Chapter 6: Chain Reaction
August 6, 2008
Roseville Juvenile Detention Academy for Girls
Orientation
"Ms. West, this is the auditorium." Assistant Principal Atkins says opening the double doors. As orientation went on Jade's mind remains cloudy. After what took place two weeks ago, Jade was in an almost constant gray mood. After her parents had her sign that document, Jade looked at them in a different light.
Flashback
She couldn't understand why they wouldn't fight for her. Jade stayed in her room after that day. She'd buy snacks to eat so she wouldn't leave her room, when she ran out she'd go downstairs when she was sure her parents were out of the kitchen. She mostly ate cereal and snacks. Most days she eat once and stays in her room. Her parents knocked on her door a couple times of day wanting her to come out. Her Uncle Ken and Aunt Sheryl sent gifts but Jade never accepts them. She ignored all the pleas and demands to open the door.
The hardest was ignoring Greg Jr.'s small knocks. Jade just lays there in the middle of her bed looking in space.
Memories of her childhood growing up made her cry because she couldn't believe her loving parents would put their own reputations above their own daughter's innocence. Slowly, Jade becomes numb. She eventually picked up the phone and took matters into her own hands. If they won't fight for her, then she'll have to fight for herself.
911
After she told 911 dispatch that she was raped and her family and the police commissioner covered it up, she hung up and waited.
Not 10 minutes went by when she heard someone stomping up the stairs, she jump when her father slams his hand on her door.
"Jade! The police are here…" before he could say anything else she bolts from her room pass him and down the stairs. Jade told the cops everything that happened. The rape by her cousin, the cover up, the money, the commissioner. After a wave of questioning, the cops were called away by a single phone call. Jade had an idea who was on the other line of the phone.
The next morning the commissioner came to visit and presented a document to the West's. He shows Jade the section about the penalty for breach of contract. He further explains that it basically means Jade will be punished.
Commissioner Jakes gave Jade two choices. An out of state behavioral center or a juvenile alternative school.
Jade snaps at him saying she'd rather go to prison. Jackie stepped in and decided Jade would go to an alternative school within the state.
Of course Jade protests wanting to get as far from her family as possible. After that Jade isolated herself even more. It was decided that Jade would attend the Roseville Juvenile Detention Academy for Girls. She didn't need many clothes because she will have uniforms, a blue paid skirt with a blue button down shirt. Commissioner Jakes informed the West's that Jade will be spending her 8th grade year at Roseville Juvenile Detention Academy for Girls. He informed them that parents of the students can visit each and every Saturday.
On August 3, the family took the six hour 400 hundred mile long drive north to the Roseville Juvenile Academy. It was a silent ride. Greg Jr. attempted to make conversation but failed when everyone but Jade answered him. Everyone's attempt to talk to her was only met with silence and disdain.
Once there, the admissions director met them when they pulled up. Jade hopped up and grabbed her bag from the trunk and walked toward the building. After getting her room info, key and schedule from the office, Mrs. Atkins introduced herself to them. Jade's parents accompanied her to orientation. After it was done, it was time to say goodbye.
"Jade, sweetheart, I know this seems bad right now-" Her father started but was cut off.
"Bad? You and your brother let your nephew get away with raping me!" Jade yelled in the abandoned hallway.
"I did not let him get away with it. I hated what he did to you." He says hotly.
"Both of you stop it!" Jackie shouted causing Jade to turn to her.
"When I trusted you and needed you the most, you let them hurt me." Jade sobs to her weeping parents. They moved in to hug her but she protested. "No! Stay away from me!" she screams. "I hate both of you, neither of you ever
"Here. It's for you now." She says softly and kisses his head. She takes one last look at her parents. "Don't ruin him like you ruined me." she says through tears. Before Greg and Jackie had a chance to react, Jade turns on her heels and walks straight to her room. She crashes on her bed and quietly sobs herself to sleep.
End Flashback
"Ms. West!" Mrs. Atkins calls as the other girl's files out of the auditorium.
"Yes mam." Jade answers quietly following her school mates as Mrs. Atkins led the students to the garden areas. It was the last place in the second orientation and she was content. She hasn't really gotten out for fresh air. After a while, all she wanted to do was go to her room and sleep off the day.
