Without Mercy - Lisa Jackson [10]
Everyone in the pictures was model-beautiful, teachers, students and aides alike. There was a politically correct mix of Asian, Hispanic, and African American students and staff.
Most of the photos could have been published to advertise a resort rather than a school. The buildings were new and clean, the grounds well kept, the entire campus surrounded by pristine forest. Jules half expected to see a couple of Bambis and Thumpers peering curiously from the woods.
She clicked to the preapproval questionnaire and quickly skimmed some of the questions and answered them aloud as she thought of her sister.
Yes, Shay was angry.
Yes, she disrupted the family.
Hell, yes, she’d threatened a family member, more times than Jules would care to count.
Yep to Shay being in trouble with the law as well as using drugs and alcohol.
Shay had admitted as much. Had she made statements about suicide?
Only to get Edie’s goat.
All in all, there were thirty questions, some general, some specific, all, when applied to Shay, answered with a big yes.
Maybe she shouldn’t be so jaded. Maybe Blue Rock was on the up-and-up. Maybe the counselors there would get through to Shay.
“I hope so,” Jules said to Diablo as the cat trotted into the room and hopped up to her lap. “But I just don’t believe it.”
CHAPTER 4
Trent watched the seaplane descend.
Engines roaring, the aircraft landed noisily. It bounced over the roiling water of Lake Superstition, then motored over to the dock. Steely dark clouds reflected in the shifting water as the pilot, Kirk Spurrier, cut the engine and climbed out of the cabin. With the help of an eager student who’d been summoned by Reverend Lynch, Spurrier tied the plane to the cleats at the end of the dock. Once the plane was secured, Spurrier ducked back inside and Blue Rock Academy’s newest student emerged.
The muscles in the back of Trent’s neck tightened.
Sure enough, Shaylee Stillman, Jules’s younger half sister, was Blue Rock’s new student.
Bad luck all the way around.
Trent hoped Shay didn’t recognize him. If she did, he was counting on her to keep her mouth shut until he had a chance to speak with her alone.
What a damned small world, he thought as he stood with seven of his colleagues on the beach that rimmed the lake. In matching Wind-breakers emblazoned with the Blue Rock Academy logo, they were an impressive group: Reverend Lynch was in the lead, with Dr. Burdette a step behind him. Dr. Tyeesha Williams, the women’s counselor with a doctorate in psychology, stood with her arms folded, blinking against the wind. Rhonda Hammersley, dean of academics, spoke quietly with Wade Taggert, a psychology teacher, and Jacob McAllister, a youth minister. At the end of the line, Jordan Ayres, the school’s nurse and medical authority, waited to greet the newest student.
She didn’t keep them waiting.
Shay emerged from the plane with her attitude firmly in place. Smaller and thinner than he remembered Jules ever being, Shay wore a gray sweatshirt and tight jeans. Her hair, a dull, fake black, was mussed and shaggy, falling over big owlish eyes rimmed in thick, dark pencil. Several braided cords encircled one of her wrists, and she wore flip-flops despite the frigid temperatures. Black nail polish on her toes matched the chipped color on her fingernails.
Trent had the feeling that her I-don’t-give-a-damn, rebellious look actually took a lot of work to achieve.
Hauling her backpack over one shoulder, she eyed the group of authority figures waiting for her, and, if possible, her white complexion paled. Still her mouth was set, pale lips determined. It was obvious she would rather be any other place on earth than here.
Trent didn’t blame her. His own gut clenched as Lynch stepped forward. This was the moment of truth.
“Welcome to Blue Rock Academy, Shaylee,” Lynch said, hand extended.
She didn’t respond,