Chapter 13: Brent

“Thank goodness for Friday!” I cried as I headed to the breakfast table and saw everyone having breakfast, apart from Jenny, who clearly wasn’t an early morning riser.

Mom smiled. “Good morning to you too. You had a good night, I heard.”

I winked at her. “Every morning getting up and seeing your beautiful face is a good morning, Mother.”

I kissed her on the cheek, and she waved my kiss goodbye. “You’re such a smooth operator. Just like your dad.”

I sighed as she mentioned him. Even after all this time, she still held a torch for him. I felt guilty about it. I missed him, but every day I seemed to remember him less and less. Unlike Trent and Mom. They would always say stuff like that. Oh, Dad would have loved to do this or he would be so proud of you today.

“You seen what’s on social media?” Trent asked, directing his question to me. He should know better than to expect me to wake up, shower, and go straight on my phone.

“Nope.”

“Yeah, it’s pretty crap. Kurt’s saying all this shit about Jenny and her dad.” Prent filled in the blanks, and I was surprised by his statement. When was he so concerned about social media? He tended to avoid it like the plague.

“Well, her dad clearly had a judge in his pocket. I’m not even sure how he managed to make bail, let alone be out and about.” Mom sighed.

My eyes darted across the table. I wasn’t in the mood for fruit, and it was all everyone seemed to be eating this morning.

I clapped my hands together, ignoring the news. I wasn’t like my brother. I tended to sweep things under the carpet, a tendency I inherited from Dad, I wasn’t proud of it. It was the way I was. “Who wants bacon and eggs? Something greasy and fattening to get the morning going, like a normal family?”

“Funny!” Trent said. “No, but we should do something about Kurt. He’s just too much.”

I sighed, annoyed that everyone had ignored my comment and was too busy talking about Kurt. It was too early for this type of conversation. Besides, it was Friday. When did Friday become the gloomy day?

“Friday fry-up for Brent only, coming up!” I hinted at the gang, who were still too busy nibbling on their fruit and drinking coffee. Even Prent, who liked a fry-up once in a while, was too busy discussing Kurt. It was as if my family had been transported and had been replaced by some boring freaks who were concerned about social media. I headed into the kitchen and decided I would make eggs and bacon, not only for myself, but Jenny too.

“We need to pay him back,” Trent said, and Prent agreed.

“You need to concentrate on finishing your final year and going to college. That’s what you both should be doing. And ignoring Kurt like you’ve done for the last five years,” Mom said disapprovingly.

It didn’t look like she was heading to the office today as she was wearing a shirt and jeans and didn’t seem to be in a hurry. It was a little strange for a Friday because she was always working, especially since Dad died. She said working helped her get through it, and us guys were older and didn’t need her as much, but she needed something to keep her busy. That seemed to be being a lawyer again.

I shrugged. “I don’t get what the big deal is. We agreed not to go on social media, especially for Jenny’s sake, and we’ve done pretty well until now. I don’t get why you’re going on about it.”

Mom said, “Because, he’s everywhere. Now his trial date has been brought forwards, it’s the talk of the town at the moment. The media are feeding off it. They love a good story and are like rats. If they knew Jenny was here, they would be outside our front door.”

“Kids had something else to talk about, and now they’re back on Jenny. Look what happened on Monday. They wanted to make her pay!” Trent said, and I noticed I’d been out of the loop a bit.

What did he mean?

Prent told me they did some shit, and she skipped class, but then the way he described it, I didn’t think it was any big deal. Then again, what did he know? He didn’t go to our school. With essays needing to be handed in, and the end of the year soon approaching, I hadn’t spent as much time with her this week as I’d done before, apart from at the dinner table, she seemed fine to me. I felt as if my brothers were exaggerating. I knew why Trent was; he was all into her. As for Prent, he didn’t seem interested at first, and part of me wondered what had made him have a change of heart. I would grill him as soon as I finished making breakfast.

“Anyway, I have some errands to run. This is all interesting, but I have a meeting with Russell and her dad later, so I’ll fill you guys in on it during dinner,” Mom said as she reached out and kissed both Trent and Prent on the forehead before heading into the kitchen, no doubt to give me a kiss too.

“You not dressing for the office?” I asked as she stood close to me.

She shook her head. “Nope, we’re going to meet in a restaurant downtown. Besides, I couldn’t be bothered to put on a suit today. It’s an informal meeting, just to discuss Jenny. I set it up, but Russell chose the restaurant.”

I rolled my eyes. “Of course he did.”

“Anyway, have a good day.”

I smiled at her, and just as quickly as she was by my side giving me a kiss, she was away again.

As soon as she was out of sight, I propped the eggs and bacon on the plate. I put Jenny’s in the microwave with a plate over it to keep it warm. Then, I decided to sit down with my brothers and find out what was going on.

“Mom seems down, right? What’s up with her?” I asked without hesitation as both brothers were too busy scrolling through their phones, no doubt checking all the posts about Jenny.

Prent put his phone down and sighed. “Yeah, yesterday she went to Dad’s grave. Marked five years three months and I think it got to her. I went with her for a bit. I didn’t have any classes because next week is exam week.”