It's a hot Saturday afternoon and visitors began to show up to visit the students. As Jade neared the dormitory where her room was, Mrs. Atkins caught up with her just as she turned into her hall.
"Ms. West, where are you going?" she asks as she straightens her blouse.
"I'm going to my dorm room." Jade replies not slowing her pace.
"Ms. West…Jade, you have visitors." The middle aged woman informs. Jade stops in her tracks.
"Who?" she asks not really wanting company.
"Your parents, along with your brother." Mrs. Atkins states. Jade slowly shakes her head.
"No…I don't want to see them." Jade says with misty eyes.
Mrs. Atkins wasn't too far away when Jade's parents first dropped her off; she heard the conversation where Jade screamed at them for allowing her assault. She felt sorry for Jade. "Jade, at least try to talk with them, and if you feel uncomfortable then you don't have to accept any more visits from them." Mrs. Atkins reasoned. Sighing in defeat, Jade turns and follows the woman outside of the door. As they reached the visitors area, Jade's parents and brother stood from their seats.
Greg Jr. runs up to hug her and she wraps her arms around him as his arms were around her waist.
"Missed you…" he said as he buried his face in her body.
"Hey, It's only been three days." She says and kisses his head. They both came to the table occupied by their parents. Jade sat farthest from her father and mother. They all sit there in silence.
Taking a deep breath, Jackie decides to speak up. "Jade, sweetheart. It's good to see you." She says softly.
"Why are you here?" she asks quietly.
"Because we wanted to make sure you were ok." This time her father spoke.
"To see if I was ok?" her voice cracked at the last part.
"Sweetheart…" her mother began but Jade cut her off.
"How long will I be here?!" Jade snaps, her mother looks defeated and sighs.
"The commissioner decided that it was best that you spend your entire 8th grade year here." Jade lets a gasp slip from her lips but quickly calmed.
"So, because I told the truth…I get punished." She says not averting her eyes from her parents.
"Jade…" her dad breathes.
"I had my virginity stolen from me by someone who I thought would never hurt me…and you covered it up." She states in a matter fact but quiet tone. Her mother's eyes welled with tears and Greg sits there ashamed from his actions. "Where is the honor in that?" she questions. Her parents couldn't keep their reactions quiet as her mother openly sobbed with Greg Jr. comforting her.
"Baby please, one day you will understand why we made those decisions." Her father explains. Jade shook her head slowly.
"Please don't come visit me anymore. It's only my third day and it's more depressing than my first day…" Jade says getting from the table.
"Jade, baby, we love you we do. Your father and I just couldn't…" Jade whipped around.
"Just couldn't what?!" Jade seethes. "Just couldn't have our neighbors find out that you two and my pathetic uncle covered up a rape of a minor!" she blasts them. "You people are sick! And as far as I'm concerned I don't have a mother, father, aunt, uncle or a dirty cousin". Jade says as her heart weigh heavy in her chest. "Just go…please don't visit me." with that she walks off leaving her family in shock only to turn around. "I'd really like it if you moved my room to the basement before I return home." She turns again and returns to her room leaving her parents speechless.
August 19, 2008
"You shouldn't let them bully you." Rhonda, Jade's roommate says placing an iced cloth on her eye.
"I don't care." Jade replies. As much as she tries to be nothing but nice to those three girls who pick on her, Jade gets nowhere with them. School started only a week ago and those three girls have picked Jade as their personal target. It's always out of the line of sights from the staff.
Today one of the bullies punched Jade in the eye, which is now swollen and bruise. Jade never encountered bullying before this and the girl is scared.
"Just tell someone." Rhonda urges as she presses the pack of ice over her nearly swollen shut eye.
"And what…? Be labeled a rat. No, I'd rather learn to fight." Jade says sitting back. She and Rhonda became friends quickly. They shared only three classes together and always found time to eat lunch together.
"My mom always said the only way to learn is to hit with a balled fist and go from there." Rhonda smiles. Jade laughed quietly as she lie back and let the sun warm her skin through the blinds. Later she and Rhonda did their homework and went to dinner.
