Being Jamie Baker

by Kelly Oram

  “I feel better than I have in weeks,” she admitted truthfully. “You guys mind if I sit with you today?”

  Becky waited for Ryan to answer, and eventually he stuttered out something that sounded like “Of course not.”

  As the three of us walked over to the table I used to have all to myself, the only sound in the whole cafeteria was a lovely little string of expletives from Paige. The funny thing is, Paige wasn’t even mad at me this time. “I don’t think I’m the hot topic of conversation anymore,” I said.

  Becky and Ryan followed my gaze to Paige. Paige stared us down for a minute until Becky finally got angry. “You know what, I’ve had enough of this,” she said, and then began dragging both Ryan and me over to Paige’s table.

  Becky was absolutely determined to reclaim her throne as the most popular girl in school, and Ryan seemed equally as happy to be returning to his old seat. He did, however, tighten his grip on my hand like he was afraid I was going to make a break for the exit.

  I wasn’t sure I was too excited about causing such a ruckus, but it’s not like I haven’t caused more than enough of those lately. And on the bright side, I knew it was going to aggravate the crap out of Paige. That was reason enough for me.

  Everyone sat up straight as we approached, but most of them showed more curiosity than fear in their shocked faces. “Hi, guys,” Becky chirped as she plopped her tray of food down in her old seat.

  “What are you doing?” Paige asked under her breath.

  “Having lunch with my friends,” Becky answered simply, and then smiled at the rest of the group. “Is that a problem?”

  It was dead silent for a moment as everyone gaped at Becky and then shifted their gazes to Ryan and me. No one really knew what to do, but one thing was for sure—none of them was going to argue with Becky. Mike was the only person at the table who seemed as upset as Paige, but when he started to say something I gave him my best death look, and he bit his tongue. Allysa Madsen, though really nervous, was the first to break the silence. “It’s good to have you back, Becky,” she said as she nudged the others at the table to scoot over to make room for Ryan and me.

  “It’s good to be back,” Becky agreed. She grabbed my arm and pulled me down into the seat next to her. “And I have Jamie to thank for that. You guys all know Jamie, right?”

  The tension was still a little high, but then Justin Reader, who was sitting next to Mike and directly across from me, smiled really big and stuck his hand out to me as if he were as friendly as Ryan. “I don’t think we’ve technically been introduced.”

  I looked down at his hand and hesitated. A few months ago I wouldn’t have been able to accept the greeting even if I’d wanted to. Now, not only did I actually want to, I could. It was safe. Unless I was in the middle of some kind of epic breakdown, I wasn’t going to hurt him and I knew that, so I reached out and let him take my hand. I was surprisingly shy about it even though I’ve never been shy a day in my life before, and all I could manage was a very nervous “Hi.”

  “I’m Justin.”

  Justin continued to shake my hand until he was elbowed in the side. When he jerked back, Scott Cole took my hand next. “And I’m Scott,” he announced, choosing to kiss my hand instead of shake it.

  The moment was kind of surreal, and I couldn’t stop myself from looking to Ryan for help. “I told you they were curious about you.” He chuckled under his breath.

  “I’m Jamie,” I finally croaked, still surprised by the warm greetings.

  Ryan protectively pulled my hand away from Scott and playfully warned, “She’s also my girlfriend.”

  That managed to break the tension, and everyone at the table laughed, but I guess all the warm fuzzy feelings being thrown at me were too much for Paige to handle, and she snapped. “Just like that?” she screamed. “She’s been the biggest witch in this school for over a year, and you’re just going to be her friends now?”

  I didn’t see who said it, but it was definitely one of the cheerleaders who grumbled, “She hasn’t been the biggest witch in school.”

  As people tried to hide their snickers, Becky met Paige’s glare. “People change” was all she said in response to Paige’s question.

  I wasn’t sure if Becky was talking about me or herself, but either way, Paige looked like she was about to explode. She was too angry to say anything, and almost fell on her butt when she stood up because she was shaking with so much anger. She looked around the table one last time and stopped when she got to Ryan’s best friend. “Mike?” she questioned as if asking him to come with her in some sort of protest.

