What We Learned at Rokudai - 17 (Pt 1)

What We Learned at Rokudai
Chapter 17 - Baggage
(Part 1)

---

- Sunday, November 23^rd -

"You're really OK with this, Dad?"

["I am, Katrina. Really. Why are you so worried about it?"]

"N-nothing, it's fine," she assured with a hint of hesitation.

["In Woman-Speak that means there is something."] Her dad did know her well, and she realized with those exact words how much her brother sounded like him. Kat wasn't too fond of phrases like 'Woman-Speak,' though.

"Heh. Y-yea, I'm, um...-" She trailed off, collecting her thoughts. "Thanksgiving has just always been...just us. You know?"

["I understand,"] Malik sympathized. ["But you and your brother are allowed to share that with others. It's what your mother would've wanted."]

"I know..." Katrina sighed in spite of her own muddled emotions. "It's going to be fun. You'll get to meet all of our friends, and...and going to be...a very interesting holiday."

["Haha. 'Interesting' is exactly what I could use these days."]

"Hee." Katrina could detect anticipation in her father's voice. He was lonely. She couldn't deny him some excitement, and she knew deep down that once she could work her way through her own uncomfortableness she would love sharing Thanksgiving with her friends. It was just strange to consider: this very personal holiday in which they would always honor her mother, being shared with non-Kesuks.

["Well, you're a busy girl. You probably have...classes or homework you need to take care before you head out tomorrow, right?"]

"Oh," Katrina gasped, her mind snapping to her assignments. "Shoot. You're right, ha. I do. I have a paper I need to finish before we leave..."

["Better get on that then!"] Malik chuckled. ["I'll expect to see you guys Wednesday."]

"Right! We should get there sometime late, most likely."

["Keep me informed if you need anything, Katrina."]

"Sure thing, Dad."

["I love you."]

Katrina smiled at his solemn tone. He always said it with a sort of seriousness she didn't hear other people employ with the phrase.

"I love you, too," she replied softly before ending the call. She stuffed the phone into her coat pocket, marching across the autumn campus.The calm bustle of busy students hummed around her as she lamented the warm weather – she still had trouble adjusting to the four Californian seasons, ie Spring, Summer, Slightly-Colder-Spring, Somewhat-Rainy-Time...On that particular day it was at least feeling somewhat like a proper autumn, the warm crisper than usual and a bit chilled, the ground covered in some patches of damp brown, orange and red. She was greatly looking forward to being around snow during Christmas Break – maybe even that very week.

---

"Yep, it's official." Aaron replied in a chirp. "My first time to Canada."

["Ahhh, wowie. Gosh, kid, that sure sounds like it's gonna be quite a trip, eh? Ya know, I actually grew up in Canada, myself. Did you know I used to be-?"]
["Delmar,"] Topaz piped in. ["I'm sure a young man his age has a lot he needs to take care of. How about you save the story for another day?"]

["Ah, ya know, I betcha she's right, huh?"]

"Ha, well, kinda. It is pretty crazy around here right now."

["Gotcha, gotcha...Well, don't mind me and my ramblin', then. You're a busy kid in school! Take care of your business."]

Aaron felt a twinge of guilt and decided to try and compensate. He had given them some forewarning, but he still felt bad about the situation – plans he'd made with them before break had fallen through. He'd been the one to initiate, and he'd been the one who had needed to cancel.

Delmar and Topaz were old friends of Hideki Kurosawa's, and in living with the Professor over the summer, Aaron had gotten to know the elderly couple as well. In a lot of ways, Aaron found spending social time with his elders to be fulfilling. Edifying, as Kat might've put it. Thus, he opted to make his intentions apparent.

"I'll come visit you guys the first chance I get when I'm back, I promise."

["That sounds swell!"] Delmar expressed. ["You just go right on ahead and stop by whenever ya like, now, hear me?"]

"I will."

["Have a happy Thanksgiving then, all right?"]
["Happy Thanksgiving, child!"]

"You, too, guys!"

["Byeeee~"]
["Bye-bye!"]

Aaron hung up his phone and yawned, scratching his hungry stomach as it gurgled. He couldn't shake his uneasy feeling off for some reason. Something about this whole situation wasn't settling right. He wrote off the sensation as mere hunger and went back to his drawing, shading in the lineart he'd laid out.

