Ch. 5: Prove it.

Underscores don't show up!!! ARG!!!!!!!! screams

Sweat poured down Alex's face as she practiced her kickboxing moves on an old, worn, red punching bag that hung from the ceiling by a tarnished chain. Slade was unhappy with her ability for hand to hand combat, so he had ordered her to practice for 3 hours a day. That alone was enough to make Alex tired enough to sleep the rest of the day, but when paired with the other exercising and training she had to do, it was unbearable.

It was about 2 o'clock in the afternoon, and she had been training non-stop since 7 in the morning. Alex sat down on a bench and mopped off her face with an old towel. Luckily, she didn't have to train in her fighting outfit, which would've been next to impossible. Slade had finally listened to Jinx's complaints of ripped outfits, and had given them shorts and tank tops to practice in.

Alex took a deep breath and stood up again, rubbing her shoulder. She had to get back to kickboxing, she still had an hour to go, and she had to practice against Jinx.

"You ready?" Jinx asked smugly. She thought Alex couldn't fight well.

'Hah,' Alex thought, 'just because I go easy against the Titans won't mean I'll go easy on you.'

She had been a bit too careful with the Titans, and she needed to pretend they were her enemies, not her friends. Jinx lunged at Alex's feet. Alex jumped up and over her, doing a little flip. She grabbed Jinx's hand and pulled her onto her back.

"Ow..." She muttered, as Alex attacked.

As Alex fought, thoughts swirled through her head. She remembered fighting Robin...

[Flashback]

"I see, How's Beastboy?" Alex asked, kicking at Robin.

"Why can't WE just talk?" Robin asked, pain in his eyes, "Why does Beastboy always work his way into the conversation?"

[End Flashback]

Alex ground her teeth slightly, and punched Jinx in the face, and dodged another attack. What was Robin's problem anyway? First he got all annoyed when she asked him about Beastboy, then he'd accused her and threw her out of the tower. That had really made her mad. 'That boy has problems' she thought, bitterly.

"OW!!!!" Jinx cried, yanking her arm from Alex's grip, "HELLO!!! You made me break a nail."

"Oh, sorry." Alex said, absent-mindedly.

"Whatever." Jinx said, looking at her nail in disgust, "Just go away."

Alex shrugged, glad to get away from the work.

"Oh, by the way, today's my birthday," Jinx shouted as Alex walked away, "We're going to crash a party, OK?"

"Yea, sure, whatever." Alex said, leaving.

Alex stretched, glad to be back in her room. She leaned her head back, popping her neck. She was stiff and tired. She sat on her bed, closing her eyes tightly, trying to forget all the time she had spent with the Titans.

"Ping"

A small pinging noise awakened her from her trance, it was coming from the computer, which not only had she left on, but also left the instant messenger on, and she had about 30 messages from Beastboy.

Noteasybeingreen: Alex? HELLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLo0o0o0o0o0o0o0

Fighterchick: yo, chill bb.

Noteasybeingreen: sry, were were u?

Fighterchick: practicing. 'cording to slade, im not good at handtohand combat.

Noteasybeingreen: harsh.

Fighterchick: ya, and I haveto practice kicboxin 4 3 hrs a day.

Noteasybeingreen: dat sux.

Fighterchick: and I couldn't sleep last night.

Noteasybeingreen: y not?

Fighterchick: im mad robin.

Noteasybeingreen: o, ya. Hes a jerk.

Fighterchick: Whats his problem? I meen, ive nown him 4 like 4 months, and hes actin like a looser.

Noteasybeingreen: dunno.

FighterChick: sigh anyway, its jinxs bday today. We havto crash sum prty.

Noteasybeingreen: really? I wonder if its da one aqualadz frend iz throwin.

Fighterchick: oh, him. Isnt he like a water dude? Can he breathe air?

Noteasybeingreen: ya. He didnt used ta get around much, but noow hes mr populer. He made a buncha frends on land, and one iz havin a party. Were goin.

Fighterchick: well, maybe it's the same one. Hope there isn't ne trouble.

Noteasybeingreen: me nither.

Fighterchick: im gonna go, k?

Noteasybeingreen: kk. Bye/

Alex signed off, she was tired. She hadn't gotten very much sleep lately. She had spent two nights worrying about the Titans, then last night, not only had she gotten home at about two AM, but she was also very annoyed at Robin. She still didn't know what his problem was. She sighed and looked over at the clock, it was three thirty. She lay down on her bed, and promptly fell asleep.
"Hey, Alex?" Jinx asked, walking into Alex's room, dressed for the party already. She wore a diagonally striped black and pink dress. Her hair was down, and she was covered in makeup. "Alex? WAKE UP!"

