I Knew You Were Trouble: A Jessie Jefferson Novel (2 page)

I swivel in my seat and look through the back window, but I can’t make out anyone in the driver’s seat. ‘You’re being paranoid,’ I say, brushing him off, and then
he’s swerving off the main road into a smaller one.

‘Whoa!’ I gasp, trying to stay upright. The van flies straight past us on the main road. ‘See?’ I exclaim. ‘Nothing to worry about. Jeez! Pull over.’

He doesn’t bother indicating as he crunches to a stop at the entrance to a private driveway. I flash him a dark look and wrench open the door, hopping out onto the gravel.

‘Oi,’ he calls. ‘Where do you think you’re going?’

‘I need some air,’ I state, slamming the door shut.

A moment later he joins me. I glare up at him.

‘Come on, maybe we should go to your dad’s place,’ he says gently.

I stare at him, incredulous. I can’t believe he’s saying that to me. ‘No!’ I raise my voice. ‘I’m sick of feeling like a prisoner! I just want some alone time
with my boyfriend – is that too much to ask?’

‘Hey,’ he says softly, sliding his arms round my waist and pulling me against his firm chest. To my surprise, I discover I’m fighting back tears.

It’s all been too much. I want my anonymity back. I’m fed up of getting harassed by the press and being followed around by a bodyguard every minute of every damn day. I’m sick
of it all. I just want to be left alone. So today I made a run for it. I’m free! And now he’s telling me to go back? No bloody way.

‘Kiss me,’ I demand, tilting my face up to him.

He touches his lips to mine, but withdraws all too quickly. ‘We’re parked in somebody’s driveway,’ he says uncertainly.

I start to laugh, but the sound is verging on manic, the laugh of a crazy person that’s been locked up for too long.

I take a few steps backwards, away from him. He snatches my hand and pulls me towards him and this time he kisses me like he means it. The sun, surprisingly warm for October, beats down on our
heads as his hands circle my waist and then he pushes me back against the car door and traps me with his body. We kiss like it’s our last, and it is so, so sweet. I draw a sharp breath as he
wrenches his lips away from mine and stares past me, over the car roof. His whole body tenses.

‘The van,’ he says in a low, urgent voice.

Before I can roll my eyes, I hear it, like thunder, hurtling towards us. And then it screeches to a stop and my heart stops with it because I
know
we’re in danger.

‘RUN!’ I scream, shoving him away from me. ‘RUN!’

I stare contemplatively at the girl in the mirror. She looks the same as her reflection of a couple of months ago. She has the same light-blonde hair, tied back into an untidy
braid, the same green eyes, outlined with black mascara, and the same school uniform cut daringly high. But she’s not the same girl. She is anything but.

Before the summer holidays, that girl there was Jessie Pickerill: an orphan of six months. But
I’m
Jessie Jefferson, daughter of a global megastar. The only thing is, hardly anybody
knows it.

My ears prick up at the sound of my rock-star dad’s name being mentioned on the radio.

‘
Johnny Jefferson’s world tour sold out in minutes on Friday. Which lucky people among you managed to get tickets?
’

I smile to myself.
I’ll have ringside seats!
Of course, the tour isn’t until next year – ages away – so I’ll have to put it out of my mind for now. But the
thought of hanging out backstage with Barney and Phoenix, my two little half-brothers, makes me want to spontaneously combust on the spot.

‘Are you nearly ready?’ Stu, my stepdad, calls up the stairs.

‘Coming!’ I call back, my stomach instantly swamped with nerves.

If Mum were here, she’d hug me tightly and then crack some joke to make me laugh. But she’s not here, and I don’t want to cry today, so I try to put her out of my mind.

It’s my first day of school in Year Eleven, but I’m unusually apprehensive. My friend Natalie has moved on to sixth-form college, and my ex-best friend Libby is now living in her new
bestie Amanda’s pockets. I have no idea where I stand with Tom, the boy I had a crush on before the summer holidays. We were meant to go on a date, but I haven’t been in touch with him
since I got home from America. I’ve been so busy and, I don’t know, maybe I’ve missed that particular train. I guess I’ll find out soon enough.

For a moment, Jack’s blue-grey eyes stare back at me from inside my mind and the image is so tangible, I want to reach out and push his black hair away from his face.

I’m still certain he’d break my heart if I gave him the chance. But God, I fancied him. Unfortunately I still do.

