The Juniors - The Villains of Valley View

T. TWO / "um um um"

CYBER // JOSIE

I SPED THROUGH the door so fast that I could've sworn North's red hair flew.

"What the f— Um? Are you okay?"

My hand was already on the railing, so when I heard her it slid off quickly. Running a hand down the side of my face I answered with a huff, "No." I hated the whining in my voice.

"Why the hell are you sweating so hard? Did you run here?"

My green sleeves are clinging to my forearms and I'd be lying if I said I hadn't felt the moisture on my skin. "Yeah. I mean, we're gonna be back out in the field soon. Better start getting used to," I did a running motion with my arms.

North rolled her eyes. Then she frowned. "Is this about Jaxon's texts from Onyx? Have you seen a new one?"

Biting my lip, I walked over to the couch and leaned over it backwards, head falling onto the cushion next to where North was sitting. "Not exactly." My eyes drifted over to hers. "North, please promise me you won't tell anyone."

"What am I not telling anyone, Josie?"

A long groan escaped my mouth as I lifted my legs up onto the couch and twisted around.

"Josie, what the hell..."

I groaned again and then let my feet fall to the floor as I slumped into the couch. "Promise, girl. Seriously." My eyes were trained on hers.

"'Girl'? Goodness. Fine, I promise if it'll make you stop talking like that. So what happened?"

Suddenly my brown thumbs were really interesting. So was my clear nail polish and the scars running across my knuckles. North's voice floated, telling me to speak, but I couldn't take my eyes off my palm creases now.

"Someone at school knows..." I finally said quietly, gulping after the words.

Silence filled the air again for several moments. Then North stood up, stepping over my outstretched legs. I kept my eyes on the coffee table as she locked the front door and then she was standing next to my legs and looking down on me. I lifted up my eyes and the corner of my mouth and shrugged.

"What did you do?"

"You'd think it was me, right? No. This is all Jaxon."

She sighed knowingly. "His games."

"Actually, I think Jaxon's in for a raise."

I ignore the little smile North just did and focus on the forced frown that she just remembered to do. Refraining from rolling my eyes, I listen to her next words. "Somebody at your school knows, it's Jaxon's fault, but he's... not in trouble for it? It's the opposite?"

"Yeah, because you'll never guess who knows." Clearly, I'm right because she waits patiently for an answer. With an angry expression, I continued with a huff. "Marines Man has a son. I guess he's always deep undercover like his dad, so nobody really remembers he existed. And he likes to insert himself into a lot of situations clearly."

"The son of the world's best soldier, super villain goes to your school?"

I sigh, "Say that five times fast."

"Okay, remind me why this is such a bad thing."

"Apparently Jaxon's been working some angle this whole time which means that he lied to both of us. Okay, that's not actually surprising. He's been lying to you. He said that Onyx wouldn't send anyone else from the League, but Marines 'Boy' is here."

"Maybe it's just something we aren't cleared to know about."

"North. Have you seen his report cards? So Onyx's just entrusting the mission to a C-average student?"

"Okay, my identity is literally a college dropout, Josie. Grades don't really matter. But we do need to know what the mission is."

I jump up from the couch and throw my arms around North. "Oh, thank Onyx you agree with me." I pull away and playfully punch her arm. "I thought you'd be behind your bestie."

"I am," she says resolutely, eyeing me. "And never use that word again."

I frowned in confusion. "Yeah, I think I'm either trying something new, or Hartley's rubbing off on me. I'll shut up now."

-the next day-

"So... Jaxon. Got any hockey games coming up?"

He looks around in confusion, eyeing every corner of the kitchen before looking back down at the wrapped up burger in his hands.

My eyes narrowed. "Hello?"

Now his eyes find me, and he grimaces as he lifts the burger to his mouth, slowly taking another bite. I'm glaring at him while we hold the awkward eye contact.

"Jaxon!" I finally bark.

"Are we like... friends or something?"

"You're impossible."

Thankfully, North's standing in the living room, and looking back I catch her eye. Understanding, she comes toward me until she's pushing open the kitchen door. She goes over to the fridge and grabs a water bottle with swift movements.

"I wanted to go, and I convinced Josie to come with," North answers.

Ooh, la la. Lying to Jaxon? This is all I ever wanted of her. Satisfaction fills my smile as I slump into a chair at the island.

"She bringing her hot, weird friends?"

'Friends' plural makes my cheeks burn and my chest leaps in anger. "Watch what you say, Jaxon."

"Ooh," he teases with wide eyes, throwing his arms up in surrender. Then he rolls his eyes and takes another bite of his burger.

"I don't know. Are you, Josie?" North turns to me with a look basically daring me to do it. I keep from rolling my eyes and instead shake my head as an answer.

"Saturday," is all Jaxon says before leaving, carrying his food into the living room. Lawmaker's going to hate that if she finds out. Matter of fact, I should tell her.

Then it dawns on me. My eyes meet North who's staring at me over her water bottle. "What?" she asks after swallowing, sounding refreshed.

"I— I can't do Saturday." It's my date with Amy. Like, my first official real one, which really makes this whole relationship sound crazy since it's been going on for a couple weeks, but still. I mean, we aren't the sit down and eat type. That's why afterwards I planned on asking her to go to this skate park to oil all of the rails. Okay, so maybe she wouldn't go for that, it's not like she's actually a villain.

North looked like she knew where this was headed. She set her water bottle on the counter and walked over. Then she was grabbing one side of the back of my chair. "Josie, please don't make me ask."

"I can only make computers do things, and you're not even in your suit."

She didn't flinch.

"It's a friends thing."

"You guys can reschedule. This isn't about my feelings, okay? It's about a mission. This is important, other villains are involved, Josie."

"But... North..." I didn't even know what to say. I watched my fingers drum the table.

"What, Josie? Speak."

I looked up hesitantly. Her eyebrows were pushing into a crease. "Nothing. It's fine," I answered.

What am I supposed to do? And by that, I mean how am I going to get out of scouting Jaxon's game? Because there's no way I'm missing out on this night with Amy.

A/n:
Guys school (senior year) is about to start up. So like... yeah. Also not my best chapter, forgive me. This plot is all over the place but at least it's fun to read woot!