The Jinx and the Flash

Chapter 7

The next morning, the girls moved as fast as possible to avoid a repeat of yesterday.

They were out the window and on the way to Cleo's school early.

She dropped her off and for a full second it seemed like things were going Jinx's way.

Then she noticed the figure following her.

The figure in the hood had been following her for a couple of blocks, but this block was completely empty and Jinx was panicking.

Jinx rushed, speed walking and cursing.

When she turned back for a quick look over her shoulder someone suddenly grabbed her by the elbow and pulled her into an ally.

Instinctively Jinx head butted the figure in the face and elbowed them away from her.

The guy felt with a deep oof.

Turns out it was only Mammoth, Jinx's old buddy.

"A hard head you've got there Jinx!" He said with a laugh, rubbing his forehead.

She rolled her eyes at him, her panic fading quickly and annoyance taking it's place.

"I'm not joining the gang again." Jinx snapped at him, wanting to get to school.

"I know, but you should." Mammoth said letting Jinx push past him, "He's not going to let you leave"

Jinx turned back to him.

"Tell Gizmo to frick off." She emphasized.

"He's not gonna accept that as an answer." He yelled at her back.

"I know" Jinx murmured as she increased speed to get onto a busier block.

Jinx's gang days aren't something she likes thinking about.

After the suicide of her mother Jinx had gone through a bad stage of anger.

She had used violence to rid herself of pain and ended up in the Hive Five, picking up fights and making irreversible mistakes.

Jinx quit once she began to be fostered by Cleo's family 2 years ago, she quit for Cleo.

When she quit Gizmo told her that no one can ever really leave.

Jinx didn't know if that was true, but she did know that she hasn't been free from him since the first day she joined.

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She shuffled into class panting, late of course.

Jinx flopped into her seat next to a familiar redhead.

"Hey Lucky." Wally said with a smirk that was too happy to belong in a school, "You run to school?"

"Yeah." She sighed, too tired to give a real response.

Mammoth had really held her up, she had to run to only be 5 minutes late.

"How much coffee did you have this morning?" Jinx said, staring at his leg which wouldn't stop bouncing

He laughed, surprising me.

"4 cups." He said.

"Jeez, how hard do you crash?" Jinx wondered aloud.

"Like the dead," Wally chuckled, "Can't wake me up unless you've got more coffee."

"Sounds like a problem." Jinx snorted.

Jinx was just starting to pay attention to what the teacher was saying when Wally whispered her name, she turned to him.

"Listen Jinx I need to talk to after class." He said, looking serious for once.

What does he want, what did I do, does he know, am I in trouble, who told him, can I out run him—

"Ok fine, as long as you let me concentrate." Jinx said pretending to focus her attention on the teacher.

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When the bell rang Wally immediately grabbed Jinx's wrist and ran out the door with her in tow.

Mental note: Never try to outrun this kid.

"What do you want?" Jinx panted as they ran, barely keeping up.

He didn't answer and continued to be a pain and ignore her questions.

Wally suddenly jerked her into a empty room, he smiled at her as Jinx panted for breath.

"I'd have to double my energy drink intake to run that speed for 30 seconds." Jinx groaned as he laughed at her.

"So what do you want?" She asked plainly after a deep breath.

The energy in the room seemed to change,

He crossed his arms and asked, "Have you have any resent contact with Hive Five?"

His question almost made Jinx regurgitate her heart, she pushed down her horror in order to respond.

Jinx simply shook her head and asked, "What's Hive Five, are they a new band or something?"

Dang I'm supposed to play dumb not stupid.

"They're a gang, you know who they are right?" He questioned professionally, ignoring her attempt to play dumb.

Is this guy an undercover cop or something?

Jinx tried to play it off, "Are you an officer or something?" She asked sarcastically.

"No I'm not Jinx, but my old man is."

That's it, her heart isn't being put back where it belonged anytime soon.