Siku cast a casual glance over his shoulder as he waited for his video game to load. He and Ruka had gotten all of their work done the weekend prior, so they were all set.

"Wh-...Is that, like...A Wolf-Duck, now?" questioned Siku.

"Looks like it has a beaver tail," Ruka murmured thoughtfully.

"It's a Platypus-Bear," Aaron corrected with some smug satisfaction.

Siku nodded slowly with a suddenly impressed smirk. "That is pretty bad-ass, my friend."

"I need to finish this up and then I'm all set," Aaron explained. "Hey, Ruka, did you figure out what you were doing?"

"It sounds like you guys are going to be pretty crowded for break," she observed with a hint of doubt. "I'm just going to spend it with my folks. We can always video chat if someone needs a break." She tugged on Siku's ear, wobbling his head back and forth. He elicited a sigh, his eyelids sinking closed.

"I shall survive," he whimpered, clutching his controller as the game started up.

"Not today, you won't," challenged Ruka, fingers tight around her own controller. Aaron cast a cursory glance at the screen and noted what they were playing on his Wii console.

"You play Dr. Mario?" he muttered, surprised.

"Used to play it all the time with my grandparents when I was little," bragged Ruka. "They still beat me, actually, and--Hey, hey," she interjected Siku's button pressing. "C'mon, ya wimp - turn the speed up."

Siku froze, creaking his head to his side from his seat on the beanbag chair.

"You want to bring the pain?" he whispered, dashing his words with threat.

"Oh, I do," Ruka retorted cockily, settling herself into Siku's desk chair.

As the battle of pixelated pills ensued, Aaron continued to dabble with his work, humming along as his pencil danced across the page. He and Siku would often play a match or two of Dr. Mario periodically. Aaron found it therapeutic and Siku appreciated their fairly even competition, as their tastes didn't usually match up in the field of gaming.

As it turned out, Dr. Mario's solution to every single medical problem seemed to be shoving pounds of pills at them. Aaron questioned how the man had gotten his degree, and if it was even legit.

"Auuughhh, fuck!" Siku growled, tipping Aaron off to the victor.

"Hey," Ruka scolded. "Don't gimme that toilet mouth, sore loser..."

"Grrmmrbbblegggpphhh...Come onnnn, come ooooonnnn, come-"
A victory jingle played.
"FFFFFFFFFFFFFfffffff-!..." Siku huffed the letter out but stopped himself, squeezing his controller.

"Don't break anything," Aaron nonchalantly advised.

“Can we slow it down?” Siku bemoaned. “Give me a chance, here...”

“Oh-! Oh, now you wanna slow down,” Ruka taunted back, clearly enjoying this.

---

[It's super effective!]
[Mally fainted!]

“Got me again,” Robin conceded tiredly, watching her sinister alien-looking-squiddy-monster wither and crumple to the floor before vanishing from the arena on her screen. She'd known full well this would happen. She'd let it happen. She'd been trying at the start but had given up partway through. Big surprise. She always gave up haflway through.

“You seriously need to, like, work on your team formation, Robby,” criticized her roommate.

Ah, so it was the serious one right now. Robin didn't like the serious one.

“Ah, y-yea, I guess,” Robin mumbled half-heartedly. She found herself suddenly eager to up and leave, but her sister wasn't in town to pick her up just yet.

“Tentacruel vs Exeggutor?” her roommate chastised. “Like, what were you thinking?”

“Yea, wasn't uh...-” Robin's irritation was swiftly rising, but she contained it. “I didn't know you had an Exeggutor, so, um...-”

“Sssh, like, you're so underlevelled, too,” Bella was remarking. Or, well, whatever fucking aspect of Bella was talking right now. “I'm telling you, like...ya gotta put time into EV Training or you'll totally...-” Fucking jeez...And there she went. Blabla-fucking-blahh...Talking about a video game like it was a part-time job where one was trying to get a promotion. “-...how I placed third at that San Francisco tournament last month.”

“Y-yea, but, like, I don't have two hours a day to spend on that shit,” Robin sighed, shutting her 3DS handheld closed. One Pokemon battle with Bella was more than enough for today.

