Mary Howard had never intended for Jennifer to grow up without a father, and being a single mother had been a challenge, especially when she was forced to take up the responsibility of caring and nurturing while she was still grieving for her late husband. Richard Jones had died protecting his country but as a result had been forced to leave his family defenceless against the world. Without his presence money was often tight for Mary, and even though she received funds from her parents and in-laws, it was still difficult to afford to stay off work.
Despite this Jennifer grew up with the same amount of class as everyone else and never let anything petty or irrelevant stand in her way – if she wanted something chances are she would find a way to get it. Succumbing to fear, jealously, or anger went against what her mother had taught her, and she knew that in order to life in peace, arguments should be resolved and moved on from as quickly as possible – which made sense, in theory.
Jennifer didn't care about living in peace anymore though, because quite frankly, the past seven months of her life had been a train wreck. Anger wasn't an emotion that she felt too often, even when she had been stranded in 1972 she hadn't felt it, but now, now she was fuming. For four days in a row her fists had been clenched, ready to strike anything that acted marginally different to how she wanted it to. The reason for this? The recent events that had unfolded at the Maximoff house.
The fight repeated in Jennifer's head all day every day, like a record that refused to stop spinning. Every time a certain sentence echoed in her head she felt a surge of pain through her chest, and with each iteration it became clearer whose fault it all was.
None of this was ever supposed to go on for such a long time, and it sure as hell wasn't supposed to become so complex and complicated. With every lie she told a more intricate web formed around her until she was cocooned away from the world, living without consequence. But all it took was one single cut, a slip of the mind, for it all to come falling down. It was beyond ironic that the person she trusted most was the one to find out, albeit through questionable means.
It was only going to be a matter of time before someone found out about her secret, and without a trace of a doubt it had been Jennifer's careless actions that had drove the worried teenager to do something she knew he regretted. There had been plenty of opportunities for her to explain her situation to Peter, to remove the wall of lies between them, but she never took the chance. Peter wasn't cruel, nor was he judgemental, so chances were that if she had come clean by herself he would've understood, and they would be sitting watching another cheesy movie on the television. But no, she had hid for too long, and despite what she had said in their shouting match, the majority of this was in fact, down to her own cowardness.
In all honesty she didn't really care that he had essentially stalked her home because as Peter had stated so clearly, he was worried about her. Sure, there were easier and more acceptable ways for him to ease his mind, but that was the one he had gone with and neither of them could change that now.
Knowing that Peter had been hiding his mutation whilst accusing her of hiding things gave Jennifer the world's most useless bargaining chip. No matter how mad she was it was impossible for her to judge him on that ground – not when mutants were being slaughtered in their own homes, not when the kindest people could turn on you for having a different genetic make-up, not when Jennifer was harbouring the very same secret. They were lucky that they didn't wear their mutations on the outside for the world to see, but not lucky enough to quite fit in to society. Jennifer had done better than most people, but her friends knew that there was something slightly weird about her, whether it be the way she always sat up straight or how ten years of information was missing from her brain, for example, the fact that President John F. Kennedy had been assassinated, and even now she didn't know much on the subject.
Unlike Peter, it wasn't the lies or deceit that made Jennifer snap, but rather ten words that he had uttered in a moment of confusion and betrayal :
'How can you trust someone when they don't trust you?'
Peter didn't seem to understand that trusting someone didn't mean letting them know everything about you, but rather what they needed to know. A week ago Jennifer would've put her life in Peter's hand, but clearly still would've kept certain things hidden from him. It sounded stupid, even childish to act this way, but they lived in a strange world, and at the time it seemed like the best option.
One thing Mary Howard had not taught her daughter to be was stubborn, but from a young age it had been a trait that had gotten Jennifer in trouble more than a few times, particularly concerning her refusing to do the dishes. Where this trait came from was a mystery, but it reigned over Jennifer now, as despite the blame pointing towards her, she refused to apologize to Peter. She would not take the blame for his curiosity and worry, not when he didn't give her that chance to explain herself.
