It's hard to be a cool punk teen rebel when your "parents" let you do anything you want.
Whether it's riding off on strange boys' motorcycles or buying illegal items off the streets, her guardians just don't seem to care. Legally, they're there, but not anywhere near the state of where she lives. Rooming with five other stoners from Jump High, it's not like she was alone. She had Baran, Seymour, Billy, Mikron, and anyone else who needed a place to crash.
So Jeni lives on. She does what Koma Anders tells her to do, and yes, she's part of a drug cartel at sixteen, and yes, she's good at what she does, and yes, she doesn't have plans to stop any time soon. Because the money is good, and she needs to pay rent somehow.
(And maybe there's a pink piggy bank titled "university" under her bed.)
She excels at her classes, because despite her reputation, she's very smart. Specifically in physics and chemistry. There's something about the way things can be so easily changed in physics that attracts her.
And maybe it's because of a jock who sits in the front of the class called Victor. Maybe.
She leaves for school alone (again), because Baran and Billy are sleeping in (again), and Mikron and Seymour annoy her to hell and back. Her phone buzzes in her pocket and she pulls it out to see a text message from Koma.
im hungover as fuck, it says. come pick me up
She groans. She'll be late for physics, which means Mr. Vince will look her down disappointedly, and she'll miss his powerpoints. Grabbing the keys off the dining table, she finds herself in her empty driveway.
Mikron and Seymour took the car, she texts back swiftly. Sorry.
She leaves the car keys in the house, swings her neon pink bag across her shoulder and begins running.
She arrives out of breath, only five minutes late and gives Mr. Vince a big smile. He says nothing, but points to an empty seat next to Victor. Sliding onto the stool, she takes this opportunity to speak to him.
"So," she begins, her lungs feeling like they're about to collapse. "What did I miss?"
"Just a review on the Density/Mass/Volume Triangle," he replies. "Nothing big. Here, you can take my notes."
Their arms touched. Jeni imploded.
She thanks him, and coughs to cover up how unbelievably high her voice just became.
Their arms are touching all throughout class, and neither one of them move. Out of the corner of her eye, she sees a faint blush creeping up across Victor's mocha coloured skin and she practically passes out.
The bell rings seventy minutes later, and she begins to pack up her things, not very eager to leave.
"Hey, Jeni, listen."
The pinkette turns, her stomach flipflopping around internally. "Yeah?"
"I was just wondering if you wanted to get together some time after school to study for the physics mid-term. At the library, or something."
"Or something?" she laughed. Can he see the nerves behind her eyes?
"Yeah," Victor let out a breath. "Or something."
"Sounds like a date." she replies, calm, cool and collected. She winks, leaving the lab and moving upstairs to go to her locker.
Jeni Luck is happy, even if she lives in a trash-filled apartment with five other guys, and even though if the police ever found out what she was doing she'd be expelled, and even if people try to tear her down because she hangs with stoners, she is still Jeni Luck. She is still the school's best gymnast, an Principal's Honor Roll recipient, and secured at least three scholarships under her belt.
She doesn't need a good reputation.