Author's Note: Here is chapter 5. Raven and Jinx sort things out, Bella and Jinx have a heart to heart and Lauren Mallory gets a bit mouthy in class. Who doesn't love high school drama?
Disclaimer: I don't own the Teen Titan's or Twilight, unfortunately.
Jinx stared at the half-demon superhero standing in her room. Her normally perfectly smooth and in-place hair was tousled and in disarray, her clothes were also ripped in some places. Dried blood was coated all over her hands.
"Raven?" came her stunned, slightly disbelieving voice. Jinx hadn't even realized she had said anything until the girl in question answered.
"I – " Raven began. Swallowing loudly she continued, nervousness obvious. "I came to apologize."
Jinx's forehead crinkled and she glanced at her alarm clock. "At 3:12am? Couldn't you have waited until at least daybreak?"
Jinx watched in slight amusement as Raven glanced at the clock and then did a double take. "Oh," the superhero stuttered, "I didn't realize it was so late."
Glancing once again at her intruder's attire, Jinx found that easy to believe. Breathing deeply, she rubbed at her eyes and then stared at Raven expectantly.
Raven shifted uncomfortably under her gaze, "Er, well..." she bit her lip uncertainly, "I'msorryIactedlikesuchamoron." She rushed out in one breath, her eyes boring into the carpet – looking like she wished she could just sink into the floor. Actually, Jinx realized amused, Raven could actually sink into the floor if she wanted to. She wished she had that ability.
"Yeah," Jinx nodded. "You did act like a moron," Raven's face fell. "But – " Jinx sighed, she was such a pushover, "I forgive you. What are best friends for right?"
"Best friends?" Raven asked, her eyes staring intensely into Jinx's own.
A large grin bloomed on Jinx's face and she reached forward and grabbed Raven's hand. "Best friends." She nodded firmly. Then she looked at the hand she was holding – it was still oozing blood.
"What did you do to yourself?" she asked, voice laced with concern and a slight tint of anger. "Take it out with a brick wall or something?"
"More like a mirror," Raven joked weakly, pulling her hand back. A white glow surrounded them both and suddenly the wound's had healed and only the dried blood was left. "I'll clean up when I get home," she consoled.
Jinx nodded, and then she started think back to their argument before she burst out in laughter, earning her a slightly half-amused half-concerned look from Raven. "What?"
Shaking her head, Jinx wiped the tears of mirth that had formed in her eyes away. "I just realized we 'outed' ourselves to the whole school. Can you imagine what tomorrow is going to be like?" she cracked up again. "We should totally kiss in front of everyone tomorrow," she roared with laughter, "I can see their faces now!"
Raven smirked, chuckling herself at her best friends unusual reaction. "You know, most teenagers would be scared of something like that happening. You are such an anomaly."
"Anomaly?" Jinx snorted, "Only you would use such a word. What happened to good old 'weird'?"
"I'm just more articulate." Raven defended herself, small smile of teasing on her lips. "I shouldn't waste my intelligence on Neanderthals like you, should I?"
"Hey!" Jinx shouted, before realizing it was still early in the morning and Bella and Charlie were most likely still asleep. "I resent that," she added, her voice lower. She listened for a moment, making sure Charlie was still snoring and there was no 'awake' noises coming from Bella's direction.
Raven cast another look at Jinx's clock. "I should go," she said softly, walking towards Jinx's open window.
"Yeah, I'll see you tomorrow 'kay?" she grinned, "And don't forget to brush your teeth. I don't want to taste anything icky when I kiss you!" Jinx joked and then added seriously, "Nah, just joking. I don't want my first kiss to be in front of three hundred plus people."
Raven paused where she was standing and turned around to stare at Jinx with astonishment. "You've never been kissed? Ever? What about Wally?"
Jinx shook her head, blush rising to her cheeks. "Ever. And he only ever kissed me on the cheek." She confirmed. "Have you?"
Raven blinked and her own cheeks turned a light pink. "Er, yeah."
"Spill!" Jinx asked eagerly, moving to sit cross-legged on her bed.
Raven hesitated for a moment before blurting it out. "…Blackfire."
Jinx choked on the air she was breathing in shock. She stared at Raven with her mouth agape, finding it hard to believe. "You mean Starfire's sister? The evil one?!"
"I didn't know she was evil at the time!" Raven retorted defensively, glaring. "She was actually really romantic." She added, lips pursed and her eyes glazed as she relived the memory.