It was still to be decided if her working this week was a good idea, but from what she could tell, it could be worse. Rather than smashing her belonging or hitting brick walls, her rage had been limited to passive aggressively stacking shelves and completing order forms. It hadn't taken Will long to notice her drastic change in attitude since she took her weeks holiday, but it was only now that he had the guts to say anything about it. With the shop closed up for the night, Will set down the clipboard in his hands and faced that teenager that hadn't said a word to him in a week. "Okay, what's wrong?"
Jennifer frowned at the question but continued to sort out the cassettes in the tub. "Nothing's wrong."
"Yeah, that was really convincing," Will joked, only receiving a glare in response. "You're gonna have to do better than that if you want to fool me. You look like someone killed your dog, hell, you were almost shouting at a customer today when they asked about a price. So what's up?"
Silence, minus the clattering of plastic cases.
"I'm just going to keep asking till I get an answer," he shrugged, leaning on one of the shelves. "Is it school? Holiday blues? Parents? Am I not paying you enough? Did someone kill your dog?" His eyes widened at the possibility but returned to normal when he didn't get a response. "Is it a boy?"
Jennifer hands stopped shuffling cases around and she looked up at him.
"It's a boy," he nodded in understanding, trying to hide a small grin. Maybe he was overstepping his authority here, but he liked a bit of gossip, especially concerning young love, besides he felt like it was affecting the job. "Is it that silver haired guy that comes in here?"
Rolling her eyes Jennifer exhaled loudly through her nose which was apparently all the information Will needed. "Listen, don't you worry about him, he'll be back. Trust me, I know what guys are like."
Jennifer narrowed her eyes slightly. "We're not dating y'know."
"Really?," Will asked, his shock evident in his voice. The teens seemed close, like, really close. "Are you sure?"
"Yeah, I'm sure." Jennifer was no longer facing her boss, but he didn't fail to hear the malicious in her voice. "It doesn't matter anyway, I was the one who walked away. I don't want to see him."
Will could've pried a bit more, tried to get the teens to work it out, but he knew that Jennifer would not take well to the continuation of the subject and so the conversation quickly died out, replaced by an awkward atmosphere.
The last twenty minutes of the shift dragged out , each minute lasting longer than it possibly could. Approaching the counter that Will sat behind, Jennifer fiddled with her fingers nervously, her careless anger finally subsiding. "Hey, I uh, I'm moving out soon so I don't think I'll be able to work here anymore.
Will's eyes slowly moved away from the money he was counting in his hands, processing her words. "You've only been here a few months though."
"I know," Jennifer nodded. "But my dad was offered a really good job in New York, so we're moving again."
"New York, huh? Big city. When are you leaving?"
"Twenty third of June."
Will took a large breath of air. "That's next week."
"Yeah. I'm sorry I didn't tell you earlier but we didn't know whether or not to take the offer."
"It's okay. I get it. I'm sure I can find someone else to take your place."
Once again silence fell between the two workers, but with her shift over it didn't take Jennifer long to exit the store. She hadn't wanted to tell Will about her sudden need to leave because it meant that the wheels of change had been put in motion. Even now though, she was still debating her decision to leave. With Peter gone, there was nothing left for Jennifer in Maryland, but there was no guarantee that there would be anything for her back home either.
It sounded cruel to say that Peter was the only reason she had stayed in Maryland, cruel to her friends, that is, but she didn't have the same type of relationship with them. It had never been hard for the girl to make friends, but the relationships weren't really ever built on anything other than a mutual liking for one other. Peter was different. Jennifer was comfortable enough with him to make cheesy jokes, to dance with him, to sneak out of school with – it wasn't something she had ever had with anything else, and she didn't want to lose that.
Yet she had, but there was still something holding her back. The only thing Jennifer had left in Scotland was her mother. Maryland held her friends, her grades, her new life, a chance to get her dream job. It was an unfair set of scales, but she had to make a decision – she just hoped she made the right one.
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Six girls sat scattered around Ellie's bedroom, some sitting on the bed whilst others sat on the carpeted floor. The light that illuminated the room was the only one on in the entire street what with it being well past midnight, but since it the holidays and a Friday the girls had seen it as the perfect opportunity to stuff their faces with candy, ice cream and cake while they gossiped and tried on ridiculous pieces of clothing they had found in the back of the host's closet.
