Breath of Scandal Page 4

  Jade’s eyes widened. “Two?”

  Donna Dee spread her arms out to her sides and squealed, “Gary got one, too.”

  They both started squealing then. Clasping arms, they hopped up and down until the glass jars of jelly beans on the counter began to rattle.

  “Oh, Lord. Oh, I can’t believe it! How much? Did it say how much?”

  “It said ‘full scholastic scholarships.’ Doesn’t that mean everything?”

  “I don’t know. I hope so. Oh, but I’m so grateful for whatever it is,” Jade said breathlessly. “I’ve got to tell Gary. Was he still at school? Did you see him on the track?” The track team was preparing for its season by working out every day after school.

  “No. I told Mr. Patterson I felt sick and had to leave. I ran to the stadium and looked for Gary. I was going to get him to come with me and tell you together.”

  “Maybe he was in the locker room.”

  Donna Dee shook her head. “I asked. Marvie Hibbs said he’d seen him leave.”

  Jade consulted the pendulum clock mounted on the wall. It was surrounded by cuckoo clocks, all about to strike five-thirty. “Sometimes Mr. Jones comes back before six. I’m sure he’ll let me leave a few minutes early today.”

  “What for?”

  “To go tell Gary.”

  “Why don’t you just call?”

  “I want to tell him in person. Will you drive me out to Gary’s house? Please, Donna Dee?”

  “He might already know,” Donna Dee said. “I’m sure the dean sent letters to you, too. You’ve probably got one waiting for you at home.”

  “That’s true. But the Parkers are on a rural postal route. Sometimes they get mail a day later. Besides, I’ve got to see him. Today. Now. Please, Donna Dee.”

  “Okay. But what about your mom? What’ll happen when she shows up here to pick you up?”

  “Mr. Jones will tell her where I went.”

  “She’ll be pissed if you talk to Gary before you tell her.”

  “Then she’ll just have to be pissed. He’s got to be the first to know.”

  The elderly Mr. Jones didn’t know what to make of it when he entered his store a few minutes later and Jade Sperry came flying at him with arms outstretched. She hugged him tight and kissed his wrinkled cheek.

  “Mr. Jones, something very important has come up. I know it’s early, but would you let me leave now? I’ll make up the time another night. Please?” She spoke rapidly, the words running together.

  “Well, seeing that you’re about to bust, I reckon so.”

  “Thank you! Thank you!”

  She kissed his cheek again and ducked into the back room to retrieve her school books, coat, and purse. She was too excited to be cold, so she bundled the coat against her chest, scooped her chemistry book off the floor, and dashed back to the front of the store. Donna Dee had been momentarily distracted by a new display of frosted eyeshadows. Jade herded her toward the door.

  “See you tomorrow, Mr. Jones. When my mother stops for me, please tell her that I went with Donna Dee and will be home in about an hour. And tell her I’ve got some very good news.”

  “I’ll do it.”

  “Thanks again. Bye-bye!”

  “You girls be careful, hear?”

  Stumbling over each other, Donna Dee and Jade rushed out the door and down the sidewalk to Donna Dee’s car. Jade tossed her belongings into the backseat and got in while Donna Dee slid behind the wheel.

  She negotiated the town’s few traffic lights and within minutes they were speeding down the two-lane highway. It was a dreary, misty evening, but they kept the windows down, and the radio blaring.

  The farther they got from the city limits, the less appealing the landscape became. They passed dwellings so ramshackle they couldn’t even be called houses. Roofs and porches sagged. Windows were papered over and shutters gaped in disrepair. Ancient automobiles and unusable farm implements rusted in the front yards and housed flocks of scrawny fowl. It was like this all the way to the coast, a few miles away. Beyond the shore, the Atlantic was dappled with sea islands.

  The isolated communities there didn’t belong in the twentieth century. Poverty was rampant. Often there was no plumbing. Between the sea islands and the shore were tidal swamps that bred disease-carrying insects to further torment a suppressed element of Southern society. Diseases caused by malnutrition and poor hygiene, which had been obliterated in most Western countries, could still be found there.

  Jade thought the economic climate in this part of the state was deplorable. It was no wonder that Gary often became despondent over the socioeconomic disparities that existed. The Parkers were poor by most standards, but they lived like kings compared to many others.

