I don't own Jak.

Vacation or War- Return
Chapter Twenty Six- Weaseling

Despite Loor's vehement disagreement with Jak following her to school, it seemed it would be the pattern for her last few days at home. No amount of quiet pleading before bed would change his mind; he didn't want to be cooped up in her closet all day. He'd arrive earlier next time, of course. He wanted lunch too.

So Lauren awoke on Wednesday, following the same routine as the day before and getting driven to school by her sister. She entered in her usual door with her pack over her shoulder, ready to sit down by the far wall and wait for Jak to show up. It would take him about half an hour to bike from her house to the school, depending on how long he waited to dodge her mother, and it was nearly three quarters of an hour before the first bell would ring. Plenty of time for him to show up.

Plenty of time for her to be bored, leaning her head back on the wall and thinking about sleep. She could catch a nap in that time. Easily, as long as she wasn't bothered.

"Hey, you!"

Irritation came up faster than it should have. The voice calling out to her didn't dignify her with a name, and was soprano. A girl, some little mousy sixth-grader maybe, calling her out. At least, that's what Lauren imagined in her head before cracking an eye open to look, pushing her hat up with a finger to see more clearly.

The person she was actually faced with was worse than an ignorant and uppity sixth-grader. She was small enough to be mistaken for one, but Lauren knew her to be a seventh-grader that was very high in the school's social system. She was mocha skinned with beautifully wavy black hair that reached to the small of her back; a Hispanic goddess in the eyes of the other girls, and serpent tongued to boot. She had dark brown eyes that were usually narrowed to look at other girls with disgust and disdain, but were currently left somewhat wide in curiosity.

"Cuni." Loor used her name as a greeting, or at least the shortened version of her name. This girl's name was very long and very Spanish, and nearly impossible for the average American to pronounce. Loor didn't even know how to spell it.

Oddly enough, Cuni blinked. "It is you!" She exclaimed, coming closer to where Loor sat against the wall. "What the heck happened to you? Take growth hormones or something? You didn't just have to act like a boy, you had to be as big as one too?"

Loor felt as if she had a good comeback, but didn't say it. She just shrugged. "What do you want?" She asked with her irritation leaking into her voice. She and Cuni had drawn their lines in the sand last year, and hadn't spoken since. This little Spanish girl was the queen bee of this school; the prettiest and meanest of them, like a little dog with sharp teeth.

But Loor was a strong willed girl who neither followed nor imitated her. Free minded. And when Cuni went to verbally bully other girls in the grade, Loor stood up for them. The two were thought of, in the most dramatic sense, as opposing leaders within the school. Loor was the reason Cuni didn't talk trash to other girls in the grade, and Cuni was the reason that Loor got attention from the rumor mill. They never spoke directly to each other.

This meeting was strange. Loor wanted to get straight to the point.

"C'mon." Cuni motioned into the hall that led to the compass in the center of the building. "I wanna talk to you, and it's kinda private... girl's bathroom?"

Loor blinked at the short girl a few times, glancing out at the dozen or so kids that hung out in the cafeteria. Since when was any of Cuni's business private? She tended to broadcast her whole life to the school, keeping herself and her family's financial status on everyone's minds. This was getting stranger by the moment, but she figured she'd humor the girl for now. She had nothing to lose.

Leaning forward to stand, she got up and stood tall with her shoulders pushed back, looking down at Cuni and feeling smug that the girl seemed smaller than usual. She might have even taken a step back.

"Good God you are a freak." She commented before turning around and hurrying to the girl's bathroom, along the hall that led to the compass. Loor followed, keeping her pack with her, suspecting everything. Cuni may have been a bitch, but she was a clever little weasel. She'd lost a couple of notebooks to her clique when she left her pack unattended last year, distracted by something one of her cronies was doing. No way she was falling for that trick twice; it had taken months to reproduce the math done in those notebooks.

Tucking that memory away as they entered the bathroom, Loor felt like something was actually up as Cuni checked the stalls to make sure they were alone. Had the little bully had a change of heart? Was she feeling guilty and wanted to apologize in private?

