Riot Girl Read online

  Truth be told, I wanted to be here when they arrived. I wanted to see if Joel had the nerve to look me in the eye. There was something I wanted speak to him about that I was sick of carrying around with me after all of these years.

  “Miss Jones, how nice of you to join us.” Principle Hardy looked less than impressed with me. Still, I was almost ten minutes late for the faculty meeting so I suppose I could forgive her sarcastic tone.

  I took my seat at the long table without a word. I’d had the good grace to grab my notepad and pen from my bag before I entered the room, so as not to cause any further disruption to the meeting. I only worked three days a week, not even full school hours and yet I always managed to get to team meetings by the skin of my teeth. Except today, today I was just plain late. Sleeping with my eyes open again as Jacob had termed it.

  I’d decided to Google the band after I dropped Jacob to school and got lost in endless sites spouting gossip about them. I’d just about had enough when I saw the time and had to run, high-heeled, from my office to the other end of the school to the staff meeting room. My feet were screaming at me and my cheeks were flushed from the run; it had been quite a while since I last attempted anything at all like exercise and I made a mental note to use my gym membership more than once a year.

  I was rarely called upon to contribute to the staff meetings, I was there more as a nod to the fact I was part of the faculty rather than actually needing to be there. Each head of department took their turn to debrief the principle on their news and put forward any requests or concerns.

  I allowed myself to tune out and mull over what I'd read online about the band. Waz had apparently married a former Playboy bunny girl and I'd giggled to myself when I saw their ridiculously over the top wedding. I also made a mental note to ask him if my invite had gotten lost in the post. From the local gossips I’d gathered that the wedding was reminiscent of Pamela Anderson and Tommy Lee but with the bride dressed in actual clothes-barely.

  Billy was a player; as I knew he would be, and he'd been linked with different models, pop stars and actresses almost monthly. Man whore. I could have guessed he hadn't been married; he was too wild to settle down.

  And then there was Joel. I'd tried to skip over any romantic links since it made me feel strange but in actual fact he'd hardly been linked to anyone. There was something about him dating an English actress for a while. She was sickeningly photogenic, but other than that he seemed to keep his private life hidden from the gossip columns.

  Since hearing they would be back I had looked at recent pictures of them and was surprised to see how much they'd bulked up since I knew them. All three had quite a collection of tattoos; Joel seemed to have the most, with both arms covered from wrists to shoulders.

  Waz looked like he'd fallen into the rock star lifestyle of sex and drugs, heavy emphasis on the drugs and I’d seen no pictures of him with the wife I’d been told about. Billy was as handsome as I remembered him, he still had his hair dyed black and wore it spiked and his blue eyes still held the sadness of his trailer park upbringing.

  Joel...

  "Sorry to interrupt your thoughts Miss Jones but perhaps you'd like to give us your opinion?" Ah damn. Principle Hardy was giving me daggers.

  I looked around in utter panic. What did I miss?

  "With you having been such good friend with them perhaps you could ask them if they wouldn't mind giving a talk to the students. The Riots I believe they're called?" Rob Shaw looked at me with a smile on his eyes. I loved that man right at that moment for catching me up.

  Hang on; he wanted me ask them to give a talk? Now I absolutely hated Rob.

  "Well, I'm not sure. I can't say I know them at all anymore," I stammered. "They might not even know who I am, you know these rock star types."

  "I do believe quite a few of their early hits were written specifically about you and your time together as friends?" I could kick Rob so hard right now. "I'm pretty sure they won't have forgotten you. You're quite the character after all."

  Rob was in his mid-thirties and had moved here from another town, but I was fairly sure that if he'd gone to my high school I'd have hated him. Lucky for him my 'character' was quite a bit tamer these days and that I classed him as a friend of sorts.

  "Ah Rob, you're quite the character yourself," I replied with a smile through gritted teeth.

  CHAPTER NINE

  I stepped out of my front porch that Monday morning to find my front yard had been invaded by a stream of reporters and cameramen once more.

