((Thanks for the feedback. Especially you, Jirachi Wishmaker. I'm thinking hard for a part Chiro can play.))

Chapter Two: Juno is No Good

Juno's father, Brady, or Braids as he went by among his friends, accepted Jinka after all. Brady was the one Juno resembled, with intense hazel eyes, a thin mouth, and a receding chin.

After a long soak- she modestly dismissed Juno, swearing she could wash herself- Jinka had a very sore left arm, but looked like a new girl. Her skin almost glowed, and seemed too perfect to be real. In a certain light, Jinka looked like a life-sized doll. She'd even polished her earrings, which glimmered enchantingly. Even after the lengthy bath, however, Jinka's hair remained a solid gray. One lock sprang up and wouldn't stay down; its shape reminded Juno of a knife, and was driving Azalea crazy- probably a mother thing. In any case, Juno could no longer write it off as bad hygiene- there was something not quite right about Jinka's appearance.

"You see, she's probably sick," reasoned Azalea. "Maybe we should check her into the hospital."

"No!" Juno had to restrain Jinka, who, wielding a stapler, swore she'd use it to staple Azalea's mouth shut if she couldn't keep a secret.

Both parents recoiled. "I can guess why this girl is homeless. She could be a danger to us as well as herself is she stays here," Brady pronounced.

"That's going a bit far," Juno said nervously, grinning as if everything were peaceful, and holding her hand over Jinka's mouth. "Little kids are always irrational. Jinka just never learned manners on the street." She hoped to heaven the explanation would appease her parents.

Azalea looked doubtful. The corners of her mouth turned down, though the rest of her face remained calm. "Try not to be too precocious, Juno. It's not like we're going to take Jinka away this very minute… Your father and I are still trying to decide her future."

So the mysterious Jinka was safe…tolerated, at least… for now. Juno grimaced inwardly… Precocious… I'm sixteen! Precocious, my left buttock!

"Juno, you turkey!" Jinka griped as soon as Juno removed her hand, "You're all trying to decide my future. I can handle myself!"

"I get it, I've wounded your dignity… But you know that's not true."

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Juno had to work hard to get her sewing done before school the next day. Jinka was asleep when Juno awoke. She looked as if she had been awake all night, a paranoid wreck.

To many kids, it may sound odd to have needlework instead of homework. But after struggling through the first eight grades of public school, Juno had decided to take the path of vocational training. Or rather, her parents had decided, and she had agreed. A local vocational school offered a tailoring class… and Juno already knew that tailoring was what she was good at. It was the best future for her.

The other classes just filled out her curriculum, in the eyes of Juno's family. Like the creative writing class, the only course that Juno had picked of her own volition…

"Can you get a load of Mr. Berkholter? He could have assigned something half as long, and we'd have got the message!" Alice sneered angrily at the world, as if all this work was a personal insult. Her red-brown hair tossed back and forth when she shook her head.

Juno drank her milk. "Yes, he doesn't think we get enough loads of him. Don't worry. We'll pull something through."

"But I can't always do it! He's asking too much... I can write about real life, but when I try fantasy, I choke up!" She was obviously referring to Mr. Berkolter's monthly writing assignment. This month, it had to be a fantasy. In her despair, Alice's hand slipped into her re-heated deep fried baked potato. "Ugh!" she moaned.

"Alice, you're making too big a deal of this. Just write what you normally write, then throw in something about fairies or witches," Juno advised in a parental voice. "You'll be fine."

Alice licked the grease off her plump fingers, taking deep breaths. "You are so right, Juno. Thanks so much. You're always my voice of reason."

With an unobtrusive clack, a newcomer placed his lunch tray three seats away from Juno. Three empty seats. He had large, sensitive hands, puffy movie star lips, and eyes that seemed to change from black to silver in the sun. He wore a floppy hat over his short cropped black hair and a dark blue jacket over a wrinkled plaid shirt. He was a would-be superstar who hung with the 'special' kids. He was the one boy who had ever charmed Juno, and he didn't even know it. He always either spent lunch with a lonely student, or with the other superstars- the egotistical social climbers that everyone more or less jokingly called the 'popular kids'- fighting like a lone senator against an entire corrupt government. What was he doing here?

