Songs for the chapter:

Leave Me Alone- Michael Jackson

Beat It- Michael Jackson

{ M A U R A}

I could hardly sleep, and I couldn't eat.

All I could think about was Jax, and figuring out who the hell he was.

I got a decent description from Macy's colorful storytelling, but that wasn't enough. The girl was my bestfriend, but sometimes she could be more than a little useless.

I laid staring up at the canopy of my bed the entire night. By the time grey early morning light was pouring through my window, I'd come to the conclusion that there was only one way to dig deeper: my father.

Robert Vanderbilt was an unusually normal man.

He was the majority shareholder in Vanderbilt Industries, he owned property in four of the seven continents. He married Melissa Fitzgerald, of one of the most noble families in Chicago. Yet every morning (assuming he's in the country at the time), he would be sitting at the kitchen table with nothing but a newspaper, a cup of coffee, and a pleasant smile for me.

Both my parents were normal by the standards of the time. Of course, I had a curfew, we had family dinners as often as we could. That being said, they did spoil the crap out of me- but that's a different story.

That morning, when I emerged from my bedroom in a silk bathrobe and slippers, my father smiled up at me from the dining room table. He folded his newspaper gently and cleared his throat expecantly- he could already tell I wanted something.

"Hi, daddy," I said sweetly.

"What is it, and how much does it cost?"

"Oh daddy," I shook my head and rolled my eyes. "Is that what you really think of me?"

"Yes. Who are you trying to fool, darling? I raised my girl with expensive tastes. Now, is it Tiffany's this time? Or Harry Winston?"

"Neither," I said gently, crossing my arms and sitting down beside him. "What I want doesn't cost money."

Mom walked into the room a few seconds later, holding her very own cup of coffee. Her dark blue eyes narrowed with amusement after she saw the look on my dad's face. They could always communicate without words- I never knew how.

"What did she ask for this time, Rob? The key to the city?"

"No, apparently it doesn't cost money this time."

I sighed. "It doesn't. I just want permission to use daddy's computer-thingy to look up a few files, that's all. There's an elusive person I'm trying to find."

Mom came around and started petting my hair, I cringed when her fingers inevitably got caught in the unkempt curls. I looked at my dad's neat afro with hidden envy- his hair never seemed to get caught on anything.

"An elusive person? How so?"

I looked down at my fingernails and frowned, noticing a slight chip in the red paint.

"Nothing, just this... person... I met the other night. He helped me, and I'm real keen on returning the favor. You know? I just don't really know where to find him."

That was a complete understatement. It was like every time I closed my eyes I was on the subway again, trying to resist eye contact with such a beautiful stranger.

"Guy?" my dad asked skeptically.

"It's not like that, daddy," I said, and it felt like a boldfaced lie. Everyone in town knew that I didn't date, but if that were true why would o be seeking Jax out?

Dad looked at me and knew I was only going to bother him until I got what I wanted.

"Fine," he gave in rather quickly. "For ten minutes, I'll let you use the computer."

I jumped to my feet and tried to conceal a grin. "Thanks daddy!"

I trotted down the hall toward the computer room, my heart beating out of my chest. Dad, while his degree was in law, worked in real estate and production. That meant he kept a lot of files, and to prevent being buried in paperwork all the time, he stored them digitally.

Unfortunately at the time, computers were nothing but overheated chunks of metal.

I pressed the power button and sat down, drumming my fingers against the desk as the computer hummed to life.

It took a while to search through all those files, given that a lot of them were useless. It actually turned out that Dad had been involved in the sale of some land just outside of Chicago.

Who had he sold it to? A man by the name of Joesph Jackson.

I sat there for a while to think. Jax looked to be around my age, I could assume he was still in high school. Kids his age in Gary went to the B2 school district. It was so poor and underfunded that they couldn't pay to copy right an actual name, so they settled for letters and numbers.

Poor and underfunded...

I grinned to myself. Maybe I could spread a little bit of the Vanderbilt love.

I turned off to the computer and raced up the stairs to get ready. I dressed nicely in a skirt and a tight blouse, knee-high stockings and a green headband- it's complimentary to gingers. I couldn't stop smiling as I brushed gloss over my lips in the mirror, thinking about how manipuplatively brilliant I was.

"Where are you off to so fast?" Dad called as I approached the front door, peering over the edgee of his newspaper.

I sighed happily. "I'm off to do some charity work. I'll be home in time to go to the gym and practice, don't worry."

My dad said something under his breath about teenage girls and went back to reading.

I had the driver take me outside the city to Gary, and though that was against the rules, I figured the ends justified the means.

