Chapter Text
The air hung dry in the southern heat, causing Jane to give a small exhale as she tried in vain to cool it down some with a hand-made fan. She had expected it to be hot in Texas, but nothing quite prepared the 16-year-old for just how stagnant it was. There was no wind here it seemed, not like in Washington, and the shadows provided so little protection from the blistering sun that they might as well have not been shadows at all.
“Why don’t you tell us a lil’ something about yourself, Jane?”
A male voice broke through her internal griping, and as a classroom full of new schoolmates turned to look at her, the girl stopped her fanning. Gosh, did she wish for the protection of shadows now…
“Guess y’all aren’t used to this Texas sun yet, are ya?” the teacher laughed, and Jane fought back the urge to snap at him. It was her first day? Of course not?? It wasn’t her fault that Texas was hotter than the Devil’s backside.
Instead, she gave a nervous chuckle. It might have been the life of general privacy she’d led up to this point, but large groups of people tended to sap her confidence pretty quick. “Guess not. Uh, h- hi, I’m Jane Crocker, and I just moved here because-” Because as heiress to a multi-billion dollar company I’ve been subject to one too many death threats from rival companies for my father to justify living in such a populated and well-known area? Because, somehow, I am still allowed no input on when ‘safe’ becomes ‘boring as hell’? “…because of my dad’s job,” she finished, giving a small nod.
“What d’ya think of it so far?”
“Um… hot?” Everyone laughed. Really though, she thought with a tight smile, what was there to think of? It was tiny, about a mile across, she’d been told, with a population that could fit on a third of that. There were parks in Washington bigger than this.
The teacher shot a friendly wink, leaving Jane slightly unnerved. “Well, here’s hopin’ you warm up to it real soon, huh?” Just like that, before she could respond (not that there was much of an answer to give anyway), the roll call continued, and, aside from the stares of curious teenagers, she was back to being invisible, and as for now, she didn’t mind at all.
The bell soon rung, and Jane headed off to Math, hoping she found it without any incident. Thankfully, the school was fairly small (surprise), and its hallways weren’t sardine-packed (bigger surprise), so navigation wasn’t too much of a difficulty. It came as a small comfort, and before long Jane’s mind was wandering, trying to place names to faces of her fellow students. Homeroom hadn’t been too lengthy, but had been all the time she needed to realize that they were all similar, all parts of the crowd she walked through, forgettable names to forgettable faces.
It wasn’t until she turned the corner that anything (or anyone) caught her eye. Two boys from her homeroom, Jesse and Trevor possibly, or was it Jason and Tyler? were stopped at a locker. It wasn’t suspicious in itself, of course, but lockers were assigned by last name, and the set for their homeroom was on the complete other end of the hallway. Looking around, she saw that no one else noticed, or perhaps no one else cared? Either way, though, she considered it her responsibility as a person who did notice to put her sleuthing skills to the test. Though of course, sleuthing wasn’t always so direct.
“Wow, I didn’t know we could change lockers!” The two gave a jump at her sudden and silent arrival, in a way that certainly smelled like trouble.
“Hey, you’re that… new girl. Jane, right?” one asked, almost sheepish. She nodded. “Right, so this ain’t exactly our locker.”
“Oh?”
They looked around, clearly not expecting anyone to approach them. “It’s uh, it’s Strider’s. You met Strider yet?”
“I don’t believe I’ve had the pleasure.” What kind of a name was “Stryder” anyway?
“Trust me, darlin’, ain’t no pleasure there. Fuckin’ Strider…” Either Jason or Trevor gave the locker they’d failed to break into a punch. “He thinks he can do whatever the hell he wants. Asshole just wanders the school, never talks, never takes off those stupid sunglasses o’ his…”
Either Tyler or Jesse picked up where his friend had left off. “So we figure if someone takes away his dumbass Japan sword, maybe it’ll stop him from walkin’ around like he owns the goddamn place. You’re with us, right, new girl?”
The name stung. She was the new girl, free of people’s judgments and vendettas for the first time in years, and she was willing to trade that in for what? For some kid she’d never met who honestly did sound like a bit of a jerk? Mulling it over, the conclusion she came to almost disappointed her, and she bowed her head in slight shame. She had nothing here, but she’d have even less without her resolve. That was precisely what she was going to do.
