THIS WAS THE first time Jenny wasn’t looking forward to her scheduled meeting with Ms. Willoughby. She was still shaken by what went down with Mallory, and now she had to deal with the Mr. Renkin thing. Was she obliged to say something to Ms. Willoughby? Should she just mind her own business? They seemed happy enough. Maybe it was a side of him only reserved for the most desperate of situations. Maybe it was her fault for pushing him to that point. Maybe it was her fault for pushing Linda too. Maybe Jenny just had to stop. Maybe it had all gone too far.
Jenny waited patiently for her turn, keeping her hands together, a combination of rubbing and clenching to keep them from shaking. When the door finally opened, Mallory Murphy’s smug face and annoying curls stepped into the waiting area.
This wasn’t a thing. Mallory didn’t see the guidance counselor. Mallory didn’t need guidance. She was invading Jenny’s one safe space. Why? Was she in there telling on Jenny? JP’s threats hadn’t scared her; they’d inspired her. Mallory wouldn’t rest now until she’d turned everyone against her.
There was no scenario in which Jenny told the truth and things got better, and she was stupid for even entertaining the thought. She got up and walked out of the guidance office. She had a plan. Her own plan. The only one that would work.
JENNY WAITED behind the bleachers in the upstairs balcony of the gym, arriving first and leaning up against the locked cage that held all the broken gym class equipment.
“Get back to class,” a gruff voice yelled from behind the bleachers. Jenny seized before JP stepped out, laughing.
“You’re an idiot,” she teased.
JP moved next to her and joined in leaning against the cage. He loved positioning himself next to her instead of in front. It made conversations awkward, but kept them on topic instead of looking into each other’s eyes and wondering if they should act on their feelings again.
“Thank you . . .” Jenny said under her breath. “For the Mallory thing.”
“No big deal. What was all that about Kevin Neary?”
He must have been lurking nearby, watching and listening to them before stepping in. How long was he there? Was he jealous? Or mad?
“It was nothing. Just people being stupid.”
“Do you even know him?” JP wasn’t so eager to let this go, and Jenny was enjoying the attention.
“Not really. He was talking to me at lunch today.” She didn’t feel it necessary to let JP know that she had intended on skipping school with Kevin. If she regretted it enough, it was like it didn’t happen.
“You like him?”
“No.”
“Yeah, right.”
“I don’t. I swear. He’s an idiot and he’s, like, old. He’s eighteen.”
“Whatever,” he said.
“What was that about with Mallory? Do you really think she has a crush on you?”
“No, I was just saying it to mess with her.”
“She might have a crush on you, you never know.”
“No, thank you,” he said, and Jenny tried to hide how happy that response made her. JP made her feel different. It wasn’t like Kevin had made her feel earlier that day. It was more than that. The idea of being with Kevin was about everyone else. Being with JP was just about her and him.
“I don’t think we should wait,” Jenny thought aloud.
“What do you mean?”
“I don’t want to do all this back and forth, writing letters to Gil and waiting for him to respond. It could take forever. Let’s just send one letter . . . today, telling him I changed my mind and when to show up.”
“Are you sure about this? The whole thing, I mean.”
“It’s worth it,” she said.
“Where are we gonna do this?”
“Your house?” she suggested.
“Yeah, that could work. I don’t really want this guy knowing where I live, but we’ll leave that night anyway. If he comes back and kills Boomer, he’d probably be doing the man a favor. When do you want to do it?”
“It has to be a Saturday. Those are the easiest nights for me to sneak out because my dad’s home and my mom behaves.”
“That’s probably best for him too. You know, if he has a job.”
Jenny laughed.
“What?”
“I’m glad you are being so considerate of his schedule.” She laughed again and JP cracked a smile.
“OK,” she said, back to business. “Let’s say this Saturday. If he doesn’t show, we can try again next week, but I don’t want to wait any longer than we have to. And I think if he has to decide right away, it won’t give him any time to think really. Like, you know, make a plan about hiding the money, or change the details or something.”
“That’s smart,” JP said, making Jenny proud of herself. “I can hide behind the couch. I don’t want to be in another room because it’s too far; he could hear me coming. You just gotta keep him in front of the couch. Get him to sit down and I’ll pop up and scare the shit out of him.”
“You have to wait for him to show the money. He might lie if he’s scared, so just let me get him to show it first or this will all be for nothing,” she said.
“Duh.”
“Should we tie him up? I mean, I don’t want him to follow us, but I also don’t want Boomer to come home and find him.”
“He could die if he had to wait for Boomer to come home,” said JP. “I have some handcuffs. We can handcuff him and put the key across the room. It would take him a while to get free.”
“But we can’t leave until the morning, because of the bus.”
“We just gotta get out of the house. He won’t find us. We’ll walk to town, then wait till morning. Bring warm clothes.”
Warm clothes, she thought. Sure, that will thwart any potential disaster.