Page 68 of Girl Violence

“Early this morning,” she tells her. “I told him not to come in, but he insisted. I know he and his father didn’t have the best relationship…but he shouldn’t have been here, and then I overheard your ridiculous argument.”

Josette’s heart sinks. She might throw up. Why the hell didn’t he tell her? This is so typical of him. Pushing her to spill her secrets when he keeps his tightly locked in a box.

After he stormed away, Josette was mad at him for pushing her to tell him what was wrong, but now she feels stupid. Maybe this is why he doesn’t want to get involved with her. Why he won’t let her in completely.

She wouldn’t want to let herself in.

David’s dead, and all she’s done is shout at Vince and get jealous over Rosie. She’s been so absorbed with what happened last night, determined to keep it away from him, that she didn’t look past his lies. She lashed out instead of seeing.

Miss Finn stalks away, and Josette heads in the opposite direction to the exit. She grabs her things from behind the counter and throws open the door. But as she walks the path to get the bus, she stops when she sees a familiar face.

Jenna stands in the middle of the street, looking right at her. The first thing Josette notices are the red rings around her eyes—an indicator that she’s been crying. She looks dreadful and is wearing clothes that look suspiciously like boy pyjamas.

She tries to smile when she sees Josette, but it fades. Coming closer, she hesitantly asks, “Can we talk?”

Josette opens her mouth but closes it. She doesn’t know what to say. After being yelled at by Vince and Miss Finn, she’s not sure she can take any more.

They stare at each other for a few moments. Seeing her only makes Josette realise how upset she is with her, and judging by her sorry expression, she knows it.

“I can’t,” Josette finally says. After all that’s happened in the past two days, she can’t deal with this right now. Not when Vince needs her.

“Jo, I’m so sorry for being an absolute bitch last night. I messed up, and I’m sorry.”

“I…I really have to go. Can we talk later?” Josette says to her, and Jenna’s chest falls.

“I’m leaving.”

“Leaving?” Josette says with confusion. “You only just got back—”

“Yeah, I know. I’m going to stay in Edinburgh for a while. I’m leaving tomorrow morning; my dad’s making me go to some place for therapy.” She sniffles, wiping her nose with the back of her hand.

“Therapy? Is this because of Austin?” Josette asks, and she nods. Only, she doesn’t elaborate, and it hurts. That she can’t trust Josette enough to tell her what’s been going on that she needs to go to therapy for.

“If you don’t want to tell me, fine—”

“No, it’s not that. I just... Ican’ttell you. I don’t know how or where to begin. So much has happened, and I’m scared you’ll hate me.”

“That’s your mistake right there,” she argues. “That you think I would hate you. I’m mad at you, sure. You knew what Ian did to me, yet you dragged me to that party anyway. You didn’t care about seeing me. You just wanted someone to get drunk with. Then you left me there with all of them and things...”

Josette stops herself from spilling what happened, and maybe right now, she’s being a hypocrite. Because Jenna can’t tell her what’s going on in her life, and Josette can’t tell her what’s going on in hers.

“You can’t do that. You can’t make out like I don’t care about you when you’re the one who has been checked out of our friendship since Vince came back,” she says, and Josette knows she’s right, but it pisses her off. “You were constantly looking at your phone to see if he had contacted you last night.”

“Don’t drag him into this.”

“He’s using you.”

“Not every guy is Austin, Jenna!” Josette snaps at her. “I’m sorry that you two haven’t worked out—I truly am. I wish you trusted me enough to tell me what’s been going on, but then, it’s not like I trust you enough to tell you about Vince and how badly in love with him I... I am—”

What?

“You’re in love with him?” she says with shock, and Josette quickly shakes her head.

“No, I mean...no. We’re talking about us right now.” Despite their argument, Jenna’s mouth stretches into a grin. “Don’t smile at me like that. I’m angry with you.”

Stepping forward, she wraps her arms around Josette, hugging her tightly in the middle of the street. Unable to help it, she embraces her back, eyes burning with tears. “Oh God, what’s wrong with me?”

Tears trickle down her face as Jenna squeezes her tightly. “Nothing’s wrong with you. You’re right, I don’t know Vince, and I don’t know your situation. I just don’t want you to feel like this because it sucks. Austin has destroyed me.”

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