“Uhhh, it's not like it's that hard,” Bella scoffed grouchily.
“OK, OK,” Bella suddenly spat, her tone suddenly softened, raised up an octave. “I mean, like, it is a serious time commitment and not everyone is dedicated enough, we get that, we understand.”
She switched back to 'serious' mode, and Robin continued to listen, warily.
“Uh-pfff, buuuuut, uh, yea, shut up? Ya don't win tournies without, like, being dedicated, OK?”
'Soft' Bella: “Ah, right, sure, you're right. So, uh, but we have that paper to finish by tomorrow.”
'Hard' Bella: “Gah, I know, all right? Dang. Shut up already.”
'Soft' Bella: “Calm, now. Be calm.”

As Bella had this conversation, muttering with herself, she slapped her 3DS system shut – it was bigger than Robin's, the newest model. Apparently she'd saved up all summer for one, even though she already had an older model. She'd trade Pokemon with herself, conversing with her...other self...all the while. They each seemed to have their own copy of the game, and each favored different teams of monsters. Robin couldn't help but wondered how it would go if they ever played against themselves one day. Like, would they know each other's moves, or..-?

Pulling out her MacBook Air laptop, Bella grumbled and groaned, complaining under her breath about a professor and then defending him in the same breath.

Robin quietly, sheepishly waited from her position on her bed. She waited for Bella to get so wrapped up in her paper that things got quiet again.

Robin's roommate was Bella Gomez, a short-statured hispanic freshman who liked to wear her hair in two halves – one side shaved short, the other with a lengthy side ponytail. She favored ties over top every kind of shirt imaginable, and always seemed to be wearing khaki-somethings for pants. Her attire was surprisingly uniform, almost like variations on a school uniform the girl adhered to of her own volition. She wasn't always quite as...double-sided as she was being right in that moment. Robin wouldn't describe Bella as broken – she reserved that term for herself – but Bella was just different than most.

Robin and Bella had been rooming for...a month now? Just about. Bella had gotten transferred from another school that 'hadn't worked out' or some kind of shit like that. A few weeks in, and Robin could...kinda see why. According to the e-mail she'd received from Human Resources, her new roommate was [to be treated with care,] and [not provoked into confrontation,] and other vague shit like that.

Yea. A whole mess, it sounded like. Robin probably shouldn't have let herself be so easily co-erced into this situation, but...Robin Nakashima-Gallagher was fucking pathetic and couldn't ever say 'no,' sooo...Here she was. Living with a roommate who admittedly had bigger issues than she did. Not that the school had an inkling of what issues Robin had, since she had gotten good at keeping them to herself, so she thought. Or, well, fuck, maybe they knew what a pussy she was, and this was exactly why they'd stuck Bella with her?

Robin had decided to not pry about Bella's personal situation, and the school had been intentionally indirect. It wasn't her fucking business, anyway. Robin didn't want others knowing what kind of baggage she carried, right? So she didn't ask about Bella's. Robin had chatted with the politer side of Bella one evening during their first week, though, and had basically been told, “Sometimes I can get a little, like, worked up with myself? Just let that happen.” Bella didn't exactly hide or disregard her tendency to talk to another 'herself.' She seemed fairly comfortable about it, actually, and Robin figured this was where her hairo idea had spawned from.

Since being told to 'Just let that happen,' this was...well, exactly what Robin had done. She'd just treated Bella like she treated everyone else, and that seemed to be working well enough so far.

No matter what kind of person they were, though, Robin still really didn't like it when someone tried to tell her how to “properly” play a fucking video game.

Robin caught up on her e-mail, which basically entails marking a bunch of school shit as 'read' (she'd reference them later if she needed to), lamenting the lack of reply on her requests to spend time with people before break...No response from any of the girls in the band, either, which was kind of a drag. Eh, maybe everyone was just busier than she was, wrapping things up for school. Robin had dialed back her social life recently, specifically to catch up on schoolwork.

Logging into her Facebook, Robin was melancholic, seeing posts about people's plans for break or how pumped so-and-so was to finish X project or how annoyed so-and-so was about having to work an extra shift the day before break started...

A bunch of boys, mostly ones Robin didn't recognize, had 'Liked' that photo she was tagged in from the Jiang-Shi on stage at FestivALL. It was a bad photo. Horribly lit, bad framing, blurry. Robin couldn't even make out her own facial expression in the photo.

She'd gotten a handful of friend requests since FestivALL and a couple of private messages, but it was all...strangers. Fans? Robin didn't know what to do with it. It just made her anxious. So the requests sat, undecided upon. The PM's were read but not replied to. And what was there to say to a simple [hey] or [yo whats up girl?] from random fucking strangers?

