Pure Redemption (Tainted Legacy) (41 page)

She tried to listen as he went over the expectations of their community service projects. They’d be working on everything from making up posters for school events to going out in the community and volunteering. He explained they would be doing this with partners.

“Alright class, it’s time to pair up,” Mr. Jessen finally announced.

Cleo glanced over her shoulder and her eyes inadvertently landed on Reece. His best friend Adam happened to have the seat directly in front of him. Adam was turned around in his seat, presumably locking up a partnership with Reece. In the split second it took her to assess this and for her to redirect her gaze and smile at Emma, Mr. Jessen cut off the noise that had erupted.

“Seniors!” They all turned obediently toward him. “In no time at all you are going to be out of high school and tossed into the real world. More often than not, you will be spending time with people who would not normally be of your choosing. Whether it be in the workforce, embracing community service projects or whatever else comes your way. As part of the objective of this class, I want you to be comfortable working with someone chosen at random.” He held up a large, blue bowl. “
This
is how partners will be decided.” He held up a slip of paper as he motioned to her side of the room. “This section has their names in the bowl.” He shook the bowl so they had a visual, apparently. “And this side,” he motioned to the other, “will draw names.”

A chorus of groans filled the air, causing Mr. Jessen to smile. “Ah, such enthusiasm so bright and early in the day! So delightful! A wonderful start to the year!”

She was sure he was being sarcastic but he kind of sounded like he meant it. Or maybe he just enjoyed their torment. With that grin on his face, she really couldn’t be sure.

Emma was technically on the opposite side of the room. She mentally crossed her fingers hoping Emma would draw her name. Emma looked at her and made a comical face, making Cleo sure she was hoping so, too.

Mr. Jessen held the bowl up in the air, above the first person’s head. It was a kid named Eli. Eli drew a name and Mr. Jessen told him to announce to the class who it was.

Cleo breathed a silent sigh of relief that it was Natalie, Mia’s best friend. Natalie crinkled her nose at having to work with Eli. He quickly turned around in his seat, facing the front when he noted her reaction. Cleo already felt bad for the guy. Natalie was someone she absolutely would not want for a partner. Not that she would’ve ended up with her anyway considering they both had their names in the bowl, but still.

Mr. Jessen continued to go down the aisle. He waited after each name was drawn. Giving the student enough time to announce the name of their partner before he moved on.

Cleo was trying not to watch because he was getting closer to Reece’s seat. And she did not want to look at Reece.

But she finally did because he was drawing a name.

She tried not to feel too self-conscious because really, about half the eyes in the room were on him. Not just hers. They waited to hear who he had. She realized it was silly to be glad that Natalie’s name was already drawn. She didn’t want Reece working with Natalie because it would just be one more connection to Mia.

Ridiculous, she knew. She was sure he saw Mia every day, every night for that matter. So having Natalie for a partner should not have mattered to her.

Yet it did.

He unfolded the paper as Mr. Jessen waited and she
knew
. She just knew because of the way the color drained from his face. It was so apparent she could see it from the other side of the room. He looked at the paper like he had to read the name more than once. She was sure he was probably hoping it would magically morph into someone else’s name in the next three seconds.

She felt her stomach drop. What kind of cruel twist of fate was this? There were at least a dozen other names in the bowl. But fate had never exactly been kind to her. Why should she expect things to go her way now?

“Don’t keep it a secret Mr. Hildenbrandt,” Mr. Jessen chastised. He moved on to the next person but held the bowl out of reach as he waited for Reece.

Reece’s eyes drifted to Cleo’s. “Uh,” he said, and then he had to clear his throat. As if it was hard for him to force her name from his lips. “Cleo,” he finally admitted, never taking his eyes off of her.

She felt herself biting her lip again. He gave her what looked like an apologetic shrug. Then he grabbed his pen and started writing something in his notebook. Or at least he was pretending to. They hadn’t been given any information to write down yet.

Reece was simply avoiding looking at her.

She didn’t blame him. Not at all.

Chapter 3

“
Twins
!” Luci squealed again. She was beaming and her blue eyes were sparkling. She bounced so hard on her bed that Cleo bounced right along with her.

“But they don’t sound like twins. Their names are Marissa and Addison. Like, don’t you think it should’ve been Marissa and Madison? Or Addison and Madison? But it’s not. I mean, they don’t rhyme or even start with the same letter but they look
exactly
alike. Well, not exactly because Marissa told me the way I could tell them apart is because she parts her hair on the left and Addison parts hers on the right. But that’s so funny because I don’t even
have
bangs. So it’s like all three of us are different even though we look so much alike. But I’m not supposed to tell anyone else about their bangs. They only wanted
me
to know. And they said no one
ever
figures it out. Even though their mom started doing it when they were tiny.

“They invited me over Friday night. I mean, they have to ask their mom first, but they think I probably can. The only reason they think maybe I couldn’t is because their house might not be unpacked enough yet. But if it is, they’re going to invite me
for sure
. So can I?” Luci asked as she stopped for a breath. “Can I go if they invite me?”

“
If
they invite you,” Cleo agreed. “Just make sure you don’t invite yourself.”

Luci tossed an insulted look her way. “I wouldn’t do that!”

Cleo bit back a smile and gave her a stern look. Luci was outgoing enough that yes, she
would
. She refrained from calling her out on this. She just gave her a gentle warning instead. “If they just moved here, it might take them a while to settle in. So don’t be pushy about it. Just wait until they invite you.”

