"Are you sure about this, Jody?" Mike asked, looking carefully at said girl. "It's a long process and you probably won't be able to reverse it."
"I'm sure," Jody replied confidently, having already given her name change a lot of thought over the last couple of days. She was ready for a fresh start, a life without the burden of the last fourteen years of abuse and neglect resting on her shoulders.
"Well, I'll give your social worker a call and see what he has to say but I want to hear from you first," he said, taking his glasses off and motioning for her to sit down. "Why?"
Jody took a seat on the office sofa, feeling oddly nervous. In her mind, her decision couldn't have made any more sense than it already did but she felt that Mike, May-Li and her housemates would see things differently. A certain few would definitely give her grief for it and she wasn't sure how she'd justify herself. After all, most of them were in care in the first place because they also had horrible mothers but none of them had done what she was going to do. Was she being petty? Over the top? Pretentious?
Sighing, she wondered when she'd started caring what that lot thought. (Since the beginning).
"I just want to forget her," she admitted, involuntarily recalling how her mother had mercilessly called her names after the whole Grant fiasco. "I feel like she's been holding me back this entire time and that I'll become like her and Kingsley if I don't cut her off now."
"You won't become like her."
She laughed mirthlessly. Mike was being nice, doing his job. He could hardly agree with a statement condemning her, even if she'd said it about herself. But what did he know? He probably came from a nice, stable home, not the Birmingham hellhole she'd spent her first eight years in.
"It's in my blood, Mike. It's in the filthy Jackson blood. I know that I can't change my blood but I can drop their family name. I feel like if I don't do it now, I'll be in prison by the time I'm eighteen." She paused, looking up at his understanding eyes. "I'm the only one of us who hasn't been to prison, Mike. The only one. I want to keep it that way."
"You're better than that, Jody. You won't go to prison no matter what surname you have."
She shrugged. "Maybe not while I'm still here but I don't know what sort of adult I'll be. I've wasted almost half of my life waiting for her to get her act together, Mike, and now I've finally realised that she can't give me the family I want. Wanted."—it was too late for a forever family now—"I just want to start over as freshly as I can..." She stopped for a bit before tentatively asking, "Does that make sense?"
"Do you think it makes sense?" Mike asked in return, the usual sympathetic smile on his face.
"Yeah," she answered with a nod, feeling like a weight was slowly being lifted off her shoulders. "Yeah, I th— No, I know it does."
"Well, then, expect to hear from your social worker soon!" Mike exclaimed, putting his glasses back on and swivelling towards his computer. "Off you go."
"Thanks, Mike," Jody said gratefully, getting up and opening the office door.
"You're welcome," she heard Mike call back as she exited.
Closing the door behind her, she walked towards the lounge to find Ryan, Alex and Sasha... hanging out. She raised an eyebrow at the unlikely trio before asking them if they'd seen Tyler. All three responded in the negative. She decided to try the garden to see if he was playing football with the other kids when Ryan spoke up, stopping her in her tracks.
"What's the point in changing your name?" he inquired in that dismissive manner of his. Alex and Sasha both looked questioningly at Jody but she ignored them, looking straight at Ryan. She wasn't surprised in the least that he somehow knew; snooping around and upsetting people was all he was good at. "It's not like it'll erase the crime from your blood."
It would've been so easy to give in to her irritation and physically wipe that smug smirk off Ryan's face like he no doubt wanted but even he wasn't going to get the better of her today. She'd just turned over a new leaf and letting him, of all people, ruin that would be weak and stupid of her.
"You know, Ryan, if any one of us ends up in prison after leaving this place, it'll probably be you," she shot back, crossing her arms, "since you're the resident sociopath an' all."
Ryan's face turned beetroot red as Sasha and Alex guffawed, and Jody walked away to find Tyler, feeling awfully satisfied. He'd probably—no, definitely—try to get back at her for that one but she couldn't care less. Life as a Gray started now.
.:. QK .:.