Robin was glad she'd double checked her FB inbox, though.

[Katrina Kesuk: Hey, I just remembered that I forgot to reply to your e-mail. Is it OK to reply here? I think it'll probably be a bit too difficult to get all of us together in the same place before break. But I'd still be open to hang out. Maybe we could grab a transfer meal together at B&S some time soon? What's your availability like?]

[Robin Nakashima-Gallagher: uh yea! Sounds great. Tuesday afternoon sound good?]

[Katrina Kesuk: I can't do lunch on Tuesday, sorry! What about dinner?]

[Robin Nakashima-Gallagher: yea that works too.]

[Katrina Kesuk: OK! What time?]

[Robin Nakashima-Gallagher: um well whenever. 6? 6:30?]

[Katrina Kesuk: Sure! Just send me a text when you're ready and I'll go meet you.]

[Robin Nakashima-Gallagher: cool.]

[Katrina Kesuk: BTW sorry for sounding stupid, but...]
[Katrina Kesuk: why is your last name hyphenated? You're not married and I missed it, are you?]

[Robin Nakashima-Gallagher: lololol noooo. Hehe. My mom kept her last name when she got married and they just gave me both.]

[Katrina Kesuk: That's really neat!]

[Robin Nakashima-Gallagher: thx. Mom is nakashima and dad is gallagher. Mom moved to usa from japan for university and stayed after she fell in love.]

[Katrina Kesuk: Aw. =3 That's cute. Will you be staying with them for break?]

[Robin Nakashima-Gallagher: yea. Nervous but it'll be okay. You?]

[Katrina Kesuk: Nervous? How come?]
[Katrina Kesuk: The gang and I are going to stay with my Dad, actually.]
[Katrina Kesuk: Should be kind of crazy, haha.]

[Robin Nakashima-Gallagher: oh wow lol. You and your friends? jun aaron and those guys?]

[Katrina Kesuk: Yup! Not a lot of extended family but it'll still be a full table for Thanksgiving.]

[Robin Nakashima-Gallagher: yea everyone on my mom's side is still in japan so it's just gonna be me, mom and dad, and my aunt.]

[Katrina Kesuk: That should nice. A close, cozy time. Any plans?]

[Robin Nakashima-Gallagher: haha no. we'll be lucky if dad even shows up for dinner.]

[Katrina Kesuk: Why's that?]

Robin lingered at her keyboard. She kind of didn't want to get into this shit, but it was her own fault for complaining about it. Maybe it was her brain telling her she needed to complain about it.

[Robin Nakashima-Gallagher: it's just that my dad is so involved in his work. Mom gets sucked into it too and then I barely see them, hear from them...]

[Katrina Kesuk: Do your parents work together?]

[Robin Nakashima-Gallagher: yea they do research. Scientific shit. They have a special lab they need to go to down state so they're not even home most of the time.]

[Katrina Kesuk: Whoa! That sounds important.]

[Robin Nakashima-Gallagher: yea I guess. I don't really give a shit tbh lol. I just wish I could see them more. We're supposed to video chat every other weekend but it ends up being just me and mom usually.]

[Katrina Kesuk: That sounds hard.]

[Robin Nakashima-Gallagher: no way, not compared to what you gotta deal with...]
[Robin Nakashima-Gallagher: shit I shouldn't even be complaining. i'm sorry.]

[Katrina Kesuk: Oh, no, Hun, it's fine. Really.]
[Katrina Kesuk: You should send you parents a message before you leave campus.]
[Katrina Kesuk: Make it really clear how much it would mean to you if they spend time with you this week.]

[Robin Nakashima-Gallagher: good idea.]

No way no fucking way not gonna do that they'll just hate themselves if they get busy and I'll be more disappointed and it'll be a fucking fuck and

[Katrina Kesuk: OK! I should probably head off now! Good to hear from you. See you soon!]

“Shit...Urgh, damnit, what...-?” Jane was grumbled at her phone.

[Robin Nakashima-Gallagher: k np. Thx kat ttyl.]
[Robin Nakashima-Gallagher: bye]

“Huh?” Kat was pulled from her computer screen. “What's wrong?”

"Dunno, man. Dunno," Jane whimpered out, smacking her face and dragging her palm down. She reviewed the text message for the tenth time.

