Hide & Seek - James Patterson [69]
“Mrs. Bradford, Jennie is one of the best students at Bedford Hills Academy. Then suddenly, just this semester, she gets very bad marks. For her anyway. That sometimes happens in the senior year, when a kid’s been accepted at college and feels she deserves a break. But Jennie’s a sophomore. Just the time her grades should be highest.”
“I know. Jennie knows,” I said. I didn’t understand what could have happened. This had come out of the blue. I didn’t think she had picked up on Will and me, but maybe she had. Kids can tell.
Dr. Follett stood up from his desk, and extended his hand. “We all love Jennie here at the Academy. Faculty and her classmates both. If you find out anything, please call me. It wouldn’t be betraying her secrets. This isn’t the first time something like this has happened to a student, and we’re pretty good at fixing things.”
I shook his hand, then I headed out—to try and find Jennie. She had skipped classes again today.
First though, I sat in the school’s visitor parking lot and tried to stop my body from trembling. My world seemed to be falling apart again.
CHAPTER 81
JENNIE ARRIVED HOME around three-thirty, her knapsack full of books, looking innocent of any wrongdoing. I asked her to take a ride with me.
I drove to the Pound Ridge Reservation, a nature preserve in the heart of Westchester. At around four, the two of us hiked up a hill toward an antique fire tower, from the top of which you could see Long Island Sound, and even the New York City skyline far to the south.
Jennie, of course, wanted to know what was going on. I asked her to wait. All in good time, my sweet darling.
We walked silently—I didn’t know where to start—and stopped, breathless, when we reached the crest. I was feeling maternal, angry, hurt, optimistic—just as in the songs I wrote. True songs out of life, right?
“I’ve been to see Dean Follett,” I finally told her. The first shoe drops!
Jennie had been looking at me. Now, she turned her head away. Not a word.
“He says your grades are falling. He also says you’ve been skipping school.” The second shoe.
“School’s boring and I hate it.” Jennie’s tone was surly and defiant. Not like her at all. It was Jennie at her absolute worst, and not something I saw very often.
“You didn’t used to think so,” I said to her.
“I do now. There’s nothing worth learning. The teachers there aren’t very bright, you know.”
“So you don’t go anymore. That’s interesting, Jen. Quite a revelation. What do you do with your days?”
“Nothing much. But nothing is better than my classes.”
“You’re not home.”
“How would you know that for sure? You’re shut up in your study most of the day.”
Now she was being completely unfair, but I kept my cool. “I’d know, and you know I would. I love you, Jennie, and if you’re in any kind of trouble—”
“Nobody gives a damn about anybody else. Don’t fake it. Don’t condescend to me now.”
Even without touching her, I could sense an awful tenseness in her body, the effort she had to make to speak at all. When had this happened? How had it happened? Why?
“I love you,” I said, my voice unsteady. “You’re the most precious thing in my life. It’s always been that way.”
Her composure finally broke. So did mine. “Don’t say that,” she suddenly wailed. “Don’t say you love me, Mom. I don’t deserve it.”
I could barely speak. I was holding back great, racking sobs. “Why? I do love you. Why shouldn’t I tell you what’s true?”
“Because you couldn’t. You don’t know who I am, and it takes something like this to get your attention. Failing grades! I mean—who cares?”
I finally bowed my head, and I started to cry. I thought that I could handle anything, but not this.
Suddenly, Jennie flung herself at me, burying her face in my neck. I could feel her hot tears, her body’s warmth.
“I can’t tell you,” she sobbed. “I’m not even sure that I know. I’m fifteen and it’s all a little nuts. So what’s new?” she finally choked out a laugh.
“My God, Mom,” Jennie said to me then. “You’re shaking