On a cold February morning, Jody waddled down the road back to Ashdene Ridge, her teeth chattering wildly as she berated herself for taking a walk on such a morning. From the way the icy cold had seeped through to her gloved fingers, it had to be below zero degrees Celsius, and she had a strong inkling that it was the coldest day of the month and maybe even the year. She shuddered; there were still three weeks of February to look forward to. The sound of hurried footfalls behind her reminded her exactly why she'd left the house at all.
"I'm never going out with you again, you idiot!" she declared half-heartedly, her breath visibly puffing out in front of her.
"What? We're going out?!" he squeaked from behind her before she felt a pair of arms wrap around her middle and literally sweep her off her feet, spinning her around. "Oh, Jody, you've made me the happi—" Unfortunately for them both, he'd underestimated the slippery sleet beneath his feet and both teenagers went tumbling down onto the cold, hard ground.
"Tyler!" she yelled, carefully moving off him and then turning to look down at him. He looked a sorry sight; he was lying flat on his back, hair askew, and was deliriously gazing up at her like he'd had a knock to the head. He'd broken her fall but had obviously taken the brunt of it. "What did you have to go and do that for?" she admonished, leaning over and checking to see if he was bleeding.
"I don't know," he croaked in response, flashing her a halfway cheeky grin as she sighed in relief, having found no blood whatsoever. "I just got really excited for Floss. She's been waiting for us to start going out for ages."
Jody scowled. Tyler often took jokes way too far and although she was now used to the DG lot thinking they were either a couple or well on their way to being one, the popular notion still made her uncomfortable. It hit too close to home and Tyler's behaviour really didn't help matters; sometimes, she felt like he was flirting with her for real, especially when it was just the two of them, and it made her feel all giddy inside like one of those girly girls from those movies Candi-Rose liked to watch. She shook her head. She was seeing what she wanted to see in his actions rather than seeing them for what they actually were. They were just mates and that was all they were ever going to be.
"Oh, shut up," she grumbled, offering him her hand and gently pulling him up to a sitting position. Together, they slowly and diligently found their way to their feet, stumbling a little in the process. "You better not die on me later," she warned as they resumed their walk back home.
"Never," he replied with a wink, and she had to speed up a bit so that he didn't see her blush.
Within minutes, Ashdene Ridge came into view and Jody, freezing from head to toe, practically ran to the door. To her surprise, May-Li opened the door just as she reached it, as if she'd been expecting her, and ushered her and Tyler in with a sense of urgency.
"Jody, where have you been?!" May-Li asked, sounding somewhat anxious. "We called you loads of times and you wouldn't pick up!" She turned to Tyler. "You as well!"
"Err, I had it on silent," Jody answered, reaching for her phone in her pocket as Tyler mumbled something about having left his phone in his room. Her eyes widened upon seeing five missed calls from Mike and a whopping thirteen from May-Li.
"What's the big deal?" Tyler questioned from her left. "It's not like there's a blizzard out there."
Jody nodded in agreement, wondering why they were being treated like little children (well, her anyway) when Mike suddenly popped his head out of the office doorway, a solemn expression on his face. She quickly realised that there was something more going on and she didn't like the way May-Li and Mike exchanged a glance as if they knew something that she didn't. She and Tyler exchanged their own glance and she could see that he was as apprehensive as she was.
"Tyler, go upstairs and get your bag," May-Li said, making a bit of a funny face at Tyler's messed up hair. Jody would've cracked a smile if it wasn't for the dead serious atmosphere.
"Jody, come inside," Mike finally spoke, running his hand over his bald head. "I've got something to tell you."
Exchanging a final glance with Tyler who was still rooted to his spot, Jody clenched her fists before following Mike into the office.
.:. QK .:.
"What's going on?" Jody questioned, taking her gloves off as May-Li followed her in and closed the door behind her.
