trying to think of a reason for being called to the office so that she could come up with a story or an excuse to get out of it. She'd done plenty of bad things in her time at Meadowbrook, but she hadn't broken any major school rules recently. She hadn't been cutting classes--not for a while, anyway. She hadn't cheated on any tests lately. Come to think of it, she'd been unusually good the past couple of weeks, not even going to the mall and hanging out with Slug and Skank, the lowlife types she'd befriended on the street. She hadn't even seen them since they'd been picked up for shoplifting.

What could be so big that she'd be called out of class? Had they looked in her locker and found something bad? Okay, it was a mess, but there weren't any cigarettes or drugs or alcohol stashed away. Surely you didn't get called to the office for a couple of Kit Kat bars.

Then another possibility occurred to her, and she felt sick. Her mother . . . had something happened to her mother? Her legs turned to jelly and she stopped walking. That was definitely the kind of thing a person would be called out of class for--a family situation. Something really terrible, like an accident or … or worse.

Her mother. She was weak, she was an alcoholic, she'd never win any mother-of-the-year prizes, but jenna loved her. And the thought of losing her . . .

"Jenna? Are you all right?"

The concerned voice belonged to Mr. Gonzalez, the school counselor. Jenna had been forced to have sessions with him after her stint in the juvenile detention center. He was nice enough, but she'd put so much effort into lying to him during their sessions that she couldn't tell him the truth now.

"Sure, I'm fine. I'm just on my way to, um . . ."

"The principal's office?" He smiled. "It's okay. I know all about it. If you need to talk later, you know where I am." And he ambled off.

He left Jenna gaping. He knew why she'd been called to the office, and he was smiling. So she couldn't be in trouble and it couldn't be anything terrible, like her mother being hurt. It had to be something else.

Then she wanted to kick herself. Why hadn't she read his mind? Then she'd already know!

She moved quickly now, down the hall, around the corner, and up the half flight of stairs to the administration wing. When she walked into the main office, the secretary recognized her, but for once she wasn't wearing a reproving look. She beamed at Jenna and picked up the phone.

"Jenna Kelley is here, Mr. Jackson." She put down the phone. "You can go right in, Jenna."

Still feeling shaky, Jenna went to the door and rapped. A familiar booming voice rang out. "Come in, Jenna."

She opened the door. The heavyset principal was behind his desk, and for the first time ever, he looked pleased to see Jenna. There were two chairs facing the principal's desk, and a man was sitting in one of them.

He turned as Jenna approached, and she thought he looked vaguely familiar. "Hello, Jenna," he said.

It was his voice that put the memory in focus. This was the man who had come to the door yesterday looking for her mother.

"Hello," she said uncertainly.

"Sit down," the principal said, and as she did, once again she became nervous. Had this strange man come to give her bad news about her mother? No, that couldn't be it. He, too, was smiling. And Emily had been right about something--he was definitely handsome.

The principal spoke. "I'd like you to meet Mr. Stuart Kelley."

Jenna's eyes darted back and forth between the principal and the strange man. Kelley was a pretty common name, but she had to ask.

"Are you related to me?"

The man nodded and spoke gently. "I'm your father, Jenna."

His voice was soft, and Jenna was certain that she'd misheard him. "What?"

The principal repeated, "This is your father, Jenna. He's been searching for you for--how long, Mr. Kelley?"

"A long time," the man said, smiling. "But now I've finally found you, Jenna."

Jenna narrowed her eyes. She didn't know what kind of scam this guy was trying to pull, but she wasn't about to fall for it. She turned to the principal.

"This is a mistake, Mr. Jackson. I don't have a father."

Mr. Jackson gave her a jovial smile. "Everyone has a father, Jenna, even if they don't know who he is. It takes two, you know." He uttered a hoarse laugh at his silly remark.

Jenna had never much liked the principal, and now she really disliked him. She stood up.

"Can I go back to my class now?" Boy, those were words she'd never expected to hear herself saying. Of course, she'd never expected to be confronted by some prankster claiming to be her father.

"Sit down, Jenna!" Mr. Jackson's tone had changed--now he was his usual authoritative self. She sat down, but she didn't look at the man. She kept her wary gaze on the principal.

"This man is your father," Mr. Jackson declared. "I have checked his credentials, and I am satisfied with the evidence he has provided."

What evidence? Jenna wondered, but she didn't ask. She tried to do a quick read of the principal's mind, but all she could come up with was a confirmation that Mr. Jackson didn't like her any more than she liked him.

"Look at me, Jenna," the strange man said quietly. Despite herself, she did. He had nice eyes--a deep, rich blue, like hers. But lots of people had blue eyes.

"I can understand how you feel," Stuart Kelley went on. "What I did to you and your mother--it was a terrible thing. But I wasn't a very nice person back then. I was young and restless and I didn't want any responsibilities. I loved your mother, but when she told me she was pregnant, I couldn't deal with it. I didn't have the maturity. So I left."

Jenna steeled herself to stare right back into those blue eyes. "Where did you go?"

"California." He smiled in an almost sheepish way. "I was a good-looking kid, and I thought I could make it in the movies."

Jenna eyed him skeptically. "Did you? Are you some famous movie star I've never heard of?"

He laughed. "Hardly. Did you ever see Invasion of the Mile-High Martian Zombies?"