  The industries that thrived in the Piedmont, in the northwestern part of South Carolina, were still struggling for a foothold in the low country. Tourism was a major industry along the coast, but often the developers of the resort areas resisted the idea of industry because of the pollutants that might spoil their playgrounds for the rich. Meanwhile, farmers like Otis Parker tried to scrape a living from exhausted and flood-ravaged land, and despots like Ivan Patchett got fat by sucking everyone else dry.

  That trend had to be reversed. Perhaps she and Gary would be the forerunners, the first generation of a new South, the pioneers of—

  “Oh, shit!”

  The expletive yanked Jade from her noble daydream. “What’s the matter?”

  “We’re out of gas.”

  “What?” She glanced at the gauge with disbelief.

  “Did I stutter? We’re out of gas.”

  Donna Dee let the car coast to the narrow shoulder of the road and roll to a standstill. Jade gaped at her friend incredulously. “How can you be out of gas?”

  “In all the excitement, I forgot to check the gauge before we left town.”

  “What’ll we do now?”

  “Wait for somebody to come along, I guess.”

  “Oh, great!” Jade flopped back against the seat and pinched the bridge of her nose between two fingers.

  After a brief silence, Donna Dee said, “Look, I made a mistake, okay? Everyone in the world except you is entitled to make a mistake now and then. I know you’re eager to see Gary, and I understand why. I’m sorry.”

  Her apology made Jade feel ashamed. If it weren’t for Donna Dee, she wouldn’t even know about her scholarship yet.

  “No, I’m the one who’s sorry.” She nudged Donna Dee’s arm until the girl turned her head and looked at her. Jade smiled in apology. “I didn’t mean to sound critical.”

  A grin tugged at Donna Dee’s mouth, which was much too small for her teeth. “That’s all right.” Then the two began to laugh. “This is a hell of a fix!” Donna Dee exclaimed. Poking her head through the open window, she yelled theatrically, “Help, help! Two beautiful damsels are in distress!”

  “You idiot, get your head back inside this car. Your hair’s getting wet.”

  Donna Dee turned off the headlights so as not to run down the car’s battery, and they settled down to wait for the first passerby. The sun had set before they left town. It was dark on the country road. After fifteen minutes without a single car coming by, Jade began to worry.

  “It’s not that cold, and it’s stopped drizzling. Maybe we should walk back to town.”

  Donna Dee looked at her as though she’d lost her mind. “That’s several miles.”

  “We can at least go to the nearest house that has a telephone.”

  Fearfully, Donna Dee glanced over her shoulder. “You want to go sashaying up to one of those nigger shacks? Un-uh. No way. We might never be seen again.”

  “Just because they’re black doesn’t mean they’re dangerous. It’s no more risky than hitching a ride. You don’t know who’ll stop.”

  “I’ll take my chances.”

  They continued arguing about it until Donna Dee pointed down the road. “Headlights!” She shoved open her door and stepped out into the middle of
the road, waving her arms above her head and shouting. “Whooo-eee! Hey! Stop!”

  The sports-car driver accelerated deliberately. Donna Dee’s feet straddled the center stripe of the highway and held their ground. The car skidded to a halt inches from her.

  “Neal Patchett, you son of a bitch,” she yelled. “You could’ve killed me.”

  Neal let his foot off the brake and the car rolled forward until the grille bumped into Donna Dee’s skinny shins. She fell back a few steps, cursing him. Inside the car, Hutch and Lamar were howling with laughter.

  Neal spotted Jade through the open windows of Donna Dee’s car. “What’re you two young ladies up to?”

  “We were headed out to Gary’s house, but my car ran out of gas,” Donna Dee explained. “Have you got some gas?”

  Hutch’s belch was as loud as a cannon blast. “Not anymore.”

  Donna Dee shot him a withering glance. “Then can you give us a lift into town and drop us at the filling station? I’ll call my daddy from there and he’ll bring us back.”

  Hutch opened the passenger door and stepped out, unfolding his long body from the bucket seat. “Say ‘pretty please,’ ” he taunted.

  Lamar, riding in the back, as usual, leaned forward. “We don’t give free rides, you know.”