Alex blinked and looked up, "huh, what? Oh, hi." She said, rolling her head around, cracking her neck.

"Oh my god, Alex, you have to get ready! The party starts in 15 minutes, and we're, like, ten minutes away!"

"Oh, sorry." Alex said, getting up and walking towards the door, "we can go now." She said.

"Oh no we can't, not with you looking like that."

"Like what?"

Jinx threw up her hands with exasperation, "You're still in you're training clothes, you smell like a cow, your hair's messed up, and you're makeup's smeared!"

"Oh." Alex looked in the mirror, "Yikes."

"Exactly." Jinx said annoyed, "I guess we'll have to be fashionably late. You take a shower, I'll find you something to wear." She started for Alex's closet.

"You won't find anything in there," Alex said, heading for the bathroom, "I only have fighting outfits."

Jinx sighed, "I'll see if I have something." She groaned and headed out of the room. Alex sighed and stepped into the bathroom, closing the door behind her.

Alex emerged, wrapped in a towel. She stepped out of the bathroom, and screamed.

"JINX! Hello! I do need some privacy!" She snapped.

"Well, sorry!" She said, covering her eyes and holding out a dress to Alex. "It's a little to big on me, it should fit you." She walked out of the room, "Tell me when you're done! We need to do your hair and makeup." Alex suspected Jinx would've had a better life and career in the makeover industry.

She sighed and slipped into the dress Jinx had given her. It had a handkerchief –style skirt and a corset like bodice, laced up with a black ribbon. She loosened the ribbon a bit so that it wasn't so tight. She took the towel off of her head, and yanked through her hair with her fingers.

"Are you done yet?" Jinx yelled through the door.

"Yes." Alex said, sighing as Jinx came in with a blow-drier and half a ton of make up and hair things.

"First things first." Jinx said, revving up the blowdrier. Alex winced as she started yanking at her hair.

"Stop moving around so much!" Jinx said sternly, pulling at a piece of Alex's hair.

"OW!" she yelped.

"Don't be a baby." Jinx said, brushing Alex's hair around her face. "I think we'll put you're hair up." She said, brushing it off of Alex's face.

Alex winced as Jinx pulled her hair into a pony tail, then twisting it, pulling it, turning it, and finally finishing.

"Perfect." Jinx said, shoving a mirror into Alex's hands so she could see the back. She had to admit, it looked pretty good.

"Now for makeup."

'Oh no...'

"I think we'll stick with eyeliner and lipgloss, I don't want you looking better then me."

Alex sighed with relief as Jinx poked her in the eye with eyeliner.

When Jinx finally finished causing Alex pain and mortifying her, she smiled in approval. "Now we can go."

Alex stood up, and wiggled her toes, looking at her bare feet.

"SHOES!" Jinx screeched, and ran into her room. Alex looked at herself in the mirror, and sighed. She covered her right eye with her hand. She hated the scar. She pulled a piece of platinum hair from her bun and pulled it in front of her eye. That was somewhat better.

Jinx hurried back into her room with a pair of knee high black boots. Alex took them and put them on.

"Perfect!" Jinx squealed, "we can go now!" She ran out of the room. Alex followed her reluctantly.
It was nine thirty, the party had started half an hour ago, and Alex could hear the music blasting through the walls.

"I hear they have a live band." Jinx said, happily.

Alex shrugged, and they walked to the door, and started to open the door.

"Excuse me, ladies." A voice said from behind them, and a man with a clipboard hurried in front of them, "Are your names on the guest list?" He asked, flipping through the guest list.

"No." Alex said, "we're VIPs." Her eyes began to glow silver as she blasted the man with black lightning. Jinx slammed him against the wall.

'Forgive me...' Alex thought, sadly.

Jinx grinned, and the villain and the spy walked into the party.

Jinx was correct in saying that there was a live band. The lead singer was maybe 16, and had short black hair with blue tips that blew around her face. She had on blue lipstick, and a lot of eyeliner. A guitar was slung around her back. The lead guitarist had bright orange hair, a lip ring and an eyebrow ring, and the drummer had long dreadlocks. The bass player seemed normal, until Alex saw his arms, and realized that he wasn't wearing a shirt, and was covered in tattoos.

Alex looked around, and saw that the Titans were there, half of her was happy, the other part of her was full of dread. None of them seemed to notice that she was there. She sighed sadly, until Raven looked up at her and winked. She scratched her head three times, returning the hello.

