"Hey, Jenny, wait up," you call out to her. This causes her to stop and turn around, an inquisitive look on her face. "Uh, well, I didn't tell you where it is. You know where the big storage complex is? It's called Top Self or Top Shelf or whatever... with the fucked up H."
"I know it," she answers.
"Right, well, that's where Carlos has his studio so make sure Jessica knows. Mike and Carlos are going to be starting at four so tell her to come out around then," you tell her.
"Uh huh," she replies. "Yeah, I'll tell her. That all?"
You're ready to dismiss her but those thoughts are still lingering in your head. You told Fairfax you were going to get Mia but at the moment you're thinking forget her. Jenny can, sort of, fulfill the same role and has the benefit of already being friendly with some of the cheerleaders. So why not invite her out too? If she doesn't want to then it's no big deal and you stick with getting Mia out there instead. If she accepts then you tell Fairfax that there's a change of plans. He'd be fine with it, right?
So you decide to throw the question out there. "Well, you know, do you have anything going on after school," you ask her.
"Why do you want to know," she asks as her eyes narrow suspiciously, like a detective closely examining a clue.
"I was just thinking that if you've got nothing going on do you want to come out too," you ask.
"Oh god, do you want me in that video too," she says as her face goes from suspicion to apprehension. "I will not be good on camera."
"No, not that," you deny. "It's just, I don't know, it's something to do? If Jessica's coming out why not come over and hang out too? See how it's done and all of that?"
It's not really an enticing offer you'll admit and as you see the gears turning in Jenny's head you brace for the inevitable sting of her turning you down. "Well, I mean, I don't really have anything going on I guess," she says. "Dad's out of town until Saturday, James and Carson... ugh! And I don't think Yumi's able to get out of family night."
Nothing about the way she says any of that fills you with any hope so it's to your surprise when she finally does finish her thought. "So sure, if you want to hang out why not," she answers. "I think Eva's got the car today so Jessica will need a ride anyway. Besides," she says and she gets a little bit of a wicked look on her face, "if James and Carson can do their own shit without telling me about it I'll consider it a little bit of payback. We can tell them about how much fun we had and maybe we'll do it again and not invite them."
"Y-you, huh," you say in disbelief. "You mean it?"
"Sure," Jenny says and laughs a little at that. "It'll piss them off so it can be our thing until they pull their heads out of their asses."
"Well, uh, sure! Alright then, yeah, so four o'clock at the storage complex," you tell her.
"Uh huh," she says slyly. "I'll see you there."
You're feeling overjoyed by that and you're not entirely sure why. Well, you said to Fairfax you wanted to be comfortable right? And Jenny's a friend, someone you know pretty well, so she'll definitely be a comfortable place for you. Oh but will he accept that? Well he'll have to and he would probably, if you were picking from outside the cheerleader circle, prefer her over Mia. You don't really have the time to now but you'll run it by him after you get out of Kowalski's.
* * * * *
found jenny, she agreed to talk to jessica, you text Fairfax almost as soon as you're out the door.
so jessica's coming out today, he asks.
yeah jenny seemed confident, you reply. gave her BS about mike & carlos needing a cheerleader for a shoot.
great! tell them that & tell them to talk to mia in 8th
slight change of plans maybe, you tell him. jenny's giving jessica a ride. wants to hang out too.
okay, he questions, nbd if she doesnt see anything
if she's there tho y not grab her instead
It's a precious moment before Fairfax finally texts back. you mean grab her for you?
exactly. she's right there and is friends with the cheerleaders
its a good idea, he replies. u want to use her instead thats fine.
You breathe a sigh of relief at that. cool thx man, you text before adding. so see u out there @ 4?
was going to stay home. if u need help mike & carlos know what theyre doing.
no offense to them but i'd feel more comfortable if u were there.
Another moment of silence before you receive another text. understandable, he says. if u want i can come out then.
