"Hey, Jet?"
I turned around. "Hey, The Duke." He was looking up at me, shockingly sweet and innocent for the kid who, two days ago, almost burned the entire hideout down. (Note to self: keep the blasting jelly more than five feet off the ground.)
"Where do babies come from?"
I froze. Oh, crap. I'd managed to avoid this conversation with every other Freedom Fighters because either A. The ones asking were girls, so they asked Smellerbee, who, one way or another, already knew this, or B. THEY DIDN'T ASK.
"Uh…" Oh, smooth, Jet. Real smooth.
I saw Smellerbee out of the corner of my eye. She didn't seem to notice me.
"Hey, Smellerbee!" I yelled, running over.
She turned and raised an eyebrow.
"Could you help me out? Please?" I half-begged.
It went higher.
"The Duke just asked… THE question."
She frowned and turned to walk away.
I grabbed her arm. "Oh, come on!"
She turned to face me. "Oh, no way. I'm not getting into this. I've done my share, and you know it. It's your turn." She looked pointedly at my hand.
I didn't let go. "Oh, come on. The birds and the Smellerbees, eh?" I chuckled.
"No," she deadpanned. She was still glaring at my hand.
"Please!" Oh, to hell with dignity. I needed her to do this.
She looked up at me, her eyes more dangerous than any dagger. "Jet, if you don't let go right now, so help me, tomorrow you are going to wake up with a dagger in your neck."
Being sane (Okay, so that's debatable, but not the point!), I let go.
She started walking off. Several yards away, she turned back, grinning, eyes sparkling. "Oh, and have fun!" I could hear her laughing as she walked away.
"Jet?"
I jumped and turned around. Duke (man, he hates it when I call him that) was standing behind me, again.
"Are you gonna answer?" He looked so uncharacteristically… cute.
"Uh… well…" Oh, this was not gonna be fun.