Jessie stood with her back to the class, which was snickering
silently. For the first time in her life she resented her parents,
for falling in love, again. She knew something was terribly wrong.
She hadn't slept more than an hour for the past few weeks. Her hands
trembled as she wrote the answer on the board. She was leaving, soon...
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Jessie's parents had just come back from a 4 week trip to
Mexico.
Although they had both experienced a pretty bad case of Montezuma's
revenge, Jessie suspected that their trip was otherwise uplifting,
invigorating, and above all romantic. Dr. Quest was out on a rare
visit to the Pentagon and was expected back later that night. Race
and Estella had called Jessie into his room soon after they reached
the compound.
"Ponchita, your mother and I are getting back together. We haven't
told anyone else and we thought you should be the first to know."
Jessie stared open mouthed at her parents. She looked back and
forth, and back and forth, like she was watching a tennis match.
Without warning she burst into tears.
"Jessie, baby," Estella said, "what's wrong? We thought you
wanted
this, too?"
"I do, mom," she choked through her tears, "I just thought it
would
never happen. I wanted it to for so long. Then I stopped believing
it, like it was some kid's joke. I-we-everyone tried so hard to make
it happen. And you two just made it all happen!"
She continued to cry and mumble as her parents hugged and
consoled
her. An hour later the whole Quest 2000 team was seated in the living
room, listening to the same story. Everyone was so happy, but the
question that she had been avoiding was finally asked.
"Race, does this mean-you and Jess won't-I mean-you can't-live
with
us anymore?" Jonny's question was forced out.
"That was next on our To-Do list Jonny," Estella said.
"Obviously,
after the ceremony, we WILL be living together. That was the first
thing we commited to when Race, uh, reproposed. Our work got in the
way last time, so hear is how we'll be doing it this time: Race will
continue to live here in Palm Key, but only part-time. Jessie will be
with him for the six months he is here. I will be at various
conferences and digs at this time. For the other half of the year,
we'll all be living in Massachusetts. One house. One family.
Together. How does it sound?"
"You never said that!" Jessie cried angrily from the back of the
room. "You never said I'd have to leave Jonny and Dr. Quest and
Claudette and Mishelle and Travis and Bandit and, and, Bryce," she
ended softly. "You can't take me away from them mom. I won't let
you. THEY won't let you."
"Honey, you can't expect us to function like we did before. It
didn't
work then and it won't work now."
"It didn't WORK because you and dad didn't try. Did you ever
think
about me? What I wanted when you worked out this quaint little
schedule?"
The rest of the team was trying to make a graceful exit while
they
still could.
"You DIDN'T did you?" Jessie continued on her tirade. "You
know why?
Because you saw your love," she quieted a little, "and that's OK. But
when you guys divorced, the team became my second family. Tearing me
away from them is just like someone tearing me away from you two."
She turned sharply on her heal and ran to her room, Estella and Race
just behind her."
"Well," Travis said a little sarcastically, "That went well
didn't it."
"Shut UP Travis, this is serious, but you wouldn't know the
meaning
of the word," it was Bryce's turn to stalk out of the room.
"Did I provoke that? I didn't think so. What is WITH him these
days," Travis followed his twin.
"My friends, sometimes the joining of two streams is more
turbulent
than their seperating," Hadji desperately tried to keep control of the
teens.
"Race and Estella aren't as simple as WATER, Hadj. And don't
talk
about Jessie like she's turbulence," Tai Lee bit her lip as she
watched Jonny's temper let loose.
"Jonny, I wasn't attempting to make light of the situation at
all, my
motives were only to help us comprehend the-"
"Forget it, Hadj, I don't think any of us like the way you
always
talk down to us, it's like your so much better or something."
"How DARE you," Mishelle joined what was quickly becoming a
brawl.
"How DARE you talk to Hadji like that. He's your BROTHER. But more
than that, he's your best FRIEND. You tell me that every time you get
the chance. You learn more from him than-"
"YOU shut up, Mishelle," Claudette was next to join the fray.
"It's OK Claudette," Jonny said bitterly, "Ever think he's
not what
he seems? Ever think-think I might be jealous? I was BORN into a
family of genius. They HAD to accept me. Hadji was just somebody
else's prodigy they picked up to make them feel better about my being
a loser. Do you want to know what he got on his SAT's? Do you want
to know the way my dad's face practically BEAMS when he looks at
HADJI'S grades?" his voice dropped as tears rolled down his face, "Do
you know what a dissapointment I am to him?" As tears slid down his
cheeks, he turned and ran up to his room.