  I hate to say it felt good to watch Mike struggle, but you know what? It really did. He seemed genuinely confused as to what he should do, but ultimately he was too much of a chicken to leave. He glanced quickly my direction and then shrugged. “Miller’s my boy,” he mumbled. “If he says she’s cool…”

  “Thanks a lot!” Paige huffed, and then stalked off. She got about four steps and then turned around and glared at Tamika. Tamika hesitated but then rolled her eyes and followed her best friend out of the cafeteria.

  After Paige left, things were a lot better. Everyone was still a little awkward and nervous, but they were curious, like Ryan said, and they were actually trying to be nice. And I knew they were probably only doing it for Ryan and Becky, but after lunch, in government, when I didn’t have either Becky or Ryan around, Allysa still asked me to sit by her. I was touched by the offer, and talking to people other than Ryan and Becky went a lot smoother than I expected.

  I actually walked to English with Scott. When we got there he insisted I take his seat so that I could sit next to my boyfriend, and he took Paige’s seat since she refused to sit anywhere near Ryan, Becky, or me. People were still adjusting to the change, but after everything at lunch, nobody was very surprised to see the new seating chart. Well, mostly no one. The look on Mr. Edwards’s face as he watched Scott’s gallant gesture was rather amusing.

  Mr. E. was so surprised that he was actually a bit distracted during class, and when it was over, he looked almost perplexed as Ryan and Becky dragged me from the room. I couldn’t leave the man in such a state, so I told Ryan and Becky I’d catch up to them. I tried to wipe the smile from my face when I approached Mr. Edwards’s desk. “You all right, Mr. E.? You’re looking a little pale.”

  “Oh, no, I’m just… Well, I’m shocked! What happened?”

  “You said I was the one with the power to change things. I just followed your advice.”

  Mr. E. seemed genuinely confounded but quickly composed himself and began to tease me. “What did you do, use some kind of brain warp on them all?”

  “Sorry, mind control isn’t one of my superpowers,” I joked back. I wasn’t joking, but he thought it was funny.

  “Could have fooled me.” He laughed.

  “Actually, I did something a lot crazier than brainwash everyone.”

  Mr. E. perked up. “Really?” His eyes sparkled with curiosity.

  I glanced around the room and leaned in like I was going to give away a big secret and then whispered, “I was nice.”

  I laughed when Mr. E. looked disappointed in my confession. “I know, it was a little anticlimactic for me too,” I teased. Then I thought for a second and shrugged. “It was mostly Ryan’s doing. He sort of killed the ice queen a while ago.”

  “Ah, yes. Mr. Miller.” Mr. Edwards rolled his eyes as if to say, of course he was involved. Apparently I’m not the only one who gets a little annoyed with Ryan’s perfection.

  Speaking of Ryan, he was probably wondering where I was by now, so I stepped back from the desk. “Anyway, thanks, Mr. E. I really think things are going to be a lot better for me now. You can chalk up your first teaching success and take me off your troubled students list.”

  I was just giving him a hard time as I said that, but instead of laughing, he sat there deliberating. Finally he nodded and said, “Good for you, Jamie. I’m glad to see things are working out for you.
”

  “You’re all right, Mr. E.,” I admitted as I headed for the door.

  “See you later, Ms. Baker.”

  Ryan and Becky were waiting right outside the classroom for me. Ryan pulled my fingers into his as if the five minutes we’d been apart had nearly killed him, then he glanced back in the room at our teacher and asked, “Everything okay, Mr. E.?”

  The poor man was trying his best to look like he wasn’t watching us, but he was still in too much shock to pull it off. I gave him a quick smile and then turned my full attention back to Ryan. My grin tripled in size. “Everything’s great,” I answered, bemused by the truth in my words.

  Ryan pulled me into his arms, squeezing me like he’d never been more proud of anyone in his whole life. “I think this calls for a celebration. Let’s go do something before the game.”