[CJ: this shits gone too long]
[CJ: we need to talk]

"That's...-!" Jane spat, blinking at the phone. "Gah. Can't be good," she moaned, scratching her free hand through her hair as she passed the device to Katrina. Kat inspected it briefly and furrowed her brows. Jane had come to read Katrina's body language very well at this point. She was trying to contain her pessimism. "You think so, too," Jane murmured, panic starting to set in.

"Wh-? N-no, I didn't-..." Katrina began to try and pull her 'positive spin' deal on the situation, but Jane shot it down with a worried glare. "OK, OK," Katrina gave in with a shrug, passing the phone back. "After everything you've told me, it...doesn't sound good," she admitted, rubbing Jane's sweatered shoulder with optimism. "But, I mean...This will be a good thing in the end, Hun. You guys really need to talk this stuff out. You need to lay it all down, you know?"

"Don't you fuckin' get it?" reeled Jane, the words spit-firing from her lips, her body tense, shoulders popped up as she shook her hands out. "We have talked this shit out - over and over and fucking over again! It never goes anywhere! Never gonna lose these assholes..." She slammed her fist on the couch's arm, her reaction eliciting some puzzled glances from nearby students. The campus center lounge was bustling with activity as dinnertime had commenced.

"Oh-OK, Jane, OK," Katrina pacified, sitting down beside the distraught girl and folding her arm across Jane's shoulder. "I'm sorry, I...don't really know what to say."

"Fucking shit," Jane groaned, rubbing her dreary eyes. "It's happening. Shit's gonna hit the fan, and...-"
"You don't know that..."

“'S gonna catch up with me,” Jane repeated in an anguished mumble, a slight quiver in her voice as she struggled to keep her cool. “All this shit...Sooner or later...-” Katrina rubbed her hand across Jane's sweater, her heart aching at the sight of her friend's shell cracking apart and dripping out doubt and fear. "Fuck..." The red-cheeked, freckle-faced girl pounded her palm into her head.

"You don't know that," she tried to encourage, her efforts futile at Jane's now concrete pessimism. "B-besides, maybe now would be a good time, to...call the authorities? Maybe get them to...-" She saw the burning pain in those olive eyes, her hope extinguished, and she gave up with a sigh.

Jane had hit that 'It's No Use' phase where nothing Katrina could say would change anything. Juniper often had these stages, and her brother certainly could, too, but with Jane it was much easier to notice. Those eyes were very telling – often void, lacking in spark, so when they burned the flicker was like a bonfire by comparison.

Katrina opted to stop her words and instead offer a sideways hug in a moment of melancholic reflection.

“I could,” she offered. “I could make the call, if you want.”

“No,” Jane murmured firmly. “Don't want you caught up. Can still play dumb with all this. Keep it that way.”

“Mm...” Katrina could recognize that this whole matter was probably deeper than she wanted to go. But she would take the dive if Jane would let her. “What can I do, then?” Kat asked, sifting her nails across Jane's head, loosely straightening her friend's uneven hair. “Let me help you.”

"Is...everything all right?"

Both girls flinched their heads up to a concerned Aaron standing before them, latched by the hand to a confused Juniper who was picking her nose with blunt disregard of her company. Jane's face turned even more pink as she shrugged and looked away, apparently ashamed of the situation.

"Ummmm," Katrina stalled, unsure of what to respond with. She quickly patted Jane's head, finishing her hand-brushing, and rubbed Jane's shoulders in a very sterile way, breaking her contact. "It's, well...Jane is, um...-"
“More Eagle drama,” Jane grunted.

"Did somebody die?" Juniper gasped, wiping her finger off on her jeans. Her words had a bit of excitement about them.

"Juniper!" Katrina gasped with offense.

“What?” Jun nonchalantly defended herself.

“Fff,” was all Kat had to say to this, shooting Aaron an irked glance. Aaron had seemed to fly right under this interaction, his prying gaze attempting to read the situation with Kat and Jane. Kat found herself rather uncomfortable by this, and spit out, "Um, Jane keeps-...I-I mean, well, C.J. wants to talk with us—her, that is, and Jane's just...well...worried how it's going to turn out."

Jane puffed out a silent and sarcastic laugh through her nostrils. "Hmph. 'Worried?' Try fucking terrified."

"Gosh, I hope it goes well," expressed Aaron with a sheepish smile, trying to push out optimism. Katrina appreciated his effort, at least.

