Jailbird by Eileen Goudge

Author:Eileen Goudge
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Open Road Media
Published: 2023-11-15T00:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER 14

“It’s so great to be here!” Raven said, looking at all the familiar faces in SCAM.

“Welcome back!” Winston Purdy shouted.

“Long live the scrublands!” added Hope.

“Down with the mall!”

“Birds before big business!”

“Say it with flowers!” Eddie Hagenspitzel had to get the last word, as usual.

Raven could feel her cheeks flush with color. She was almost as red as the ruffled peasant blouse she wore with her favorite blue jeans. She hadn’t felt this good since the day she and Vaughn had driven up to the Cutters’ cabin. “Thanks, guys. Thank you for being here.” She felt as if the real Raven Cruz had been locked up in Calvin Pinkerton’s wall safe, a hostage of his money, and that now, with the money returned, she was free again.

But the hard part was still in front of her. She grew serious. “I think before I reappoint myself chairperson, you should decide whether you want me or not.”

“Of course we do,” Winston piped up, adjusting the thick glasses that were forever slipping down his snub nose. Raven could see the tops of his brown socks below the too-short cuffs of his high-water pants. “If it weren’t for you, there wouldn’t be any SCAM.”

Raven bit her lip. Winston might be a class A nerd, but he had a good heart. She hated to let him down. “Winston, wait. There’s something you don’t know.” Raven could feel the nervousness coursing through her body. “I quit on you guys because …” She took a deep breath. As she did, the door to the classroom squeaked open. Raven felt her nerves hit new heights as Vaughn strolled in. Perfect timing.

He slipped quietly to the back of the room, but Raven could feel all her attention following him. What was Vaughn doing here? She tried to focus on the people in the front row: Hope, Winston, Jess Gardner, and Mark Delsley, from the wrestling team. Even Bubba Dole was there. Psycho could never stay out of a good fight. At least this time he was on the right side.

“Raven, because why?” Hope prompted her. “Why did you quit on us before?”

Raven let her gaze travel to where Vaughn stood. He gave an almost imperceptible nod, as if encouraging her to go on.

“Because,” she said, still looking at Vaughn, “I sold out. I made a deal with Calvin Pinkerton.”

A shocked hush fell over the meeting.

“No way!” someone exclaimed from over in the corner.

Raven nodded. She felt ashamed of herself all over again, as if she were walking away from the Pinkerton Estates with the money in her pocket. “Yes,” she admitted quietly, rocking back on the heels of her cowboy boots.

“Wow. Maybe we do have to think about who’s going to be in charge of this group,” Mark Delsley said.

Raven felt a spark of fight flare up in her—the kind of fight that had led her to form SCAM in the first place. “Mark, for whatever it’s worth, I’d like to explain,” she said. “I think I mentioned when I quit that my mother was sick?”

Heads nodded.

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