Red Leather (Book 2)

Chapter 7

Chapter 7

My first day at Alistair High, so far, has been successful.

The school itself is beautiful. Full of fresh green grass and stunning architecture. A new sculpture has been installed as the school's main piece – a flock of doves taking flight in the palm of two gentle hands. It was said to be dedicated to those involved in the Ericson kidnapping two years ago. Names in elegant print were written on each dove. Jennifer Hockley, Robert Blight, Jessabel Griffin, Nathan Ericson...

Nathan.

Even the name made me sigh.

Upon entering school grounds, attention was drawn to me immediately. And I loved it. The first thing I did was walk straight into a circle of very good-looking hockey players.

I accidently bumped my shoulder against one of their backs, and I turned around hastily, apologizing. "Oh, I'm sorry."

"It's alright," the boy smiled. He had very straight teeth. His friends stopped their chatter to glance at me.

"I'm Renee," I offered my hand. He gripped it steadily, not so much shaking it as holding it. "Renee Griffin."

His eyes widened. "Wait – are you by any chance related to Jessabel?"

I cocked my head to the side, aiming to look bewildered. "How do you know my cousin?"

I was accepted into all the social groups after that.

I was astounded, to tell the truth. Having spent the entire night flicking through Jessabel's hate mail, it was difficult to imagine just how many people now loved and adored her. This was the girl who was called a freak on a regular basis. A girl who was shoved behind the shadows of society.

Though I noticed that nobody actually knew Jessabel directly. The people who gushed about how brave she was were usually the siblings of those who did go to school with her. Take Becca Johnson, for example.

"Oh my God! I knew you looked familiar," she exclaimed, her voice going several tones higher. "Jess and my sister – Elizabeth – go like, way back. They had History together. Amelia knew her, too. In fact, she actually helped lock up Alfred."

"Really?" I asked, even though I was pretty sure there was an envelope in the bottom of my bag with the list of profanities Elizabeth Johnson had to say to Jessabel. Amelia Johnson sounded familiar, though.

"Yeah. And we're also like, really close with Nathan and stuff. In fact," she leaned closer, her hand cupping the side of her face. "Nate used to date Elizabeth a couple of years back. Before the whole Bryndle mess."

Now that was information I was going to process in my own time.

A couple of girls from Home Ec. who were nice enough to introduce me to everyone, Sal and Yuri, had apparently been best friends with Jessabel.

"Well, not directly," Sal explained.

"She used to come over our house a lot," said Yuri.

"She was a friend of our brother."

"Robbie used to really like her."

"You know, before the whole thing."

"He's in Italy now."

"Wait – what?" I interrupted. Robbie... Robbie who?

Yuri now looked sad. Home Ec. was a mixed class, and both juniors and seniors got to work side by side.  Sal and Yuri Blight were sisters with one year between them, and I'd watched them work side by side beforehand, noting the way they were so synchronized. Both looked similar too – the same bridge in the middle of their noses, the same set of eyebrows, and even wore the same colour of nail polish.