Jinx looked around excitedly, until she saw the Titans. "Oh no." She groaned, "what are THEY doing HERE?"

Alex shrugged. She felt a tap on her shoulder and whirled around to face Aqualad.

"Do I know you?" She asked, coldly.

"Yea, I'm Aqualad, remember me? We met before, when you first came to live with the-"

Alex opened her eyes wide and tried to shake her head with out Jinx noticing.

"Are you all right? Do you have something in your eye?"

"No..." She shook her head.

"Ok. Any way, when you first came to live with the-"

Beastboy had looked up and saw Alex shaking her head, and opening her eyes wide. He looked and saw that Aqualad was talking to her... 'Uh-oh...' he thought, He didn't know Alex was a spy. He hurried over and clapped a hand over Aqualad's mouth and dragged him away.

Alex sighed in relief. Jinx had left any way, so it wasn't too big of a deal. She hurried over to where Jinx was dancing and joined her. She glanced over to where the Titans were. They were having a blast. Beastboy, Cyborg, and Robin were fooling around, trying to dump ups of punch on each other's heads. Starfire was half dancing, half flying, and Raven was beating up some guy who was making a move on her. Alex closed her eyes and tried to ignore her friends, and just let the music seep into her soul.

After maybe an hour, Jinx yelled in Alex's ear.

"I'm going to go to the bathroom, be right back." She shouted.

"What?" Alex asked.

"I'M GOING TO GO TO THE BATHROOM!" She screamed.

"WHAT?!?"

"I'M GOING TO THE BATHROOM!" She shouted, right as the music stopped.

"Well, really," Alex said, "You don't have to shout."

Jinx growled and stomped off.

Alex sighed and sat at a table, facing the bathroom, so she could see if Jinx came out. Beastboy walked over to her and sat down.

"Hi, how are you?"

"Fine." She mumbled, as a slow song started.

"I miss you....

Miss you so bad...

I don't forget you...

Oh, it's so sad....

I hope you can hear me..." The singer started.

Alex watched as Robin danced with Starfire. They were dancing very close. Too close. Alex ground her teeth.

"He's trying to make you jealous." Beastboy said, following her gaze.

"Why is he acting like this? We were such good friends, always fooling around... maybe a little more than friends... and now he ignores me."

"Well, it's different now." Beastboy said, patting her shoulder.

"It's not fair." She muttered, "I don't want to be doing this. I want to be with you guys. I'm so afraid I'm gonna get caught... or I'm gonna get you guys killed. Do you know how hard it is to watch you guys getting defeated and not being able to do any thing?"

Beastboy sighed. He couldn't think of anything to say. Just then, Alex saw Jinx come out of the bathroom.

"Jinx..." She hissed, then began shouting at Beastboy. "DON'T COME NEAR ME AGAIN, YOU LITTLE TITAN FREAK! IF YOU SO MUCH AS TALK TO ME, I'LL KICK YOUR SORRY BUTT!"

Beastboy grinned, then ran off.

Alex buried her face in her hands. Jinx sat down next to her.

"Woo, what a party." She said, fanning herself.

"Yea..." Alex said, miserably.

Jinx shrugged, and began to hop of the chair.

"That's them, officer!" They heard a voice shout. The lights came on and the man with the guest list along with two officers dressed in hard plastic protective suits made there way to Jinx and Alex.

"Oh shit." Alex moaned, and one of the police grabbed her and put on handcuffs.

"I suggest you don't move." He said sternly.

The officers escorted the two girls out of the party and turned the lights off again.

"Uh-oh..." Beastboy muttered. He glanced around; Robin was sitting at their table, looking alone and preoccupied. He sat down across from Robin.

"Why'd you do it, Rob?"

"Do what? I didn't call the police." He said, looking shocked.

"Not that, the stunt with Starfire. You are deliberately trying to make her jealous. Do you know how unhappy you make her? She couldn't sleep last night."

"That's her problem. Or maybe it's yours. She's your girlfriend."

"She's NOT my girlfriend!" Beastboy shouted.

"Could've fooled me. Sitting on her bed making out with her."

"DUDE!" Beastboy looked appalled, "My lips have not touched hers. Deal with it. She likes you, all she ever does is talk about you."

Robin looked down at the ground.

"I know you like her."

He said nothing

"Come-on, man. Just show her how you feel."

Robin sighed. After a moment of silence, he simply asked, "how?"

"Prove it to her, man. Prove it."