declared this was her last day here. Rita also said that Lauren told her she had some pills that she’d hidden with her cigarettes and managed to hang on to them even when Novalene confiscated the smokes,” Diana answered. “I’ve dealt with kids that were high in my school before, but I’ve never seen anyone as wild as that girl.”
“Me either.” Jayden willed her hands to stop shaking so she could finish her breakfast.
“Diana, would you drive the second van to church this morning?” Henry asked. “Mary and I like to steal away for an hour and go to our church on Sunday morning. After what’s happened, it’ll be good for both of us to go sit quietly before the Lord for a little while.”
Jayden’s three girls finished their meal and came over to form a circle around her.
“What can we do to help you?” Tiffany asked.
“You can help me and Mary out in the kitchen.” Jayden could see that they needed something to do, and Mary was covering it well, but her hands were trembling.
“It’s a good thing Lauren is gone, or I might have done something stupid and gotten sent away with her. If I get a demerit for not staying in my seat, it’ll be worth it.”
Carmella led the way to the kitchen. “Me too, but let’s go get started.”
“That Tiffany is a tough cookie,” Henry whispered.
“She’ll have bruises,” Jayden said, “but she’s showing all the other girls that she’s meaner than Lauren was.”
“I admire her and hope my girls take a lesson from what happened this morning.” Diana picked up her tray and headed toward the kitchen with it. “Since Lauren isn’t here for slop duty next week, that’s going to be Rita’s job. She stole my cell phone last night and was attempting to call her boyfriend when I caught her.”
Jayden just nodded and joined her girls in the kitchen.
“I hate this job.” Ashlyn sighed. “I’d rather clean horse stalls any day of the week than wash nasty old trays. We’ve got an amazing chef at home who makes whatever each of us wants, and she does the cleanup.”
“Stop griping,” Tiffany said. “We’re here to help Jayden.”
Jayden turned away so they couldn’t see her smile. She was proud of them for stepping up to the plate and taking on extra work.
“You mean you don’t have to eat whatever is fixed?” Carmella asked.
“Nope, we get to tell Martha what we want in the morning, and it’s ready for dinner.” Ashlyn rinsed trays and stacked them in the dishwasher. “I’ve never had to work like this before. I don’t like therapy, but I’ll take it over this.”
“Therapy ain’t so bad,” Tiffany said. “And I like Karen. I wasn’t going to talk to her when it was my hour, but she’s so sweet and she really listened when I said something.”
Jayden appreciated the meeting the counselors had with Karen. She addressed several of the girls’ problems and gave the counselors positive ways to help with them. Hearing that Tiffany liked Karen was a plus and gave Jayden hope that the girl would truly leave with a better self-image.
“I like to cook,” Carmella said. “Our cook lets me help in the kitchen all the time, but Mama decides what the menu is, and I can eat what’s put on the table or have a peanut butter sandwich.”
“What about you, Tiffany?” Jayden asked.
“My folks are gone all the time. They don’t give a crap what I eat or even if I eat. The housekeeper will fix food some of the time, but mostly I just live on takeout,” Tiffany answered.
No wonder the girls got into so much trouble, Jayden thought. Seemed to Jayden like their parents were much more taken up with careers and their own lives than seeing to it their daughters had the right kind of positive attention, but then she was used to seeing similar in her own school.
Elijah would have much rather been back at camp making sure that Jayden and Mary were really all right than taking a petulant girl to the county jail. His thoughts were all over the place. What if Mary had a heart attack over this incident? What if Jayden’s eye swelled shut? Would that affect her ability to help Mary or to take care of the girls in her cabin?
At first Lauren didn’t cry, but when Novalene and Elijah wouldn’t argue with her, the waterworks started. She cussed, long and loudly. She tried