"Hi, Luke here. Sorry I can't take your call right now but please leave me a message, and I'll get back to you as soon as I can."
Grinding her teeth together, Jody hung up and chucked her phone into a random locker; ever since one of Jess' friends had thought it would be funny to steal her bra from her bag and put it into Brandon's, she'd been forced to use the one-pound lockers like Amy. Ignoring the incessant chatter around her, she grabbed her gumshield and boxing gloves and slammed her locker door shut.
Inside the gym, Amy was right in front of the punching bags, as expected. She snorted when Jody reached her. "What the hell happened to you? You look like shit."
"Why should I tell you?" Jody asked, hastily putting her gumshield on. She didn't care that she probably looked disgusting doing so mid-speech. She was beyond caring about anything; everything else in life seemed to pale in comparison to the fact that the devil incarnate was carrying her first niece or nephew. "You look like shit practically every single day but you don't tell me squat."
"Woah. I was just asking. No need to be such a girl about it."
"Well, I don't know about you, but I am a girl. What's wrong with that?"
"Nothing," Amy answered with wide eyes. "Do you wanna spar?"
Jody rolled her eyes. "Well nah. What else do you think I'm wearing a gumshield for?"
"Stop talking to me like that," Amy said, shifting uncomfortably. "I haven't done anything to you, so what's your problem?"
"Hah!" Jody exclaimed, drawing some sort of satisfaction from Amy's discomfort. "You are such a hypocrite! You talk to everyone like this all the time whether they deserve it or not. No wonder the others don't like you; you really don't help yourself."
Not in the mood for talking to anyone who wasn't Luke, she didn't bother waiting for Amy to respond, spinning on her heel and storming towards the empty ring. She didn't have to look back to see if Amy was following; she heard the hard footfalls behind her. Since it was Amy she was sparring with, Bernadette met them at the ring, telling Amy to keep the fight fair and clean. The one who ended up getting scolded for an illegal near-knockout fifteen minutes later, however, was Jody.
"Is something the matter, Jody?" Bernadette asked, offering Amy her hand. Amy batted her hand away with a scowl on her face, pushing herself up off the ring floor. "This isn't like you." Jody pressed her lips together, unwilling to answer. What would she say? That her brother wasn't answering her calls? That she thought his girlfriend was pregnant? It already sounded trivial to her; it would only sound more so to Bernadette. She just wouldn't understand. Perhaps realising she wasn't going to get anything out of Jody, Bernadette looked to Amy who was rubbing her arm and glaring at her opponent. "Amabel?"
Jody snapped her head towards Amy in surprise. Amabel? Well, that kind of explained why Brandon had thought she was 'Bella'. What kind of name was Amabel, though? She'd never heard of it. She snickered at the flustered expression on Amy—no, Amabel's face.
"What's so funny?!" Amabel demanded, clenching her fists.
"Your name. It sounds like it was made-up. Anyways, if you're Amabel, why do I call you Amy?"
Amabel shook her head at Bernadette, clearly disappointed, before looking back to Jody. "It's not made-up. It's French for 'amiable'. Amy's obviously a nickname."
Laughter bubbled up in Jody's throat, threatening to burst free. "Amiable?! Your parents must be well disappointed! And how is Amy your nickname? You're Ah-ma-bel, not Aim-uh-bel. It's like me calling myself Joey because I'm Jody. It doesn't make any sense."
"Oh, shut up! It's an old family name." Amabel tipped her head to the side, as if considering something, before adding, "But you wouldn't know anything about that, would you? Your dad doesn't even know you exist."
The cruel words hit Jody to the core, extinguishing what little amusement she'd drawn from taking the mick out of Amabel. Bernadette admonished Amabel, telling her she was way out of line, but that didn't make Jody feel any better. Angry tears stung at her eyes. Amabel wasn't right, exactly, but she wasn't too far off the mark; Gray knew she existed, but as far as he was concerned, she may as well have not existed, and as for Luke, it seemed as if he'd gone back to ignoring her for Millie's sake now that there was a child on the way.
Cheeks burning and blood boiling, Jody did the only thing she could to save face in front of the audience that'd somehow gathered around the ring and sate her anger: she punched Amabel square in the face. The rest was history.
.:. QK .:.
Reminiscent of the numerous chats she'd had with Mike and May-Li regarding her mother's death little over a year ago, Jody found herself sitting in the office an hour after the incident at the gym, slouching shamefully under the stern gazes of her carers. Mike had just asked her what on Earth she'd been thinking back at the gym but she hadn't yet responded. Frankly, she didn't have an answer.
There was no excuse for her behaviour. She knew that now. From the moment she'd stepped into the gym, she'd treated Amabel with nothing but contempt, releasing her frustrations regarding Luke and Millie unto her. With her temper, it was a wonder that Amabel hadn't punched Jody and knocked her out right at the beginning. Yes, Amabel's comment had been below the belt, even for her, but as the older one in the situation, Jody should've known better than to goad her into it.
"You've taken a huge step backwards, Jody," Mike said, his face stoic. "This is what the Jody of old would've done."
He was right, of course. The last time she'd punched someone outside of a sparring match was when she'd taught Ryan a lesson following her mother's funeral and while she didn't regret it, she was supposed to have learnt to deal with her emotions better since then. Up until today, she'd thought she had.
"Did the other girl say something to provoke you, Jody?" May-Li asked, her eyes kind. "I don't believe you'd do something like this without good reason. I've seen you box; I know how much it's helped you."
"There is no good reason," Jody replied quietly, looking down at her hands. "I pissed her off, she pissed me off, and then I punched her to look good in front of the other kids. End of story."
