Jainiah looked into her father’s light brown eyes. It's a game they have played ever since she was little. He gives her his most intense gaze and she would try not to avert her eyes.
Andre then started his mantra “Never let anyone push you around. Never turn away from an assertion of dominance.” he leaned closer to her. “Never back down from a challenge.” Jainiah could smell the spearmint from his breath.
As a child she always turned away from him after two seconds. But now she’s been staring at him for almost 15 minutes. Andre's serious gaze turned into a delighted smile.
“Good girl, Jainiah. Since you beat your brother again you get to decide what’s for dinner tonight.” Miles rolled his eyes. Andre looked at his son and said, “Don’t be a sore loser Miles. You didn’t even last a minute.”
Miles whined, “It’s because Jainiah is older and is your favorite.”
Jainiah stared annoyed at her brother. Aubrey paused feeding baby Colette who mashed the applesauce all over her face and glanced at her husband
Miles, who knew his father was about to lecture, turned away from him, avoiding his eyes. Andre gently but firmly grabbed his chin and said, “Look at me son.” Miles was trying so hard not to meet his dad’s predatory glare. But he lost the battle. His father's eyes were cold, and he shuddered. “Miles, what did I tell you about success?”
Miles gulped. “People aren’t born successful, they work for success.”
Andre calmly continued. “So what you told me was an excuse on why you fell short. You know how I feel about excuses.”
Miles never broke his gaze from Andre. Andre held his gaze for a while before he kissed him on his forehead.
“You lasted five minutes, that's an improvement, I hope next time it’s not fear that is guiding you but the need to dominate.” His phone rang, he glanced at the screen and rolled his eyes. “What, Bloomfield?” His face went blank at what the man told him. “When did you notice they were missing? Because that shows me you don’t actually check your inventory.”
Jainiah and Miles looked at each other confused. Their dad’s odd behavior is nothing new to them. But the way he can go from loving father to cold lawyer still astounds them.
Andre sighed. “Fine Garfield, I will be there in forty minutes.” I got to go to Garfield’s lab. Apparently, some of his chemicals went unaccounted for and it’s been happening for a while.” Garfield, the owner of Bloomfield Pharmaceuticals, is one of her father’s clients.
Aubrey got up. “I’ll put Colette to bed and have the nanny sit with her.” Since she’s her husband's personal assistant. It was second nature to accompany him for business calls.
Andre gave his wife an adoring look.
“What you are going to do is after you call the nanny you will go to bed.” He kissed her deeply.
Jainiah scrunched her face and said, “Really right in front of us?”
Andre gave his daughter an amused look. “Angel, how do you think you got here?”
Later in bed once everyone was asleep. Jainiah laid awake in bed, she heard movement from downstairs at the front door. She got up quietly, and tip-toed out of her room. When she got to the staircase she hid in an obscure corner so she wasn’t seen. Jainiah learned a lot just by listening in on conversations. Her father entered and shut the door. While her mother stood on the last step. Her back was to Jainiah so she couldn’t see her expression. But her father’s face was on full display since was facing his wife.
“What happened?” Aubrey asked her husband. Andre’s face was blank “Garfield noticed some of his drugs in his inventory were missing. And it’s been happening for a while.”
Aubrey brought both of her arms in front of her. Jainiah knew she was crossing her arms. “How long is a while?”
Andre bent down and started to take off his shoes “Years. Apparently he recently discovered the missing drugs and saw a paper trail since 2018.” Aubrey huffed “And the moron just noticed his workers had been spreading his products like a bag of chips.”
Andre finished taking off his shoes, turned and gave her a bemused look. He laughed, “Bag of chips?”
Aubrey turned her head as though she was embarrassed. He grabbed her by her cheeks and turned her over to look at him. “I know you aren’t up because of Garfield. What ‘s wrong?”
Jainiah had to strain her ears to hear what her mom was saying. “She’s about to graduate, you know that Kendra’s daughter is going to pick her as a target at the Hunting Retreat. Use your status to stop them. I don’t want her involved in it.”
Jainiah was confused. She knew her mom had to be referring to her since graduation was in six weeks, but she couldn't figure out what she wouldn't want her involved in. Attending the Hunting Retreat was mandatory for all seniors. Her father being GrandMaster can’t absolve her from tradition.
Andre stared at Aubrey. “You don’t want her to be like you?”
Aubrey’s head nodded .
Andre smiled “Look at the life we’ve built together. Look at our wonderful children. Is it really so bad?”
Aubrey sighed “Not every Alpha Society member is like you.”
Jainiah felt her heart go out to her mom. She was right the Alpha Society is filled with bigots, bullies, narcissists and misogynists. And her father is a part of it. She felt ill. She composed herself to listen to what her father said next.
Andre gave his wife a chaste kiss on the lips “I can assure you, sweetheart the Alpha Society won’t be an issue for much longer. Now let’s get to bed, hmm?”
