The Accidental Life of Jessie Jefferson by Paige Toon Read Free Book Online Page A

adds.
    ‘Then who is he?’
    He sighs. ‘He has a family. He doesn’t know you exist.’
    ‘So that’s it? I can’t know who my dad is because he doesn’t know who I am? Because I might upset his happy little family? Well, tough! What about me?’
    ‘It’s more complicated than that,’ he tells me.
    ‘How can it be more complicated than that?’ I don’t understand. I so wish I did.
    ‘He’s . . . well known.’
    ‘ What ?’ My brow furrows. Now I’m even more confused. Is he a celebrity? A politician? ‘Have I heard of him?’
    He nods slowly. ‘His name is Johnny Jefferson.’
    My world tilts off its axis. Not because I think my dad is Johnny Jefferson, but because Stuart has just told me that my dad is Johnny Jefferson. How could he be so cruel as to openly taunt me?
    ‘How could you?’ I ask, my head spinning. Why would Stu mock me like this? To teach me a lesson for acting out?
    ‘I’m not lying to you,’ he says solemnly and I want to slap his face. ‘I’m not! I’m telling you the truth.’
    ‘I hate you,’ I reply bitterly.
    ‘Jessie,’ he says firmly. ‘Your dad is Johnny Jefferson.’
    I stare at him. What is he talking about?
    Stu sighs. ‘Your mum was a groupie of Johnny’s first band, Fence, before they became famous.’
    ‘A groupie?’ I shake my head in confusion. Aren’t groupies really slutty?
    ‘Yes. She followed the band everywhere, was obsessed with Johnny.’
    My face flushes. ‘Are you being serious? If you’re lying to me I will walk out of this door and you will never see me again,’ I swear vehemently. Maybe that’s what he wants.
    ‘I’m not lying to you,’ he replies. ‘I swear on your mother’s grave that I’m telling you the truth.’
    I feel dizzy as now my world completely breaks away from its axis and starts to roll downhill, gathering speed as it goes. I fall backwards and my back hits the wall. I slide down to the floor and stare up at him in shock, looking down at me from his armchair.
    ‘Are you serious?’
    ‘Yes.’
    ‘Holy shit.’
    He closes his eyes briefly in resignation at my language, while I ready myself to hear the bedtime story to end all bedtime stories.
    ‘You know that Candy – your mum – was my first love? That we went out when we were sixteen but then broke up,’ he starts.
    I nod impatiently, because I’ve heard this story before. They were in the same year at school, and Stu had a crush on her for ages. A few years ago he told me he thought she was the coolest girl he’d ever known – I imagine she was a wild child, while he was a bit of a geek. Anyway, she decided to give him a chance, but after a year they broke up. Mum got pregnant soon after that, and Stu was there for her through the whole thing. But they were just friends until I was about six, when they got back together, although he didn’t move in with us for another two years. Those details I know.
    ‘When Candy was seventeen, she went to London to see a new band. Fence. I wasn’t much into rock music – not like her – so she went with a friend.’ He pauses for a moment. ‘She was on such a high when she got back from that concert. She bought her tickets to their next one straight away. It became an obsession. She would travel around the country going to every gig she possibly could, spent all her money on them. She became more and more distant, and then one day she called it off with me.’
    ‘Just like that?’ I ask.
    ‘Yep. I was devastated,’ he admits. ‘I wanted to at least continue to be friends, but she was so into Fence, into Johnny, that she didn’t want anything to do with me. I was too much of a nerd for her to be associated with. I’d always known she was out of my league,’ he muses.
    I feel a wave of pity for him. It sounds like Mum was pretty harsh.
    ‘Anyway, one day, a year or so later, she did come knocking. She was in such a state, really upset.’ He looks dazed as he remembers. ‘Only a couple of months before that