Yesterday - A Beatles Fanfic

Chapter The Twenty-Seventh

Rice pudding was the most foulest, most putrid, most inedible substance in existence. Well, it was if you asked Jessie. She despised the stuff with a vengeance. It looked as if someone had already chewed it and spat it out in disgust. The very smell made her gag.

And it was just her luck that she was stuck in the kitchen washing dishes, including the deep pans that had contained that night's pudding... Rice pudding. She'd been attacking the same clump of food with a pot scourer for the past fifteen minutes, yet it remained stubbornly glued to the "stainless" steel.

It had been almost a week since she returned to Thornleigh. After endless minutes of deliberating on how to approach the matter, she had simply marched through the front doors and apologised (even if she wasn't particularly sure what she was apologising for).

There had been a brief interview with the headmaster and an Education Officer down at the police station. Devon had convinced them that he should be present, as she had intentionally taken his property.

Jessie thought she handled the questions pretty well. She had planned what her cover story was going to be beforehand. The first part - about being driven to the point where she couldn't stand being in the building a moment longer and escaping through the music room with Devon's guitar - was all truth. Upon being asked where she'd spent the last week, she shrugged and answered "here, there and everywhere." Devon had let a snort of laughter slip out and disguised it as a coughing fit.

In the end, there was to be no prosecution of the school or Jessie's caregiver, as she was practically a permanent resident of Thornleigh, and had been truant on her own responsibility.

That didn't mean she got away scot free though.

She was in detention for six weeks. Meaning she couldn't leave the grounds without a supervisor and now spent most of her free time as a slave in the kitchen or laundry.

On a brighter note, the school was in the process of employing Devon as a full time music teacher. With a growing interest in the subject, they believed it would be beneficial to have two classes.

It was getting on her nerves how her English teacher kept asking if she was okay and if she needed counselling. Jessie kept politely declining - she was fine, thank you very much, and yes everything was alright at home, and no, she didn't have any other issues.

And so it was at the end of another long day of schoolwork and chores that she finally dragged her feet upstairs to her dorm. She could hear the babble of gossiping conversation behind the closed door. As soon as she entered the room, it fell silent. Ignoring them, she trudged across the wooden floor and flopped face down on her bed by the window.

Then she was aware of a presence beside her. If it was Eden again, she was going to jump through the window. "Whaddaya want?" She mumbled into her pillow.

"You have mail, Jessie."

Jessie turned her head and looked up at the short haired brunette. It was Katie. Jessie had decided a while ago that she was alright. They got along fairly well and often talked on the weekends when it was she, Ella and Katie left in the dorm.

"I held on to it for you while you were busy in the kitchen." The blue eyed girl flashed a sympathetic smile and placed a plain envelope on the blanket beside her before hurrying away again.

Jessie sat up and picked up the envelope. The front was addressed to her in neat cursive writing. There was no return address. Who on earth would send her a letter? Her Aunt? Cousin Ben? She pried it open and pulled out a folded sheet of paper.

Her eyes scanned back and forth, and the further she read, the wider her smile became.

Jessie,