The Recruit - CHERUB

Chapter 3 - Mum?

Jessica walked into her flat's hallway. She glanced at her mum's mobile still laying down on the table under the coat rack. The mobile read:

16 MISSED CALLS
3 TEXTS
UNIDENTIFIED NUMBER

She turned the phone off and curiously poked her head in the living room. The light was turned off, with the TV still on. The channel was switched to a cooking show, the volume up high. There was no sign of Uncle Ron.

"He's gone, Lucas," Jessica said to her brother, who before wanted to leave Jessica to walk home, but in the end he realized he couldn't ignore her forever and instead let her catch up to him.

"Thank God for that," Lucas said. "He makes this place reek with his smelly breath."

As Lucas closed the front door shut, he noticed a folded up piece of paper on the doormat. He picked it up and unraveled it, revealing a messy spidery crawl on the front. Lucas tried to read it out:

"Dear Mrs Clarke, please contact either the School Secretary or myself ur...urgental...urgently? On one of the numbers below, con...consent-"

*Jessica choked on her saliva before rushing over to her brother. "Uh, lil' bro, let me read it out instead."

*If you do not know why Jessica choked on her saliva and stopped Lucas, it's because the word 'consent' means to give assent or approval to do something with someone. Following that, the word 'consent' is sometimes used to have a sexual relationship with someone - I guess Jess just has a dirty mind...

Jessica snatched the note back before letting out a sigh of relief as she continued reading:

"On one of the numbers below, concerning Jessica's behaviour at school today. Micheal Rook, Deputy Head Teacher."

Jessica scrunched the paper up, before heading over to the kitchen and throwing it in the bin beside the kitchen counter. Jessica opened the fridge and poured her and Lucas a cup of orange juice. She slumped down on a stool by the counter.

Lucas slid his trainers off and grinned, taking a seat opposite Jessica. "Mum will absolutely massacre you. I bet my life savings that you'll get expelled as well." It was obvious that Lucas was going to enjoy seeing his sister suffer.

"Can't you shut up?" Jessica snapped. "If you couldn't already tell with that micro-sized brain of yours, I'm trying not to think about it."

---

Jessica locked herself in the bathroom, before taking a dump on the toilet. She washed her hands and stared at herself in the mirror. She was a bit shocked at what the mirror presented.

The mirror showed a twelve-year-old girl who had rough blonde hair that was all ruffled up from the chaos that happened earlier today. She had a few smudges of dried and wet blood on her face, plus a hugely grazed marking on the right side of her face.

Her white school top was splattered with a few bits of blood and was wrinkly because of the rain. Her skirt was only wrinkly, but she pulled both of them off and threw them in a bin liner. She'd decide later on if she'll put them in the wash or chuck them in the bin and ask mum to buy her a new set.

Ending up in this mess made Jessica start asking questions about herself. She knew she wasn't a very good person. She was always getting into fights, she was always getting expelled from the strict schools her mum sends her to, she was always getting bad marks and that nasty staring look from her teachers.