She knew that Mary wasn't Landon's biggest fan, but she could at least act like he didn't make her sick. Of course, it was difficult for Mary to hide anything from her two best friends and closest minions, and Jordan knew that.
She knew every one of Mary's secrets—except for her biggest one.
Of course, Jordan would never dare to reveal any of those secrets, since Mary Hadden was the sole reason that Jordan had any sort of reputation at Barnum Prep. Most younger siblings followed in the footsteps of their older siblings when it came to their popularity, and following on the same path as her older brother was the absolute last thing Jordan wanted. Neil Conrad had been a vandal and an embarrassment for a brother. Mary Hadden had saved Jordan from social suicide and following in her loser brother's footsteps.
It was terrible to think that of her brother who was no longer around to contest the things his younger sister thought of him, but Jordan had never been one to care much about what was right or wrong for her to think or say—she was more used to repeating what Mary said, and the queen bee was an incredibly cruel dictator.
Jordan could tell that Landon was approaching the three girls at their lockers from the expression on Mary's face as she glared behind her posse. Jordan was about to turn around when she felt her boyfriend hug her from behind and she spun around to see him.
"Landon!" Jordan swooned, grinning up at the 6'4" newly-crowned varsity basketball team captain, "I've missed you!"
"I missed you too, baby." Landon pouted as he leaned down and gave her a kiss. "How's everything going? How are you holding up?"
"Oh, I'm perfectly fine." Jordan nodded, refusing to show any sort of emotion—which equated to weakness—in front of Mary. "Just annoyed that we have to start school today. I mean, isn't senior year just a joke anyways?"
Landon laughed.
"I mean, I think so. That's what everyone tells me." He looked over at Mary, who was actively ignoring him. "Hey there, Hadden. How was your summer?"
"Well, my brother died and I pretty much didn't get any of my vacations, so thanks for bringing that up." Mary snapped. "How was your summer, Landon?"
Landon raised his eyebrows.
"I didn't realize that your brother's death and your lack of vacations were on the same level of tragedy, Mary."
Mary's head whipped around to glare at Jordan, her eyes clearly telling the latter to get rid of her boyfriend before Mary got rid of him permanently. Jordan sighed and turned to Landon, who was looking at Mary with a sort of smug superiority.
"I'll see you at lunch, alright babe?" Jordan squeezed his hand and nodded towards the other end of the hallway, making it clear that he should walk down that way. "I love you."
Landon leaned down and gave her a quick kiss before turning around.
"I love you too, babe. Later, Hadden."
Jordan turned back to Mary as he walked away, unsure of whether she should expect an apology from the queen bee or apologize herself.
"Well?" Mary asked, her eyebrows raised as her and Kate stared at Jordan expectantly.
Apparently an apology was expected from Jordan.
"I'm sorry about Landon." She muttered, reminding herself that it would be an incredibly stupid move to have Mary Hadden angry with her on the first day of senior year. "He doesn't seem to know how to behave around people who have suffered a loss."
"Well, I hope he figures it out, since his girlfriend also lost her brother this summer." Mary huffed, slamming her locker shut and turning on her heel. "We're going to be late for homeroom if we don't get there soon."
Jordan nodded and started to follow her best friend down the hall, her and Kate flanking Mary on either side. Kate had been relatively quiet throughout the entire morning, evidently unsure of how to interact with her friends now that they had suffered such a huge loss—a loss that she would probably never have to endure herself.
The three had been reunited for the first time in the entire summer at the Green's Independence Day barbeque, and it had been one of the more uncomfortable experiences of Jordan's summer.
***
"Mary!"
Jordan ran up to her best friend in the Green's backyard, unsure of whether or not she should act as though everything was still normal between the two of them. Mary turned around, her eyes sad but with the air of trying to put on a happy front as she faced her best friend.
"Jordan!" She gave the blonde bombshell a quick hug and Jordan noticed Parker running off towards the fields where the guys were playing soccer. "How are you?"
"I'm great, thanks." Jordan nodded uncomfortably. "Sorry that I'm late, I had to deal with a few family things before I came over."
"It's not a problem." Mary promised, "Have you seen Kate yet? She ran off to get some water and I haven't seen her since."
Jordan shook her head.
"I haven't seen her. I can go and look if you'd like."
"Oh, would you? You're a doll, Jordan."
Jordan nodded and walked off towards the inside of the Green mansion, heading for where the drinks were located every year. Kate was nowhere to be found, and Jordan tried her hardest to avoid the well-meaning community elite adults that were doing nothing but giving her pitiful looks and whispering about how horrible it was, everything that had happened with her brother.
Jordan hated it. They hadn't liked Neil when he was alive, so it was ridiculous for them to pretend as if they liked him dead. Neil had been the outcast of the elite society in Easton, and everyone knew it. That was the sole reason that Jordan's parents had decided against attending this year's barbeque—they knew that no one in the town actually cared about what had happened to their son.
In an effort to avoid the throng of adults with puppy dog eyes, Jordan headed off into another part of the house, unsure of exactly where she was going. She had been in the Green home multiple times before for different social events, but she hardly ever ventured anywhere other than the kitchen, the patio, or the dining hall.
Jordan noticed a door that was slightly ajar, right off the main staircase, and figured that she had nothing better to do than to go ahead and explore. She didn't feel like talking to Mary all that much—ever since their brothers had passed away, the two's relationship had been rocky at best.
Jordan walked in and turned on the light in the room, which she immediately recognized from a party a few years back—it was Erin Green's bedroom. Old bedroom.
Jordan walked in further, shutting the door behind her. She hadn't known the socialite very well when she was alive, but she knew that Erin had hung out with Neil a few times, and that she hosted the most insane parties that Barnum Prep had ever seen. Jordan had been in this bedroom once before, when she and Landon had wanted to get away from everyone and just be with themselves. Erin had stormed in angrily after a few minutes and demanded to know if they, and Jordan specifically, had touched anything.
Her eyes had landed on the dresser for far too long.
Jordan walked over to the dresser, pretty confident that the Greens hadn't touched their daughter's room since the accident. She opened the top drawer of the dresser and lifted up push-up bras and thongs until she got to the bottom of the drawer, pushing things aside. She remembered Erin looking at this drawer. She remembered the sheer panic on her face when she thought that Jordan Conrad had seen something.
There was a single piece of paper at the bottom of the dresser, tucked under all of Erin Green's underwear. It was in the very back corner, and Jordan pulled it out, unfolding it until she could lay it flat on the top of the dresser.
Her eyebrows crinkled as she looked down at the official document: a petition for a restraining order. It wasn't signed, most of it wasn't filled out yet, except for the very first box: the last name of the person that Erin was filing the order against.
Hadden.
***
"I wonder how Roland's doing." Jordan mused as she walked down the hallway with Mary and Kate, her mind wandering back to July 4th and the paper she had found, "He must miss Erin."
Mary shrugged, her eyes floating towards the floor.
"I suppose. Erin wasn't exactly the easiest person to like, though."
Jordan raised her eyebrows.
"No?"
Mary swallowed uncomfortably.
"If anything, she was an air-headed socialite with no real sense of how the world worked."
Kate was silent from Mary's other side and Jordan nodded slightly.
"Alright then."
A/N: Sorry for the lack of updates! It's the end of the semester and it's been insanely busy! But hopefully now I will be able to get on a regular update schedule again. This is going to count as Saturday's update and then chapter 4 will be up on Wednesday like usual! (I can actually promise that because it's already written.)
-Katherine