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Chapter Three
Jessica's first lesson of the day was Maths. She hated Maths even more so she hated Algebra. Dean happened to be in this class with her and he had promised his sister, he'd keep an eye on Jessica. She seemed distracted today, Casey noticed that when she was making sure all her sisters and her brother were ready and off to school. Casey also saw how Jessica kept glancing at the empty bedroom when she went upstairs. With the door ajar, Casey saw it used to be a boys room and she often wondered who it belonged to since Bradley had his own room. So sitting down at her desk Jessica sighed and looked over at Dean who was seated beside her. He smiled and winked at her. She giggled. Dean always knew how to make her smile. They'd been friend since pre-school and all three of them, inseparable ever since.
"Hey, Mr Long isn't here today Jess, he fell off a ladder yesterday." Dean informed Jessica. She was glad, since Mr Long was her worst teacher. He hated her just as much as she hated him and his subject so he wasn't that sorry he had fallen.
"Hey, maybe we can skip then?" Jessica whispered to Dean who smiled and nodded.
"Yeah, if old Mrs. Wilson is subbing. She'll give us all work sheets and then fall asleep. We'll sneak out and go to the library." Dean said. Jessica nodded and was actually looking forward to her first lesson now.
Dean was right of course and Mrs. Wilson had walked into the class room, giving work sheets and five minutes later had fallen asleep. Jessica giggled when Dean took her hand and the ran out of the class room. Checking to make sure Mrs. Wilson hadn't woken up by their sudden movement Jessica and Dean made their way to the library. It was quiet there and Jessica needed quiet for a while. Dean wouldn't ask questions like Casey would so she was glad it was his company she was going to be with this morning. They found a table in the corner and sat down. They each pulled out a history book so it looked like they were doing something. They didn't need detentions today, Jessica needed to be home straight away after school to make sure the others were home and keeping the place tidy. She didn't want her mom to have to come home from her afternoon job and start cleaning up again.
"So, Jess I need to ask, and don't think I'm gonna make you tell me, I'm not. But what was with you this morning?" Jessica looked at Dean and smiled. There was no hiding things from him at all.
"I don't know. I was getting ready this morning and I walked passed Dave's room..." She trailed off. None of her friends, not even he closest ones knew about David and how he'd left her and how she'd been having trouble moving on for the past ten years.
Dean looked at her and frowned. "Babe, who's Dave?" He asked taking her hand and letting her know he was here for her.
Jessica didn't know if she should tell Dean about her brother or not. She had tried so hard to forget it and here she was suddenly thinking about him and having flashbacks again. She felt she could tell Dean. So she looked at him and signed.
"David was or is my brother. He's older than me. I was seven when he left. We were so close, he protected me from all the fights Clive and my mom had night after night. He shielded me from the bruises my mom had day after day after Clive came home drunk. Clive never touched us because of Dave. One night I woke up, it was raining and I was scared because I remember hearing my mom and Clive fighting. Clive hit her and so I decided to go to Dave's room. When I got there he hugged me and told me everything was going to be alright. But then I saw he had bags and his stuff, was all packed up. So I asked him where he was going and he just told me he was going away for a little while. He promised me he'd be back for me. I watched him leave and I haven't seen him since.
Dean was shocked at Jessica's story. He didn't even know about David.
"Have you tried finding him?" He asked. Jessica shook her head. Trying to find him would be like looking for a needle in a haystack. She didn't even know where he was.