Chapter 6

New Town, New Schools, New Problems

The following Tuesday was the first day of school for Jane and Olivia. With baby Kennedy sitting in one of the back seats, in her safety seat and babbling away, Brielle gave Olivia a kiss, then dropped her off at Thomasville Middle School, then drove to Thomasville High School, which happened to be next door to the Middle School and dropped Jane off after giving her a kiss.

“Have a good day, Jane. And remember what I told you the other night.” Brielle told her.

“Yeah, I know, Mom.” Jane said before getting out of the car.

Jane walked inside the school, stopped, and took out her schedule. After reading it, she looked around. Suddenly, someone ran into her from behind. They then gave her a hard shove forward.

“Hey, you dumb bitch! Move outta my way! If you had any sense, you wouldn’t stand in the walkway!” A girl’s voice shouted.

Off to a Bad Start

She was a redheaded, freckle-faced girl who reminded Jane of Little Orphan Annie. Jane gave her a dirty look as the redhead passed her, giving her a glare that was equally dirty as she walked by. Jane had to wrestle with herself to keep from drop kicking the girl. But it was the first day of school and the last thing she wanted to do was to get a bad name in her new school before anyone got a chance to get to know her.

Jane continued down the hall, passing rows of lockers, checking the room numbers on the classroom doors and glancing at her schedule before she finally came to her homeroom class. She walked in and immediately caught sight of the redheaded girl who’d shoved her just a few minutes earlier.

The girl was sitting at one of the desks in the back of the classroom and saw Jane too. She immediately turned to the girl beside her.

School Bullies Take an Interest in Jane

“Who the hell is that girl?” The curly redhead asked her friend.

“I don’t know, Janessa. I’ve never seen her. She must be new here.”

“Well, she was in my way this morning, standing in the middle of the walkway like an idiot. And I gave her a good hard shove. She’s lucky I decided to be nice and not kick her ass.” Janessa growled, looking at Jane like she wanted to kill her and making sure to say what she had to say loud enough for Jane to get an earshot.

“Girl! You don’t know me. I’d flatten your ass before you’d have time to throw the first punch!” Jane thought as she stared Janessa down.

Jane took a seat at one of the front desks and Janessa sat in the back and continued to glare a hole through the back of Jane’s head.

“Did you see how that bitch just looked at me? Boy, she’s really asking for it! I’m telling you, April.” Janessa told the girl who sat beside her, “I really don’t want to have to whoop somebody’s ass on the first day of school.”

Targeting the New Kid

More and more students filed into the classroom, and each took a seat until the classroom was filled with boisterous kids. Finally, Mrs. Dumas arrived and sat her gradebook and other classroom materials on her desk. She looked up past Jane.

“Janessa Holtz, April Hart, why don’t you move closer to the front where you can get a better classroom experience.” She said with a smile.

Janessa rolled her eyes, then looked at April and flashed a smirk. She then grabbed her notebook and moved to the seat directly behind Jane. There, she continued to eye the back of Jane’s head with a look of utter contempt as Jane sat quietly with her eyes focused on Mrs. Dumas and waiting for instructions. April also moved closer to the front and took the seat beside Janessa.

“Welcome back. And welcome to my class. We have a new student, and her name is Jane Markowitz. She comes to us all the way from California. Jane, will you please stand so that the class can get a better look at you?”

Spoiling for a Fight

Jane looked around as she rose from her seat. Both Janessa and April eyed Jane as she stood, then looked at each other with smirks on their faces. Jane began to hear whispers throughout the classroom.

“Oh my God! She’s the girl whose mom posted that video about the sheriff!”

“No way! That’s her!”

“Yep! Her mom’s a troublemaker and I’ll bet she is too! Like mother, like daughter!”

Mrs. Dumas spoke again.

“Okay, Jane, you can sit down now.”

Jane did as she was told. The whispers continued.

“Who the hell names their kid Jane these days! That’s an old-timey name!”