“Shit, she still does that?” I asked Prent, feeling bad about it. Before she used to go there every week, then it turned to every month, but for some reason I thought she only went once a year. We all did. We used to go together; now, she was still going on a monthly basis. Did I miss something?

“This thing with Kurt and what’s going on, I think it’s just brought back bad memories. You know, the ones where she felt like justice wasn’t served and Kurt’s dad got off lightly because he paid who knows who to get him off scot-free. We all know he was over the limit when he was driving. The waiter who testified confirming it suddenly suffered from amnesia, and it’s just bringing back bad memories.”

I nodded, realizing I hadn’t really thought about how this would affect Mom. She went to court all the time, but then realistically, this was too close to home. Old memories were bound to get stirred up, and I felt selfish thinking only about my own needs and not hers.

“Fuck! Listen to this post! She’s so fucking tight, she probably has all the money stuffed up her pussy, and she let it out, that’s how comes her thieving dad is not banged up where he belongs,” Prent read out.

“Who the fuck posted that?”

Prent shrugged. “No idea. You know on Instagram, can’t really see the names.”

I replied, “I suppose it doesn’t matter. Shit, didn’t think about how this would affect Jenny. We live in a shit world, right?”

Both Trent and Prent agreed in unison.

“What we need to do is get Kurt back!” I said, waving my finger, thinking of something but then not quite knowing what to do.

Trent snarled, “You know what would really wind him up?”

I shook my head.

“If we were her boyfriends. All three of us. Imagine Kurt’s face when he finds out that his ex is not only dating one of the guy’s he hates so much but all three of us.”

I threw my bacon on my plate, the one which was just about to head in my mouth, as he came up with his brainstorming idea. Wondering why Prent went red when he mentioned it. Of course! He’d been with Jenny too. This explained why he was so concerned and why he’d taken up to checking social media all of a sudden.

“We have to see if Jenny’s game,” Trent said. Damn, sometimes I felt as if he was Sherlock Holmes in another lifetime. I didn’t see how us going out with Jenny would really rattle Kurt. We lived with her. It was clear something was going on, even if we hadn’t all sat down and agreed what it was exactly.

“Well, that sounds like a plan. Just a shame I’m not in your school.” Prent sighed as he set down his phone. Confirming what I’d already suspected, he’d been with Jenny, and by the look of things, in more ways than one.

Usually he would wear his geeky T-shirt with some fucking Fortnite logo on it. Today, he was wearing a black polo shirt, matching Trent’s, and he’d even cut his hair, something he would typically avoid so he didn’t look like Trent. Today, they looked like fucking twins. All he needed to do was put on a few pounds, and no one would be able to tell them apart.

“Why are you staring at me like that?” Prent asked, probably feeling my eyes gazing over every inch of him.

I shrugged. “Nothing. No reason.”

“Anyway, Trent, isn’t it pretty obvious something’s going on with Jenny. She lives here. We go to school with her. Besides, Jenny said a few weeks ago, some girls were talking about it in the bathroom. I just don’t see how that’s a way to wind Kurt up.”

Trent pointed. “No, we drop her at school. Go our separate ways. Never eat lunch together or hang out with her at school. I mean, it’s good now. She has a friend, Tracey, but between basketball and all my social events, I just don’t have time. You’re with your friends too. In school, it’s as if we’re all strangers.”

Prent pitched in, “And out of school.”

Trent eyes moved toward Prent, and it was as if then he saw what I’d seen a few seconds ago. Our brother looked different, and he was acting strange too.

“Yeahhh,” Trent drew out. “As I was saying, you in or not? We going to wind Kurt up and pretend she’s dating all of us or not?”

I picked up the bacon which was crisp and dry, thinking it was a little cold, but just the way I liked it. I didn’t see how pretending to be with Jenny would make her life at school better, if anything it would only make things worse. But Trent was right; I would love to see Kurt’s face and have some shit thrown on to it.

“This could work, but we need to know if Jenny would be on board. After all, if she’s not, then this isn’t going to work.”

“Did I hear my name?” she said from behind me.

I nodded my head, got up and planted a kiss on her cheek. “You did indeed. I made you breakfast, and I need to get to school. Picking Oliver up on the way. Trent will fill you in.”

Oliver was one of my best friends who had issues with his car at the moment, so I was giving him a ride today and most likely the rest of the week.

She smiled. “Great, now you have me all curious.”

Shit, she was wearing jean hot pants and a cross top. Not only did she have me curious, but she had me horny. I shook my head at the idea of getting down with her, otherwise I would never make it to school. I turned my head and sure enough, Prent was smiling at her all goofy eyed. She gently smiled at him. Not the playful smile she gives me or the lust-type she gives Trent, but a different kind of smile, as if to say, morning handsome.

I noticed then, Trent’s plan may be a good one, but how much of it would really mean we’re faking, because Jenny had in some way or another caught us hook line and sinker, and it wouldn’t be hard to fake when our feelings for her were obviously so real.