‘We’re going to be late!’ Stu calls.

‘I’m coming!’ I shout back again, grabbing my bag and pushing all thoughts of LA bad-boy rock-stars-in-the-making out of my mind.

Just one more year to get through, I remind myself as I jog down the stairs, and then I’m free to do what I want. Free to move to America if I want to. Free to tell the world that
I’m
Johnny’s long-lost, fifteen-year-old daughter.

No one would believe it if they could see me now.

I pull the front door shut and climb into Stu’s little white Fiat, looking back at our shabby 1970s townhouse.

As disguises go, mine rocks, I think with a smirk.

Everything may feel different, but it all looks weirdly the same.

‘Have a good day,’ Stu says, raising one eyebrow at me from behind his black, horn-rimmed glasses as he wanders off to the staffroom.

‘You too,’ I call after him, hesitating uncertainly in the corridor as he disappears out of sight. On impulse, I decide to go to the bathroom, where I play Candy Crush on my phone
until I hear the nearby courtyard start to fill with people. I wish Stu didn’t have to come into school so early. He’s a Maths teacher here, so he doesn’t really have a choice.
Libby would sometimes get in early to hang out with me, but those days are well and truly gone.

I sigh and switch off my phone, stuffing it into my bag as I hear someone enter the cubicle next to mine. I flush the loo and go to wash my hands, jolting when I see Amanda leaning up against
the wall.

‘Oh! Hello!’ I say.

‘Hi, Jessie,’ she replies, her voice lacking the warmth she reserves for my former best friend. A split second later she switches her attention to the locked cubicle. ‘Get a
move on, Libs!’ she calls good-naturedly. ‘We’re going to miss out on our table.’

An uneasy feeling rolls over me. Of
course
they’ll be sitting together this year. I wash my hands quickly and leave the bathroom just as I hear Libby ask, ‘Was that
Jessie?’

The morning drags by. I end up sitting next to Louise, the new girl, in Science. Libby and Amanda sit at a table behind us. Libby gave me a little wave and mouthed, ‘You
OK?’ as Amanda hurried her past me, but I don’t know how she expected me to reply. It’s not like I can talk to her about Johnny in front of everyone. She knows about him –
she’s been sworn to secrecy – but we haven’t caught up properly since I’ve been home. I’ve spent most of my spare time with the Jeffersons. We all had to rush back to
the UK together because Johnny’s dad had a heart attack – luckily he’s going to be fine. I got to meet him last week and he seems a real character. I’d like to get to know
him better.

On top of that, shortly after I returned from LA, my grandmother passed away. I barely knew her – she hadn’t been close to my mum or me, and she’d been in a home for years,
suffering from senile dementia. But I was her last living relative, and she was my last blood connection to Mum, so I found it understandably difficult to organise everything and then attend her
funeral. Stu helped and came with me, thankfully.

Anyway, with everything that’s been going on, I haven’t had a chance to see much of anyone.

After English, I spend break in the library on my own, before finding myself beside Louise again for History and Maths.

When the lunch bell rings, Amanda makes a big show of gathering all her stuff together and talking overexcitedly to Libby about going to eat their lunch on the playing field. I take my time and,
after a moment, I become aware that Louise is doing the same. If I felt apprehensive about school today, I can’t imagine how she must feel.

‘Want to come to the cafeteria with me?’ I ask her impulsively.

‘Sure,’ she replies, a little too quickly.

We follow Amanda and Libby out. Amanda has hooked her arm through Libby’s and is whispering something conspiratorial into her ear. Her OTT behaviour makes me want to gag.
Libby is
lapping it up
, I think meanly. Suddenly Libby looks over her shoulder at me and smiles.

‘You coming to eat on the field?’ she asks, pulling Amanda to a stop.

‘We’re going to the cafeteria.’ I indicate Louise.

She nods. ‘See you later maybe?’

‘Not if I see you first,’ I joke, but don’t quite pull off my attempt at humour. Libby smiles at me awkwardly as Amanda steers her downstairs.

Disheartened, I traipse after her, turning to the new girl as we walk. ‘Where have you moved from?’

‘Portsmouth,’ Louise replies, looking awkward.

She’s about my height and has bleached blonde hair with dark roots cut into a choppy, short style. There’s a tiny hole in the side of her nose that I’m guessing is from a
piercing she’s removed for school. I like her look.

