Daughter of a Don

                The world is full of kinds of people. Jenna had learned that in her 15 years. She came from a prestigious family, but they had their secrets that most people were unaware of. Her father was well respected in the community, but it was more due to the fear that people had of him than anything else. He could be a scary man. Thankfully Jenna didn’t typically see that side of him. He was different with her. She felt that he genuinely loved her. She had never doubted that. He sent Jenna to the best schools and she never wanted for anything. He always made sure that she had what she needed and most of the time she got what she wanted. He always made sure that she had money in case she needed something.  She had always been kept at a boarding school throughout her life, except on breaks at which time she had went home, but even then, she never spent a lot of time with her father. He had always had a nanny on staff to care for her, until she had gotten a little older and begged her father to let her be on her own as she was mature enough to care for herself. Besides she never was really completely alone, they had a housekeeper that lived on the premises. She had never really understood what her father did or was part of until she got a little older and understood enough to put two and two together.  It wasn’t until she was about 12 that she started to see bits and pieces and put them together. But by the time she was 14 she was quite sure she had a good understanding of what was going on. Her father was not only part of the Mafia, but he was the boss.                 His status caused people to fear him and treat him with respect out of that fear, and that treatment typically extended to her. People had always gone out of their way to treat her well and were always polite to her when she came around, but no one typically sought her out. She had never really had any close friends because of it. She guessed people were afraid to let their kids hang out with her due to who her father was. She wasn’t sure if it was because they were afraid to have their kids around something like that, or because they were afraid that there maybe back lash for some reason. Either way it had made for a somewhat lonely childhood. Most of her socialization came from the nanny or the housekeeper during the times that she was home. She did have a few friends that she socialized with at the boarding school, but she supposed most of them didn’t know who she was, or more appropriately who her father was. Her mother had passed away when she was very young, so Jenna didn’t remember much about her. She sometimes wondered how her life would be different if her mother was still alive. Maybe she would have had someone that actually spent time with her, someone to be close to.  Some of the girls at the boarding school talked about their mothers, but only a couple seemed to have close relationships with them. Jenna figured that was because its difficult to have a close relationship with anyone when you spend the majority of your time at a boarding school away from everyone.  Jenna never minded going to the boarding school. But she did wish that she had a close bond with someone. She loved her father, but since they never spent much together it never made it possible for them to be that close, which made her miss her mother all that much more.                 Jenna enjoyed her time at the boarding school for the most part and she had always done well in her classes. However, she did always look forward to a break from academics like most kids. What she didn’t look forward to was that after a couple weeks off she always started to get bored. She always started out just fine and she never minded being alone, probably because she had a lot of practice at it, but by the end of break she typically ran out of things to do and looked forward to going back. Her father wasn’t at the house much and when he was, he was in his office with the door shut and the only people allowed in were the men that worked for him. And to be sure no one else came in he had two men standing guard outside his door. The men that worked for him had never been mean to her but for the most part not many were very friendly either, with the exception of a couple that would smile at her occasionally, but it never really went beyond that. When she had school events and things where she could invite a parent her father never came. She become used to it and was never surprised that he didn’t show up as a result. She did invite her housekeeper, Ms. Kessler from time to time, and she typically came and even spent time with Jenna after to go for dinner or whatever they decided they would do. But as she had gotten older, she hadn’t even invited her as much. It did make Jenna a little envious of the other girls when she would see them with their families, but over all she was happy for them that they had families that wanted to come spend time with them, but she often wished she did too. Jenna generally would go and hang out with a couple of the girls that didn’t have family members who came either. It was typically the same girls which was Jenna, Sienna, Beth, and Lindsey. They had made a pact shortly after coming to the school that they would all hang out and act as each other’s family when everyone else had theirs around, and they had all held good on the deal. That gave Jenna a lot of comfort to know that she had some good friends that she could count on.             Jenna wondered what would happen once she graduated. She hoped that maybe her and one of her friends would go to the same university, but she didn’t know if that would happen. They hadn’t planned that far ahead yet. She hoped she wouldn’t have to start all over alone. It would be nice to know at least one person there. She guessed she would have to see how things played out.                   The end of a semester was nearing, and Jenna was looking forward to having a break from school, but she would miss her friends while they were all home on break. But it wouldn’t last long, and they would all be back at school before they knew it. So, Jenna tried not to stress about it. They all finished up their last few days of class and got ready to head home for a few weeks. She was lucky to be able to fly to Atlanta with Beth, but then they would each go onto their own flights for the rest of the trip home. To Jenna’s surprise she received a message from her father telling her that he had some exciting news for her when she arrived. Jenna couldn’t imagine what the news would be. It was very unlike her father to call or text her at all. Other than the little bit of time that they would see each other on break they typically didn’t speak. He had paid more attention to her when she was younger but even then, it had never been much. She just couldn’t imagine what would be important enough to warrant a message form her father. She supposed she would soon find out. She truly wasn’t sure what to expect. The last time he had told her he had exciting news was when she had been five and he told her that he would be sending her to boarding school, which at the time seemed like anything but good news, but it had turned into something good.