He was Jethro. Juno and Jethro. Our names start and end with the same letters. We're meant to be.

Jethro didn't touch his food. He had his head in his hands. "Man…" he murmured. Juno's heart fluttered. Something was the matter with Jethro today. But Juno refused to speak, not wanting her voice to betray her. It just came naturally to hide her love… why get into trouble over a simple crush?

Alice shuffled to Jethro's side. "What's wrong, toots?" she crooned, staring doe eyed at the boy's somber countenance.

"Toots!" Juno gagged on a Frito despite her best efforts. "That's not what you call a man!"

Jethro was his usual gracious self. Or maybe he was too down to care. "It's my dyslexia," he sighed in his sweet, rich voice. "I've been looking for that internship… you know, at the jailhouse, for ever… but they turned me down because of my dyslexia. No… I shouldn't flatter myself. I'm probably just not good enough for the job."

Oh, the humanity! Don't think that, Jethro, it's the employers who are to blame! Juno thought in furious sympathy. But she dared not give voice to such embarrassing thoughts.

"Is that all? Don't worry, Jeth, there'll be other jobs!" Alice chimed, putting her arm on his back. She seemed awfully optimistic for someone who had just been crying over a homework assignment. "But… hehehe, an internship at the jailhouse… that's almost a pun, isn't it?"

A small smile crossed Jethro's lips. "Yeah… Thanks, Alice. You must be just the medicine I needed."

Juno bit her sandwich so hard her teeth hurt, to hold back the long, loud, ghostly moan she felt building up inside her. Crap, crap, crap, crap, crap, crap, crap.

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As lunch was ending, and Juno had left her table, she heard an unusual conversation.

A huge upperclassman in a football jersey was crouched, facing toward a corner hidden by a trashcan, with his back to everything else. Juno's interest was sparked, because it was such an odd sight to see a big strong guy bent double like that. She stopped and listened in the hopes of shedding light on the mystery; as she did, she heard whispered words.

"We aint met any in more'n a week. I think they're all gone," whispered the student.

"I obviously haven't won," snapped a second voice from the corner. It was high-pitched, and, though Juno could have been hearing wrong, had a distinct buzz to it. "We've only exhausted all the competition in the area. We should move on."

The student glanced behind him. Juno quickly pretended she wasn't watching. The guy looked uncomfortable. He turned back and continued whispering. "Slow down, hizzie… I can't go leavin' now! There's that gray mamodo… she gave us the slip when we almost fried her book."

The second voice sighed. "Yes, it had seemed as if she wasn't quite out. If you're too much of a baby to move to new territory, I suppose we have no choice but to search for her. Dismissed." Once the voice dismissed him, the student got up and walked away, glancing nervously left and right.

What was he doing? ...Hmm …Mamodo… Juno examined the word. She had never heard it before. Those 'cool' kids. Every time you turn around they're inventing a new word. I'll have to ask what this one means, or it'll drive me crazy until they get tired of it.

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Jinka sat at the table for supper with the rest of the family. Juno was surprised at this, oddly. Everything her parents said about Jinka made the child's presence seem completely temporary, like she'd be gone before supper. But eating with the whole family made Jinka feel… like a part of it.

"Juno, tell me everything about your day," Jinka demanded in-between handfuls of food.

"Use your fork and knife, dear," Azalea said in a solicitous tone. "Meatloaf isn't a finger food."

Jinka made a disgusted face. "Eat with those weapons? That's barbaric!" Then she continued as if she hadn't heard. Azalea looked to Brady for backup, but he couldn't say anything. After all, he had been the one of the first to protest metal utensils in schools, and he valued consistency. Jinka licked her plate clean and held it under Azalea's nose. "More, please."

Azalea looked like she was going to refuse at first- she didn't want the kid to get too expensive. But… "Weeell, since you did say please. That's better than Juno could do when she was little. Here, have some more." She doled out another slice of meatloaf and scoop of frozen vegetables. Hoping to do her bit to encourage respectful behavior in an underprivileged child. I doubt that's quite the message Jinka will get.

Juno was glad her mother had interrupted when she did. Juno didn't want to talk about her day. The temptation was too great to let something slip that revealed her love for Jethro. She chewed her cauliflower, quiet and composed.

