Friday night football games were something that everyone at Barnum Prep participated in. The band geeks were all there playing the national anthem, the cheerleaders were jumping and screaming, the jocks were all supporting each other, the nerds who did nothing but homework were usually at the bottom of the student section, showing up because some teacher offered them extra credit to do it.
In essence, the entire student body was there. But the entire student body was not in Mary Hadden's personal skybox.
Seeing as Barnum Prep was the most prestigious high school in Easton—a town completely run by the elite and dependent on the class system—naturally there had to be a way, even at football games, to distinguish those who had more from those who had less. So in 1991, they installed a skybox above the student section: a glass-walled box where those who paid for the chance to watch the games from above could do so.
Jane and Henry Hadden bought out the box the second their oldest son became a member of the football team five years earlier.
Mary Hadden invited whoever she wanted to watch her brother's games with her. It was generally the same group of people: Jordan, Kate, their boyfriends, and whatever other jocks felt like begging the queen bee for the chance to sit with her.
Jordan was sitting on Landon's lap on this particular Friday night, watching the players stretch while snacking on low-calorie ice cream, kept cool by the air conditioning that Mary had installed in the box two years earlier. Landon was talking to Parker, who was scratching Mary's back as she argued with Kate over who was most likely to win The Bachelorette next season based solely on their looks.
"Looks like the trash is here." Parker alerted the group, nodding towards two people walking up the stairs to the skybox. "Did anyone order a whore?"
"Hush, we'll see what they want." Mary ordered, opening the door as Lindsey and Roland arrived and walked inside. "May we help you?"
"Yes." Lindsey nodded, glaring in Jordan's direction for a second before continuing. "I need to talk to you about something. It's important."
"Then say it." Mary replied, walking back to sit next to Parker. "I don't have secrets from my friends."
Lindsey looked incredibly uncomfortable and shook her head.
"I can't say it in front of everyone, Mary. You don't want me to."
"Since when are you two on a first-name basis?" Parker asked, eyebrows raised as Landon laughed quietly. "Don't talk to Mary like she's your equal, Marcum."
"Especially after you made passes at my boyfriend." Mary shook her head in faux disappointment, clucking her tongue. "Like I said, we don't have secrets here."
Lindsey shot a terrible look at Parker.
"If anything, he made a pass at me and tried to corner me in one of the eight hundred rooms at the Green's house. But that's beside the point," She continued as Parker shook his head adamantly in Mary's direction, "Mary, I need to talk to you. Now."
Mary rolled her eyes.
"How many ways can I say the word 'no', Marcum? Should I speak a different language? Please tell me that you still understand English after that knock to the ankle."
Lindsey's eyes widened as Jordan sat there in silence, taking everything in and loving every second. Mary Hadden was good at many things, but the number one was humiliating people.
"I hurt my ankle, not my head."
"Well, you're hurting mine." Parker stood and grabbed Lindsey by the arm, ushering her out. "Don't come back up here unless you want to be thrown down the stairs."
Jordan watched as Roland and Lindsey shook their heads and walked back down the stairs to the student section, disappearing quickly into the crowd. Parker returned to his seat beside Mary and rolled his eyes, grabbing a beer from the concealed cabinet under the microwave.
"What a bunch of losers. You're so much better than them, Mar."
"I know." Mary nodded, glancing over at Jordan with thinly veiled fear in her eyes. "I'm so much better than a lot of people."
***
The game went smoothly, Barnum Prep taking the lead early on with Michael Hadden as the captain. The first half ended with Barnum up 28-7.
"Well, that was quite the exciting first half." Jordan commented as the team ran to the sidelines and she realized she was out of ice cream. "Who wants to fetch me some food from that terrible truck at the front of the school?"
"Wait until after they play the tribute." Mary ordered, watching carefully as a PowerPoint presentation was projected onto the barn across from the football field: four pictures, one for each of the deceased Barnum alumni.
"We wanted to take this time to honor four of our Barnum Prep graduates who were killed this past summer in a terrible car accident." The voice of Madison Walsh, student body president, echoed through a megaphone to reach the ears of the teens in the skybox. "Our first honoree is none other than Barnum Preparatory School's previous star football captain, Eddie Hadden."
A picture of Eddie smiling with his giant, heartwarming smile graced the screen. Jordan remembered going over to Mary's house all through junior high and high school and just wanting to be around Eddie. Not for any romantic reasons; he was always tied to some cheerleader or socialite anyways. But because he was so happy all the time, and his smile made you feel as though you could conquer anything just by staring at it.
"Eddie was a principal part of our student body here at Barnum, and he did everything he could to be the best leader for our school. We all thank him and remember him dearly."
The screen went dark as Madison continued to the next teen.
"Our next honoree is Erin Green."
A picture of Erin popped up on the screen, and Jordan watched as people seemed a bit less enthused about her than Eddie. Eddie's ex-girlfriend wasn't exactly known for being kind, and her picture showed that: the socialite was hardly smiling, just the corners of her mouth turned upwards in what could possibly be considered a pleasant expression.
"Erin and her family have donated much of their time and money to Barnum Prep to give it everything it needs, from this football stadium to the new library." Madison said, "So in honor of the contributions of both Eddie Hadden and the Green family to this football program, we as a student government have decided to dedicate this football stadium with a new name: The Eddie and Erin Stadium."
"Eddie's rolling in his grave right now." Mary muttered from beside Jordan, causing the rest of the box to laugh.
"Our next honoree is Neil Conrad."
What happened next happened with such swiftness that Jordan was pretty sure half of the student body missed it. But a picture of Neil appeared on the projector's screen: happy, smiling for once, dressed in all black with spiked hair from his experimental days. But the picture disappeared within seconds and was replaced by a different image: one that Jordan had never, in a million years, suspected she would see.
It was still Neil. No doubt about it. The photo was grainy, clearly taken by a phone camera, and depicted Neil kissing someone. That in itself was shocking; the boy had never shown interest in anyone in his life, male or female.
But the most shocking part was who he was kissing.
The picture was dated May 27, barely a week before the accident that took Neil's life. The other person in the picture was Mary Hadden.
And the whole school could see it.
A/N: Happy Saturday update! But without the happy part, clearly, since things are starting to get real. Who put the picture up on the screen? Let me know your thoughts!
-Katherine