Unlikely.

Finally, she turned and looked Loor dead in the eye. "You kissed your cousin."

Lauren blinked. Of all the things Cuni might have said to her, that was not something she expected. She opened her mouth to deny it, but the words died in her throat. Yesterday, in the lunch room, Jak had kissed her. Cuni must have seen, and like everyone else at school she thought Jak was her cousin. Still, she had to defend herself somehow. "H-He kissed me." She corrected lamely, feeling pink blush spread onto her cheeks.

"It's still wrong." Cuni batted back, seeing Loor's discomfort and weakness. "And it's PDA. You can't do stuff like that, not ever."

"What?" Loor felt herself glaring Cuni a little. "It's my fucking life. Yeah, PDA, but you can stay out of my personal shit."

"Whoa, you mean..." Cuni looked like she wanted to gag. "You like that he kissed you? What kind of sick girl are you?"

Loor blanched, shaking her head. "No, no, that's not what I-"

"Whatever, I'm not even going to finish this conversation. You're a sicko, and I'm reporting you."

Cuni went for the door, but Loor was standing in the way. Even if her tongue was clumsy, Loor's hands were sure. She reached out, taking Cuni's arm and yanking her back into the room, away from the door. "No!" She yelled, a moment of panic and rage making her want to hurt her. Lyra wasn't very far away, cheering her on in the idea of breaking this girl's pretty face on her knee. But, a moment later, she took a breath and let it out, and the anger went with it. "No. You brought me in here for a reason. What do you want?"

Cuni blinked, and then realized her massive advantage. "That's right, I did. And you're gonna let go of me and listen up."

Loor felt her stomach flop, realizing that if she let go she would be obeying an order from her social rival. It made her sick, but she could suck it up. She did let go, but only after pushing her back into the main area of the bathroom, staying between her and the door. "What did you want?" She asked again.

Cuni was grinning with perfect white teeth. "Aside from you, is your cousin single?"

The sick feeling in Loor's stomach got worse as she realized where this was going. "His name is Jak, if you care for it... and no. He's got a girl back in Florida."

"And he's cheating on her with you." Cuni said smugly. "So here's what I want; I've got an end of the summer party going on at my house on Friday. I want you and him to be there, and for you to set me up with him. He's too cool for you anyway."

Loor's repulsion must have showed on her face, because Cuni's smile got wider.

"Of course, I can just go and report you and your kissing cousin to the principal's office. They'd call your parents, and I'm they'd love to hear about this."

The frown on her face grew deeper, but she sighed and nodded. "Fine, fine, I'll do my best to set you guys up at your party." She shook her head, weakly adding, "Don't matter anyway... gimme your address so I can mapquest the place."

It would later occur to Loor that she was actually bluffing. Later, staring at the address scribbled in bright pink pen, sitting in her place against the wall, she'd realize that she and Jak would already be gone by the time Cuni would be expecting them to show up. All she had to do was play along for a couple of days. The little Hispanic girl posed no threat, and what she'd seen wouldn't matter on the following Monday.

No, she'd have vanished by then. Cuni would come to school on Monday looking to humiliate a girl who was already off the grid.

Even with that noted, it didn't get rid of the sick feeling that Cuni had her on a string, even if it was only for a few moments. She wanted to beat the girl's face in, but couldn't. She had to behave herself and keep a low profile until Friday.

Then she'd leave this nightmare and enter a whole new one back in Haven. She guaranteed whatever new adventure was waiting, it would be far more ugly than social head games between girls.

She shoved the address into her pocket and pulled out a notebook from her pack. It was a good time to puzzle on something else and distract herself, quick before she started punching things.

"She what?"

"Yeah, tried to blackmail me." Loor sighed, leaning her head on the lunch table. Jak had met her that morning and the day had gone on its boring way; the only class that had been slightly interesting to them had been gym. There had been another game of dodge ball, and the teachers had separated her and Jak to make the game fair. Now she was settled with a chicken sandwich and a heap of fries, telling Alex, Damian, Stephie, and Katie about the morning's proceedings. Jak was at her side, already aware of things and wolfing into his food. He'd never had french fries before.