Jinx felt something like jealousy rise up inside as she watched Raven's face turn dreamy as she reminisced. She also felt an irrational, unexplainable hatred for Blackfire as well. She kept it hidden though, Raven wasn't the only one who could mask her emotions, but she was probably a hell of a lot better than Jinx was at it.
"Anyway," Raven said, bringing Jinx out of her thoughts and back into the moment. "I'll see you in a few hours." And she was gone, only a wisp of dark black smoke-like energy left in her wake. Jinx than flopped back heavily, wishing she didn't have all these confusing feelings for her new best friend. She worried briefly about why she turned up look such a mess, but her thoughts were soon forgotten as she slipped back into slumber.
The next morning Jinx is awoken by an obviously very drunk Bella or a very stupid Bella. As the other girl had ran in squealing incoherently and acting like a complete maniac. More so than anyone Jinx had ever met. And that was saying something. Everyone knew not to wake Jinx abruptly in the mornings. Especially Bella.
"Garhhaa!" Jinx screamed as she was pounced on. Her arms flailed about before she hurled her cousin from on top of her and on to the floor. "Bella!" she shrieked. "What the fuck! Are you trying to get yourself hurt? Don't do shit like that to ex-thieves! You're lucky I didn't break your neck or something!"
Bella blinked at her in shock from her spot on the floor. Holding up her hands she replied. "Wow, slow down! Shit, I didn't think you would freak out. I was just waking you up."
Huffing, Jinx got out from under her blankets and stood over her cousin, hands on her hips and her hair a halo of mess around her head. She was pissed. "I thought you had some common sense, fucking hell Bella. I'm not kidding when I say I could have seriously hurt you."
Bella scoffed, "That's rather conceited of – " Grabbing her, Jinx twisted her cousins arm around and had her kneeling on the floor before she could finish speaking.
"I dare you to finish that sentence." She whispered into Bella's ear. A smug smirk was on her lips. She was one of the best thieves in Jump. If it wasn't for the clowns on her old team she would be living the high life right about now. She didn't need someone as naive as Bella telling her that she was overconfident when she was only concerned about her cousins health.
"Ah-shit okay! I'm sorry." Bella squirmed out of her grip and stood up again, blush on her cheeks. Jinx felt slightly bad at embarrassing her cousin, but shrugged it off. She needed to start getting ready for school if the clock was anything to go by. She quickly went into the bathroom, had a shower and brushed her teeth. She also changed into some warm clothes.
"So why is it you came in screaming this morning? Usually I am greeted by my alarm clock." Jinx asked when she had finished getting ready, curious to what had her cousin in such a euphoric state.
"Edward asked me to marry him!" she squealed, her face was lit up with glee and her eyes were shining with obvious love. Jinx felt her mouth gape open.
"Marry?" she asked her voice half-dazed. "What did you say?"
Bella's face turned subdued. "…no."
Jinx wasn't surprised. "Still turned off marriage because of your parent's?"
Bella nodded slowly as they walked towards the kitchen. "It's just…" she bit her lip. "Renee and Charlie were completely in love. And then she got pregnant. He did the honorable thing and proposed, they got married six months later, and everything was great… for a little while. Until their love just fizzled out and died… I don't want that happening with me and Edward… I mean why the hell do we have to get married? We're spending eternity anyway!" she rambled passionately, obviously pleased to be able to get this off her chest.
Jinx nodded in understanding as she placed to pieces of bread in the toaster. Leaning against the counter she turned to look at Bella, who was pouring milk into her bowl of Lucky Charms. She pondered for a moment over her cousin's unusual wording. Eternity? That's a little far fetched, even if she did love the guy.
"I see where you're coming from. But you're not Renee, or Charlie. No matter how much you resemble them." They both chuckled.
The toaster dinged and Jinx snatched the hot pieces of toast out and practically threw them onto her plate, so not to get burned. Both ate for a moment in silence before Jinx spoke again.
"Renee and Charlie…" Jinx took a thoughtful bite of toast, chewing it and swallowing before continuing. "They were both young. And I don't doubt that they thought they were in love. There is a difference between being in lust and being in love. Not many can tell the difference, and I can't personally say I've experienced either." Jinx took another bite. "Also, Renee and Charlie are two completely different people. I doubt they have one thing in common other than being related to you. While opposites do attract, they normally don't ever last. How would you build a lasting relationship on that? And then there was you added to the equation."