"What if it doesn't?" asked Jun, clearly tired of this whole situation.

“Thing about gangs,” Jane seethed with sarcasm, keeping her voice to a minimum, “They sorta don't play nice.”

“Sounds like I'm-a have to rip some douche a new one for ya,” growled Juniper, aimlessly waving a balled fist.

"You'd better warn 'em," Aaron chuckled, rocking his girlfriend back and forth as she continued to thrash her arm out.

Jane smirked in spite of her doubts and nodded, amused.

"What are you people doing?" cried out a despairing Siku from across the lounge, his arm interlocked with Ruka's. "It's freaking dinner time! Let's get our food on!"

---

- Tuesday, November 25^th -

Jane checked her phone one last time.
[Katrina: Just relax. No matter what happens, we're here for you.]
[Let me know how it goes, I can meet you somewhere if you want afterward.]

[Jane: thx]

[Aaron:i hope it goes ok! we're thinking about you.]

Jane inhaled a deep breath and sighed, sitting in the driver's seat of her car, parked beside the Treetop Pub. She knew a half-empty box of cigarettes sat in her glove compartment, and the idea of breaking them out was eating away at her nerves. She couldn't remember the last time she'd had a cigarette. It had been some time. But she persevered, avoiding the temptation.

She remembered Siku's words during dinner, when he'd offered his own two cents on the matter.

'Ya know, Freckle-Face, any relationship worth something takes some work. Buds, lovers, whatever. It all takes some work. But if all you're doing is work? Thennnn...That's a problem.'

She decided to listen to the voicemail she'd received during her car ride into Wayward.

["YOU HAVE ONE NEW MESSAGE. FIRST NEW MESSAGE."]
[Beep!]
["Heya, Janey Jane..."] Juniper's tone was quiet and subdued. ["I'm taking a break from being an intolerable bitch for, like, thirty seconds...just for you. 'Cause I care. See how much I care?"] Jane couldn't help but smile to herself. ["Listen. Anyway. I don't know what's gonna happen, but just be cool, be calm, be like a rock and know that we got yer back. 'Kay, I-LUV-YOO-BUHBYE~!"]

Having decided that she thoroughly understood the idea her friends were trying to communicate, she slapped her palm against her steering wheel in irritation. Now that she was actually here, and she knew that C.J. and all those asshats were waiting for her, just inside, her heart was swelling with determination. Her friends were right - she deserved better than what she'd been tolerating with the Eagle Eyes.

She zipped up her black vest, black and yellow-striped sleeves emerging from the armholes. Killerbee wasn't the only one who got to wear bee-colored stuff. Jane was taking that for herself. She glanced in her car's rear-view mirror and tried fidgeting with her bangs. She had just showered to ensure that she was clean for this occasion, and couldn't deny that the feeling of clean hair between her dry fingers was kind of nice. Fear-filled eyes of olive, dark skin hanging below them, stared back at her. Her breath shook and she closed her eyelids for a moment to attempt to gain her cool.

"All right," she murmured to herself at last, exiting the car and stepping across the gravel parking lot. She pushed herself inside, taking the plunge into anticipated chaos. The familiar scent of booze and tobacco washed over her senses, teasing her with their alluring false comforts.

"'Ey, look whut da cat dragged in, unh?" Jamjars lived up to his namesake from behind the counter, passing a drink off to a customer.

“Pff,” Jane replied simply, ignoring the tender as his hoodie-donned customer gulped down a single shot. They seemed familiar, but Jane didn't get a good enough look at them.

“K.B.,” said the voice she was dreading. CrackerJack got up from his seat at the counter beside the mystery customer. A duffel bag was resting on the floor between the two stools.

The person in the hoodie unceremoniously scooped up the bag – they were kinda fuckin' short, their shoulder harshly bumping against Jane's hip as they made their exit. Jane was too distracted by C.J. looming right in her face to ask what the stranger was doing there. Shady shit, no doubt. Was it Blue he'd been talking to?

“Finally showed your fuckin' face,” C.J. mused, shaking his head.

Jane glanced over her shoulder to the person leaving with the bag. Yup. That was definitely Blue's ass hiding behind those track pants. Jane hated that puny bitch but goddamn...-

“Hey,” Jack snapped – literally, his fingers clicking together and causing Jane to flinch. “Forget them, look me in the fuckin' eye when I'm talkin' to you.”