  “Actually,” I said, “Becky asked me if I would practice her routine with her for a while, but you can come watch us do backflips if you want.”

  “Are you going to put on your old cheer uniform?”

  Ryan was a little too excited by the thought of me in a costume, so I squashed that idea, and fast. “In your dreams.”

  “Not exactly.” Ryan grinned wickedly. “In my dreams you’re usually dressed like Wonder Woman.”

  Ugh. I wondered how long it would take for him to start in on the superhero crap. Obviously, not long. I was not amused, but Ryan seemed to think himself hilarious. I could also tell by the look on his face that he was quite confident he’d have me in costume one day. “Never gonna happen,” I assured him. “Ever.”

  And of course he responded with that classic, cocky smile. “Just like you were never gonna be my girlfriend, right?”

  All I could do was groan. I started to drag Becky off, but Ryan called out to us, saying, “Are you really going to ditch me?” and Becky stopped walking.

  He pouted with this face that was just so pathetically adorable I wanted to both smack and kiss it, but Becky was the one who gave in first. “Ryan, if you really want to go out, I’ll grab Scott, and we can double or something.”

  “Becky!” I had to laugh. “You’re worse than me! It’s no wonder he’s such an egomaniac.”

  “What? You’re telling me you can say no to that face?”

  I wanted to say yes, but it would have been a lie and we all knew it. “Fine.” I sighed. “Why not? A double date could be fun.” I looked at Ryan in defeat. “So, where are we going?”

  “Nowhere,” Ryan said as he pulled me into his arms again. “I’m not going to interrupt your girl time now that you’re finally having it. I just wanted to see how long it would take for you to give in.” Ryan’s smile was back and bigger than ever. “You get easier every time.”

  Ryan Miller. Honestly. What can you do? Of course I laughed. I didn’t want to, but I couldn’t help it, so I don’t think my accompanying eye-roll was all that convincing. In fact, I know it wasn’t because Ryan pulled me against him so that my face was just an inch from his, and said, “Permission to kiss my girlfriend?”

  Not that I wanted him to get his way again, but as if I could say no? He gave me a quick kiss good-bye and then handed me off to Becky and told her to take good care of me.

  “You sure you don’t want to come?” Becky asked.

  “No, no. You girls go do your thing. We can get a group together after the game instead.” Ryan stopped suddenly and gave me a puzzled look. “You are going to come, aren’t you?”

  I was actually startled by the question. I’d been watching the games for a while now, but I guess I hadn’t told him that, and I’d never thought about sitting in the stands. “What? Um, well, I was just going to…”

  “Oh, come!” Becky cried. “It’ll be fun. I promise.”

  Suddenly, I now had two people I couldn’t say no to. When I shrugged, Ryan’s whole face lit up. “Come find me before the game starts.”

  “We will,” Becky answered for me, and then carted me off to the practice field.

  * * * * *

  CHAPTER 22

  It felt so good to be out on the field, messing around with Becky. It was a little weird at first because I hadn’t done any gymnastics since my accident, and I had to be careful not to let my power escape while doing all those flips. Becky seemed a little self-conscious at first, but once we got going she was perfectly fine in all her tumbling—kicked my rusty butt out of the water. I think she’d only been screwing up lately because she was so stressed out over the whole Mike thing.

  We stayed at it for so long that we were barely going to have time to go home, hit the showers, and be back before kickoff. I was mentally searching for the perfect outfit as I drove home, but all thoughts of getting cute or even going to the game flew out the window the minute I pulled up to my house and heard Carter’s voice coming from the living room, filling my parents’ head with stories of mad scientists.

  That man was so dead.

  I thought for sure he’d get the hint after I torched his house, but apparently it was going to take more than that to get rid of him. Maybe I’d throw him off the edge of the Grand Canyon. Or better yet, just leave him in the middle of northern Canada somewhere and let him find his own way back. That wouldn’t be murder, right? Not technically.

  I barged through the door ready to throttle someone, but surprisingly, my dad looked twice as angry as I did. Angrier than I’d ever seen him, and trust me, that’s saying something. Funny thing was, he seemed angry with the wrong person.

