I Knew You Were Trouble: A Jessie Jefferson Novel (18 page)

I recognise a few people from the last time I was here, but, unfortunately, the one person I don’t want to see is Lissa, a girl who has always been a total bitch to me. But there she is,
looking more like a stripogram than Britney Spears, in high black patent boots and a low-cut top, her boobs pushed to the limits. Lissa’s eyes land on me and I hold her gaze, fighting the
urge to run away. A moment later she comes over.

‘So the rumours are true,’ she says with what is more of a sneer than a smile. ‘You’re back.’

‘Be nice,’ Lottie warns.

‘I’ll be nice,’ she replies, straight-faced. ‘I heard what happened.’

‘You were so lucky,’ Lottie chips in breathily.

I flinch as the memory of it comes back to me. The two men in the front of the van… Their angry, determined faces… Sam falling to the ground…

‘You don’t have to talk about it,’ Agnes chips in.

I’d certainly rather not. Agnes and I got papped when we were out shopping for costumes. I thought maybe the photographer had mistaken me for someone else, until he started speaking.

‘Hey, Jessie! How are you feeling after the kidnapping attempt? What’s it like staying with your famous dad?’

Luckily Lewis fended him off. I’m still hoping all the kidnap stuff will blow over and they’ll leave me alone…

‘Jessie Jefferson?’ I hear a male voice call and turn to see Fred from
Scooby-Doo
coming towards me, all tall, blond and buff.

‘Peter?’ I ask with surprised delight, welcoming a chance to move away from Lissa. I met him in the summer – he’s an actor and plays Lottie’s character’s
long-lost brother on
Little Miss Mulholland
.

‘Hey!’ he says, sweeping me up in a hug. ‘I heard you were coming back!’ Then his grin fades. ‘Man, I also heard what happened.’

I stifle a sigh. I think I’m going to get a lot of this tonight.

When Jack arrives half an hour later, I recognise him instantly, despite his disguise, and my heart skips a beat. He and his bandmates, Brandon and Miles, have come as vampires
and they look like something out of
The Lost Boys
: messy hair, pale faces, guyliner and fake blood trailing down from their lips. They’re wearing all black: skinny jeans and
tight-fitting shirts. Brandon, who’s as tall and slim as Jack, and who normally wears his blond hair in a slick quiff, is wearing a leather jacket. Miles, who’s shorter and slightly
stockier, still has the tips of his black hair dyed orange and is wearing a long-sleeved shirt, open at the neck.

And then there’s Jack. He’s had a haircut and it’s now very short behind, but longer on top. It’s wavy and messy, a few dark tendrils falling down across his
forehead.

Brandon is carrying a DJ bag and goes straight over to the guy behind the decks. Jack scrapes his hair out of his face and my eyes fall on his slim wrist encircled with several leather straps,
and the comic-book-style POW! tattoo on his forearm. I see him notice the girl dressed as a comic-book character and his eyes skim over her with appreciation. I knew he’d like her costume. I
hope he doesn’t like her, too. But why should I care? I shouldn’t.

And then his eyes are on mine and everything freezes. A moment later I gather my wits and nod a hello as crowds of people pass between us. He makes his way towards me and I’m aware of my
heart quickening and my body tensing. My knuckles are white as I grip my punch glass and I’m vaguely conscious of Agnes relaying a story to Lottie that I really should be paying attention
to.

‘Hi,’ he says, looking down at me, his blue-grey eyes seeming darker than usual.

Before I can reply, Lottie has her arms round him and is hugging him hello. Miles and Brandon join us and she breaks away from Jack as Brandon slides her hood off her head and kisses her cheek.
She grins and touches the trail of fake blood running down from one side of his lips.

‘Don’t get me all bloody,’ she warns.

‘People are Strange’ – one of the songs from the
The Lost Boys
soundtrack – starts to play out of the speakers. Miles looks over his shoulder and salutes the DJ
with amusement before heading to the bar with Agnes.

‘Is that Morgan?’ I ask Jack, nodding towards the guy behind the decks.

‘Yeah,’ he says, glancing back at me.

‘Are you playing a set later?’ Such an ordinary conversation for such extraordinary circumstances. The last time I saw him he was teasingly singing about kissing me.

Tom, Tom, Tom
, I chant inside my head.

He nods, casting his gaze over my outfit. ‘You look cool.’

‘Thanks. So do you.’ I try to ignore the thrill I feel when he compliments me.

Lottie and Brandon are standing off to one side, flirting and talking, their heads close together.

I wonder if Agnes has told Jack that I have a boyfriend.