"Bitchface." Alex said, shaking her head. "Who the hell does she think she is?"

"Queen of the fucking school, that's what." Katie had a frown on her face, arms crossed over her chest. "Though I got a question, why did you tell the teachers that he's your cousin? What's the big secret?"

Loor blinked, then opened her mouth. "Uh...-"

"It's mostly the truth." Jak said, quickly swallowing when he saw Loor floundering. "I am visiting, we're just not family... but Loor figured they wouldn't let me in here unless they thought we were related."

"I kinda get why Cuni would do that shit though." Stephie said, smiling between mouthfuls. "I mean, c'mon Jak, look at yourself. If Loor wasn't my friend I'd be after you too."

"Thank you for the respect." Loor mumbled, ducking her head down. Jak was too high-profile for her usual attempts at being incognito at school.

"Hey, Loor, you still got her address?" Damian asked.

"Eh?" Loor glanced over, then nodded, digging the crumpled notebook paper out of her pocket. "Yeah, right here. Why?"

"I've been wondering where her place is for a while. This party might be a great time to egg her house and ruin a bunch of bitchy girls' nights."

"Oh, me too!" Alex perked up, looking excited. "Can I bring tomatoes?"

"Fuck yes." Stephie was grinning too. "All the rotten veggies! And some potatoes to break the windows."

Jak laughed a little, looking to Loor. "I think I like your friends."

"Me too." She handed over the address the Damian, watching as he studied it. "Well? You know the place?"

"Fuck, it's in my neighborhood..." He laughed. "She's been so close by all this time, just a little to the west."

"Ewww, you've been that close to that kind of evil for how long?" Alex groused, shaking her head. "You think you'd be able to smell the snobbery from a mile away."

"Hey, Loor, this might not be such a bad idea." Damian said while sipping his chocolate milk carton. "She's in nearly the exact same area, and it would give you a perfectly reasonable excuse to leave the house. I mean, your mom doesn't like you hanging out at my place too late at night, it might be tough for you to get away. But hey, if you're going to a party you were actually invited to, then your mom can call and verify, everything is valid, and I can practically walk over with the equipment."

"Wait... what?" Lauren looked at Damian with a little of the sickness she'd felt that morning. "Damian, do you understand what you're saying? You're saying it's a good idea to go to a girl's house whom hates my guts, who I've hated back, who thinks I kissed my cousin and is trying to get me to set her up with said cousin?"

"Why not?" Damian raised an eyebrow. "Then Jak can dump her personally, crush her spirit, and you can have a little fun before you go. We all know how you love to dance; I'm sure they'll have music for you to rip it up on. Then you guys vanish, and me and the others can crash the party properly and really ruin her day."

"But, but..." Loor looked to Jak for support. This party was the last thing she wanted to go to. Just the idea of doing something Cuni told her to do, the idea of being controlled by that little bitchy weasel, made her feel sick and angry.

"I wouldn't mind seeing you dance." He said to her pleading gaze, smiling. "C'mon, it's not like you're doing it because she ordered you to."

"You all suck." Loor groused, putting her forehead to the table with a loud 'thump.'

"Where are you going?"

All eyes turned to Stephie and Katie, who were vastly out of the loop on all of this. Loor had totally forgotten they were there when Damian started talking business. At first Loor searched her mind for the words to tell them anything but the truth, but Alex stood up before she could.

"Girls bathroom, now." Alex said, waving them along. "We need to talk in private."

Loor sighed, getting up too. "What is it with women and holding private conversations in the bathroom?" She muttered fruitlessly, aware that she was going to miss out on most of her lunch for the second day in a row.

She needed to learn to eat faster.

The Author's Corner

Two chapters in a row! Yay, I'm on a roll! Though they're probably riddled with errors and sich... either way, we're approaching the endgame fast, and I'm very excited!

MEOW!

-Loor