The night had been enjoyable to say the least, and especially the part where Rebecca had fallen flat on her face after walking in platform heels that she had found in a shop earlier that day. Why those shoes had been created was a mystery none of the girls could solve, but half the group seemed to understand the attraction.
Mary, the ever observant member of the group, had noticed the stiff and withdrawn expression that had covered Jennifer's face the entire night, no matter how often she smiled or laughed. Something was troubling the newest member of the group, and as much as Mary didn't want to call her out on it, she had the suspicion that it involved the entire group. "Jen, are you okay?"
Her words caught the attention of the others, who all turned to face the said, slightly startled, girl. "Uh, yeah, yeah I'm fine."
Gale shuffled to the end of the bed, leaning of the edge to be closer to Jennifer, who despite her statement had tears gathering in her eyes. "Hey, you can tell us. What's wrong?"
"I'm moving to New York." It sounded different saying it for the second time, but no less easy, in fact, it was probably harder because of the five people that started a series of objections loud enough to wake the entire street.
The most common phrase coming out of her friends mouths was 'why' , but one particular question caught Jennifer off guard, and it was no surprise that it was Linda that asked it. "Have you told lover boy."
The group fell silent at the mention of their dream couple, waiting for an answer that Jennifer didn't have. "We're, uh, not on speaking terms anymore."
Unbelievably, that caused more outrage than her original announcement had, and Ellie was the one to voice the groups inner thoughts. "Why not? What happened? You guys looked so happy at the fair!"
"Yeah well, that was last week. It doesn't matter anyways, it's not like I'm ever going to see him again after next week."
"That's when you're leaving?"
Jennifer nodded solemnly as the group realised that they only had a few days left with their friend. It didn't take long for sniffles to echo around the room and within a few minutes she was pulled into a hug by the rest of the group. The feeling of five sets of arms wrapped around her should've brought comfort to the sixteen year old, but instead it made her regret her decision of leaving.
"I'm going to miss you so much," Rebecca cried into her shoulder. She had been the first to befriend Jennifer, the one who had made her feel included at school. It had been her that encouraged her to go to the fair, which despite the recent events, had been the best day of her life.
"We're all going to miss you," Mary added. She was the youngest of group, if only by a few weeks, but she was always so aware of everything going on around her. She was the reason the group got out of trouble for sitting in closed classrooms at breaktimes, why they never got harassed at school. Mary was the kindest person Jennifer had ever met, and there wasn't an ounce of her that wouldn't miss her the most.
Not one single member of the group was going to forget about the girl that they had shared the past six months of their life's with, and Jennifer wouldn't dare deny that they made her want to stay so much.
There was an unspoken fear between the six that if they let go, they would slip away from one another, so in a very awkward manner the group kept touch with everyone as they gradually drifted off to sleep, leaving the bed looking like a crammed renaissance painting from the way their limbs sat over each other.
Jennifer was the last to fall asleep, the debate still raging in her head about leaving. Was all this worth her mother? Was she worth the tears? God, it was terrible to even think that, but she couldn't help it. Maybe her mum had accepted her daughter was gone for good, maybe returning would give her a heart attack. Perhaps it would do more harm than good. But she simply couldn't constantly keep changing her mind about the issue – she didn't want to say it had been a false alarm just to repeat the same thing in a months' time. She was going home, and that was the end of it.
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Yep, that's right, Jennifer's has decided to go home! How do you feel about that?
Don't worry though, the story's still got a long way to go and all will be resolved, maybe.
I'm gonna spend tomorrow and Monday (because I'm off school) writing, which is probably a good thing cause I'm very short on back up chapters.
Also, sorry that this came out so late but I hadn't edited it and I procrastinated all morning so like, terrible excuse but whatever.
I know I left you guys on a cliff hanger the last chapter but I didn't want to ruin the atmosphere, but I'd love to know what you all thought about it!
~ elizabeth