Authors Note: Welcome to 'Reasons to Live'. I hope you enjoy. I didn't put an author's note at the beginning of the prologue because I wanted to keep it to the point but I'd like to thank you for taking time to read this story.
Disclaimer: I don't own 'Gone'; nothing you recognise belongs to me.
Chapter Two: A Beginning
Two months, three weeks, three days and eleven hours previously
Serena's POV
'Look sweetie,' Serena tried to remain calm as she drove her rented Honda Civic down the dusty highway. 'If you just try and make the most of your situation at Coates you never know how far you could go.'
That was a lie. She looked over at the teenager sitting shot gun in the passenger seat. The future Jenny Ryans had looked very bleak with her current record.
'Really?' Jenny said moodily. 'Wasn't Queen Elizabeth Ladies Collage meant to sort me out?'
Serena sighed. Jenny was a lost cause. She hated dealing with her but she was her head social worker.
And what the hell had Serena done to deserve that?
When she was Jenny's age she had a optimistic view on life. At sixteen she had gotten six A's and four A* at GCSE and then at eighteen she'd gotten two A's and a B at A Leval. That wasn't bad was it? Not in her point of view. But she hadn't gotten into university. She'd gotten an interview at Leeds to do English but it had turned out to be exceedingly awful. She'd thought they would ask her about the great authors and poets like Dickens and Wordsworth. Not Jung Chang with her Wild Swans and Colm Tólbín with his Brooklyn.
Serena ended up in a rubbish Polytechnic in London. Not in Oxbridge or Leeds.
At least she had gotten to write about her love affair with War and Peace.
Afterwards she did a BTEC in Child Care and bluffed her way into Social Services, she came to accept that she would never make it as an author or journalist. That was how she'd met Jenny Ryans, the kid that no one really knew how to handle.
The car bumped over a pothole locking up the suspension for a moment. Serena swore and hit the steering wheel like that would make a difference.
Jenny Ryans. None of the sane social workers had wanted her case. It had been given to Serena because she was new and only twenty three. The theory was that a young person would be able to understand her better.
'Darling, if you had at least tried with Queen Elizabeth you could have done well,' Serena reasoned.
Queen Elizabeth had been a disaster waiting to happen. Jenny's foster parents had found her hard to handle but they wanted to do as much for her as they possibly could so they had sent her to Queen Elizabeth Ladies Collage. After that had ended badly they had decided they wanted nothing to do with her and sent her back into care. Her next set of foster parents weren't really foster parents. They were just the people who were paying for her to leave the U.K and go to Coates Academy in America.
Thanks to them it was now Serena's job to take her there and to fly to America every few weeks to check she was okay.
'What's the point,' Jenny said. 'Everyone knows my future career options are either flipping burgers or becoming a porn star.' Jenny checked the mirror above the seat.
'I'm thinking porn star,' she said to her reflection. 'Aren't they meant to be not ugly but not pretty? Average looking?'
Serena sighed and didn't answer. At least Jenny didn't have the optimistic view she did nine years ago. Instead she knew what the world had to offer her. The girl with the crappy, loveless childhood, who was looked after by foster parents since she was twelve, who she felt absolutely nothing for. A history of 'small issues' and 'slight problems'.
If it had been anyone else Serena would have felt sorry for them but Jenny didn't seem to want any sympathy or comforting. Even after Social Services brought her in she never accepted any of the special programmes and meetings made especially made for the girls (and the odd boy) who had been taken out of her situation.
It might seem awful to people from the outside that Serena never really helped Jenny but that was what both of them wanted. Their relationship was ideal for the circumstances.
The rest of the car journey both Serena and Jenny remained silent.
Serena's parting words to Jenny were, 'I'll see you in a couple of weeks. The holidays are only three months away so can you try and stay out of trouble 'till then?'
Jenny's reply ended in a swear word.
Serena almost felt sad when she drove away. Not because she liked the girl. No Jenny Ryans wasn't someone people liked. It was just that Jenny reminded her that her life hadn't turned out so bad after all.
Diana's POV
'This everyone,' said Mrs Grace to the class in a fake attempt at cheeriness. 'Is our new student, I hope you make her feel most welcome here at Coates.'
In her head Diana laughed. A new kid being made to feel welcome at Coates was as likely as Jodi Marsh going to the plastic surgeons and demanding that her implants should be taken out. Nil chance.
Diana looked up from drawing curvy lines over her maths book. She always assessed the new students to figure out their weak points. She would then use those weak points to her advantage.
Diana guessed that was probably her issue. No normal person automatically sets out to make someone's life hell within thirty seconds of meeting them.
A girl stood at the door next to the head mistress. She had wavy brown hair and she was a little tanned. She leaned against the door frame looking vaguely bored. She was average looking, not stunning like Diana.
'Would you like to introduce yourself,' Mrs Grace said in a fake sweet voice.
'Not really,' the new girl said in a bored voice. Diana detected an accent.
'This is Jenny Ryans,' Mrs Grace announced to the class, like they cared. 'She's from the U.K.'