“Don’t you have class?” Jane sneered, though it was quite clear that they didn’t, at least not physically-speaking. She may not have been familiar with the social workings of public school too well, but peer pressure? That was low…
Exasperated, they rolled their eyes. Strider wasn’t worth getting suspension, or even detention over. With mutterings of “whatever,” the two skulked off down the hall, ducking skillfully out of the line of sight of any teachers who might have seen the exchange.
Well, there went any opportunities for popularity, she grimaced. Not that popularity was her goal, or even a strong interest, but it would have been nice to avoid the labels and reputations long enough to make at least one friend, especially considering that for the first time, she had no head start.
That was the point, of course, of moving where no one knew her face, or who she was, or what multi-billion dollar company she was set to inherit, but it was somewhat jarring to get used to. Everyone back at home knew her, like it or not, and though the change of pace was certainly relaxing compared to that, it was the first time she’d ever had to actually try to make friends? Jane considered herself pretty friendly in the grand scheme of things, but even so, a whole day spent making idle conversation with idler classmates didn’t seem to be getting her much of anywhere. Friendly, she thought several times over the course of the afternoon, did not automatically mean a friend.
On the brighter side though… maybe it was for the best? They’d come here so that for once in her life she could be safe, and not have to worry about the kidnapping attempts and general sabotage that tended to surround her, and perhaps keeping other people at a distance was the easiest way to do it? Still, someone to talk to, even if it was barely about more than the weather or how she was liking it here so far would be better than being so alone.
As she left her first day, still too hot and much too eager to find her father’s car, she felt someone’s eyes on her, directly on her, for the first time since she’d got here.
He was tall and slender, with dark skin and darker sunglasses, to the point where she couldn’t truthfully see if he was looking at her, at least not in the two seconds she saw of him as they passed by on the walkway. The boy gave her little acknowledgement, merely a nod and a single wave, but it was the most anyone had given her all day.
The boy carried a sword on his back.
Another day, another location, she might have reached out to him, or at least waved back, but she’d missed that chance, too preoccupied with just standing there surprised like a moron. Fortunately for Jane though, she didn’t get too much time to dwell on it. Mr. Crocker’s car stood out from the Jeeps and trucks in the lot about as much as he, in his shirt and tie, stood out from their drivers, and Jane was more than happy to see them both.
“Hi, Dad!”
Their move had been stressful for him, far more than it’d been for her, even she had to admit. Yet, he smiled at her like nothing was wrong, and as he fell into the age-old, “How was school?” shtick, they momentarily forgot that anything was.
In the back of his mind though, there was quite a bit to think on. He was still CEO of Betty Crocker Inc., Jane knew, and he’d been trying to fulfill all the responsibilities that came with that while living thousands of miles away. He handled it with grace though, like everything. I was about your age, he’d always tell her, regardless of her age, when your grandmother started teaching me how to run the business.
Their familial chatter drew to a close as he pulled up next to their house, if you could call it that. She hadn’t mentioned the incident with the sword boy.
It was a three bedroom on the outskirts of town, and though Jane didn’t want to be impolite, the first word that consistently came to mind was cramped. Her dad had the largest bedroom, with the smallest being a makeshift office, but the fact that hers was “medium” didn’t change the fact that her bed touched both sides of the room at once. It had one bathroom, which was at least functioning, a living room that was the perfect size for two, and a decent-sized kitchen, all things considered, though it still fell an island or two short of being “impressive”.
Jane placed her things neatly beside the door, and though she entered the bedroom, she struggled to call it “hers”. Not only were the walls bare of any posters or décor (Admittedly, she’d had the time to decorate, but the motivation? Certainly not!), but the entire house felt like it belonged to someone else, like it was never meant to have her here.
With a sigh, she lay back on her bed as the walls blurred into the ceiling blurred into the floor. Her thoughts were pulled back to business talks with her father, and the words she must have heard hundreds of times throughout her life
It’ll all be yours one day, Janey.
From where she lay though, it seemed impossible that “all” extended much further than this sand-colored house in the desert.