‘Oh, wow,’ Lissa interrupts with a nasty smile, materialising beside us. ‘Bride of Dracula and
Dracula
?’ She lets out a horrid little hoot of laughter.

‘Nice to see you, too, Lissa,’ Jack replies coolly.

‘Did you guys go shopping for your costumes together?’ she asks. ‘Or did fate intervene?’

Fate or Agnes
, I think to myself. Did she know her brother was coming as a vampire when she encouraged me to buy this dress? I glance over my shoulder, wondering where on earth she is
with our drinks.

‘I don’t suppose a guy like you would care that she has a boyfriend,’ Lissa continues.

Oh, here we go…

‘Here you go,’ Agnes interrupts. ‘Sorry, Lissa, I didn’t get you one,’ she says, before leaning past her to hand out glasses and, in doing so, forcing Lissa to step
back. Agnes closes the gap in our circle, excluding her from the group.

‘Cheers!’ Agnes says, prompting us to all chink glasses. A moment later I’m aware of Lissa stalking off.

‘Was she being a bitch again?’ Lottie asks, finally dragging her attention away from Brandon to notice what’s going on.

‘No more than usual,’ Agnes replies flippantly. ‘I don’t know why you keep inviting her to these things,’ she adds.

‘Yeah, you do,’ Lottie replies with a pointed look before turning back to Brandon.

I raise my eyebrows at Agnes. ‘They’ve known each other all their lives,’ she explains with a shrug. ‘They’re practically related. Not that that’s any excuse
to behave like a total bitch.’

‘She wasn’t being that bad,’ I feel compelled to say.

‘Have you forgotten that she sold you out to the press?’ Agnes asks.

I could never forget that. It was when I was last here and the news had just broken about Johnny having a fifteen-year-old daughter. The press didn’t know who I was yet, but Lissa called
them and told them that I was at Lottie’s house, so they tailed me home to try to snatch a picture. I was with Agnes and Jack, and I still remember the feeling of Jack’s arms around me
in the back seat, hiding me, protecting me, while his sister drove us home… I remember it a little too well unfortunately.

‘Selling me out to the press seems to be all the rage these days,’ I reply to Agnes, and I can’t keep the trace of bitterness from my voice.

‘I meant to ask you about that,’ Agnes says with concern. ‘Who blew your cover?’

I fill her in about Libby and Amanda. Her lips turn down in sympathy and then Miles asks her something and I turn away, downing half my drink.

‘How’s the punch?’ Jack asks.

‘Nice,’ I reply. ‘But not very spiky.’

‘All the better for drinking more of it, my dear,’ he says in a low voice.

‘Was that supposed to be the Big Bad Wolf?’ I ask, laughing. ‘You’re talking to the wrong person.’ I nod at Lottie in her Red Riding Hood outfit.

‘She looks pretty happy with who she’s talking to,’ he replies, as Lottie cracks up at something Brandon has said.

Jack hooks one of his thumbs in his jeans pocket. He’s wearing a studded black belt, but his jeans would sit perfectly on his hips regardless. I spot black ink underneath the leather
straps on his wrist and grab his arm to scrutinise it.

‘You got another tattoo,’ I say.

‘Yeah.’ He moves the straps aside to show me. The black ink looks like a bracelet circling his wrist.

‘It’s cool, I like it,’ I semi-shout above the music.

He stares down at me, raising one eyebrow. ‘So, boyfriend, huh?’

I drop his hand like a hot potato.

‘You kept that quiet in your texts,’ he says offhandedly. ‘Agnes mentioned it.’

I shrug. ‘His name’s Tom.’

‘Serious?’

I shrug again, aware that I’m being unacceptably evasive. ‘Yes,’ I say, finally injecting some authority into my voice. ‘We’ve been going out for a few
weeks.’

He shakes his head. ‘That’s not serious.’ He sounds dismissive.

‘That depends on how you define the word,’ I say crossly. ‘I doubt you’ve
ever
had a serious girlfriend.’

To my surprise, he doesn’t argue. Instead he grins and rakes his hand through his hair, fixing his attention on the other partygoers.

I take another sip of my drink and watch him furtively. The red lanterns are reflected in his eyes.

‘How are things going with the band?’ I change the subject. ‘Is Eve still talking about quitting?’

‘She quit,’ he replies, glancing back at me.

‘No! When?’

‘Yesterday.’

‘Shit! What are you going to do?’

He smiles a little, clearly amused by my reaction.

‘Get someone else,’ he says.

‘How?’

‘Audition.’

