“It was you, wasn’t it?” Douglas demanded eagerly when he saw me. “Youdid it. You did it all!”
“Let me guess,” I said, sinking down onto the porch steps. “Mr. Whitehead dropped off his check.”
“Jess.” Douglas’s eyes were shining. Tasha, rushing up to stand beside him, didn’t look any less excited. “You don’t know what you’ve done. You don’t know—you can’t even imagine—how great this is.”
“Well,” I said mildly, “I’m kind of getting the idea. Tasha, that was the worst parking job I’ve ever seen.”
“Finally,” Douglas said, ignoring my dig at his girlfriend’s driving skills, and sinking down onto the porch step beside me, “we can have a school in this town that both parentsand kids can love. A school that doesn’t suck. The kind of school you can really have pride in.”
“Right,” Tasha said, sitting down beside Douglas, but looking up at me. “The kind of school that someone like you might even want to come back and teach in, Jess.”
I stared at them both, dumbfounded. “What? Teach?Me? ”
“Sure,” Douglas said. Then, seeing my expression, he laughed. “Well, it’s not that far-fetched, Jess. Think about it. Isn’t that what you’re doing this summer, with Ruth?”
“Well,” I said. “Yeah, but—”
“I’ve always thought you were great with kids, Jess,” Tasha said. “And we’re going to need a music instructor. It would be great if it could be you.”
I stared at them both. “I’m not at Juilliard to train to be a music teacher,” I said. “I’m there to become a professional musician.”
“But is that what you want, Jess?” Tasha asked. I saw her and Douglas exchange quick glances. “To play in an orchestra? Travel around? Be a musician?”
I blinked at her. Was that what I wanted? No, actually. That wasn’t what I wanted at all. What I wanted…what I wanted…
Why did everyone keep asking me what I wanted, like I was supposed to know?
“There’s no need to tell us right now,” Douglas said, resting a hand on my shoulder. “I mean, you’d have to wait until you’ve gotten your teaching certificate before you started, anyway. But if you decide you do want to come work for us, there’ll always be a position for you, Jess. The pay won’t be stellar, but I promise it will be enough to live on. And for gas, for Blue Beauty.”
He grinned at me. I couldn’t help grinning back. His excitement was catching.
It’s ironic that Mom should have chosen that moment to pull up herself.
“Oh,” Tasha said, standing up and looking worried. “I’ve blocked the driveway.”
But Mom was already parking on the street. She didn’t even appear to notice Tasha or her Jeep. She didn’t even notice Douglas. All of her attention was focused on me.
Which was so not what I needed just then.
“Jessica,” she said, even as she was still climbing out of her car. “Just what exactlywas that this morning? You swept out of here without a word of apology to poor Karen Sue. I understand you had other things to do than have brunch with her—believe me, it’s all over town, what you were up to this morning. But couldn’t you have at least said you were sorry and rescheduled for another time?”
“Mom,” Douglas said, standing up. “You are never going to believe what Jess did. She—”
“I already heard all about what your sister did,” Mom said. She’d crossed the street into our yard now and noticed the garbage can Tasha had nearly hit. She started tugging it towards the garage. “That’s just lovely, Jessica, getting yourself involved in busting up a porn ring. I understand that Wilkins boy was there, as well. Why am I not surprised?”
“Mom.” Douglas looked annoyed. “Jessica got Mr. Whitehead to donate three million dollars to—”
“I beg your pardon, Douglas,” Mom said, glaring at him. “But I am speaking to Jessica. Well?” She brushed her hands off on her slacks. “What do you have to say for yourself? Because I had to stand here and try to keep Karen Sue from crying—yes,crying —over how you treated her this morning. I understand that perhaps you had more pressing concerns, but…” Her eyes narrowed behind her sunglasses as she stared at the porch. “What’s going on with you, Jessica? You look…different.”
Maybe because right then, I was thinking about killing her.
“Ma,” Douglas said. “She—”
“Don’t call me Ma,” Mom said automatically. “Jessica, what exactly is going on here? You show up out of the blue, and the next thing I know, you’re involved in some kind of teen runaway porn scandal. You should have seen Mrs. Leskowski’s expression when she came up to me in the Kroger just now to tell me all about it. Butter wouldn’t have melted in that woman’s mouth. It’s almost like she thinks the rest of us don’t remember what Mark did—”
Suddenly Mom whipped off her sunglasses, apparently to get a better look at me.“Jessica. Did you get your powers back?”
Oh, brother.
“I gotta go,” I said, getting up. Because suddenly, I had a burning need to take my bike out for a little spin.
“Wait,” Mom said. “Jessica. Did you? You did, didn’t you? Oh, Jessica.”
“Come on, Mom.” Douglas looked annoyed. “Get with the program. You want to know thereally good news? She got Randy Whitehead to donate three million—”
“Why didn’t you tell me, Jessica?” Mom, ignoring Douglas, asked me. “Does Dr. Krantz know?”
My eyes widened. “God. I hope not.”
“Well, Jessica. You have to tell him. I mean, there are still people out there that I’m sure they’d like to—”
“Mom!” I stared at her. I couldn’t believe this. I really couldn’t. I was so distracted that I found myself slipping Rob’s grandmother’s ring on and off my left middle finger. Then I figured I’d better leave it on, so I wouldn’t lose it. I had to give it back to him, after all.
“You can’t have it both ways,” I said, coming down off the porch steps and heading for Blue Beauty. “You can’t have a daughter who’s normal, like Karen Sue Hankey, and a daughter with psychic powers, like me. You have to decide. You have to decide which one you want.”
Because that’s what my Juilliard scholarship, I knew, represented to my mom—that I was normal. Which is what she’d always wanted—a normal daughter, like Karen Sue Hankey. Not one who wouldn’t put on a dress, loved motorcycles, and could find missing people in her sleep.
Well, she’d gotten her wish. For the entirety of this past year, I’d been the normal daughter Mom had always wanted.
But no more. No more normal for me.
Was she going to be able to deal with that?
WasI ?
“Jessica,” Mom said, stepping in front of me, effectively blocking my path to the garage. “I have no idea what you’re talking about.”
“Just that maybe if you had ever supported me in anything I ever did—besides going to Juilliard—I might have turned out more the way you wanted me to.”
Mom’s eyebrows went up. WAY up.
“What are you talking about?” she demanded. “You know your father and I have always supported you, in everything you’ve ever done—”
“Not about Rob, you didn’t,” I said.
Mom looked shocked. “Isthat what this is about? That boy? I can’t believe you’re even giving him a second’s thought, after the way he treated you—”
“He treated me that way because ofyou , Mom. Because of your stupid statutory-rape speech. You totally scared him off—”
“I’m glad I did,” Mom said indignantly. “Jessica, I know you’ve always had self-esteem issues, but believe me, you can do a lot better than a common grease monkey with a criminal record.”
“For swimming after hours at a public pool, Ma,” I said. “That’s what Rob was on probation for. For trespassing.”
Behind me, I heard Douglas burst out laughing. “For real?” he wanted to know. “That’s why he got busted?”