Shoving the gloves into one of the pockets of her parka, she tried to remember if she'd done anything to upset anyone recently—even Ryan—and came up with nothing. Naturally, her thoughts turned to Tyler and she wondered if Mike and May-Li wanted to talk to her about something he'd done, though she knew he hadn't pissed anyone off lately because, as per usual, she'd been around him practically twenty-four seven.
Mike sunk into his chair, sighing deeply. "Don't worry, you're not in any trouble."
Rather than relaxing, Jody felt a sense of foreboding creep up on her and then settle on her chest like a heavy weight. Nevertheless, she nodded as she took a seat on the office sofa for the second time that week, though this time around the air was thick with tension.
"There's no easy way to say this but the police found your mother's body at her home this morning," Mike stated, clasping his hands together. "They suspect that she passed away around forty-eight hours ago and they would like to ask you some questions. Her death was unexpected so it's being treated as suspicious."
"Oh," Jody let out, for lack of a better word. She sat there, waiting for the tears, a punch to the gut, or some sort of heart-wrenching sensation she'd read about in novels, but no such thing happened. "Do I have to go to the police station or...?"
"It's completely up to you," May-Li spoke up from her perch on the sofa's arm for the first time since they'd stepped into the office. "They can come here or you can go to them."
"I'll see them here, I guess," she said, licking her lips as she waited to feel some sort of emotion. Any emotion. Why wasn't she reacting? Her own mother, cowbag though she was, had just died and all she could do was wonder why the police couldn't just go and talk to Luke or Kingsley instead. What was wrong with her? "But why do they want to see me? What do I know?"
"It's just standard procedure," Mike responded. "When death is unexpected, police usually look to neighbours and then family members."
Family? She almost snorted. What a great family they were, four individuals who were scattered across the country and never spoke to each other unless they wanted to use one another (as in the cases of Denise and Kingsley Jackson). Family indeed. Of course, the police would soon find out what sort the Jacksons were when they got round to looking at their criminal records.
"Just in case you're wondering, the funeral probably won't take place until a couple of weeks from now because of the inquest," May-Li stated, placing a comforting hand on Jody's shoulder. "Are you feeling okay?"
"I guess," Jody answered nonchalantly. Mike and May-Li sounded like they'd read the entire gov-uk page on the whole death issue. They probably had. "Are they going to question my b"—no, they weren't her brothers anymore and neither was their mother hers—"Luke and Kingsley as well?"
Mike looked a little surprised at her question. Clearly, even he was expecting her to display some emotion, probably anger. "Perhaps not Kingsley but I expect they'll question Luke."
"Hmm, okay," she replied, sounding and feeling wholly disinterested. She turned to May-Li who still had her hand planted firmly on her shoulder. "I don't want to go to her funeral."
This time, May-Li was the one who appeared surprised, maybe even confused. She glanced at Mike before looking back at Jody. "Well, like I said, it's still a while away. You might—"
"I won't change my mind," Jody interjected, knowing what May-Li had been about to say. She turned back to Mike. "I already said goodbye to her and to Luke and Kingsley when I decided to go back to using my birth name." She looked down at the office carpet, ashamed that she couldn't muster up any emotion other than the guilt she harboured for not behaving like a normal bereaved daughter. Huh, who was she kidding? She wasn't normal. She never had been. "She was already dead to me."
"Jody—" Mike started but was swiftly cut off.
"No, I really meant what I said, Mike. I'm a Gray now, and I don't have a mother or brothers," she explained, rising to her feet. She needed to get out of there, not because it was all becoming too much but because she wasn't feeling enough. "I've got to go; I'll be late for school. I'll see the police after I get back."
"Jody, you don't have to go to school today," Mike informed, rising from his seat as Jody slung her school bag over her shoulder. She heard him and May-Li call after her as she yanked the door open but she paid no heed, heading straight to the front door.
A/N: I KILLED DENISE JACKSON! YAY! Err, now that that's out of my system, I can say thanks to CharlieSMarts12 for reviewing once again. Honestly, though, I hate Denise. She was an awful mum.