‘My dad got a job here,’ she elaborates with a shrug. ‘He’s a doctor.’

‘Cool.’ She’s just answered my next question. I try to come up with something else to ask her. ‘Bit rubbish having to start a new school in your last year of
GCSEs,’ I say, as we reach the bottom of the stairs.

‘It sure is,’ she replies flatly.

Now I’m lost for words.

The smell from the cafeteria engulfs us before we reach it and we go to stand in the queue.

It’s then that I see him: Tom Ryder, a few metres ahead of me. He’s in sixth form now and looks even better out of school uniform. He’s wearing denim jeans and grey Converse
trainers with a faded yellow T-shirt, and his brown hair is streaked with highlights from the summer sun. As he turns to say something to his mate, Chris, I see his profile: straight nose, long
eyelashes, bronzed skin…

I jolt when I realise that Louise is talking to me.

‘Sorry, what?’

‘Who’s that?’ she asks me, her lips curling upwards at the corners.

‘Who?’

‘Him.’ She nods at Tom.

‘Oh.’ I shrug. ‘Just, you know, To m Ryder.’

She smirks at me knowingly.

I frown at her. ‘Is that what you asked me?’ I’m sure that wasn’t the question she came out with when I was busy swooning.

‘No, I was wondering if the food here is any good, but this subject is far more interesting.’

I blush and, to my mortification, Tom chooses that exact same moment to catch my eye.

‘Hey,’ he says.

‘Hi,’ I mumble, looking down as the burning sensation on my face intensifies. When I look up again, he’s being served.

A few moments later he passes by with his lunch, but he doesn’t say anything, just raises his eyebrows at me and gives me a small, uncomfortable smile. He’s walking too quickly for
me to strike up a belated conversation and my embarrassment transforms into disappointment. That wasn’t at all how I expected our first meeting after the summer holidays to go.

A few minutes later I’m sitting at a table with Louise, deep in thought.

‘Want to talk about it?’ she asks, dunking a potato wedge into some ketchup and popping it into her mouth. ‘You can trust me,’ she adds. ‘It’s not like
I’m going to tell anyone. You’re the only person who’s said more than two words—’

‘I wish I had more to say,’ I cut in, as an image of Amanda and Libby with their arms linked comes to mind. I could do with someone to confide in. ‘Basically, we were supposed
to go to the cinema during the holidays, but I went away and haven’t had time to text him since I’ve been back.’

‘You haven’t had time to
text
?’

‘I’ve been really busy.’ I shrug defensively, not wanting to go into details.

‘Wow,’ she says, deadpan.

‘It’s not like he’s texted me, either.’

And, from the look on his face as he walked past earlier, I doubt he ever will. I can tell by Louise’s expression that she’s thinking the same thing.

‘Hey, chick.’ Johnny’s warm voice spills down the line early that evening. I still can’t get used to calling him Dad. ‘How was your first day
back?’

‘It was OK,’ I reply non-committally.

‘That good?’

‘It was fine. What have you been up to?’ I ask, changing the subject.

‘Meg’s been catching up with a friend of hers today, so I’ve had the boys to myself. We went to the park. Fed the ducks.’

Meg is Johnny’s wife. When we first met, she and I had a few issues, but she seems to be over her initial mistrust of me now. I hope so. I really want us to get on.

‘Sounds nice,’ I say, wishing I could have gone with them.

‘It wasn’t that nice. Barney slipped over in the mud and nearly fell into the river. Sam almost had a heart attack.’ He chuckles.

Sam – Samuel – is one of Johnny’s bodyguards from America, and came with the family on this trip to the UK. Barney, age four, is older brother to Phoenix, who recently turned
one. They’re so, so cute.

‘I can just imagine,’ I say, my voice still tinged with sadness.

‘You alright?’ Johnny asks with concern. ‘You seem down.’

‘Oh, you know, first day back and all. I miss you guys.’

‘You’ll see us this weekend,’ he reminds me.

As if I could forget. I’m going to stay at their massive mansion in Henley. I can’t wait.

‘So what have you got planned for the rest of the week? School, school and more school?’

‘I’ve got a birthday party on Friday night,’ I tell him.

‘Whose?’

‘A friend of a friend,’ I reply.

‘Which friend?’

‘Natalie. Her friend’s name is Liam.’

‘How old is he?’

‘He’s just turned eighteen.’ Jeez, what’s with all the questions?