The Accidental Life of Jessie Jefferson (31 page)

Agnes beeps her horn as we drive off, and Lissa’s head shoots up to see us leaving. She looks panicked, I don’t know why.

‘What’s up with Lissa?’ I say out loud.

‘She’s always a bitch. Don’t worry about her,’ Agnes says, brushing me off.

‘No, I mean, she looked shocked to see us leaving.’

‘She was probably shocked to see
Jack
leaving,’ Agnes points out, raising her eyebrows at her brother in her rear-view mirror.

‘And who could blame her,’ Jack bats back. I look over my shoulder at him and he stares straight back at me, a smile playing around his lips. The car feels a lot smaller than it did on the way here.

Agnes turns the volume up on the stereo and we drive for a while without speaking.

‘Which way is it?’ she asks out of the blue.

Er, I don’t actually know.

‘Left,’ Jack directs her. Phew. At least he knows where we’re going. I haven’t really paid attention since Davey’s been taking me most places. After a while, I start to recognise where we are.

‘Jack . . .’ Agnes says uncertainly.

‘What?’

‘Are we being followed?’

He and I both look behind us at the same time. There’s a black vehicle tailgating us. ‘Take a right here,’ he says warily, but as she indicates, he suddenly shouts, ‘No! Keep driving!’

And then I realise what he’s seen. Paparazzi. Dozens of them. Waiting in the bend of the road leading to Johnny’s gates. Agnes swerves and goes around them, but in doing so, she gets their attention.

‘Jeez!’ Jack curses as he peers out of the rear window. I follow the line of his sight to see a hoard of men with long-lens cameras manically climbing into their cars and screeching away from the curbs in pursuit of us.

‘Cover your face!’ Agnes shouts at me.

‘What with?’ I exclaim, looking around.

Jack unclicks my seatbelt and squeezes my waist. ‘Climb back here,’ he says with urgency. I don’t hesitate, half clambering, half being pulled between the two front seats to the back. I bury my head in his chest, his arms wrapped around me as he holds me tight.

‘Where will we go?’ I ask, my voice muffled against the warmth of his T-shirt.

‘Back to ours,’ he says loudly enough so Agnes can hear.

It’s a frightening journey. I don’t look up, but I can hear Jack’s commentary as paparazzi pull alongside us, and even though I’m pressed against his chest, I can still see the camera flashes going off as they try to catch a glimpse of me inside the car.

‘It’s OK, sis, you’re doing good,’ Jack says in a low voice at one point, and his caring concern for Agnes, the way he’s holding me to him, protecting me, makes my stomach swirl with jittery nerves. Despite how hairy the ride is, I don’t want it to end.

It does, though, and when we’re safely inside the gates of his mum and stepdad’s property, his grip on me loosens. I slowly pull away and look at him. My vision is blurry from squeezing my eyes shut, but his proximity makes my heart flip.

‘OK?’ he asks, his blue-grey eyes coming into focus and increasing the flight speed of the winged creatures in my stomach. He’s staring at me intently.

I nod quickly. ‘Yeah.’ My voice is barely more than a whisper. His right hand is still on my stomach, his left around my waist, and his touch is making me feel breathless.

Unfortunately he lets me go to lean forward and rub Agnes’s shoulder. She glances at him in the rear-view mirror and exhales loudly. Then she looks back at me.

‘You’d better call Johnny.’

I nod. ‘I know. What were they doing?’ I’m so confused. ‘Johnny said they wouldn’t harass me. That he’d get an injunction.’

‘He might get an injunction against publication, but no one can stop them from harassing you,’ Agnes says darkly.

‘But they weren’t even up at the gate,’ I say, momentarily sidetracked as Jack sits back in his seat and the whole left-hand side of his body presses into mine. ‘They were waiting down the road.’ I try to focus. ‘Did somebody tell them I was coming? Lissa was on the phone . . .’

‘Lissa wouldn’t—’ Agnes starts.

‘Wouldn’t she?’ Jack interrupts sharply.

They exchange a look. ‘I know she’s jealous of Jessie, but she wouldn’t rat her out to the press. That’s the lowest of the low.’

Agnes gets out of the car and yanks Jack’s door open. ‘Don’t jump to conclusions,’ she says. ‘The paps are slippery little suckers.’

She steps aside and I feel deflated as Jack climbs out, leaving my right-hand side cool from the absence of his body. I edge out of the car after him.

We go to the games room. I call Johnny while Agnes goes up to the house to tell her mum we’re home. Jack sits over in the corner, absent-mindedly plucking his guitar strings as he waits for me to finish.