  “You’re all so cute,” Donna Dee said with heavy sarcasm. “I can hardly contain myself.”

  Jade watched with dread as Neal got out of his car and swaggered around the front of Donna Dee’s. Disregarding the mud that bordered the shoulder of the road, he moved to the passenger door and opened it.

  “Get out.”

  “You smell like a brewery,” she remarked as she alighted.

  “We’ve tipped a few beers since school let out. Went fishing.”

  “Catch anything?”

  “Not till now.”

  Jade didn’t like the sound of that but chose to ignore it. Being careful not to touch him, she walked around him and picked her way toward the others. Ever since that night at the Dairy Barn, Neal had been provoking her more than usual, calling her house frequently and deliberately placing himself in her path in the hallways at school. She avoided him as much as possible. He made her skin crawl, and, after what had happened that Sunday night several weeks ago, she no longer attempted to hide her dislike.

  Neal Patchett had been born with opportunities that he not only took for granted but squandered. Jade couldn’t tolerate such gross wastefulness, especially since a conscientious boy like Gary had to scrape for every single advantage. Neal was lazy and disruptive at school, all but daring the teachers to flunk or discipline him. He knew they wouldn’t. Most of them had spouses or relatives working in some capacity for Ivan.

  Jade believed that more than the universal, adolescent penchant for hell-raising motivated Neal to misbehave. Some of his pranks went beyond mischief and bordered on cruelty. In everything he said and did there was a hint of inbred malevolence, a meanness of spirit. He was more dangerous than most people guessed, Jade thought. Part of the revulsion she felt toward him stemmed from a gut instinct of fear.

  “How’re we all going to crowd into there?” Donna Dee asked, dubiously regarding the interior of the sports car through the windshield.

  “I’ve got it all figured out,” Neal said. He pushed forward the driver’s seat. “Climb back there with Lamar,” he told Jade.

  There was no backseat, merely a space beneath the sloping rear window. Jade hesitated. “Maybe I’d better stay with Donna Dee’s car.”

  “Out here by yourself?” Donna Dee screeched.

  “It shouldn’t be that long,” Jade said. “Thirty minutes at the most. I don’t mind staying, really.”

  “Get in.”

  “Neal’s right, Jade,” Donna Dee argued. “You can’t stay out here in the dark by yourself. Get in the back with Lamar. I’ll ride in Hutch’s lap.” She sounded happy with the arrangement.

  Jade didn’t share her friend’s enthusiasm. She felt distinctly uneasy, but then she figured she was being silly. Neal drove like a bat out of hell, but she would probably be safer staying with the group than stranded alone on a deserted highway on a rainy night.

  She climbed over the seat and squeezed into the tiny space with Lamar, who did his best to make room for her. “Hi, Jade.”

  “Hi.” She smiled at Lamar. He always seemed so apologetic and eager to please, and she felt sorry for him. It was a mystery to her why he hung around with Neal.

  Neal slid behind the steering wheel and closed his door. “Hutch, get in.”

  Hutch obeyed on command.

  Donna Dee moved around to the passenger side of the car. Before she could get in, Neal said to Hutch, “Shut the door.”

  Hutch shut the door and looked at Neal curiously. “What about Donna Dee?”

  Neal revved the engine. “She stays.”

  Donna Dee grabbed the door handle, but Neal reached across Hutch’s chest and pushed down the lock button.

  “Let me in, you jerk!” Donna Dee pounded on the window.

  Warily, Hutch said, “Neal, we shouldn’t leave her—”

  “Shut up!”

  “Let her in!” Jade dived between the two bucket seats and leaned across Hutch’s lap, reaching for the door handle. “Open the door, Donna Dee! Quick!” She flipped up the lock button, but before Donna Dee could open the door, Neal popped the clutch and the car lurched forward. “If she’s not coming along, I’m not going either!” Jade shouted.

  Now more intent on getting out of the car than letting Donna Dee in, she again reached for the door latch.

  “Grab her hands, Hutch.” Though he was executing a dangerous U-turn on the highway, which was slick with oil and drizzle, Neal didn’t raise his voice. His icy calm terrified Jade.

