Now You See Me

CHAPTER EIGHT

JENNA SANK INTO THE chair in the lounge and looked at the TV screen without even seeing what was on it. She supposed she could take advantage of the fact that for once she was alone in the lounge, and she could watch something she wanted to watch. But she wasn’t in the mood for TV.

She wasn’t in the mood for anything. It was 5 p.m. on a Friday afternoon, and she’d been at Harmony House for three days. What would she be doing if she wasn’t here? Waiting for her mother to come home from work, and thinking about what they might have for dinner. Maybe throwing some things in a backpack for one of the regular Friday night sleepovers at Tracey’s. Checking online to see if there were any good movies playing in town.

Instead, she was imprisoned in a facility for bad teenagers, and she wasn’t bad. And right now, all the really bad teenagers were enjoying visits from friends and families, while she, Jenna Kelley, who had done absolutely nothing wrong, was all alone.

That Landers woman had said she couldn’t have visitors or phone calls for the first forty-eight hours. Those forty-eight hours were over twenty-four hours ago, and she’d had neither a visitor nor a phone call.

Peter Blake, the creepy resident assistant, came into the lounge.

‘It’s visiting hours,’ he announced.

‘Yeah, I know,’ Jenna muttered.

‘Guess you didn’t get any visitors,’ he commented.

Jenna didn’t think she needed to dignify that with an answer.

He turned to leave, but looked back at her from the door. His lips curved unpleasantly into a smile that was more like a sneer. ‘I wonder why.’

So did Jenna. Not one visitor, yesterday or today. Not from her mother, not from Tracey or Emily. She’d harboured a faint hope that Madame might have come to visit her. OK, maybe she acted like she didn’t give a damn what Madame thought about her, but deep in her heart she did trust the teacher, and she thought the teacher trusted her. But now she had to wonder if maybe Madame thought she belonged in this prison.

At first she was surprised by the lack of calls and visits — now she was depressed. Did they all believe she’d really come to school armed with a butcher’s knife? Had they all abandoned her? Was her very own mother on the phone right now to Social Services telling them to keep her daughter for ever?

It hurt, bad. Even during the worst times of her life, when her mother was drinking and Jenna was basically living on the streets, she couldn’t remember feeling so low. So alone.

This morning, she’d had another meeting with that doctor, Paley. He’d asked her if she was making friends here at Harmony House. She’d lied and said yes, just to get him of her back. It wasn’t like she could tell him she’d read a few minds and realized there wasn’t anyone here she wanted to make friends with. So many of them were like the people she’d known before, on the streets.

She didn’t even have to read minds to know that some of them were just deadly dull. Every day, there were ‘group’ sessions she had to attend. Around ten residents gathered with a counsellor to talk. What they mostly did was complain and find other people to blame for their situations — usually a mother or a father. It was boring.

So she’d been hanging out by herself, eating alone, not making any effort to connect with anyone. She supposed there had to be some decent people here, but she just couldn’t get up the energy to make the effort to find them.

She’d been almost glad when another resident assistant, Carrie, told her she was getting a roommate yesterday. But when the new girl, Kristy, arrived, Jenna could see right away that her life was only going to get worse.

She didn’t look terrible — in fact, she was something of a goth herself, with dyed black hair and several prominent piercings. She even had tattoos, something Jenna hadn’t got into yet. But the minute Carrie left them alone together in the bedroom, Kristy reached into her bag and pulled out a cigarette.

Jenna didn’t want the new girl to think she was some sort of goody-goody, but once Kristy lit up the smell was too seriously disgusting.

‘Um, I’m pretty sure that’s against the rules,’ she murmured. ‘Not that I care about rules,’ she added hastily, ‘but someone’s going to smell the smoke in the hall and you’ll get into trouble.’

No sooner had the words left her mouth than there was a sharp rap at the door and Carrie entered.

‘No smoking,’ she declared, and pointed to the very visible sign of a cigarette with a big X over it on the wall. She took the cigarette from Kristy, and then, without even asking permission, she went into Kristy’s bag. Removing the pack of cigarettes, she said, ‘You’re getting a demerit for that.’

‘Like I care,’ Kristy muttered, as soon as Carrie left. She then began to regale Jenna with her reasons for being at Harmony House. It seemed that Kristy had been part of a gang that was robbing convenience stores. She went on and on about how cool it was to hold a gun and scare the wits out of some guy behind the counter at two in the morning.

She didn’t say if she’d ever actually used the gun, and Jenna suspected she hadn’t, because Kristy seemed like the type who would brag about it if she’d shot someone. As her tales went on, Jenna wondered which was worse — someone who wept over her crimes or someone who boasted about them. The latter, she decided. Her former roommate at Harmony House may have got on her nerves, but this one was truly creepy.

Fortunately, her new roommate discovered that some old pals of hers were in residence at Harmony House, and she spent the rest of the evening in search of them. Kristy slept late and skipped breakfast that morning — which resulted in another demerit — and Jenna didn’t even have to eat lunch with her today in the dining hall. Kristy spent her lunchtime at the table famous for hosting the most serious offenders.