‘I’ll send Davey to collect you,’ Johnny snaps when I’ve filled him in. I can tell he’s angry that I went out without Davey tonight, against his better judgement.

‘There’s no rush.’

‘Half an hour, max,’ he warns, ending the call.

I turn around, and look at Jack. I sigh heavily.

‘You alright?’ he asks.

‘Not really. This is all too weird.’

I wander over to him. He’s leaning against the wall with his guitar in his hands, his legs stretched out and crossed in front of him.

He starts to play a jaunty little tune and then he begins to sing, and I laugh out loud when I realise what the song is and who it’s by: One Direction. He doesn’t know all of the words, but he makes some of them up and it’s so funny. He sings the penultimate line of the chorus, ‘Tonight let’s get some . . .’

I join in for the last line of ‘Live While We’re Young’.

He gives his guitar one last strum and grins up at me as my heart flips over and over. I want to hate him, but I can’t. He props his guitar up against the wall and stands up, coming towards me with a raised eyebrow.

I shake my head with amusement as he reaches me, grinning down at me. ‘You’re a shithead,’ I tell him as he puts his hands on my waist.

Agnes chooses that moment to come back into the games room.

‘Jeez, Jack,’ she chastises. ‘Hasn’t she been through enough?’

He sighs loudly, and pretends to be frustrated, but he winks at me.

Agnes passes me a large glass of something red and fizzing on ice. I hope it’s alcoholic.

‘Cranberry and lemonade,’ she says.

No such luck.

We go and sit on the grass slope and look down at the multi-coloured city lights. Jack is sitting between us. He strikes a match and I glance across at his face, lit by the flame’s orange glow.

‘Urgh, do you have to smoke?’ Agnes complains, shifting away from him. ‘You’re starting to stink like Drew,’ she says of their older brother.

‘Did you speak to him last night?’ Jack asks with interest.

Last night? Oh, at the All Hype gig. I wonder who he was.

‘Briefly. He asked me to go to lunch with him sometime.’

‘That’d be good.’

She doesn’t say anything and I feel bad for her, being estranged from her dad and her brother, just like Charlotte is estranged from her mum. It’s no way to live.

‘My mum died in January,’ I say slowly. Jack inhales sharply on his cigarette and out of the corner of my eye I see Agnes leaning forward to look across at me. ‘She would never tell me who my real dad was. And when she died, I hated her for that . . . and for leaving me.’ I whisper the last bit. I look across at Agnes. ‘If there’s any chance at all that you can make amends with your brother and your dad, do it,’ I urge. ‘Because they could be gone tomorrow.’ I stare back at the view. ‘My stepdad was the one who told me about Johnny. I’ve treated him badly ever since Mum died – and before, probably – but he’s a good guy.’

My phone starts to ring and I sigh, pulling it out.

‘Miss Pickerill?’

‘You know, I keep meaning to tell you to call me Jessie,’ I say wryly to Davey.

‘As you wish,’ he replies warmly. ‘I’m outside the gates. Can Mr or Miss Mitchell buzz me in?’

‘I’ll be with you in a bit.’ I end the call.

‘I’ll walk you out.’ Jack gets up.

‘Keep your hands to yourself,’ Agnes mutters, also standing.

I smirk and glance up at him as he rolls his eyes.

‘I’ll call you,’ she says to me. ‘We’ll catch up again.’

‘I’d like that,’ I reply with a smile, and then Jack and I walk around the side of the house towards the courtyard-cum-driveway. I can see up ahead that there’s a control panel on the side of the gate.

‘Stay where you are,’ he tells me. ‘The paps are probably still out there.’ I hang back as he goes ahead to press the button. Davey drives in and Jack closes the gates again, keeping the prying eyes out.

Jack jogs back over to me while Davey gets out of the car and opens the back door. I start towards him.

‘Wait,’ Jack says to me, holding his hand up and making me halt in my steps. ‘She’ll be there in a minute,’ he calls over his shoulder to Davey. Taking my arm, he leads me back around the side of the house where it’s more private.

‘What is it?’ I ask, confused.

His brow is furrowed. ‘Can we start again?’

‘In what way?’ I ask.

‘Let’s hang out. Go see a movie or something.’

‘What about Eve? What about your band? Isn’t that going to make things
difficult
?’

He sighs and stares at me directly. ‘You’re only here for, what? Another week or so?’

‘And then I’ll be gone again. That’s pretty convenient, hey?’ I raise one eyebrow at him.

He shrugs. ‘You’ll be back.’