“Do you think maybe they could come here?” she asked. She scrunched her face up into a look of hopeful apprehension.

“You know that’s probably not the best idea,” Cleo told her. Luci seemed to deflate before her eyes. “I’m not saying they can’t,” Cleo relented. “Let me think about it. It’s just…it’s hard to plan ahead for things like that. And you know that most of your friend’s moms don’t like it if a parent isn’t around,” she gently reminded her. And Paul, Luci’s dad, luckily wasn’t around much on the weekends.

“I know,” Luci sighed as she stilled.

She hadn’t bothered to make her bed that morning. Cleo knew for a fact she probably wouldn’t get around to making it once during the school year unless she begged her. Her bright pink comforter hung half way off the bed, on the floor at their feet. She tried to tug it up and toss it back on the bed without dislodging Luci from her perch.

Luci continued to jabber.

“They weren’t going to even move until the middle of the month but their mom insisted that they move at the start of the school year. Or she said she wasn’t going to move at all. So they moved and their dad is coming as soon as he’s done with…well,” she paused and her pale eyebrows furrowed, “I don’t really know what he’s doing. But he’s moving as soon as he can. So right now, it’s just them and their mom.”

Cleo grinned at her sister. She was pleased that she’d made not just one new friend, but two on her first day. She hadn’t followed the story completely. But apparently Luci had an uncanny likeness to the twins and a fast friendship had been formed.

“
Cleo!
Get your ass out here!” Paul shouted a second before the smoke detector went off.

She jumped off of Luci’s bed and darted into the kitchen. She could hear Luci’s footsteps right behind her. The room was clogged with smoke and the acrid smell of burned hamburger permeated the air. Paul scowled at her. Instead of sliding the pan to a cool burner he tossed the hot frying pan into the sink. Grease and charred burger bits flew into the air, cascading back down in a messy arc across the countertop and floor. Some grease splattered the wall and the window above the sink.

“I’m not eating that crap,” Paul informed her, shouting to be heard over the beeping. Or most likely, Cleo knew, he’d probably be shouting regardless. He started toward the door that led out of the kitchen to the entry way. She and Luci ducked out of his path.

“Sorry, I was helping Luci,” she called by way of an explanation. The front door slammed in response. She had gone in to see if Luci needed help with her math. She’d gotten sidetracked with her story about her new friends.

She grabbed the kitchen towel off the handle of the fridge. She waved it in front of the alarm, trying to clear the air. It stopped after a few seconds.

“Eww, that stinks,” Luci said as she crinkled up her freckled nose. She wiggled the kitchen window open.

“I know,” Cleo sighed.

Paul was her step-dad, Luci’s real dad. She’d never met her father. She wasn’t even all that sure that her mom had known who her father was. And now she was gone and Cleo had lost any chance of ever finding out.

Paul married her mom when she was seven. After her mom died the spring of her sophomore year, she wasn’t sure what was going to happen to her. Paul had never really been a father figure to her. He was barely a father figure to Luci. She hadn’t known if he was going to kick her out. Turn her over to Social Services or what he was going to do. She’d been too afraid to ask. So she’d spent weeks, then months just wondering and waiting and expecting the worst.

So far, he still hadn’t done anything.

Her assumption was that he needed to have her around. Cleo was sure he found her to be more of a convenience than a nuisance. She was his built in babysitter for Luci, his personal shopper and chef. Albeit “chef”, in her mind, was used loosely as her culinary abilities were far from exemplary. More like questionable, as the burned hamburger attested.

“Now what?” Luci asked as she propped her scrawny elbows on the countertop. “Are we going to eat that?” Her eyes crept toward the sink and the charred chunks in the pan. Her nose scrunched in derision.

“No. I’ll just start over,” Cleo stated with a sigh. “And you, Sweet Pea, can set the table. When you’re done, get started on your homework until dinner’s ready. I’ll help you afterwards if you get stuck. But I want you to at least try to do as much as you can on your own.”

Luci sighed. Most likely over the injustice of being asked to work on her assignment alone. “Should I set two places or three?” she asked as she went to the cupboard.

“It’s probably just going to be the two of us,” Cleo told her as she sidestepped some burger bits that had landed on the floor. She doubted Paul was coming back.

Luci busied herself with her duties as Cleo went about her own. The water was already boiling, waiting for spaghetti noodles to be dropped in. She turned it down as she started the hamburger over again.

While it was browning she cleaned up the hardening grease splatters and meat chunks. It was an unnecessary mess, but that was Paul for you.

Her home life was far from ideal. But she constantly told herself it could be worse. Paul drank. A lot. There had been a few times over the years when he’d lost his temper.  She’d ended up with a fist to the stomach or a blinding slap to the face. But not often. And he’d never touched Luci. She wouldn’t have tolerated that.

Instead, he was an obnoxious, whiney, ‘poor-me’ drunk. The kind that felt like he was entitled to more than he had just…
because
. They didn’t get along and she tried to stay out of his way. For the most part, they managed to coexist.

Although, the past summer had been rocky for them. Cleo had found herself antagonizing him, which wasn’t hard to do. While she had never liked Paul, she’d come to hate him in the past half year.

Her mom had had her faults,
lots
of them. But she was still her mother. Luci was the only connection Cleo had to her. Luci was her only family. Losing their mom had been hard on both of them. Cleo counted on Luci as much Luci counted on her. She would do whatever she had to do to be sure that she and Luci could stay together. If that meant she had to deal with Paul—right or wrong—she would deal with Paul. And his temper.