Jenna shook her head.

"I don't think it was ever released in theaters. I'm pretty sure it went directly to DVD. I was one of three hundred Martian zombies on stilts. You can't pick me out because we all wore the same mask. And I didn't even get a credit. So no, I'm not a famous movie star. I'm an unknown DVD extra."

At least he was able to poke fun at himself, Jenna thought. But she'd watched enough crime dramas on TV to know that scam artists were usually charming.

"How did you know you had a daughter?" she challenged him.

"Your mother had a friend, Sylvia Tinsley. You wouldn't remember her--she passed away ten years ago. But we stayed in touch, and she wrote me that Barbara gave birth to a little girl."

"But you didn't come back," Jenna stated.

"No." He bowed his head. If he was an actor, Jenna was surprised he hadn't made it big in Hollywood. The guy looked really sad.

"How did you find me?"

"Research. The Internet." He gave her a half smile. "Your little brush with the police had one positive consequence: your name got on a database or two."

"I never did drugs, you know, no matter what you read," Jenna declared. "I was just with some people who had them." Now, why had she said that? What did she care if this total stranger thought she was a druggie?

"Perhaps I should leave you two alone so you can have a private reunion," Mr. Jackson said as he started to get out of his chair.

"No!" Jenna cried out. "I mean, that's not necessary. Nice to meet you, Mr. Kelley. Can I please go now, Mr. Jackson?'

The principal's eyes darkened, but Stuart Kelley seemed much more understanding. "I know this must come as a huge shock, Jenna. And this is a difficult time for you, with your mother in rehabilitation."

Wow! He really did know a lot about her, Jenna thought, but she said nothing.

"I can understand if you don't want to have any-kind of relationship," he continued. "But would you mind if I contacted the family you're staying with?

Perhaps I could visit you there, if it's okay with you."

Jenna swallowed, trying to lose what felt like a gigantic lump in her throat. She supposed there wasn't any harm in that. And the Devons were smart people. They'd be able to figure out who he was and what he was really up to.

So she shrugged. "Whatever."

This time she didn't bother to ask the principal's permission. She turned and walked out.

The secretary, still smiling, handed her a note that would allow her to show up late to whatever class she was supposed to be in now. But that wasn't where she went. Instead, she walked down a silent hall and went straight into a restroom. She needed time alone to think.

"Who was this guy? And what did he want from her? He had to be pulling some kind of scam, but why? It wasn't as if he could kidnap her and ransom her for money.

Mr. Jackson claimed there was evidence that this Stuart Kelley really was her father. But why would he come looking for her? So he could claim her and get the welfare allowance the state gave her mother? But it wasn't much money--hardly worth the effort. None of this made any sense at all.

She was almost relieved to hear the bell ring. At least class would be a distraction. She left the restroom and practically collided with Amanda Beeson.

"There you are!" Amanda exclaimed. "I've been looking everywhere for you!"

"What do you want?" Jenna asked, knowing her rudeness would have no effect whatsoever on Amanda.

She was right. Amanda practically shoved her back into the restroom. "I have a favor to ask you."

The door to one of the stalls opened, and a girl Jenna vaguely recognized came out. She was Nina something, a friend of Amanda's.

"Hi, Amanda. You're Jenna Kelley, aren't you?"

"Yeah, so what?"

"So nothing. I just didn't know you two were friends." Nina sauntered out of the restroom.

The color drained from Amanda's face. Despite everything she'd just been through, Jenna burst out laughing. Clearly, poor Amanda was devastated at having been caught talking to notorious bad girl Jenna Kelley.

She almost felt sorry for Amanda--but not quite. "Why would I do you a favor?"

Amanda recovered from her shock and faced her squarely. "Do you want me to tell everyone you still sleep with a teddy bear?"

"I'll just call you a liar," Jenna replied.

Amanda grinned meanly. "I have a photo."

Jenna doubted that. When Amanda had been Tracey and they'd slept in the same room, she didn't recall ever seeing a camera. And with everything else on her mind now, and her reputation not exactly squeaky clean, did she really care if people knew she slept with a teddy bear?

But she had to admit--she was curious to know what Amanda could possibly want her to do. "What kind of favor?"

"I want you to read Ken's mind. I've been flirting with him like crazy, and he's totally not responding."

Jenna cocked her head to one side. "Did it ever occur to you that maybe Ken just doesn't want to be with you?"

"No," Amanda replied. "There's got to be another reason.You have to find out what it is."

It was so annoying--the way Amanda just assumed that every girl wanted to be her friend and every boy was madly in love with her. And there was something else about this that bugged Jenna.

"Weren't you listening when Madame said we shouldn't use one another to exploit our gifts?"

"Since when do you do what the teachers say?" Amanda retorted.

She had a point. But Jenna shook her head. "Look, Amanda, if he's not interested in you, then he's not thinking about you. What difference would it make if I found out that he was thinking about--I don't know--football, or soccer, or macaroni and cheese? How would that help you?"

Amanda was momentarily at a loss for words.

"I've got a better idea," Jenna said. "You're a body snatcher. Why don't you just take over his body? Then you could fall in love with yourself. It shouldn't be too difficult, considering how conceited you are."

And she walked out of the restroom, pleased that for two whole minutes she hadn't thought about the mysterious Mr. Kelley.