For the record, not all the chapters will be this short.
Chapter Two
Jade didn't waste any time when she got home. Once she had dragged her bag of stuff up to her room, she strode down the stairs and into the West kitchen, where her stepmother pranced about, trying some ridiculously complicated new recipe. Contempt twisted Jade's mouth into a sour grimace, but before she could creep backwards out of the room, Anne turned and saw her.
"Jade, dear! Come try!" she gestured to a gloppy gray pile of mush seasoned with something green, sitting on a plate on the table.
I never try her food.
It wasn't as though she was the kind of person who ever humored anyone, yet still this insufferable woman continued to try her patience on a daily basis with the most inane drivel she had ever encountered in all her seventeen years.
Anne's shoulders drooped slightly, but she kept her bright smile as she pulled a chair out for her visibly fuming stepdaughter to sit in. Tucking a lock of reddish hair behind her ear, the older woman leaned towards the younger with a look of concern in her Irish-green eyes.
"Jade, is everything okay?"
Jade bristled at the question, feeling her own blue-gray eyes widen at this woman's complete respect of privacy, but just as she was about to fire off a cold retort—something that would definitely include the vile substance now slowly smoking on the table—a noise below her caught her attention. It was Miffy, Anne's remarkably needy West Highland Terrier. The scruffy little dog had her front paws up on Jade's chair and was eyeing Anne's creation with a look of unselective interest.
Feeling rather as though she had an audience, Jade roughly shoved her chair back and stormed out of the kitchen, hatred for her family and her life and that stupid dog filling her until there was no room for misery.
Locking herself in her room with it's blue-gray walls, Jade tossed the old brass key on her dresser and began furiously tearing off her clothes in preparation for bed.
But something stopped her.
It was the necklace. The simply black cord with the gold circle on it, the forever circle. The present he'd given her on the first birthday she had with them as a couple.
To her own surprise, Jade felt no sorrow at seeing the symbol of her ended relationship, no teen-drama-movie anguish. Rather, a peculiar curiosity filled her. Where was his necklace? Did he still have it, or was it long lost? Maybe he'd simply thrown it away, maybe it was sitting at the bottom of Tori's kitchen trash can.
Thinking of Tori brought her none of the usual fury. Even the idea of Tori and Beck together gave her only a small sense of annoyance, rather than the ordinary burn-down-the-house, smash-all-the-windows rage.
Maybe she was becoming emotionally distant.
The idea was somewhat appealing. Never having to feel that horrible hatred again, or that heartbreaking sadness? No more crying herself to sleep after a fight, no more smashing mirrors or vandalizing property?
Definitely something to consider.
Crossing on her hands and knees over to her desk, Jade picked up a piece of paper and started one of her random lists.
To Do:
-Switch to ordinary school
-Become emotionally distant
Not bad, Jade mused. Definitely doable.
But she had to go in order.
Jade snatched her laptop off the desk and flung it semi-violently onto the bed, then sat behind it and powered it on. Typing in her zip code, she then typed one word into the search engine.
Schools.
Hollywood High School - homepage
John Pierce High School
Lincoln Preparatory School
Driscoll Academy
The list went on and on. Frustration now occupying Jade's one-track mind, she shoved the computer away from her and closed the lid, then flopped back onto her pillow, ready for bed.
But she was still in only her underwear, her clothes from the day strewn everywhere. Pulling her necklace over her head, she carelessly flung it on the dresser, where it caught onto one of the drawer handles. Who needed some silly old necklace? She had plenty of other ones, prettier ones.
This emotionally distant thing wasn't half bad.