‘Wow. And what about
Little Miss Mulholland
?’

‘Yeah, what about
Little Miss Mulholland
?’ Jack asks loudly for Lottie’s benefit. Her head whips round. ‘Jessie’s asking when we’re going on your
show.’ He’s teasing her.

‘Well, it was looking pretty good,’ she responds. ‘But now that Eve’s quit…’

‘Eve Shmeve, we’ll find someone else,’ Brandon chips in, placing his hand on Lottie’s shoulder. ‘Can you sing?’ he asks her.

‘No.’ She laughs. ‘But nice try.’

‘Dude, your set’s up,’ Miles says suddenly, nudging Jack. They both look over at Morgan on the decks.

‘OK, sure,’ Jack says. He glances at me as if to say something, but seems to think better of it. ‘Catch you later,’ he says, half over his shoulder.

I watch him walk away. Was he going to ask me to join him at the decks? The last time I did that was the first night we kissed.

My heart hurts slightly at the thought that it’s over between us – whatever it was that we had.

I turn back to see Agnes studying me.

‘
Definitely
still like him,’ she says with satisfaction.

‘No, I don’t,’ I reply with nowhere near enough conviction.

‘He was annoyed you didn’t tell him about Tom.’

‘Was he? He didn’t seem annoyed just now.’

‘He was,’ she says.

‘Would you stop stirring things?’ I snap, half amused and half irritated. ‘Look at him, he doesn’t care in the slightest.’

He’s stopped to talk to Comic Book Girl, but my nonchalant comment masks the contracting of my stomach. His lips are close to her ear and his hand is resting on her arm.

‘That’s just Jack,’ Agnes replies, nonplussed. ‘He’s always been tactile.’

‘Is that what you call it?’ I say wryly, then realise I’d better make a concerted effort from here on in not to give Agnes any ideas that I’m still interested in her
brother.

On Monday morning, I have to drag myself down to breakfast. I would’ve stayed in bed, but my new tutor starts this morning, and I want to make a good impression.

‘Over your jet lag, then?’ Meg asks with a smile as I walk into the kitchen and almost stumble into the chair at the end of the table.

‘Yes.’ I nod, trying to stifle a yawn and then giving up, letting it damn near break my face in half. Meg laughs.

Last week my jet lag had me waking at the crack of dawn, but, since Saturday night, I haven’t been able to sleep. I didn’t doze off until the early hours of this morning, so
it’s not surprising I’ve overslept.

To my intense annoyance, I haven’t been able to get Jack off my mind.

We barely spoke for the rest of the party. After his DJ set, he resumed his conversation with Comic Book Girl. In the end, I left early, freaked out that if I stayed I’d catch him kissing
her.

‘You’re all dressed and ready, then?’ Meg says.

I nod. I just threw some clothes on, but didn’t bother with make-up. I might go for a swim after my lessons. Apparently I’m only being tutored for four hours a day. I guess
I’ll have extra lessons if I need them, but one-on-one is allegedly quite intense.

‘What do you want for breakfast?’ Meg asks, picking up Phoenix’s spoon from the floor. He bashes it against the table and then lets it fly again.

‘Phee!’ she snaps, swooping down to pick it up.

I smile at her use of the nickname I came up with. She notices.

‘I told you it would stick,’ she says with a grin.

I root around in the cupboards for some cereal, amused as always at the sight of the super-sweet kiddie stuff. The boys don’t eat any of it – it’s all for Meg.

I pour some muesli into a bowl and sit at the table. I miss Gramps already. He was only here for a few days after I arrived, but his presence was cheery. I hope he comes back soon. If I
don’t go home first.

‘How are you feeling today?’ Meg asks me.

‘Tired,’ I reply with a yawn.

‘You seemed quiet yesterday,’ she comments carefully. ‘Are you OK?’

‘I’m fine,’ I say. ‘Just settling back in.’

‘You know that Stu can come and stay any time he likes.’ She’s mistaking my quietness for homesickness. ‘We’ll cover his ticket.’

‘Thanks, that’s really kind,’ I say and sigh.

Meg cottons on. ‘You miss Tom and your friends.’

‘Mmm.’ I nod, aware that my thoughts last night were centred predominantly on Jack. I need to refocus.

‘What’s he like?’ she asks.

‘Gorgeous.’ I glance up at her and smile. ‘You want to see a picture?’

‘Yes, please!’ she says eagerly.

I get my phone out and scroll through my photos. My heart clenches at the sight of my sexy, brown-eyed boy. I hand over my phone wistfully.