"Where was I…?" Jinka mumbled, spraying crumbs. She started talking quickly before either parent could harass her again. "Oh yeah! Juno was about to tell every last detail of what happened today. I'm sorry for letting you be so rudely interrupted, Juno."

She's acting really… polite. Is she trying to ingratiate herself with my parents? Rats, after that, I need to look good for them too. Juno started talking in a shaky voice. "Um… we're making coats now in tailoring class… The fabric is really heavy, it's hard to push the needle through… Chicken sandwich and a potato for lunch, I got chips… too… I gave Alice advice on her homework… We have a really long writing assignment…" Juno ended, hoping she'd said enough.

"Do you love being a tailor?" Jinka asked.

"Eh?" The question caught Juno off guard. It was great to hear Jinka saying something so childlike and innocent, but… How was she supposed to answer something like that? "Well… I like it, I guess. I'm really good at it," she answered awkwardly.

Jinka leered. She ripped the head off of a broccoli in an intimidating manner. "Not good enough. Everything."

Juno tried not to meet her eyes. "Oh, my day wasn't interesting…" she mumbled.

"Everything."

"Ehh… sigh Okay."

Juno told everything.

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"…And he looked like he liked her a lot." Juno sucked in her breath. "There. That's all I've got."

Jinka smiled, satisfied. Juno wondered, not for the first time, what went on in that small gray head. "Do you have feelings for Jethro?" Jinka inquired, making Juno's hands go cold and clammy and her face grow hot.

Juno took just a heartbeat to shove the lump out of her throat. "No," she denied, her voice suddenly stern.

Jinka sighed, and sunk into her seat. She looked disappointed. What do you want from me? Juno thought at her. Entertainment? "Then you're no good," Jinka stated with finality.

This time Juno really was stunned. "What? How can you just say that? Is it just because I can't… can't love a guy named Jethro?" she shouted at the little girl, rising slightly out of her seat.

Meanwhile, Azalea had been talking to Brady. "…She's such an inquisitive child. All day she's been watching the news, reading the papers… Juno! Control yourself!" Azalea glared at Juno accusingly, expressing her displeasure at Juno's outburst with every line of her face.

Juno stopped dead. She'd been so busy being frustrated; now she had burnt it all out, and she just felt empty. She sunk back into her chair, with a blank expression.

"Thank you. Much better," said Azalea cordially.

The emptiness was soon filled, as it often is, with sadness. Juno frowned dismally. Jinka reached out to her in sympathy. "I'm sorry… I wouldn't have said it if I thought you'd be that hurt."

"It's not that bad." Juno told a white lie, as they talked under the tablecloth.

Jinka grinned mischievously. "Well, I won't tell anyone you like Jethro. I know all about secrets."

Juno had, at this very point, ceased to be amazed by Jinka. In fact, she was just on the edge of beginning to understand her. "You do," she said, a smile tugging at her mouth. "I'll do whatever you want if you don't tell."

A few heartbeats later, the doorbell rang. Brady got up and walked out of the kitchen. "That could be from the orphanage. I called them today from work." Juno sat up suddenly, alarmed. She banged her head on the table.

"Aaugh! You didn't!" Jinka screamed. She ran out of the room in a panic, wailing, "If I don't die, I'll kill you!"

Azalea followed her, making sure to push her chair in, but with the expression of an annoyed parent. "Jinka, calm down. If you don't stop this irrational fear you'll live on the streets forever…"

Juno went after her father, feeling the need to know exactly who was at the door. As she reached the scene, Brady was just opening it.

Framed against the street were two people, one tall and one short. The tall one was the big senior student Juno had noticed at school. He wore a jacket, with a hood that hid his face. The short one was a giant rhinoceros beetle… No, that wasn't right. It was a small, mean looking boy wearing a horned helmet and fake carapace that made him look like a rhinoceros beetle.

The student held an open book, touching the pages with the palm of his left hand. Juno glimpsed the cover; dark blue-green, with five circles connected by an hourglass below a garbled title.

Brady was immediately suspicious of the outlandish duo. "Who are you, and what do you want?" he grilled coldly. Juno was just as clueless.

The senior smirked, as if trying to find irony or enjoyment in an unpleasant situation. He opened his mouth, but not to answer Brady's questions. He bellowed.

"Guoro!"

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