Home > Horrid(9)

Horrid(9)
Author: Katrina Leno

Jane thought Alana must have prepped her friends that Jane would be sitting with them for lunch, and although everyone was perfectly nice and welcoming, Jane couldn’t help sensing a tiny bit of wariness from them. She swore two girls across the table whispered something about North Manor as she sat down, and one guy with glasses to her left seemed determined not to make eye contact with her. The only ones who acted normal were Alana and Susie.

“Alana told me you live on my side of town,” Susie said as Jane took a bite of pizza. “I’m just a few streets over.”

“Oh, really?” Jane said.

“Yeah. What do you think of Bells Hollow so far?” Susie asked.

“There are a lot of trees,” Jane said. “I guess I didn’t know there would be so many trees.”

Susie laughed. “A lot of trees. A lot of deer. Alana claims she saw a moose once.”

“I did see a moose. Do you know how big moose are? I mean—too big. Unnecessarily big,” Alana said.

Jane took another bite of her pizza and felt a dribble of grease slide down her chin. She wiped it away quickly, and looked up just in time to notice a girl walk by their table and kick the leg of Alana’s chair as she passed it. She was white with stringy, dyed-black hair that fell to her shoulders and a piercing on her lip, a little hoop that curled over her bottom lip.

“What was that about?” Jane asked Alana.

Alana sighed. “It’s complicated.”

“She’s terrible; it’s best not to dwell on it,” Susie said. “So besides the trees, are you enjoying your first day at our famed Bells Hollow High School?”

“It’s all been uphill since the bus,” Jane replied.

“The bus?” Alana repeated. “Oh no. You took the bus?”

Jane shrugged in reply.

“You probably have lice now. My friend Marian took the bus once, and she had to shave her head,” Alana said sadly.

“Don’t listen to her; that is absolutely not true,” Susie said. “I can give you a ride home. We’re so close.”

“I couldn’t ask you to do that,” Jane said.

“Don’t be ridiculous,” Alana replied. “Susie doesn’t mind. She drives me home, too.”

“Are you sure?”

“Totally,” Susie insisted. “It’s no problem at all.”

Jane felt a little awkward about it, but she shrugged and thanked Susie for the offer. It definitely would be better than taking the bus.

The bell rang a few minutes later and they headed to their lockers for their afternoon classes.

Salinger texted back around two, a string of emojis meant to convey how much she missed Jane. Jane had last period with Alana and Susie. They sat together at the back of the room, and when the last bell rang, the three of them walked to the student parking lot. Susie had a small SUV; Alana got into the back, insisting that Jane take the passenger seat. Susie let the car heat up for a minute before pulling out of the spot.

Alana only lived a few minutes from the school, in a little ranch house that reminded Jane of California.

“See you tomorrow, Jane!” Alana said as she let herself out of the back seat.

“Thanks again for the ride,” Jane said as they pulled away from the curb. “I really appreciate it.”

“My parents pay for my gas,” Susie said. “So it’s no problem. I can pick you up in the mornings, too.”

“Are you sure?”

“Yeah, of course.”

“Well, thanks. It’s really nice of you to offer.”

The silence in the car was just slightly uncomfortable, like being in an elevator with a stranger. Finally, Susie cleared her throat and said, “So… North Manor?”

“Yup. We moved in yesterday. Alana told me about the nickname.”

Susie groaned. “She did?”

“Somebody would have told me eventually.”

“I guess you’re right. It’s been in your family for a while?”

“It’s always been in my family, yeah. We were never supposed to live in it. But… things changed. So here we are.”

“You didn’t want to move?”

“No. It was really sudden. But hopefully I can go back to California when I graduate.”

“I don’t blame you,” Susie said. “For not wanting to move, I mean. My parents were talking about moving to another town—literally, like, ten miles away—and I started having nightmares. I couldn’t imagine moving across the country.”

“We didn’t really have an option,” Jane said softly. She didn’t elaborate, and Susie didn’t ask her to.

Susie seemed to know where she was going, which was good, because Jane wouldn’t have been able to give her directions. All these streets looked the same—tree-lined country roads that wound their way through the town.

“Give me your number; I’ll text you Monday morning,” Susie said when they reached North Manor. She handed Jane her phone and Jane inputted her number and saved it.

“Thanks again for the ride,” Jane said.

“Of course. Have a good weekend. It was nice to meet you.”

“Thanks. You too,” Jane replied, sliding out of the car.

Inside the house, the electricity was on and it felt a lot warmer. The window people were there and had already replaced most of the windows on the first floor. With the lights on and the windows fixed and the curtains open and the heat going, North Manor actually felt marginally less creepy than it had the night before.

Jane found her mother in the kitchen, sipping a cup of coffee. She wore her standard cleaning outfit—ripped jeans, a holey T-shirt, and a bandanna to keep her hair out of her face.

“You snuck out so early!” Ruth exclaimed, hugging her.

“I gave you a kiss!”

“Really? I thought I dreamed that. Ugh, I’ve been going nonstop today. Let’s order in for dinner. Do you have any homework?”

“Not really.”

“And? How was it?”

Jane shrugged. “Not bad.”

“‘Not bad’ coming from a teenager is basically a ringing endorsement,” Ruth said, kissing Jane on the temple. “Let me finish up and take a shower, and we’ll eat early. I’m starving.”

A few hours later, they’d gone to pick up Thai food for dinner and were eating it in front of the fireplace. Ruth had poured herself a glass of wine and given Jane a half glass as a little celebration of surviving the first day of school. Ruth didn’t want to sleep upstairs until all the windows were fixed, so they were camping in the living room again. They’d found a stack of old board games—Monopoly, Scrabble, Yahtzee—and Jane had picked Scrabble as their first choice.

“You know—this isn’t so bad,” Ruth said as she set up the board. She had a container of curry in front of her and kept spearing hunks of potato with her fork.

“You might not feel that way when I destroy you at Scrabble.”

“I mean, it’s not ideal. I know that. And I guess we could always drive to a motel. It’s just… Why spend the money if we don’t have to, you know?”

“At least it’s not windy tonight,” Jane said. “Last night there were moments I thought the house was going to collapse around us.”

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