Killer Instinct

21 | Jordan

         

Friday night football games were something that everyone at Barnum Prep participated in. The band geeks were all there playing the national anthem, the cheerleaders were jumping and screaming, the jocks were all supporting each other, the nerds who did nothing but homework were usually at the bottom of the student section, showing up because some teacher offered them extra credit to do it.

In essence, the entire student body was there. But the entire student body was not in Mary Hadden's personal skybox.

Seeing as Barnum Prep was the most prestigious high school in Easton—a town completely run by the elite and dependent on the class system—naturally there had to be a way, even at football games, to distinguish those who had more from those who had less. So in 1991, they installed a skybox above the student section: a glass-walled box where those who paid for the chance to watch the games from above could do so.

Jane and Henry Hadden bought out the box the second their oldest son became a member of the football team five years earlier.

Mary Hadden invited whoever she wanted to watch her brother's games with her. It was generally the same group of people: Jordan, Kate, their boyfriends, and whatever other jocks felt like begging the queen bee for the chance to sit with her.

Jordan was sitting on Landon's lap on this particular Friday night, watching the players stretch while snacking on low-calorie ice cream, kept cool by the air conditioning that Mary had installed in the box two years earlier. Landon was talking to Parker, who was scratching Mary's back as she argued with Kate over who was most likely to win The Bachelorette next season based solely on their looks.

"Looks like the trash is here." Parker alerted the group, nodding towards two people walking up the stairs to the skybox. "Did anyone order a whore?"

"Hush, we'll see what they want." Mary ordered, opening the door as Lindsey and Roland arrived and walked inside. "May we help you?"

"Yes." Lindsey nodded, glaring in Jordan's direction for a second before continuing. "I need to talk to you about something. It's important."

"Then say it." Mary replied, walking back to sit next to Parker. "I don't have secrets from my friends."

Lindsey looked incredibly uncomfortable and shook her head.

"I can't say it in front of everyone, Mary. You don't want me to."

"Since when are you two on a first-name basis?" Parker asked, eyebrows raised as Landon laughed quietly. "Don't talk to Mary like she's your equal, Marcum."

"Especially after you made passes at my boyfriend." Mary shook her head in faux disappointment, clucking her tongue. "Like I said, we don't have secrets here."

Lindsey shot a terrible look at Parker.

"If anything, he made a pass at me and tried to corner me in one of the eight hundred rooms at the Green's house. But that's beside the point," She continued as Parker shook his head adamantly in Mary's direction, "Mary, I need to talk to you. Now."

Mary rolled her eyes.

"How many ways can I say the word 'no', Marcum? Should I speak a different language? Please tell me that you still understand English after that knock to the ankle."

Lindsey's eyes widened as Jordan sat there in silence, taking everything in and loving every second. Mary Hadden was good at many things, but the number one was humiliating people.

"I hurt my ankle, not my head."

"Well, you're hurting mine." Parker stood and grabbed Lindsey by the arm, ushering her out. "Don't come back up here unless you want to be thrown down the stairs."