Jade and Rhonda told each other the reason they were sent to Roseville.
Rhonda hung out with the wrong crowd and was sent to Roseville after she failed the 7th grade. She and Jade talked about Jade's reason of being there. It relieved Jade to finally talk to someone about it. Jade pours her soul to Rhonda and is thankful to have someone to actually be on her side for once.
October 19, 2008
Visitation Day
As Jade comes from her sleep, she feels something nudging her. Her hand instantly flies under her pillow and holds tight the object the rests there.
"Hey, calm down, it's only me." Rhonda soothes and sits next to Jade. Jade takes a breath of relief and sits up against the head of her twin bed. She caresses the sharp pair of scissors and pull her hand away. Since she's been there, she continued to have nightmares about Ken and the assault. Oddly the scissors makes her feel safe, especially at night after the nightmares.
"Hey..." Jade groggily says.
"Didn't mean to wreck your sleep but Mrs. Atkins said to come get you, you have a visitor." Rhonda explains. Jade hasn't seen her parents in two months and didn't expect them to come back.
"Ugh! I really don't want to see them." she wines.
"It isn't your folks, it's just one guy and he's got a basket..." she chimes and leaves the room.
Jade thinks really hard and prayed that it isn't someone else she doesn't want to see.
After a half hour of getting ready, she goes down to the gardens. Jade stops in her tracks when she recognize the person who came to visit.
Once he sees her he stands and smiles.
"Hi, um...I hope I'm not interrupting your Saturday or anything." he says and motions for her to sit.
"Um...hi." she says and sits down.
"This is for you." he says and lightly pushes the basket of lady's products, cocoa, cheese, chocolates and candy bars closer to her. Once Jade sees what's in the bag she gasps. "I have two daughters and a wife, they were more than happy to help." he says and smiles.
"Thank you...sir." Jade returns the smile and pic up a candy bar.
"It's Mr. Vega."
Jade nods to him, "Mr. Vega, thank you."
"You're very much welcomed, I...heard about your current situation and wanted to see if you were okay. Are you?" he truly is worried about her. After hearing how the commissioner had her sign a document that basically is a gag order, David felt troubled. It hurt because Jade is the same age of his youngest, Tori. He would have done everything physically possible to make sure Ken West was punished.
It bothers him that Jade was the one who ended up in a detention center.
"I'm fine, haven't seen my parents in a couple months." she says taking another bite of her candy bar.
"Oh, I'm sorry."
"That's actually okay." she says and explains how she actually ended up at Roseville. After a couple hours of just talking, they both parted in ways. Jade felt better when talking to him, to speak to another adult who didn't deceive her. Mrs. Atkins is kind to her and Rhonda is her only friend here. She felt grateful someone else is actually on her side. As David left the property he couldn't help but notice changes in her. The last time they met, she was scared and afraid. Now, he sees a difference in her. She's not the shattered child he met months ago, but he can see that the assault has indeed changed her.
May 12, 2009
POW!
BAM!
WHACK!
Jade pounds on one the girls that have been tormenting her for the pass nine months. After dealing a hard final blow to the jaw, Jade gets up and looks at her latest victim.
Rhonda stands by the door and watches for any teachers or staff.
"The next time you think about making me your punching back, remember the pain you're in now and know that it can get ten times worst then this." Jades smacks her then whips out a pair of scissors and begins to cut her hair. The other two girls who tormented her received the same treatment. They were afraid to tell what happened to them and was transferred out to another juvenile detention center.
Jade takes a piece of hair and neatly twirls it around her finger.
"Mr. Paulsen is down the hall." Rhonda whisper to her . Jade and Rhonda went out of the other door to avoid the teacher as he approached them.
Through the months Jade spent at Roseville, she'd grown a mean streak. Her last visitation with her parents that was in August gone left her questioning everything she believed in.
It was like she had a clinging dark spirit. Rhonda is now her best friend. They learned to fight together, covered for each other, did schemes and pulled pranks. Mrs. Atkins grew fond of both girls and often turned a blind eye to their antics.
