PRINCESS OF DARKNESS
(PART III)
Secrets come out in this chapter. Most of you probably already have a good idea of what's going to happen, but try to be surprised anyway.
Jenna Livingston left the Camden household.
She was off to the library to copy a certain little paper.
A certain little paper that would certainly crush her opposition into complete and total submission.
Well... that's what Jenna thought, anyway.
Jenna arrived at the library with a fresh, crisp, five-dollar bill in her pocket (from Mr. Camden, of course. Truth was, that he was a cheapskate, but let's not go into that right now).
Jenna got change for her five dollars and spent most of it making copies of the paper. Jenna had plans. She was going to have some fun. Jenna was very skilled in the fine art of cruelty, and she wanted to use her skills to the fullest.
How, though?
What method would be perfect enough? Perfect enough to completely destroy Ruthie?
Jenna couldn't figure it out. It had to be just right. Jenna wanted to be there to see Ruthie's reaction. But how?
She thought about this for a moment.
Then it came to her. What better public humiliation than to spread copies of the paper all through school, only for Ruthie to come in and discover them?
The look of horror would be priceless. Absolutely priceless.
Jenna would have to arrive at school early, of course.
That would be no problem at all.
Plastering copies of the paper all over the hallway would be harder, though. Perhaps... perhaps... perhaps she could hand out copies of the paper to the students as they came in. Sadistic, maybe. Sadistic and satisfying. And then, she could hand one out to Ruthie. And watch her masterpiece take shape.
Jenna laughed at the thought. She would have to find a way to bring a camera to school so she could capture the moment.
Sunday came. The Camdens and Livingston's were both at church. They sat in the same row, much to the dislike of Ruthie and Jenna who, incidentally, happened to be sitting together.
It wasn't the best seating arrangement, that was for certain.
The two girls traded nasty glances out of the corners of their eyes throughout the sermon, being delivered by Eric Camden.
Eric invited the Livingston family to the church earlier in the week, wanting to continue the mending of bridges. In fact, the sermon that Sunday was all about friendship and the growth of relationships.
Something was growing between Ruthie and Jenna.
Extreme dislike and revulsion.
Even as Ruthie and Jenna held hands during prayer, they eyed each other. Each girl half-expecting the other to pull the rug out from under her feet. Metaphorically, of course.
After church, as the two families went their separate ways, Ruthie and Jenna made eye contact. Their looks contributed much, as each girl knew that the other was planning something. Of course, Ruthie wasn't planning anything at all. Jenna was just being extra suspicious and paranoid. Needless to say, this was understandable when dealing with Ruthie Camden.
Monday rolled around.
Ruthie Camden woke up after a fitful sleep. She got only two hours sleep and spent the rest of the night tossing and turning in bed.
This was odd for Ruthie. She may not have slept much, but she usually didn't have trouble sleeping.
That morning, the youngest Camden daughter was driven to school by her parents, half-asleep from the lack of rest she had gotten.
She wouldn't know what hit her.
Or, at least, that was Jenna thought, as she passed out copies of Ruthie's adoption papers to every passerby she could.
Gleefully, she did this. She enjoyed it. Of course, a lot of the students really didn't care that much one way or the other, but (considering these were the Camdens, after all, and most of Glenoak revolved around them) this would soon become big news.
People all over the town would know about this by week's—maybe even day's—end.
And when Ruthie started her way down the hallway... that's when things became interesting.
A smile grew on Jenna Livingston's fourteen-year-old face as she virtually skipped over to Ruthie.
Ruthie, at this time, was confused. People were looking at her. They were looking at her like they knew something she didn't.
Ruthie didn't like that feeling.
Ruthie never had that feeling before.
It was strange. Odd.
She looked around her. Why was Jenna smiling? Why were people looking at her? What did they all have in their hands?
"Hello, Ruthie." Jenna said. Much too chipper, Ruthie thought. Jenna was a step ahead of her. Nobody had ever been a step ahead of Ruthie before. Ever. Nobody had even come close before.
"I thought you might be interested by a certain something."
Ruthie glared at Jenna and snatched the paper out of her hand. She read it once and showed no discernable emotion.
Jenna was confused by this. She waited for some reaction by Ruthie. There was none. The entire hallway was waiting for the girl to do something. To cry, or to scream, or just to show some facial expression.
Ruthie merely went about her business. She crumpled the paper in her fist and started to open her locker.
Everyone watched in silence as Ruthie got out her books and walked into class.
Jenna was disappointed. Stunned. Shocked. How could this have happened?
Ruthie Camden just found out she was adopted and showed no emotion whatsoever. This was more that disappointing. This was crushing. Jenna was crushed. Sure, everyone knew Ruthie was adopted, but the real point of the whole thing was to tear her apart. And not only was she not torn apart, she didn't seem to care one-way or the other.
What was this madness?
Jenna sighed to herself and came to a realization. Ruthie was not normal. Not normal at all. No reaction? None? Jenna wanted screaming. Crying. Stunned shock. Jenna wanted Ruthie to break in half. Not only had Ruthie not broken in half, but now Jenna was on the verge of tears. She got her hopes up, and ended up with them dashed.
Ruthie won again.
The rest of the day went pretty much the same. Ruthie brushed off the looks by her classmates and acted like there was nothing wrong. Jenna, meanwhile, couldn't believe what was going on.
Either Ruthie was a great actress (and Jenna just couldn't believe that) or she was a complete and total sociopath.
After school, Jenna caught up with Ruthie. Jenna was letting her guard down.
"What's your problem, Ruthie?"
"Nice to see you too, Jenna."
"You're adopted. Don't you care about that? At all?"
Ruthie smiled sweetly at Jenna.
"Jenna, Jenna, Jenna. You must still be in love with me if you're obsessing over me like this."
Ruthie was more than ruffling Jenna's feathers. Jenna's feathers were a complete and total mess.
"What do you mean 'in love with you'? I was never in love with you, you psycho witch! You're the one who kissed me. I remember that. And you did it so you could get me in trouble."
Ruthie smiled and shook her head as if to say what an idiot Jenna was.
"What are you shaking your head for?" Jenna asked. "You're a real psycho, you know that?"
When Ruthie didn't respond, Jenna decided to go a bit further.
"I bet your REAL parents were freaks too."
Jenna expected Ruthie to blow up. To do SOMETHING.
Nothing. Nothing at all. Ruthie merely shrugged.
Ruthie's refusal to show even the slightest emotion to Jenna's prodding was slowly beginning to tear the Livingston Lass apart. Jenna couldn't understand it. What was wrong with Ruthie Camden?
Ruthie began to whistle the theme from 'Gilligan's Island'. It was very appropriate, considering Jenna felt very, very lost.
Jenna walked with Ruthie until the Camden girl returned home, poking and prodding, hoping for SOME kind of reaction. Some discernable emotion. By the end, Jenna was virtually begging for Ruthie to do something. To expose some weakness that could be taken advantage of.
Ruthie wouldn't budge. As she arrived in her front yard, she had to say:
"Jenna, maybe you should go home. You don't look alright."
Jenna screamed out of frustration. She quickly left the area. For she knew, if she stayed around Ruthie Camden for much longer, she would completely lose her mind.
Ruthie entered her house. She put down her backpack, took off her overcoat, and looked at the paper again. Then, she walked to the bathroom and threw up.
All in a day's work.