  Jacob opened his mouth wide and whispered, “Woooowww.”

  I lifted him up in my arms and hid his face in my shoulder as I pushed through the crowd to get to my car. I had to force the passenger door open, shoving several of them off balance as they fought each other to get close to me. The noise was incredible and the flashes from the cameras surrounding us blinded my eyes.

  "Miss Jones have you been in contact with the band regarding their return?" A microphone was shoved in my face as I tried to buckle Jacob into his car seat.

  “Please step back, you’re upsetting my son,” I told them all with a stony faced expression.

  The Riots were due to arrive in town the following week and for the last couple of days there had been a media frenzy outside my house. Daniel had taken to working from home as much as possible and was getting increasingly fed up of the attention we were getting. Tensions inside our four walls were rising; we’d not even been able to take the dog for a walk because crazy fans and reporters had quickly descended us upon.

  “So have you made plans to meet up with Joel at all Miss Jones?” One reporter pushed herself to the front of the crowd and almost hit me in the face with her mic.

  "No comment." I pushed it out of my face and pulled the blanket high over my baby's head before pushing my way through the gaggle of reporters to the driver’s side door. "Please leave my property or I'll be forced to call the police."

  Daniel had insisted on taking legal advice from his lawyer friend and I repeated what he'd instructed us to say on these occasions. The town was turning into a circus. Someone must have blabbed about my past relationship with Joel because within the first twenty-four hours the media had swept down on me.

  They knew where I worked and lived, they knew where Jacob went to school and what class he was in. One tabloid had even gone as far to question who his father was. At which point I thought Daniel might explode. I knew he'd considered taking Jacob out of school and staying with his parents until this whole thing was over.

  "It's okay baby, keep that over your face until were down the street," I squeezed his hand then started the car.

  The reporters and cameramen stood back to let us pass but I was almost blinded by camera flashes as we passed more on the street outside our house.

  "Are you famous mommy?" Came his muffled voice from under the blanket.

  "No." I considered how much to tell him, but figured he'd hear all kinds of things from his classmates. "When I was younger I used to be friends with some people who are famous now. I dated one of them for a little while. They're coming to town soon and these people, the reporters, want me to tell them about my old friends."

  I pulled the blanket down now we were clear of the cameras. Daniel and I had released a statement saying that we didn't give permission for any images or recordings of Jacob to be used and if they were we would sue. Nonetheless, we'd agreed to hide him as much as we could just in case.

  "That's so cool!" He was truly in awe. "When can I meet them? My friends will be so jealous."

  "Jakey... I actually think sometimes you're as crazy as your momma." The mind of a small child. If only his father were so relaxed about it all.

  I pulled into the high school car lot after dropping Jacob at his school. I wasn't due to start work for a couple of hours but I couldn't stand the thought of fighting through the press to get into the house again. Besides, what was there to go home to? Daniel would just pick a fight as though it was my
fault that the vultures had invaded our home.

  No, thank you I'd rather be at school. I laughed at the thought. Ten years ago I'd never imagine myself thinking this way.

  My laughter quickly turned to tears, what the hell was wrong with me? I was so hormonal and emotional that I could barely think straight. My life had been ticking along just fine and then BOOM, it was like a bomb had gone off and I didn’t know left from right anymore.

  It was coming to ‘that’ time of year I realised suddenly. The anniversary.

  “Oh my God, what am I doing?” I cried to myself and rested my head on the steering wheel.

  Maybe Daniel had been right; we should have taken Jacob and left while the circus was in town. Jacob thought he had a crazy person for a mother at the best of times, he must think I’d completely lost it these past couple of weeks.

  There was a sharp knock on the window. Great. I wound the window down without moving my head from the wheel.

  “Can I help you?” I asked from my hiding place.

  “Can you imagine what you must look like to the kids in the classroom over there?” Rob asked mocking me.