The Treetop's gentle bustle of activity had suddenly died to a deathly quiet. There were a lot of eyes on Jane now. Eyes she knew, eyes she didn't know... There were a lot of hushed mutterings going on.

“Holy shit, that's the Bee?”
“-...grew his hair out?”
“-...waste of fucking time with...-”
“-...actually hit that? Da fuck...?”
“-...skinny bitch that took his...-”

“Hi, Miss Killerbee!” Oh, pff. There was Ringford, that dorky little...
“Hello!” And his glue-stuck chum, Molasses, too.

CrackerJack rolled his eyes at the juvenile whispers going on – what he deserved for hiring on fucking teens and students, as far as Jane was concerned.

“Back to business, people,” CrackerJack commanded, clapping his hand to the bar. “Lotta work to do tonight, so let's get the wheels spinnin', huh?” He flipped his attention back to Jane.

Grabbing her by the wrist, he tugged at her to follow. It wasn't an unfamiliar sensation – he'd done this many times before – but it had been so long, and the world was painted in different colors now.

Jane yanked her hand right out of his grasp with a “Fuck off, man,” but followed him back behind the bar, down the familiar short hallway and to the musty basement below. It smelled uncharacteristically like bleach – so much so that Jane coughed a couple of times adjusting to it.

“The fuck is-?” she started, but he interrupted her.
“Serpents put Yojimbo in the hospital last night.”
“Pssh.”
“You think this shit's funny? Am I laughing?”

Jane's heart was beginning to tighten in her chest from Jack's tone. She didn't like this – being alone with him. That intensity in his eyes...The way his cowboy boots flexed with each step, the way the rose stem stitched on his jeans curved across his ass as he walked, and the way he smelled of too much cologne...What had once been thrilling and intriguing once upon a time now filled her with fear and disgust.

“We're in a bad way, Bee,” he stated. “A bad fucking way.”

Jan shrugged incredulously, scratching her brow with a huffy sigh.

“Good for you,” she grunted. “Ain't my problem. How many goddamn ways ya need to hear-”
“I ain't asking...for your help,” Jack spat, sitting down in one of the folding chairs by a table in the corner.

Jane couldn't speak, her throat clogged up with anxiety. Was he going to try to fucking black-mail her, or...-?

“I'm warning you,” Jack sighed, running his hands across his uneven, greased back hair. “Serpents n' us, we got an arrangement going. Right? But it ain't going so well. Might not pan out. Keep your head low, shut your mouth, 'n stay out of it. They fuck with you? You leave it go. Let us deal with it.”

Jane was puzzled. Jack seemed...weirdly calm about everything. He sniffed dryly, rubbing his sleeve across his nostrils, avoiding her gaze.

“Oh, so now you're lettin' me off the hook?” Jane mumbled skeptically. Not too skeptically. “What's the catch?”

“Already told you the catch,” Jack sighed, his fingers slipping over his face, elbow on the table. “Shut your mouth about all this. If dogs come sniffing 'round, ya throw 'em a bone, not a steak.”

Jane's neck was tight. She had difficulty swallowing her own saliva. 'Dogs?' What dogs? Did he mean the cops? Or...the Serpents? Or what?

“Yea, fine,” Jane mumbled out her reply shakily. “Long as my friends get left outta whatever the hell's goin' on.”

CrackerJack's fingers slid down past his chin as his narrowed eyes studied her slouched posture. The way her lanky arms were linked across her stomach. That ferocity he once knew, it was withered. Instead, he saw fear in pale, olive eyes.

“Chh...-” He shook his head to himself.

“What?” grunted Jane with some defense. “Since when'd you give two fucks about what I want, anyway? What's your angle?”

“Heh, well...at least they ain't made you forget that.” Jack sighed out a long, amused laugh, gently nudging his knuckles against the bleach-dried table he sat at. "There's always an angle. I don't know what happened to you," Jack said, "But...those 'friends?' They broke you, Bee. I don't want you back anymore. Know why?”

Jane's brows furrowed, her fingers' grip on her own elbows tightening.

“Why?” she bit.

"You got lazy,” Jack bluntly explained, staring at the spot where a blood stain was mere hours earlier. “Selfish. You wanted...what I had. So? Instead of workin' toward it, ya took it." He glared up at her, his gaze piercing, but only for a moment. It softened. “That was the last time I recognized Killerbee. Now? Now, I don't recognize you at all.”