Jainiah quickly ran back into her room and quietly shut the door before her parents saw her. She leaned against the door, heart palpitating. She slid back against the door. What was her mom afraid of? And what does Frankie have to do with it? She decided to go to bed. Everything makes more sense in the morning.
The next day Jainiah drove to school in the new pink Tesla her dad bought her for her 18th birthday. She was still reeling from her parents' conversation last night. What would she be picked for? She turned into the school's parking lot. She parked in the student parking lot.
Tanisha, one of her best friends, was waiting for her in the parking lot. She had a blonde weave in contrast to her ebony skin while wearing a Gucci short sleeve shirt and a black mini skirt with high heeled sneakers. She was holding two iced coffees from Starbucks.
Jainiah greeted her with a kiss on her cheek and took the cup that didn't have a chewed up straw in it and said “Thanks.”
Tanisha chewed her gum and blew a bubble. “No problem boo.”
She blew her a kiss and Jainiah snorted.
“Where’s Lita?” She asked after she took a sip of her coffee. Suddenly a motorcycle engine was revving and next to them a motorcycle parked the driver took off their helmet and the girl caught a glimpse of blue hair Lita’s signature hair color for now.
“I thought your brother took your motorcycle away after you got your grades back?” Tanisha said with confusion.
“More like he took it away when he found out she had it.” Jainiah corrected. Lita found the motorcycle in the town’s junkyard last year and fixed it. Now she never goes anywhere without it.
Lita snorted, her blue eyes glinting with mischief the way she wore her mascara reminded Jainiah of one of those femme fatales in movies.
“He was too busy arguing with Jeremy about the power going off. He thought he forgot to pay the light bill." Jainiah and Tanisha gave her a side eye. Lita gave them an innocent look.
Jainiah asked, "You wouldn't have anything to do with the lights going out in your trailer, would you?"
Lita smirked. "I may have messed with the fusebox at the trailer park so I could ride my hog." Both girls cringed at her attempt to sound like a biker. Lita laughed, flinging her arms over her best friend's shoulders guiding them inside.
Ryan Henry, one of their classmates, who was sporting a black eye. Was playing with a lighter on the steps called out to Lita. “Thank you for cutting off the power this morning, Big Bird.” Lita, not letting go of her friends, flipped him off. “Fuck off Kill List.” He snorted then went back to playing with the lighter.
Jainiah gave Lita a distasteful look “I wish you guys didn’t make a joke about that. When they found the Kill List in his locker, you realize he could have gone to jail right?”
Lita looked at her and she looked pained “His dad has been wailing on him. He jokes about it because he doesn’t want to be pitied.”
Jainiah felt bad for Ryan; he has a reputation of being a lone wolf. So many people wrote him off as a lost cause. She gave Lita a one armed hug as the girl leaned on her.
They joined Alicia Chan who waited at the entrance for them. She was wearing lime green overalls with pink fingerless gloves. YoungBlood Prep School doesn't have a mandatory dress code, so the students dress however they want. Then they walked inside.
The girls walked through the hall, students moving out of their way. Jainiah looked at a group of cheerleaders that were surrounding a girl dressed in band gear. She broke away from her friends and walked in the middle of the group standing in front of the band girl. The cheerleaders looked at her. Jainiah stared back at them, meeting each of their gazes. And one by one the cheerleaders placed their heads down and left the band girl alone. And without saying anything to the band girl she walked back to her friends who were waiting for her. And they walked through the hall once more.
Jainiah was looking at what Tanisha was showing her on her phone when she tripped and was caught by a concerned Julius.
"You alright Jai?" his strong arms were wrapped around her. She looked at his handsome face. His face was inches apart from her’s ; his lips were close enough to hers that all she needed to do was tilt her head up and they would be kissing. “Again.” she thought then she remembered where they were. she broke out of his grip and backed away from him, bumping into Tanisha who protested, “Seriously Jai.” Jainiah apologized to her. Julius coughed awkwardly running his hand through his hair.
And Jainiah swept her arms down her shirt like there was dust on it. "Yeah" she said embarrassed. They both laughed awkwardly at each other.
"A little clumsy there huh Jainiah?"
Julius and Jainiah turned annoyed looks at Frankie who walked up to them and gripped one of Julius's arms and glared daggers at Jainiah. Jainiah met her look head on with an intense gaze her father taught her. Frankie lowered her head slightly. Each of their friends group who surrounded them while the girls were facing off looked surprised at Frankie who submitted herself to her rival. Janiah with her head held high guided her friends through making the rest of the Alpha hopefuls part for them.
“Damn. That was intense," Tanisha said after a while. The rest of them agreed.
"You stood up to Frankie Jefferson." Alicia pulled at her bracelets.
Jainiah said without missing a step. "Frankie is a fraud, you guys just give her power. The girl is nothing without her crew. And I can assure you she isn’t Alpha Material"
Frankie, who was still holding on to Julius’s arm, cried silently. She had a plan.