  “Shit… is there really a class in there?” I tried to peek over the dashboard of my car without showing my face.

  “Yup. Now scoot over.” I did as I was told and sat up, trying to hide my face behind my loose hair. Thank goodness I’d decided against tying it up this morning.

  Rob turned the key and drove us out of the parking lot and headed towards town. I glanced sideways at him; he was handsome in the conventional sense but he didn’t have the look that appealed to me. He was too wholesome and ‘pretty’ for a man with his soft face, plump lips and slender body. He wasn’t skinny but he wasn’t overly muscular either. I turned my attention back to the road when I realised he’d spotted me watching him.

  “Now they’ll tell their friends that you were talking to yourself and crying and then I came to take you away,” he said matter-of-factly. “And hey presto, we’ll be having an affair according to the entire population of the student body.”

  I groaned loudly; he was right of course. I hit my face with the palm of my hand. Now I was crazy for all to see and apparently having an affair with my colleague. Who I hated, for the record.

  “The girls will all hate you of course,” he laughed at me, his grey eyes shining with mischief.

  “Oh, and why’s that then?” I mumbled.

  “Because I’m like so desirable,” he said impersonating a typical teenage girl. “And so they’ll totally have to hate you because you have what they want.”

  “A mental condition?” I said, my voice dripping in sarcasm as I rolled my eyes at him. He looked at me curiously so I continued. ”Well I do talk to myself, cry in the car for all to see and not to mention my apparent terrible taste in men.”

  “Ah Indiana, I do love our little talks,” Rob pulled into a space outside a small coffee shop that the teaching staff frequented.

  It was in the style of an antique bookshop and looked entirely unappealing to teenage eyes. Of course school staff in the town loved it; the coffee was good too but the bonus was definitely that it was a childfree zone.

  “I thought you’d appreciate a little grown up time with a mature, sensitive man,” Rob smiled and held out his arm for me to take. In spite of myself I hooked my own arm into his and rested my head on his shoulder.

  “I’m crazy, aren’t I?” I asked.

  “Certifiable, baby.”

  CHAPTER TEN

  “So, you used to date one of the guys from the band?” Rob and I were walking through to the lunch hall after that morning’s faculty meeting.

  “Who told you that?” For a guy who didn’t come from this town he sure picked up a lot of old gossip.

  “I have my sources,” he replied, tapping his nose. “So did he break your teenage heart or did you stamp his into a million pieces?”

  The guy was a joker. If I’d had a teacher like him when I was a student here I might have enjoyed history more. I gave him my best evil glare and ignored him.

  “He broke your heart then, nasty.” Rob laughed and put his arm around my shoulders jovially. “Indiana Jones I’ll break you one of these days and all your dirty secrets will come gushing out of that pretty mouth of yours.”

  “Go fu-.” Rob put his hand over my mouth mid-profanity.

  “Ah ah ah, students might hear that filth Miss Jones!” He cut me off mid-curse. “So are you looking forward to seeing them? I also heard you’d been great friends with them all but only went out to California once to see them?”

  “My God, where do you get your information from!” I was surprised that he knew so much and I had no idea where he’d gotten his information from since I sure as heck never told anyone.

  “Yes, we were good friends,” I gave in, shaking my head at his pushiness. “There was no reason for me to go back to California, it’s not my kind of place. Yes, I dated Joel for a while. Yes, he broke my heart. We were teenagers; don’t all teenagers break each other’s hearts? It’s all part of growing up.”

  “So you are excited to see them again, him specifically?” He pushed, winking at me jovially.

  “I am actually going to beat you to death and bury you in the school basement if you don’t mind your own business!” I growled, only partly in jest. Half the time I gave in and told him things only because if you didn’t he’d keep asking questions anyway and stare at you with his grey eyes until you felt like your head might spin off. “I doubt I’ll see or speak to any of them. We were friends a long time ago, a lot’s happened since then.”