So ends your conversation wtih Fairfax and you're quick, afterwards, to shoot off texts to both Mike and Carlos (so as to ensure that they're on the same place) that Jenny's going to bring Jessica out to the unit after school where you'll grab the both of them there with you getting Jenny. Both of them send you goofy excited texts back in return.
It's now just a matter of seeing if Jenny is good on her word so you wait anxiously through the latter half of the day. In eighth period you can't help but look at Stephanie as she sits there with a look of boredom on her face as she's probably itching to get her phone back out and check to see if there's anything she's missed in the last five minutes. You'd thought about having her as a choice but it was an idea dismissed almost as quickly as Lisa. You'd like to know what goes on in her head but how would you even get her to agree to come out in the first place?
Well whatever because your dilemma is resolved once class lets out and Jenny texts you: it took some cajoling but she indeed was able to get Jessica to come out. But she'll need to grab her cheerleading uniform first so it'll probably be closer to four-thirty before they arrive. You tell her that's fine and then send a group text to Mike, Carlos and Fairfax to update them on the time.
It's hard to contain the nervous excitement you feel. If all goes well then in the next ninety minutes you'll be Jenny Ashton.
* * * * *
Jessica had made a disdainful face when she arrived wondering why the filming was here, of all places. You had explained that Carlos' uncle owns the complex which means that Carlos has himself a nice, clean, climate controlled unit to shoot his videos on. With a little reassurance from Jenny, Jessica accepted this though not happily (hopefully Mike and Carlos will make the twins a little more pleasant).
Fairfax meets you before you can get to the unit and tells you that he'll bring her in. He gives Jenny the excuse that they have to go over things with her first, just some boring stuff really, and then do a few test takes. He says that he'll come and get you once they're ready to shoot for real.
That's how you end up back outside in the bed of your truck, you leaned against the cab and Jenny sitting cross-legged across from you. There's a bit of light conversation for a few minutes as you update each other on the goings on in classes and whatnot. But there's a sudden turn in the atmosphere.
"Hey, Will," she says and her tone is a lot more serious and somber. "Thanks for offering to hang out with me today. I mean it."
"It's not a problem," you tell her. "I don't think we've ever hung out, just the two of us, and when you mentioned James and Carson --"
"Ugh, god, fuck those two," she says in frustration. "Especially James! He never... god! And now he's ignoring me because Carson has him roped into whatever bullshit he has going on that's eating all of his time. I'm going to strangle both of them, especially Carson, but especially James."
"You alright," you ask and you notice that her face has twisted up into a look of frustrated pain.
She lets out a small laugh, the kind that happens when you're at your wit's end, and just shakes her head. "It's nothing but..." She trails off and looks down, then looks back up. "I don't know why I'm going to say any of this because I don't like to talk about it but I guess I'm just that fucking upset," she states. "You know I live with my dad, right?"
You give an affirmative response. She's mentioned a few times that her parents are divorced.
"Well we've always been really close but it's just that over the last year, with work, he's had to take a lot of business trips," she explains. "That was fine because it was, like, two days here or there. But they've been getting longer and I've been spending a lot more time alone at the house. I mean it's cool that he trusts me enough but still..." She hits a fist on the bed. "So he's gone and James... I don't know if he's just oblivious or what but he's been doing more shit with Carson lately and it's just making me feel... ugh! You can guess right?"
So that's it? You've noticed she's been getting steadily more irritable the last few weeks but you never really would've guessed it was because she was feeling lonely and ignored. Is that what you'll be stepping into when you step in for her?
But something else hits you as well. You actually feel resentment towards James. He's not an asshole so you don't think he'd be doing it on purpose but even still his actions are obviously having a negative impact on Jenny at a point where she's already feeling bad. You want to tell him off and tell him to shape up and stop ignoring her... or do you?
Those thoughts from your talk with her earlier come back to you. She'd said earlier, jokingly, that this could be your secret thing and maybe it could be. It can be a great big secret thing that you and Jenny share, that will bring you closer together and from there... but would the others even go for it? If you asked them to let Jenny join, would they do it? Would she?  | Members who added to this interactive story also contributed to these: |
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