Jade and Rhonda trusts her, eventually in January Jade told Mrs. Atkins everything. Mrs. Atkins comforted her and told her it wasn't her fault. She said that Jade's parent should be ashamed of themselves and for the past nine months Mrs. Atkins became a mother figure to both girls. Officer David came to visit her once a month, bringing a basket of goodies with him.
Jade and Rhonda raced to the outdoors lunch area and quickly found empty seats. They snicker and pretend to busy themselves as a few staff members and faculty hurried to the direction they came from.
After a few moments they walk to their room.
"Are you going to open it?" Rhonda asks. Jade received a packaged gift from her parents. She got it two days ago on her 14th birthday.
"No, I don't want anything they give me. I know I'm getting out of here soon, but I dread going back to them."
"Cant't Mr. Vega do something?" Jade had already ponder this.
"No, he has his own family and I don't want to bother him."
"Didn't you say you got money to stay quiet?" Rhonda asks.
"Yeah, $35,000. Why?"
"Well, use that. It's yours, after what your cousin and parents did to you they don't have a right to touch it." Rhonda said getting out her nail cleaning kit. It never occurred to Jade that the money was actually for her and for them to share.
"Yeah…" suddenly things became brighter for her. She can buy things for herself with that money. At lease that will provide her with a little solace.
"I'm really going to miss you." Rhonda says to her.
"You're gonna get out next year, you live in North Ridge right?" Rhonda nods once, "It's not far from LA and I'll visit you. This isn't the end of us. I promise." Jade says sitting next to her.
"I know, It's just gonna be weird without you here the next year." Both girls stayed in their room. Jade is scheduled to be released in eight days. Though she's getting out, she dreads leaving the best friend she made and going back home is already giving her grief. The next 8 days she dedicated her time to Rhonda.
May 20, 2009
"Are you ready?" Mrs. Atkins asked as Jade zips up her suit case.
"Yeah…I guess." Jade drawls. Per her request the West's haven't been told about their daughter's release. They planned to pick her up on the 30th. Mrs. Atkins arranged for a shuttle bus to take her home.
"Hey, it's going to be ok." She sighs to Jade while cupping her face. "You're going to be fine, the next thing you know you'll be fitting right back in and grow up to be something special." Mrs. Atkins was pained to see Jade go but knew she had to leave.
"I know, I'll keep in touch, promise." Jade eyes well with tears as she hugs the closest person to a mother figure. Rhonda gets up and hugs Jade. At 6 am, Jade was on the road back to LA. The next 6 hours she listened to music and thought really hard on how she's going to feel when she arrives home.
There wasn't an once of trust she had for her parents or her uncle and especially her cousin. She didn't want to be around any of them but knew she had to be in the same house with them.
Noon…
Jade's heart pounds as she opens the door to the shuttle bus. She takes a big breath and walks to her home. Jade stood outside the door for a few seconds and decides that she's going to be herself and not let them tell her what she can and can't do. They had her under there thumb before and she wasn't going to let that happen again. She twists the knob and throws the door open. It slams into the in table on the side making a vase fall and shatter on the hard wood floor.
The noise startles Jackie, who's in the kitchen making lunch. Her father stood from the sofa and walk into the foyer meeting Jackie. They were shocked when they saw a pale comparison of the daughter they left behind standing in the doorway.
Jade's presence and appearance knocks the wind out of them. They don't see the heartbroken thirteen year old they left at Roseville.
No...
Standing before them is their rebellious teen daughter, wearing her new signature black, eyeliner, straight hair with a single blue streak on the left side.
Jade silently smiles at the shock in her parents faces. It tickles her that she can cause them to look like that.
"I'm home." she says simply and steps inside slowly. She tilts her head and smirks. "Why so shocked?"
"Jade…sweetheart. You're home. We didn't expect you until the-." Her father is quickly cut off.
"30th? Yeah, I know. I didn't want to bother you with coming to get me. So I came here on my own." She says looking around noticing a few new things. "Where's my brother?"
"He…he's still at school. Wow, you've change." Jackie says as Jade studies her.