  “No!” She began to fight Hutch’s attempts to hold her still. She flailed her arms, swatted at his hands, tried to wiggle between the bucket seats and at least get in a position to reach the door handle.

  Her elbow caught Neal in the ear. “Jesus! Can’t you hold her down, Lamar? I’ve got to drive, for Chris’ sake.”

  Lamar grabbed her around the waist. Jade screamed and kicked her heel against the rear window. She lunged for the gear shift stick, but Neal gave her wrist a karate chop and her hand went numb. Jade saw Donna Dee momentarily spotlighted in the headlights. She was standing in the road, her eyes blinking rapidly.

  “Donna Dee, help me!”

  Hutch grabbed and held Jade’s wrists. Lamar’s arms locked around her waist. The car shot forward into the darkness.

  “Let me out of here!”

  “What are we doing, Neal?” Hutch asked.

  “Just having a little fun.” He shoved the car into fifth gear.

  “This isn’t fun, you jerk!” Jade shouted. “Take me back to Donna Dee. You can’t leave her out there alone. She’ll be scared.”

  “It is awfully dark out there, Neal,” Lamar remarked uneasily.

  “Do you want out?”

  “No, I just—”

  “Then shut up.”

  Neal’s comrades obediently fell silent. Jade tried to regain her composure and quiet her fears. These boys weren’t strangers—she’d known them all her life. Lamar and Hutch were stupid but basically likeable. Neal, however, could be vicious.

  “We’re not going in the direction of town, Neal,” Hutch observed. “Where are you taking her?”

  “She was on her way to see Gary, wasn’t she?”

  “So we’re going out to Gary’s house?” Lamar asked hesitantly.

  “Hutch, will you please let go of my wrists?” Jade asked calmly. “You’re hurting me.”

  “Sorry.” He let her go. Likewise, Lamar released her.

  “We’re just giving you a ride out to Gary’s place, Jade,” he said with a short laugh. “Then he can drive you back to Donna Dee’s car. His daddy probably has a gas can he uses on his tractor.”

  She looked at Lamar but didn’t return his feeble smile. They lapsed into silence. If
this were an ordinary ride, they would be ribbing one another, cracking jokes, discussing tomorrow’s chemistry test. The taut silence made Jade even more uncomfortable. If Neal’s two best buddies were uneasy, she had every reason to be afraid.

  “The turn-off is coming up,” Hutch said. Neal didn’t downshift. “Fifty yards or so up there on your right, Neal.”

  The car sped past the narrow country road that came to a dead end at the Parkers’ farm.

  “What are you doing?” Jade demanded of Neal’s handsome profile. “Let me out. I’ll walk from the intersection.”

  “Neal, what the hell?” Hutch asked.

  “I want to make a stop first.”

  Jade’s heart began to pound in fear. An hour ago she had been celebrating the good news about her scholarship; now her palms were damp and cold with apprehension.

  Neal turned left onto the next road, which wasn’t much of a road. The dead stalks of tall weeds crowded twin ruts that were unpaved and very bumpy. The headlights rose and fell like the lights on a buoy in high seas.

  “Are we going back to the channel?” Lamar asked.

  “Yep.”

  “Why?”

  “I forgot something,” Neal said.

  Mistrustfully, Hutch stared at his friend, but he said nothing. The ground beneath the wheels became marshy as they came closer to the water. Neal brought the car to a halt. He turned off the engine but left the headlights on. “Everybody out.”

  He opened his door and stepped to the muddy ground. Hutch hesitated before doing the same. Jade heard him ask, “What’re we doing back here, Neal? What’d you forget?”

  Lamar nudged her. “Better get out. When Neal gets something in his head, it’s best to just go along. Otherwise, he gets mad.”

  “He can get as mad at me as he wants to. I don’t care.”

  Neal moved to the rear of the car, unlocked the hatch-back, and raised it. “I said, get out.”

  “Go to hell.”

  “Lamar, give me a hand.”

  Neal grabbed Jade’s arm. She wasn’t expecting the move and cried out in pain as he yanked her forward. Lamar gave her bottom a boost. If she hadn’t placed her foot on the ground, she would have fallen face down into the mud.

  She came upright and glared at Neal, wrenching her arm free. “Keep your hands off me.”