But Jenna couldn’t avoid her for ever, and she wasn’t surprised when Kristy ambled into the lounge. Of course, she wouldn’t have any visitors — she was still in her first forty-eight hours. Without even asking Jenna if she was watching whatever was currently showing on TV, Kristy picked up the remote control and started hitting channel buttons. Then she reached into her pocket and took out another pack of cigarettes.

As she lit up, Jenna spoke.

‘There’s a resident assistant around,’ she warned Kristy.

Kristy glanced at her briefly. ‘That Peter guy, right?’

Jenna nodded.

Kristy uttered a short laugh, and took another drag. Jenna wondered if the girl was really as tough — or as stupid — as she acted. With nothing else to do, she poked around Kristy’s mind.

. . hate this place. . maybe it won’t be so bad. . can’t make phone calls, that sucks. . gotta figure out a way to get in touch with Pete. . tell him to come on Monday and bring E. .

E. . she could be referring to a person whose first initial was E. But it was more likely she was talking about Ecstasy. Oh, great, Jenna thought. Cigarettes were bad enough. Now this idiot was going to try to get high in here.

The smell of the cigarette was making her nauseous. Another resident, a boy, came into the lounge, and Jenna looked at him hopefully. Maybe the smell would bother him too, and together they could get Kristy to put out the cigarette.

But the boy wasn’t staying. ‘You guys seen Peter?’

‘He’s around somewhere,’ Kristy said.

The boy seemed a little nervous as he touched the pocket of his jeans. ‘Well, if you see him, tell him I’ve got something for him.’

Puzzled, Jenna couldn’t help wondering why the boy looked so uneasy, his eyes darting around the room. One quick sweep of his mind gave her the answer. He was carrying a bag of weed.

That was when it hit her. Peter Blake was using residents to get drugs. He was telling them to get their visitors to smuggle the junk into Harmony House. Maybe he was bribing them with extra privileges — like giving Kristy the right to smoke. Or it could be blackmail. He’d discover someone breaking a rule and make a deal — no demerit in return for a favour.

And this would explain why she, Jenna, had no visitors. She leaped up, went out into the hall and down the stairs to the office of Ms Landers.

‘Hey, you can’t just go in there!’ the secretary exclaimed. But Jenna walked right past her and opened the door to the director’s office.

The director wasn’t alone. That cop, Jack Fisher, was sitting on the other side of her desk. Landers looked up with annoyance written all over her face.

‘Young lady, you do not barge into my office like that!’

Jenna ignored that. ‘I want to know why I haven’t had any visitors,’ she demanded.

The woman’s expression didn’t change, but at least she answered her. ‘I explained this when you entered. The accumulation of demerits results in the loss of privileges. Five demerits means no visitors or phone calls for twenty-four hours.’

Jenna’s eyebrows went up. ‘I have five demerits?’

‘Six, I believe. Let’s see. .’ she turned to her computer and hit a couple of keys. ‘Sneaking over to the boys’ dormitory wing. Picking fights. Smoking in your room.’

As she continued with her litany of fabricated violations, Jenna wanted to hit herself on the head for being so incredibly stupid. Peter had asked her if she had friends who would do ‘favours’. She didn’t know what he was talking about, but he’d assumed she was refusing to ask her friends to bring in drugs, or whatever else he asked residents to smuggle in for him. So he’d made up infractions for her and given her demerits. It was a punishment for not cooperating.

She should have figured this out that first day, in the dining hall. But what could she have done about it? There was no way she’d ask her friends to do something like that. Her friends couldn’t do anything about it anyway! She tried to picture Emily looking around a bad neighbourhood for a drug dealer.

‘If you feel these demerits are unwarranted, you may appeal against them,’ the woman said. ‘But not at this moment — I’m busy. You can make an appointment with the secretary.’

Jenna left, and passed the secretary without bothering to make an appointment. What good would it do? She couldn’t tell Landers about Peter Blake. She wouldn’t believe her. And if she directed Landers towards the others who were being threatened or bribed, they’d only deny it. And how would she prove she was telling the truth? Admit to having read their minds?

Outside the office, she paused in the empty corridor and leaned against a wall to catch her emotional breath. She’d been screwed, that’s all there was to it. And there wasn’t a damned thing she could do about it.

‘Are you OK, Jenna?’

She hadn’t even heard Jack-the-cop come out of the office.

‘I’m fine,’ she said shortly.

He reached in his pocket and pulled out a pack of chewing gum. ‘Want some gum?’

‘No.’

She knew how rude she must sound, but what did it matter? He’d heard Landers’s report on her. He knew she was nothing but trouble.

But she could have sworn she saw something else in his eyes. And just out of curiosity, she peeked into his head.

. . surprised. . she doesn’t seem like the type. . is she covering for someone? Wish I could get her to open up to me. .

She must have been staring at him, because he cocked his head to one side and smiled. ‘Want to talk?’

She did — but not to him. Not to a cop. She didn’t care how much sympathy she saw in his eyes or read in his mind, she couldn’t trust him.

‘No,’ she said, and walked away. But just as she was about to turn the corner, she looked back at him. Somehow, she managed to get one more word out.

‘Thanks.’