Gary was extremely foreign to me, so much so that I was starting to doubt the information I'd gathered. I mean, if Jax lived somewhere so poor, dark, and grey, what was he doing wandering around Lincoln Heights with me?

"This is it," my driver said and looked in the mirror at me. "B2 High school. Why exactly did you have me take you here, miss?"

I frowned at the sad building sitting before me. The red bricks seemed to slump toward the ground, the torn American flag sagged in the breeze. It was one floor, compact, and much too small to house all of Gary's teenagers.

"Charity work, Benson," I said, suddenly a little less sure of myself. "Just wait here."

I got out of the car, clutching the handle of my Prada bag with anticipation. The stairs practically crumbled as I scaled them. It smelled like stale coffee and copy paper inside the school, the walls were yellowed with age and the ceilings were low.

The secretaries were busy in the office, school was set to start in a few days. I guess they had lots of lunch menus to print out or something, what else were they hired to do?

My mischievous smile widened when I saw the principal, walking into his office and watching over the secretaries. I walked right past the useless secretaries and into his office, shutting the door softly behind me.

He was a dark skinned man with grey streaked hair. He looked at me like I was trying to swallow an apple.

"I think you must be confused young lady. Classes aren't in session until next week."

I laughed softly and shook my head. "You've misunderstood me, sir. I'm not a student here, not even close."

He recoiled. "Who are you, then?"

I took a seat in the wobbly folding chair before his desk. He followed suit.

"I'm Maura Vanderbilt."

His eyes widened. "I've heard that name. The Vanderbilts?"

I smiled with warm pleasure. "Yes, you're correct. I'm here representing my family, as well as the Marcus Preparatory School District in Chicago. I'd like to make you an offer, sir."

His features darkened. I could see how apprehensive he was- most people were, especially when I intimidated them.

"An offer?"

"I've been looking around the school. And with all due respect, it's inadequate. The walls are peeling, no doubt the textbooks are old and outdated, and over all... the whole place just seems overpopulated. If, say, the population were to be... moved elsewhere, I'm sure that would create the necessary funds and time to bring this place to code."

The man shook his head, and he was the one laughing. "Yes, while this is true, you're preaching to the choir. Do you expect me to wave a magic wand and suddenly be rid of half the student population?"

I blinked. "I could. There's plenty of room at the Marcus school, sir, and plenty of money to be donated to your cause."

He was silent for a moment. "What's in this for you?"

I leaned forward, hands on my knees. "Do you want the help, or don't you?"

{...}

"Check the new releases section," the shopkeeper called. "We got this New Wave crap in from... I dunno, some other country. This group called 'a-ha'. Thought you might wanna give 'em a try."

I peered through the endless shelves of vinyl up to the front desk. "Yeah yeah, I'll give it a look."

I was rooting through to the front of the store, just in time to see Macy rushing in with a flustered look on her face. The shopkeeper groaned as the cracked glass door smacked against the wall, announcing her arrival.

"Maura!" She called, tripping halfway over a stack of cassettes to get to me.

"Yeah?" I said nonchalantly, flipping through a stack of records.

"I was just hanging down by the dance studio, and one of the guys told me something totally out of wack."

I fought back a smile. "And?"

"There's a merger happening," she squealed. "B2, it's this school down in Gary where the gang is from. For some odd reason, a lot of their kids are coming to Marcus this year. Insane, right?"

I found the A-ha record, Hunting High and Low. "Yup," I said quietly.

Her eyes narrowed with suspicion. "Hold on a second," she said lowly and snatched the record from my hands. "This has 'Maura meddling' written all over it! What did you do?"

"Give that back," I chuckled. "I have no clue what you're talking about."

"You've been asking me about him. Jax? Who happens to go to B2? But you couldn't possibly know that, even though you stick your nose in just about everything that happens in this city," she pointed out.

"Relax. Sophomore year's gonna be pretty interesting, with the new faces around."

She nodded, but she didn't seem so sure. The look on her face worried me.

"Okay Maura," she whispered, and gave me the record back. "There are some things about them that aren't so nice, okay? Maybe it wasn't a good idea to mess with the order of things."

"Relax," I rolled my eyes. "All that drama is on the south side, alright? We're fine here."

"They call it Chi-raq for a reason," she whispered under her breath. "And if this place is Chi-raq, Jax and his friends are definitely the terrorists."

Her dark eyes were deadly serious.

"They're fine around you, which means everything is gonna be okay. Lemme buy this record, then we'll go down to the Bay and grab a bite. Cool?"

I'll never forget her face as I went up to pay. I should've listened to her, or at least sometimes I think I should've.

Our lives would be better for it.

{A/N}

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