Hadji stood up and visibly steeled himself, but tears were
already
sliding down his face as well. He turned silently and went up the
stairs taking deep shaky breaths.
Mishelle stood there for a moment, mouth open. Then
whispered, "Oh
God, oh God I'm so sorry..."
"It's too late for 'sorry,' Mishelle, you hit him below the
belt.
You KNEW you would. You did it anyway," Claudette broke into a stream
of French, from what Tai Lee understood, none of which was gentle.
The cat-fight ended as both girls turned and stalked from the
room in
opposite directions, exasperated.
Travis was left alone with Tai Lee. They stared at each other
for
what seemed like a long time before Travis spoke, "I'm-uh-gonna go
check on Bryce. He's been real defensive lately. I mean-I'm his
twin-I should DO something." Travis' voice was shaky.
Tai Lee sat alone in the room for eternity holding a shivering
Bandit
in her lap when the doorbell rang.
"Hello kids," Dr. Quest's voice rang cheerfully through the
gigantic
house, "How was your day?"
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The following riot was painful enough for Jessie to listen to,
having
locked herself in her bedroom, they had all said things they had
regretted later. Curses flew, doors slammed, and hearts were broken.
Dr. Quest was unaware why everyone was screaming till Tai Lee informed
him later over coffee.
"Well, raising a house full of teenagers isn't as easy as I
thought,"
Dr. Quest said. "Perhaps absence will make the heart grow fonder."
The team had split up briefly after several other heated
confrontations, returning to their homes for a brief sojourn. Dr.
Quest was at a government conference with Jonny and they were both
under the protection of the government for the next six months while
the rest of the team was away. They had all agreed that this was the
best way to cool their heated tempers. Estella, Race, and Jessie had
headed immediately to their new house in Massachusetts. That was the
first time Jessie had realized something was wrong. Race showed an
almost mean streak that had never been there before, and he never made
obscure comments any more. No, "Fur on a catfish," or "A buck to a
pinch of stardust," or even "Ponchita." Estella was cold. Period.
She didn't seem to care, not when Jessie came home from her new snobby
private school, Springdale, with an "F" on her science test. All
she'd said was, "There's ALWAYS room for improvement."
Which led Jessie to another thing, her grades at Springdale had
dropped drastically. The best grade she had managed in the past month
was a "C+" She yearned for the team, especially Bryce, and she didn't
know why. Jessie' s heart was slowly breaking.
Then, a month and a half, after the breakup, Jessie decided
something
was seriously wrong, and that something drastic needed to be done.
Fast.
She came home from school, not even caring that she'd failed
her math
test, it just didn't matter any more. Slamming the door, she saw her
parents both sitting in the livingroom, in opposite chairs, staring at
her.
"What?" she asked.
"Hmm?" Race and Estella said simultaneously. They seemed to be
emerging from some sort of a trance.
"Why are you just sitting there, staring at me?"
"Oh, we have something important to talk to you about,"
Estella's
voice reflected no inner emotion.
"Dr. Quest called me yesterday," Race had completely ceased
calling
him "Doc," or even, "Benton." "He's hired a security team, the Quest
2000 team has broken up."
"No...they wouldn't do that. They can't." Tears slid down
her face.
"Face it, Jessica, you weren't meant to stay together."
Estella's
voice sounded almost scornful.
"And another thing," Race continued without stopping to look
at her,
"You'll be boarding at Springdale for a while. Your mother and I will
be out working in the field for a while."
Still stunned Jessie composed herself enough to choke out,
"Can I
stay with Jonny and Dr. Quest?"
"Out of the question," they said simultaneously.
"Why? I lived with them for half my life, they won't turn me
away."
"We said out of the question. It has been decided upon."
These were not her parents.
"Why are you acting like this? Why are you being so cruel?
You're
not-not-my parents."
Without warning, Race's hand flicked back and forth in the
blink of
an eye. Before she knew it, Jessie had been struck across the face.
It hurt, but more because she knew those weren't her parents.
"Upstairs, now," their monotone voices sounded together. "Pack,
you're moving to the dorm tomorrow."