Only, no one liked her any better for what she'd done. Jess and her friends had guffawed, sure, but afterwards, they'd looked at her the same way they always looked at Amabel—as if she were mad. The boys had been impressed, of course, but that counted for very little; they'd have been just as happy if she'd grabbed Amabel and snogged her instead. She inwardly gagged at the thought.
"I don't believe that," May-Li insisted. "Did she say something about your being in care? Is that what upset you?"
Jody sighed tiredly, bringing her eyes back up to meet May-Li's. "What does it matter? I still did it, and now I'm grounded, right?"
"You are," Mike confirmed, pushing his glasses up the bridge of his nose. "I think it'd be best if you stayed away from the gym for a few days. Clear your head. Reflect on your actions."
She shrugged, only interested in one thing. One person. "Can I still see Tyler?"
"If he comes here to see you, then of course. He's always welcome here."
Jody blinked, having expected that answer. "Can I go to my room now? I'm tired."
Sharing a look with May-Li, Mike nodded his permission. Without wasting another second, Jody rose to her feet and silently left the room.
On her way up the stairs, she smiled grimly. Forging a new identity by reclaiming Gray's name had done nothing for her; she was still a Jackson through and through. After all, no one could rid themselves of the blood they were born with. If she was still this rotten after a year of reform, perhaps she was never going to change.
.:. QK .:.
Three days later, Luke finally called Jody back. She picked up on the first ring.
"Hi," he said, his voice thick with exhaustion. She frowned. How could he be tired already? It was barely midday. "How are you? Sorry it took so long to get back to you; I lost my phone last week and only found it last night."
She resisted the urge to scoff. She wasn't stupid. The odds were strongly in favour of Millie having taken the phone and hidden it, either because she didn't want Luke to talk to Jody or because she was angry at him. Or, as was more likely, both of the above.
"S'alright," Jody answered, even though it really wasn't.
She'd been going mad sitting at home during her free hours, worrying about what would happen to her relationship with Luke if Millie was indeed pregnant. Millie had managed to keep Luke away from her for nearly a year using nothing but the sheer power of pillow-talk but now that there was quite possibly a baby on the way, she wouldn't even have to try; Luke would automatically become her slave for at least eighteen years.
A cold sweat suddenly washed over her. Would Luke ask Millie to marry him now? Surely, he would. He was already half-mad about her, for whatever reason, and the baby would only serve to propel him to the point of complete insanity. Simply put, Jody's brother was going to be lost to her forever.
"So, any particular reason you called?" he asked. "Only, I'm doing overtime today and I'm running late for lunch, so if it's not urgent, can we talk later?"
Ahh, so now she was an inconvenience. Again. Alright, if that was how he wanted to play it...
"Yeah, it is urgent. Very urgent, actually. When were you going to tell me that I'm going to be an aunt?"
An awkward pause followed, and all that could be heard on Luke's end was the clicking of computer mouses and keyboards in the background. At Ashdene Ridge, it was a completely different story; thanks to the shit weather, everyone was stuck at home, and despite having her bedroom door firmly closed, Jody could hear the muffled chaos ensuing in the lounge downstairs.
"H—How do you know that? Millie hasn't even told her parents yet."
Her heart dropped into the pit of her stomach, and she swallowed deeply. She wasn't shocked exactly—she'd known the answer she was going to get before she'd even asked—but the confirmation of the 'happy' news suddenly made the situation all the more real. Her fears were no longer hypothetical; Millie was going to give birth to a new Jackson, and was undoubtedly going to become one herself.
"I'm not an idiot. At first, I thought your girlfriend was just fat but then I saw Tyler's pregnant step-aunt and put two and two together." She wrinkled her nose in disgust. "Congratulations."
He sighed. "Thanks. You're a clever girl, Jody. Cleverer than me and Kingsley both."
She'd totally forgotten about Kingsley. Of course, if she was going to become an aunt, then he was going to become an uncle. She shuddered. Kingsley had been bad enough as a big brother, both to her and to Luke. What kind of uncle would he be? The type that rocked up to his niece's or nephew's school and asked for spare lunch money? Then again, maybe it didn't matter; the last time she'd checked, her two brothers had not been on speaking terms.
"You didn't answer my question."
"What question?"
She rolled her eyes. "When you were going to tell me about the baby, Luke?"
"Oh, of course," he replied quickly. "Sorry. I was planning to tell you after we got 'round to telling her parents. We were waiting for the twelve-week mark. You know, just to be safe."
So there was a lower chance of miscarriage now? What a disa—She stopped that track of thought right then and there, bile rising up in her throat. How could such a thought have crossed her mind, if even for a moment, especially regarding her own brother's child? She hadn't even had a thought like that when her least favourite teacher, a mean, spiteful bitch, had announced she was going on maternity leave at the end of Year Ten. What the fuck was wrong with her?
"Look, Jody, I've got to go now. I'll call you later, yeah?"
"Yeah," she muttered, letting her phone fall out of her hand and land softly on her bed. She looked down, staring at her reflection on the small screen.
Who was this girl? She didn't recognise her.
A/N: Before uploading this, I had a little look at the traffic graph and found that I had 30 unique visitors to the previous chapter. C'mon people, where are the reviews? 1 review for 30 visitors?! I know that not everyone who clicks on a chapter actually reads it but it was 62 views for 30 visitors so at least some of you must've read it and then re-read it. Where are ya? You don't have to write long reviews (though I appreciate those) or anything like that; a few lines about what you think of the plot or the actual writing (I need to know how to improve) will suffice.
Thanks for the review, Charlie. I didn't realise Amy/Jody was similar to Carmen/Jody until you pointed it out. Now Jody's the older sister, eh?