"Well…It's only the 20th, they got like five days left." She says flippantly. She decided to surprise him when he got home later in the afternoon. "I'm hungry." Her brows arch as she makes her way to the newly painted kitchen with her parents behind her. "The kitchen is different, when did you paint?" she asks opening the refrigerator and looking in. Her parents remains speechless due to her return and different appearance. Not satisfied with it's contents she closes the refrigerator and stands up straight. "I'm ordering pizza." She says and takes out her phone.
"Of course, order anything you like, we'll pay for it." her father says nodding, his tone is a somewhat desperate tone. Jade picked up on that and smirks.
"I know you are." She shot at him. He gasps and steps back as Jade passes him to go up the stairs to her room.
Nothing was touched, not even the sheets. Her former likes instantly became her dislike as she set on her bed.
"We're really happy you're home Jade. We really missed-" Jade cut her mother off and stood from her bed.
"I'm going to move to the basement. I figure with my money I got from my rape discount, I'll buy new things and make the basement my new address. Where is it by the way? My money I mean?" Jade asks going to her desk. She remembered she had a hiding spot she hid money in. It was only $230 and change.
"Jade, honey…you are too young to manage $35,000." Jackie explained.
"Where is it?" she demands.
"We have it in our bank account. Everything's fine, if you want to go shopping, we'll be glad to take you to the mall. As for the basement, it's really big and-" Greg suggested but was cut off in the middle of his sentence.
"Ok dad, let's get something straight. One, I want my own bank account with my money in it by tomorrow, two I'll go shopping and anywhere else on my own, three I'm moving to the basement. Don't think you and mother are going to tell me what I can and can't do. Four, as far as money goes, you two owe me a debt." She seethes through wincing eyes and continues. "Kenneth gave me $35,000 to keep my mouth shut and as far as I'm concerned, you two owe me the same. I want it tomorrow, both Ken's and your payments in my own private account by tomorrow morning." Jade narrowed eyes, attitude and demands caught them by surprise.
"Jade, we are your parents, we tell you what to do, not the other way around. You don't just throw around demands like that. How can you expect us to give you $70,000 in a day?" her mother says growing agitated.
"You brought me into this world, but you lost every privilege that came with being a mother. You stopped being my mother the day you decided to put a price on my rape." Jade tilts her head to the side a little and continues. "Neither of you don't have any rights to me anymore. You two owe me for what you did to me, I deserve that much!" She roared at her parents. Her mother was hurt by Jade's comments and her eyes wells with more tears.
"Jade I know this–." He father began but was quickly cut off again.
"No, you and I both know you can afford it." Jade snaps at him.
"Why don't we just talk, ok?" Her mother reasons, they all went downstairs and sat in the living room. They talked for a while but Jade never lets up. Her parents understand that she's still hurting, they are too.
The pizza came not long after. After they talked more, they settled on Jade being added to a joint account with her parents. They agreed to place the money in it and that Jade is to inform her parents about purchases over $100. Jade agreed, she goes to the computer and type down everything that was said. She had them sign it and they did. Rhonda taught her to get important agreements on paper for insurance.
After, Jade went to the basement. She had forgotten how big it is. It has a 16 foot ceiling and is the span of half of the entire ground floor of their home, which is almost five and a half thousand square feet. The basement is half that size with plenty space. There is a staircase that leads outside, Jade came in through the home entrance.
The basement is well kept. It has a bathroom and a eating area with a sink. She thinks about how she wanted to situate everything and decided she's going to purchase a new bedroom set, a kitchen set and a couple sofas. Her new bedroom will be in the back of the basement while the sofas will be in the front. The area with the sink is in the middle of the basement, she decides that she'll make that her kitchen. She'll just have to buy electric burners as a stove. After she thought about how she wanted things she went back up the stairs into the home.
Jade goes to her room and look through home magazines. One thing she was sure about, she wanted her own style. She likes dark and unusual things now and she starts making lists immediately.
A/N: After all the trouble Ken and his father along with Commissioner Jakes put Jade through, she's the one that gets sent to a detention center. Sending her there will have a chain reaction. She entered an abused and misused child and came out the rebellious Jade we all know and love.
As for Cat, Wayne's impatience is increasing and her finds it hard to keep himself at bay. Poor Cat.