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Jessie was more confused than anything. It had happened like a
whirlwind, one day she was at home in her bedroom, the next, she was
sitting alone in her room at Springdale. She had hoped that the
changes in her parents were normal for a remarried couple. But they
had never, EVER been so cold, or so violent. She fingered her bruised
cheek, it was purple now, and no amount of foundation or concealer
would hide it. Her private hurt had become publice scorn. She had no
friends, and no contact with anyone outside of Springdale besides the
mail, that was read by her advisor before it was sent.
That's where her plan came in. Her parents were required to send her
an allowance every week for small comforts. As most of the students
at Springdale were wealthy, this 'allowance' consisted of about $1,000
a week. She began to save, she didn't care if she didn't have new
clothes, didn't care if she wore socks with holes everyday, the only
things she bought were the essential toilettries. Before long, she
had enough to by a fast, portable, laptop computer. However, getting
that computer would require sneaking out at night, grounds for
expulsion.
She braided her hair and twisted it into a bun atop her head, she was
much too easily identified by her flaming locks. Pulling a large
beret down over her ears and putting her matching tweed trenchcoat,
she looked like the average Massachuttan. She slipped into the hall
shutting the door silently. She slipped down the narrow spiral
staircase just as stealthily. That was easy enough, now came the hard
part. The snow was thick and she shivered as the cold bit into her
while she struggled to move unnoticed across the courtyard seperating
her from the outside gate, which led to the 'real' world.
I hope I get sick. That way I could miss school, would give me
enough time to get my e-mails out. Oh well, I can always fake it.
She crept out of the courtyard and onto the road. It would
take her
an hour walking to get to the town. She had foreseen this and called
a taxi to meet her. She climbed in.
"Best Buy, please."
The cabbie murmured something in audible and drove there at
break-neck speed. She stepped out and told him to have a nice day as
she payed him. She walked in, bought a computer in about 45 minutes.
Her excursion gave her new bravery. She decided to try and call
someone on the team.
With trembling fingers she dialed 1-800-COLLECT. Then Tai Lee's
number.
Someone answered in fluent Korean. "May I speak to Tai Lee?"
More nonsense from the other end, then Tai Lee's voice.
"Jessie?"
"Tai Lee? It's me. Oh God, you have to help me."
"What on earth is wrong?"
"It's mom and dad, they're still them, but not really. Some
thing is
REALLY wrong here," her voice began to crack.
"Tell me everything, beginning to end."
Jessie gasped. Two of her teachers were walking down the street
directly towards her. "I can't talk now. I'll e-mail you. All of
you."
She hung up and ducked back into the store until they had
passed.
Grabbing her computer, she hailed a cab and sped back to the school,
where she slipped in unnoticed. She set the computer down, took off
her coat, and collapsed in an exhausted heap on her bed. She fell
asleep an hour before 6:00 and woke only with her alarm clock an hour
later.
Well, at least I won't have to pretend to be sick.
Her head pounded and her forehead burned at the touch.
Actually, it's not that much different than most days. She
thought,
reminded that she had become a virtual insomniac.
"Ms. Bannon?"
Mrs. Ashley's voice queried from behind Jessie's door.
Quickly she rolled out of bed and shoved her 'Best Buy' bag in
her
closet. Hopping back into bed she called out, "Mrs. Ashley? I really
don't feel good today. I-I think I need a day off."
She came in and fussed over Jessie for a while. Then she
brought her
breakfast in bed, and left Jessie alone for the rest of the day.
Immediately after she left, Jessie set her computer up and began to
write fast and furious:
-------------------------------------------------------
To: TaiLee@Quest2000.com, JonnyQ@Quest2000.com, Bryce@Quest2000.com,
Travis@Quest2000.com, Claudette@Quest2000.com, Mishelle@Quest2000.com
From: Jess@Quest2000.com (Jessie Bannon)
Is it true? Did you really break up? I'm so sorry, this is all my
fault. But like my dad always says, 'the past is past, so quit
moping.' My parents are the whole reason I haven't talked to any of
you in months. Wait-they're not my parents. Not the ones I know.
You see...
...so I need your help. Something is terribly wrong here, I said it
before and I'll say it again. We need a plan, I need to get out of
her, we need to get back together, and we need to find my parents, my
REAL parents. NOW.
-------------------------------------------------------
She finished just as Mrs. Ashley knocked on the door with lunch
Again, she stuffed the computer in the closet and lay back in
bed.
"Mission accomplished," she whispered, letting exhaustion and
fever
take control.
Mrs. Ashley opened the door to find her breakfast uneaten, and a
feverish girl laying in bed, crying in her sleep.
==
-Kristen