Freaks of Greenfield High

Freaks of Greenfield High (Chapter 7)

Freaks of Greenfield High

By Maree Anderson

Chapter Seven

"Who spilled about the fight?" Tyler wondered aloud.

"I believe Matt videoed a certain incident on his mobile phone and the clip has been forwarded to your mother," Jay informed him.

Marissa shifted her stony gaze from her son to Jay. "Smart girl. Someone stuck it on some dating site and—"

"You mean social networking site," Caro corrected.

"I don't care what I mean!" Marissa flared. "What I do care about, is Vanessa Ward emailed me a link at work with the subject line 'You need to see this'. And when I clicked on it, I had the dubious pleasure of watching my son beating on the mayor's precious offspring. I'm sure the good folks of Snapperton will be thoroughly entertained when this gets around."

Marissa's expression darkened to something resembling thunderous, and Jay deemed it prudent not to inform her that if the clip was now online, the entire world could be entertained—provided the jaded masses were even entertained by such things anymore. Unfortunately, it wasn't the jaded masses who concerned Jay, but a select group who would be trolling the Internet for just such evidence of her whereabouts.

"Hey, you make it sound like I was winning, Mom," Tyler said, brightening somewhat.

"It's debatable whether you would have won the fight had I not intervened," Jay told him. "You are more agile, but once Shawn pinned you, his superior weight made it unlikely you would prevail."

"That's not the point!" Marissa said, her voice rising in direct proportion to her blood pressure. Then her face crumpled. Tears brightened her eyes. "God, Tyler. I-I didn't want to do this in front of Jay but I couldn't keep it in any longer. I don't need this right now—not on top of work and worrying about money and... and.... Everything! The last straw will be your grandmother ringing me to imply I'm a useless mother who can't properly parent my kids, and she should have custody. You shouldn't have been fighting. And especially not with Shawn Evans. His father's not only the mayor, he's on the school board, for heaven's sake. What were you thinking?"

Tyler seemed to physically shrink in on himself. Caro had stilled and was holding her breath.

Jay had heard the expression "you could cut the atmosphere with a knife" used before. She'd never thought it anything more than a fanciful metaphor until now. She decided to diffuse the tense situation by telling the truth—or rather, what small portion of the truth she could safely divulge to these people.

She leaned forward, placing a hand on Marissa's wrist, squeezing lightly to reclaim her attention. "Don't blame Tyler for this, Mrs. Davidson. It's not his fault. Had I not spoken rudely to Shawn and provoked him, it's highly unlikely he would have hit me, and then Tyler wouldn't have felt it necessary to assault Shawn on my behalf."

"He. Did. What?" Marissa spluttered. Her chest heaved like she was having difficulty breathing.

Jay analyzed the sentence. "He" meaning Shawn, or "he" meaning Tyler? The ambiguity of the question disturbed her. As did the glittering intensity of Marissa's stare and the fury vibrating across the woman's body.

"I didn't see that on the video clip," Marissa said. "Tell me exactly what happened. Right now."

"Very well." Jay relayed the incident while mulling how best to handle Marissa's evident distress. The woman posed a threat, albeit a minor one. It would be more difficult for Jay to maintain her cover if Marissa demanded to personally speak to Jay's fictional guardian. And she struck Jay as the type of woman who would insist upon face-to-face interaction when it came to a child's welfare—whether her own child, or anyone else's.