Jinx ate her last piece of toast and put her plate in the sink, leaning again against the counter she continued her pretty much one-sided conversation. She had no doubt Bella was listening intently, but her cousin had her mouth busy with inhaling her breakfast. Neither of them wanted to see what it looked like after it entered her mouth, so she kept silent.
"I'm pretty sure becoming a parent is a stressful time for any couple, no matter how good of a relationship. Add that to Renee and Charlies already rocky one and it was just asking for disaster. So, you can't compare your relationship to your parents. It just doesn't work like that. You love Edward right?" Jinx asked, staring intensely at her cousin – who promptly swallowed her mouthful of cereal and answered affirmative.
"Yes, god… so much, when he left me it felt like there was this gaping hole where my heart was supposed to be. It was like my whole world had been stripped of its colors and I just had to go through they days barely surviving… I wasn't living without him. But then there's Jake…" she cut herself off.
If Jinx had eyebrow's she had no doubt they would be half-way up her forehead. "Jacob Black? That's your best friend right? The one I haven't met yet. What does he have to do with anything?"
Jinx felt a pang of sadness at the downtrodden look on Bella's face. "Yeah he's my best friend. But he was my sun when Edward left. He was there to pick up the pieces. It was never enough to actually fix me, but he made me feel better. He-I… He has some more than friendly feelings for me… And I'm not even sure what I feel for him now." Bella looked up at her and gave her a shaky smile.
"You have no idea how good it is to have someone to talk to about these things. Alice is great and will forever be my best friend… But she's bias. She's Edward's sister. I can't just tell her things like this." There was something else in her eyes though, like she was apologizing for something.
"Yeah, I get what you mean. You can tell me anything Bella, you know that." These words only seemed to make whatever it was in Bella's eyes multiply ten-fold.
"There is something's I can't even tell you Jinx…" her eyes seemed to be telling her, "And it's killing me."
"Well, we better go. Is Rachel sitting with us today? Or are you still…" Bella trailed off awkwardly as she pulled her backpack over her shoulder.
"Yeah, she is…" Jinx smiled thinking back to the events of last night. "We worked things out."
Bella's brow crinkled. "How? You were home all – oh." She gave Jinx and sly grin that only managed to make her look like a dork. "So you and Rachel huh?" she wiggled her eyebrows obscenely.
Suddenly, Bella was flying into the bushes over her garden and Jinx was skipping innocently over to the passenger side of her cousin's truck. She turned and looked at her cousin, her face a mask of faux innocence.
"What are you doing in the bushes, Bells?"
Bella stomped towards her, brushing various leaves and dirt of her clothes as she did so. Jinx also didn't miss the icy glare she was being pinned with. "Oh, like you don't know!" Bella said sarcastically, yanking open the driver side door and throwing her backpack in. She didn't waste time shoving her keys into the ignition and starting up 'The Beast'.
"I didn't do anything. It's not my fault you're retarded."
"You pushed," Bella spat. "…me into the garden. I am not retarded! You're retarded."
"Says the girl who tripped in her pool. Who does that? Seriously, I've tried to do it on purpose and I couldn't!" Jinx said honestly, slightly dumbfounded.
There was a pause before Bella answered. "…Shut up."
The rest of the ride was spent in companionable silence. Jinx found herself thinking about what Bella had said, about Raven and herself being together. She knew that she was attracted to the other girl, to put it mildly, but she also knew just because Raven was a lesbian as well didn't mean she also found her attractive back. Plus, they had agreed on being best friends last night. Best friends do not crush on each other – all it would end up in would be heartbreak.
Yes, Jinx thought to herself. Their relationship would stay strictly platonic.
Soon enough they had reached the school and both cousin's silently agreed to meet up for lunch and headed their separate ways. Jinx walked swiftly over to where Raven was at her car. The girl in question was rifling through the back seat, looking for something.
"What are you searching for?" Jinx asked, leaning against the beautiful machine. She stared at her reflection for a moment, fixing a few pieces of hair that had managed to escape their horns. Her hairstyle wasn't as outrageous as it was when she was a thief, but it would still be considered daring. While she was looking at herself, she completely tuned out Raven's answer. Neither girl minded.
The only difference was the angle of the horns. Instead of standing straight up they were more protruding from the side of her head, but tilted slightly upwards. She also still had her fuchsia bangs hanging softly over her forehead, almost in her eyes
"Are you finished preening?" Raven's amused voice said, making Jinx's gaze move from her reflection to the superhero. She gave her a faux self absorbed look.