  “Jamielynn Baker!” When he shouted, the walls of the house shook, and for once I didn’t have anything to do with it. “You are grounded until you’re DEAD!”

  My teenage instinct to rebel won out over my shock, and I screamed right back. “What did I do?”

  “You should have told us he was here!”

  “I had it under control!”

  “Control?”

  Oops. That was the wrong thing to say. My father was choking on his words he was so irate. “You burned down a house!”

  “I burned creepy surveillance photos and videos that prove I have powers. The rest of the house was an accident.”

  “And what about the physical assault?”

  Carter told my parents I physically assaulted him? What a baby. I barely even threw the guy. “He was trying to destroy my life again. I was a little angry. And besides, you know where I get my temper. You’d have hit him too, and you know it.”

  “He did hit me,” Carter grumbled under his breath.

  I glanced at Carter for the first time and noticed that he was holding a bag of frozen peas over his left eye. It was easy to picture my father answering the door and punching Carter before he could get a single word in. “Nice.” I showed no sympathy when I finally addressed Carter. “Let’s see it.”

  Carter grudgingly removed the vegetables, and half his face was black-and-blue. I’ll admit the sight of him gave me an overwhelming dose of sick satisfaction and also made me quite proud of my dad. I raised an eyebrow at my father and laughed when I noticed his lips twitching as he fought back a smile. “You’re still in trouble, young lady,” he said stubbornly.

  I was good and ready to argue my punishment and defend my actions. I mean, yeah, maybe I burned the guy’s house down, but it was a crappy one anyway, and he really didn’t leave me any other choice. But then something else occurred to me. “Wait! Why is he even still here?”

  My mother finally spoke up. “He came to warn us.”

  Warn us? Puh-lease. I rolled my eyes. I know my mom hates that, but I couldn’t help myself. “Don’t tell me you’re buying—”

  “What choice do we have, Jamie?” My mother cut me off with unusual harshness. “If there’s even the tiniest bit of truth to this, and people are really looking for you, then he’s done us a great favor.”

  “A favor?” I asked, too incredulous to actually scream. “Even if what he says is true, that means he’s the reason we’re in this mess in the first place! All those stupid articles he wrote bac
k in Illinois! Can’t you guys see that he’s just trying to scare you into coming forward? He’s still just looking for his story!”

  Carter’s patience finally wore thin, and he joined in the argument. “Is this just a story?”

  Carter threw a large manila envelope across the coffee table at me, and despite all the control I’d gained recently, when I saw it, I blew the circuit breaker again. “If this is more blackmail pictures, Carter, I swear I am going to launch you off the Golden Gate Bridge!”

  “Jamie, easy on the death threats, honey,” my dad warned. But I could tell he liked the idea.

  “But, Dad!”

  “Just look at the picture, Jamielynn!” Carter snapped.

  I wanted to be stubborn, but my curiosity got the better of me, and I slid the photo out of the envelope. “Big deal,” I said. I’d seen this picture before. It was the same picture of guys in lab coats from the Visticorp website, only this one was ripped from a magazine. “This is an article on stem cell research. It doesn’t prove that they know about me.”

  “Look closer,” Carter said. “Recognize anyone?”

  I looked closer.

  Shocked does not even begin to cover it.

  “After you destroyed everything,” Carter explained as I stared at the picture in front of me in disbelief, “I didn’t know what to do. So I did some digging and figured out who exactly had been contacting me. It wasn’t easy because I was looking at Visticorp employees, but he doesn’t work for them anymore. He quit just months after Derek died.”

  I was still too overwhelmed to process everything he was telling me. “B-But,” I stammered. “This isn’t right… This can’t be right!”

  It just couldn’t be. I mean, I trusted him. But there he was, sporting a white lab coat, standing proudly with his research team in an article ripped from the pages of Time magazine. “He cared about me. He helped me.”

  “He suckered you.” Carter used a softer voice than I thought him capable of, but his words were still harsh.