  “You’ll see them. I have a feeling about that.” Rob smiled and left me in the doorway to the lunch hall open mouthed.

  If he said it would happen, it would happen. Most likely because he’d make it happen.

  I froze at the entrance to the school theatre, my feet rooted to the ground. As usual, when put on the spot, my brain turned to mush. The only clear thought I has was ‘Rob, I am going to kill you’.

  “Ah, I did wrong,” he whispered guiltily at my side.

  “Yeah ya did,” I finally managed between gritted teeth. “What were you thinking?”

  “Revenge? Confrontation?” he tried helplessly.

  “What!” I looked at him with raised eyebrows.

  “Well, they wanted a scoop and I thought you could dish the dirt on them,” Rob blanched at the look on my face. “I got this really wrong.”

  I stared at him in disbelief, murder in my eyes. “Does my privacy mean nothing to you Rob?”

  “I thought maybe it was time to confront your past, left to you it would stay buried,” he shrugged ruefully.

  Laid out on the high school stage in front of us was a set that looked like it had come right out of a daytime chat show. People were mulling around angling cameras and adjusting lighting. Dead set in the middle of it all were two long couches with a presenter perched at the end of the one on the left-hand side.

  On the right-hand one sat The Riots, all eyes on me and shifting nervously. The blonde coiffed one followed their gaze and stood up to come and meet me.

  “Indiana,” she rushed towards Rob and I. “So wonderful to meet you darling.”

  She then had the audacity to air kiss me on each cheek and grin at me toothily. When I didn’t respond except to stare at her like she was an alien, she moved on to Rob.

  “Robert, darling, thank you for making this possible!” she kissed both of his cheeks too. “We’re super excited about this–thank you again for the loan of the theatre.”

  She clicked her manicured fingers and a young guy seemingly wrapped in wires and wearing a headset appeared at her side obediently.

  “Wire her up,” she ordered dryly, glancing at her watch and then turning on her sparkling smile for me once more. “Indiana, I’m Betsy and we’ll be looking to roll in eight minutes. Don’t be shy, just pretend the cameras aren’t there.”

  She was ushering me to the stage as the wireman shoved som
ething rubber into my ear and clipped a miniature microphone to my blouse.

  “Hey buster!” I exclaimed as he began to tuck his hand inside my blouse to secure the mic. “Move it or lose it.”

  He looked mortified but I was furious about being man handled. He carefully took his hand out of my top and held it up and rushed away from me, backwards. Next a woman with caramel skin and big red lips appeared and started powdering my face with a huge make up brush. I put my hand out to stop her for a moment.

  “I didn’t agree to any of this,” I fumed, twisting around to glare at Rob. He was now seated in the front row of the theatre, immediately behind the lighting set up.

  Betsy’s jaw dropped. “But you’re the focal point of this section Indiana.”

  “Focal point–section? What are you talking about?” I snapped at the stupid, annoying Betsy.

  “The ‘memory lane’ part of the documentary we’re making sweetie,” she replied patiently, as though speaking to a small child. “We’re going to speak to you about the origins of the band; a kind of ‘before they were famous exposé if you will.”

  I looked at Rob again and gave him a death stare as Betsy continued to push me on stage, waving the make-up girl away. I couldn’t bring myself to so much as glance in the direction of the boys on the other sofa; I was torn between kicking their asses and running away.

  Taking a deep breath, I tried to regain my composure. My heart was racing and I was a wreck. There was no use denying it. But I was a grown up now, a mother for goodness sake–I could handle this.

  Except for Rob, I thought, he was a dead man walking.

  Closing my eyes for a moment I took another breath before forcing myself to look in the direction of the other couch. For the first time in almost seven years I was looking at them in the flesh once more.

  Waz looked shocking, his eyes were drawn with dark circles underneath, and he looked like he needed a good home–cooked meal. Billy waved his hand at me with a nervous smile. Good, I thought, so he should be nervous. He was still handsome but with more ink on his skin than I remembered.