"Yep, I'm just as perfect as always," she grinned. Raven gave a small smile back. The bell rang, signaling the start of the school day.
"Let's go. You might actually learn something today."
They looked at each other for a moment before laughing.
"Doubt it."
They had been sitting together in English class when a girl; Jinx was pretty sure her name was Lauren, had called out some derogatory term about lesbians. She was sure Raven was almost crushing the desk with the force she was using to grasp it.
Trying to calm her down, "Watch this," Jinx whispered quietly, before looking around the room and making sure no one was looking. She then flicked her wrist and a neon bolt of pink was soaring through the air towards the leg of Lauren's chair. The leg snapped and Lauren landed heavily on her ass; much to the amusement of the rest of the class.
"Maybe you should lay off the Burger King, Lauren." Jinx said across the room, malicious smirk curled on her lips. She heard Raven snicker next to her, along with everyone else.
"Why don't you shut your mouth, you filthy dyke!" Lauren had retorted angrily as she brushed imaginary lint from her clothes and tried to keep her dignity intact.
Jinx felt her own fist's clench and she stood up from her seat, "I wouldn't push my luck if I were you. We wouldn't want anyone getting hurt would we?" Jinx said, her words a thinly veiled threat.
Lauren scoffed and sauntered over to stand in front of her. "The only person getting hurt would be you. You're a disgusting freak of nature."
Jinx had lunged at the skinny blonde, but Raven was able to grab her and pull her back before her hand had made contact with Lauren's face. "Calm down," Raven whispered into her ear. "The teachers already don't like you. Don't give them a reason to kick you out. Going clean, remember? You'll be put in jail if you do anything."
Sighing in defeat, Jinx relaxed and nodded her head reluctantly. She really wanted to teach the homophobic bitch a lesson. But the feel of Raven's arms wrapped around her was so much better than punching Lauren's face in.
Platonic, Platonic, Platonic. She kept reminding herself.
Lauren obviously didn't know what was good for her, though. "Yeah, that's right. Listen to your little girlfriend. You are both so pathetic."
Jinx felt cold as Raven's arms unwrapped themselves and then she felt shocked as she watched the superhero walk over to Lauren with a fierce glare on her face. Jinx, along with the rest of the class were watching with rapt attention.
"If we are pathetic then what are you?" Raven asked, her voice chilling. Jinx watched with satisfaction as Lauren gave a shiver of fear; Raven had noticed as well.
"Oh, you're scared of me…" Raven's smile was demonic. Jinx almost expected to see four glowing red eyes, "…how precious." She finished, smirking. "I suggest you keep your petty comments to yourself. I don't like hypocrites." Raven looked pointedly to a dark haired girl sitting in the back corner of the room and Lauren paled.
"H-how do you know about that?" Lauren asked, wide-eyed. Raven smirked once again.
"Maybe you should be more discreet when pulling your conquest's into closets." Raven strolled leisurely over to her seat and sat down. A small satisfied smile curled on her lips.
Before anybody could do so much as breathe the teacher walked through the door.
"Lauren? Why aren't you seated, girl?" he asked, looking at her in bewilderment.
Lauren looked at her broken seat, "Um, it's broken sir." she said distantly. The teacher looked impatient. "Well get another one from an empty desk." When she didn't move he barked. "Get your head out the clouds, Mallory!"
Muffled laughs and giggles resounded throughout the room. Lauren scrambled to get a seat and sat down, ignoring everything around her.
Jinx looked over at Raven and they shared a smirk.
"So you're really gay?" Mike; or Mick or something asked her as she sat down at the table that her cousin shared with some of her close friends. Jinx looked over at him and nodded, smirking. "Yeah. Both of us." she said, referring to Raven as well.
A blush rose on his cheeks, and Jinx found herself reminded of a little school boy. "Uh, that's er-nice."
"Hell yeah," she licked her lips and grinned. Just to mess with him. "It's definitely nice. If you know what I mean," she winked, and then nudged him in the side – like some oversexed jock.
Before she could put anything dirtier in his head, she felt a warm hand on her shoulder and heard Raven's drawling voice. "Please, Jen. What's with you and using cruel and unusual torture? Mike here isn't going to be able to concentrate in class." Her voice was low and monotone, but Jinx could tell she was teasing by the look in the superhero's eyes.