I sigh with regret. ‘I’ve gotta go.’ I nervously smooth the front of my dress down and then remember it’s not
my
dress. ‘Shit! I’m still wearing your sister’s dress!’ I hastily glance towards the courtyard where Davey’s waiting.

‘Give it to me next time I see you,’ he says. ‘I’ll pass it on.’

‘Or I could give it to
her
next time I see
her
,’ I reply with meaning.

He looks momentarily downcast. I undo the necklace and take off the bracelets. ‘You can give her these, though.’

‘Why don’t I give her the dress now, too?’ he asks cheekily, eyeing me up and down before laughing at the look on my face. ‘Come on, Jessie,’ he pleads, his shoulders slumping. ‘Let me take you out on a real date.’ He doesn’t give up, does he?

‘Fine,’ I snap with a melodramatic sigh. ‘But only if you promise to sing One Direction to me again.’

He perks up and my heart flips. ‘
Baby say yeah, yeah, yea-eah
. . .’ he sings softly.

‘No, you can’t kiss me,’ I interject, knowing where he’s going with the lyrics to ‘Kiss You’.

‘Are you sure?’ he asks, trailing the fingertips of his right hand down my bare arm and sending a shiver up and down my spine.

I step away from him. ‘Yeah. I’m sure.’

When I’m safely back inside the limo with Davey, I exhale loudly. I can’t believe my willpower was that strong. You’re a tough little cookie, Jessie Pickerill, I think to myself with a smile.

Jessie Jefferson
, I silently find myself correcting.

Chapter 28

‘Oh my God.’

‘Stop saying that!’ I laugh. I’m on the phone to Natalie and she finally –
finally
– believes me.

‘I can’t believe it.’

‘Stop saying that, too,’ I reply with a smile. This has been the most repetitive conversation of my life.

‘I can’t believe it.’

‘Natalie. Snap out of it!’

‘When are you coming home again?’ At last she has something new to say.

‘A week on Sunday.’

‘I saw Tom yesterday, looking very fit, tanned and utterly gorgeous. He asked after you.’

Despite my rollercoaster ride with Jack, this makes me feel happy. ‘He texted me from Ibiza,’ I reveal.

‘No! Did he really?’

‘Yeah.’ I sigh. Then I tell her about Jack.

‘Whoa,’ she says, and I don’t quite know if it’s whoa good, or whoa bad. ‘Do you have any pics of him?’

‘Look up All Hype online. He’s the guitar player with the black hair.’

‘OK, I will.’

I hear Johnny shout for me from downstairs. And there’s something about the tone of his voice that makes me think it’s urgent.

‘I’ve gotta go,’ I say quickly. ‘I’ll call you again soon.’

‘OK,’ she says.

‘Bye.’ I hang up quickly, then run to the door. ‘I’m here!’ I shout over the landing wall to Johnny in the living room below.

‘Can you come down?’ he asks, his voice strained and his expression tense.

‘What’s wrong?’ I ask quickly, hurrying along the landing and down the stairs. Meg is sitting on the sofa, cuddling Phoenix to her and rubbing his back. She looks upset.

‘My dad’s had a heart attack,’ Johnny tells me.

‘Oh no,’ I breathe.

‘He’s in hospital,’ he says. ‘They think he’ll pull through.’

‘OK,’ I reply. Phew.

‘I’ve got to go to him,’ Johnny says, glancing at Meg. She stares back at him with compassion, then she looks at me.

‘We’ve all got to go,’ she says gently. ‘The boys and me.’

Obviously, I don’t know him, so that’s fair enough. But hang on . . . What are they saying?

‘Have I got to leave too?’ Finally it sinks in.

‘I’m sorry,’ Meg says.

‘I don’t know how long I’ll have to be in the UK, but it could be some time,’ Johnny says softly, as all of this computes. ‘More likely to be weeks rather than months, but that still takes you into your school term.’

But what about Jack? What about Agnes? I’ve just got to
leave
?

‘Obviously we can see each other while we’re in the UK,’ he says. ‘But I’m afraid we’ve all got to leave LA today. There’s always the next holidays,’ he continues to speak, but inside I’m a mess. ‘Maybe you could come back for Christmas?’

I look up at him in a daze and see him glance at Meg. She nods in agreement.

‘I’m sorry,’ he says, touching my arm. ‘But you’ve got to go and pack. Carly can help you. We’re leaving in a couple of hours.’

‘I don’t need any help,’ I reply automatically, and then I go back upstairs to my room, my mind reeling. I can’t believe this is it. This is me going home. I feel sick as I pull my suitcase out of the wardrobe and start to pack away my things.