That's what the accent was. Diana watched as the new kid took an apple out of her bag and took a bite while keeping direct eye contact with the teacher.
'Could you throw that away there's a no eating policy in the class room?' Mrs Grace said. The girl continued to lean against the door frame and eat the apple. She raised an eyebrow but said nothing. Mrs Grace gulped. The girl gave of an air of danger. Caine Soren, who next to Diana, smirked.
'Ok then, I'll leave her with you Mr Stewart,' Miss Grace muttered as she turned and left. The door swung closed behind her giving an ominous thud.
'Ok,' Mr Stewart said weakly. 'Here's your text book'
The girl snatched the text book out of his hand and grinned at him. Mr Stewart gulped as she looked down at her and fidgeted slightly in his chair. Diana laughed to herself. Respect to Jenny Ryans for being able to walk into a school of nutcases without quaking in her boots, but then again, maybe she was the nutcase. Suddenly the teacher was talking again.
'Miss Ryans I don't think that foot wear is appropriate for school' he said.
'What these?' She spoke for the first time in a British accent as she put her foot up on his desk. She was wearing Dock Martins instead of normal school shoes.
'Take your shoes of the desk Miss Ryans' the teacher said. He looked annoyed. 'I would have thought with you having gone to the school you did, you would have more manners.'
'Queen Elizabeth's Ladies Collage? Yeah, about that - I didn't fit.' She said airily making a gesture with her hand to show that she didn't care.
Diana thought maybe she did.
'Well hopefully you'll fit in better here then,' Mr Stewart said.
'Maybe,' she replied fleetingly.
'Ok would you like to take a seat at that desk in front of me?' The teacher said. It was obviously a rhetorical question.
'No' she said in a fake disappointed sigh.
'Err... why not?' He asked.
'Because if I sit there, I'll have to look at you the whole class. I don't want to do that, you know why? You're fat and your old and you really turn me off,' she snapped.
The class burst into laughter.
'Right' the teacher said as he got up out of his chair, he looked red in the face 'I will not tolerate that type of behaviour in my class even from a new student. You will sit at that desk in front of me so I can keep an eye on you for the rest of the year.'
Diana chuckled. She decided she liked the new girl. Not enough to befriend her of course but she liked her enough not to try and mess her around. She watched as the girl smirked at the teacher turned around and walked towards her at the back of the class room. She stopped at the boy called Jimbo who sat in front of Drake Merwin. Drake eyed her as she looked down at Jimbo.
'Move?' She said in a flat voice.
Jimbo looked up at her shocked and unsure what to do.
'No,' he said. He sounded unsure, as though he wasn't sure if the new girl had some sort of authority over him.
Bad move thought Diana. Jenny grabbed Jumbo's collar and yanked him to the floor. 'Dude you need to learn to move faster when I say move.' Her eyes flashed with anger.
Drake sniggered.
Jimbo scrambled up, gathered his things and practically ran to the seat that was meant to be occupied by Jenny. Jenny grinned and sat down.
'I told you to sit in front of me,' the teacher yelled, more in desperation than anger.
'Is that because you fancy me?' Jenny asked.
Diana laughed. Caine grinned. Even Drake smirked.
'Detention Miss Ryans, this evening in room M1' The teacher fummed embarrassed.
'Is that a date?' Jenny smirked.
'No' he yelled. 'Just sit down and shut up.'
Jenny mimed zipping her lips. Then she brought a pad of paper out of her bag and a pen and started chewing the end.
Diana smirked. She checked the clock. Seven minutes into her first day and Jenny already had a detention. But she had made just one mistake. Sitting in front of Drake Merwin was not the nicest place to be. She watched as Drake placed an eraser on his ruler and pulled it back before letting go. It flew towards Jenny and hit her on the back of her head. She turned around to look at Drake.
'Playing with erasers are we?' she placed the eraser with exaggerated care onto Drakes table. 'So mature.'
Drake scowled furiously.
Jenny turned back to the front of the classroom where Mr Stewart was shakily teaching the lesson and rolled her eyes. She caught Justin Finch staring at her and winked at him. He looked away blushing.
A pencil hit her on the back of the head.
Before Diana knew it Drake was howling in pain holding the fleshy part of his hand which Jenny had slashed with safety scissors.
'What on earth is going on back there?' Mr Stewart demanded.
Drake remained silent and glared at Jenny daring her to say anything.
'I stabbed him with a pair of safety scissors,' Jenny said calmly.
The class all looked at her like she had signed her own death warrant. Stabbing Drake with safety scissors was asking to be killed.
Mr Stewart gaped at her. 'And why did you do that?'
Jenny grinned 'For fun.' She was clearly not a grass.
Mr Stewart opened and shut his mouth. Jenny raised an eyebrow, maybe as a warning.
'You may go to the nurse if you need Drake,' Mr Stewart said.
'I'm fine,' Drake snapped probably a little embarrassed that he'd let a girl draw blood with safety scissors. Then in a whisper only those around him could here he added, 'But you won't be,' to Jenny.
She rolled her eyes.