"You know me, Rae. Just love riling people up, y'know? I remember you getting pissed that time I broke into your 'sanctuary'."
Raven rolled her eyes, "Yeah, I had to throw out a perfectly good," she paused, "…item of clothing because of you."
Jinx laughed slightly, remembering that everything she found in Raven's closet had at least one thing blue on it. "Yeah, I didn't realize how into blue you were. But hell, seriously. Haven't you thought of maybe broadening you're spectrum of colors?"
Raven growled at her. "Shut up. Blue is my favorite color."
"I totally couldn't work that out by the fact that you hair, your eyes, your room, your clothes, your bed and even your shoes were blue." Jinx said sarcastically, grinning at her superhero counterpart.
"Well… you are on the slightly retarded side – "
"Say's the girl who kissed Blackfire." Jinx said quickly. Raven froze, and then turned her head to glare at her fully.
"You didn't." she deadpanned, still glaring.
Jinx smirked smugly, "I so did."
"Stone." Was all Raven said, and Jinx felt her face pale.
"Don't even – "
"Oh I will." Raven smirked at her.
"Malchior." Raven looked at her oddly.
"How do you know about him?"
She shrugged, "Slade has a big mouth."
"How the hell did Slade know about him?"
Jinx gave her a blank look. "Who knows how Slade knows anything? Actually when you think about it…" she paused, looking at the apple on her plate. "…That's really creepy."
"Slade's a creepy guy." Raven agreed, taking a bite of her sandwich.
"Beast Boy." Jinx said, trying to get their light banter started again.
Jinx laughed as Raven shuddered visibly. "Don't even joke like that."
"Yeah, that was too far – even for me." Jinx nodded once, shuddering herself. "How do you stand him? He is so…"
"Annoying?" Raven offered, "Stupid, idiotic, immature…? I could go on, but I fear my IQ is dropping just because he is being brought up in conversation."
Jinx giggled slightly. "All of the above."
"Who are those people?" a girl seated across the table with wild brunette curls asked curiously as she leaned forward over the table. "They have unusual names."
"Um," Jinx blinked for a moment, half annoyed that the girl had just barged her way into their conversation. Raven looked like she felt similarly. "Old friends back in Jump. And that's just their nicknames."
"Oh," the girl looked like she wished she hadn't interrupted. "…Cool."
Jinx nodded awkwardly. "Yeah. You're in my Art class right?"
Jessica, Jinx was pretty sure that was her name, nodded and her face brightened at the subject change. "Yeah! And you're really good too. I-er… accidentally saw some drawings in your sketch book the other day. Who's the guy in the costume? He was gorgeous."
Jinx instantly felt her stomach drop, and she saw Raven give her a slightly concerned look. "He-he... his name is Wallace."
"Wallace…," Jessica rolled the name over her tongue. "I like it. Did you date him? Because I thought you were, um.. gay…" she whispered the word, as though if someone heard her say it she would be called gay as well. Jinx wanted to punch her, but retrained the violent urge.
"I did, I mean. I dated him, but I am gay. That's why we broke up." Jinx said, not looking up from her untouched apple. She felt Raven's hand move to sit comfortingly on her thigh and somehow her touch made her muscles relax and her breathing slow. It was disconcerting how easily the other girl could make her calm – but she didn't want to over-analyze it. Friend's comfort and calm other friends down in stressful situation's right?
Right.
"What's with the weird costume thought?" Jessica continued. "He looked like a superhero or something.."
Jinx fought the urge to burst out laughing.
"It was Halloween." Jinx said, looking down to hide her smile. She felt the hand on her thigh tighten and she glanced over at Raven, only to see the other girl biting her lip. Hard.
"…I would love to meet a superhero… How awesome would that be? I actually heard about some superhero's on the news.." Jess talked to herself, completely unaware no one was paying attention.
Jinx swore she could practically feel Raven tense beside her. She moved her hand and laid it to rest gently over the one on her thigh. She had always been slightly surprised at the temperature of Raven's hands. She was such a cold person; it only made sense for her skin to be cold too right? But they weren't. They were unusually warm and softer than anything she had ever felt before.
Jinx couldn't help but think that Raven's hands made her feel safe, protected even – like nothing could ever harm her in the world.
End Note: Damn… writers block is hitting hard lately; add that with a crazy workload at school and now my updates are going to start slowing down dramatically. God, I'm crazy trying to write three stories at once, huh?
Anyway, I appreciate reviews.