“Good. Fuckin' good. Then.”

“All the shit you've done? You want to forget it so bad...So bad, Bee.” He pointed his index and middle finger at her. “In your eyes, it's right there, I see it. Trying to forget it all. You want to play house. Play dumb. And what? I wasn't good enough Ken doll for your perfect world? You ain't Killerbee no more, huh? Oh, it's 'Jane', now. That's, uh-...Real cute, ya know? You think tellin' people you got a new name means the past just-...What? Just goes away?” Jack laughed with disbelief.

The way Mom had laughed when she'd first said it to her.

It's Jane, now.

I'm fucking Jane. Why's that funny?

Mom. It's Jane. Not Jamie.

She. Her. Not 'they,' not 'he.' Not 'them.'

Dad. Explain. Just fucking tell her. Why's it so fucking hard for her to get it?

No, I know it's confusing! You think I'm not confused? I am fucking confused. OK?

I'm not that person anymore, Nils. Thanks for waking me up from that.

Killerbee, yea. Who's askin'?

Uh...Didn't get that name pettin' puppies, tell ya that...

Yea, Bee's fine. C.J., K.B....Works. Sound like we're some fuckin' government group, fff.

The shit? Why's it matter what's in my fucking pants? Told you it's 'she.' Dickbag.

Medical shit. Personal shit. Body wasn't gettin' along with itself. Still ain't. Why you askin'?

The fuck were you expecting, Jack? Either it bothers you or it don't.

Nah, nah. It's, uh...it's good that it don't matter. You're the first person I know where it don't matter.

Jane realized she'd taken a couple of steps back. She was feeling queasy. Weak in the knees.

“Ahp, well...” Jack shrugged up at her sarcastically. “Runnin' away from shit? You? Never. Never. Go on. Go ahead. You walk back up those stairs. You walk outta here. And you go pretend this shit I'm goin' through ain't happening. Pretend you had nothin' to do with it. Pretend those buddies you made are gonna last, and you ain't just gonna up n' decide six months from now that, hey, you're new. You're someone else now. You just go and forget all about me, about us, about...-” He lazily flapped up his arms to the floor above them. The jukebox was playing some country song. With a loud bassline that was punching through the floorboards above.

"Forget about you?" Jane posed, mustering up some of the anger that was rising into her face. “Yea. Gladly. Fuck you. This is my-fucking-life." She thumbed her chest with each word. "Sick of this cock-sucking contest you started. Dunno about some of the asswipes upstairs, but the reason I'm in this town is 'cuz I'm supposed to be going to fuckin' college. I'm a fucking student. Fuckin' christ. Not your thug anymore. Not your anything. Piss the fuck off, and leave me alone. Why'd you even ask me here? Asshole..."

By the time Jane was done pouring steam out, CrackerJack had pulled out half a doob and was lighting it up. Of-fucking-course. What pissed Jane off even more than how casual he was being about this shit was how badly she found herself wanting to smoke, too.

“Well,” Jack mumbled. “You ain't getting a cut of your last batch, I can tell ya that.”

Jane snorted at this half-assed answer. Yea, no shit. She wasn't expecting to see the dirty fruits of that labor, anyway.

“Why'd you need me here?” Jane pressed again, undeterred.

“Wanted to see your face,” Jack said simply, taking a slow drag. He sighed the wisps of smoke out through his nose. Fucker still had some kinda feeling for her, did he? She could tell. Was probably the only reason he was letting her off this hook Scott-free. “I had to see for myself, ya know? See the truth: you're different. Like they say.”

“Yea,” Jane confirmed with a bit of pride. “I am different. I'm done with this shit.”

Jack nodded in a placating way, and Jane knew that face. Knew that way his lower lip was propped out. A caveat was coming.

“Well...They ain't.”

Jane shook her head, her eyes rolling in their sockets at his stupidly cryptic shit. Turning for the stairs, she felt her stomach cramp up. Anxiety? Hormonal shit? Something she ate?

Jack called back to her, “I hope for your fuckin' sake...that the Serpents forget about you the way you've forgotten about them.”

Fuck. That cramp in her gut was fear.

Could that have gone worse? Jane wondered, whisking her way up the stairs. Down the narrow wooden hall. Unceremoniously out the back door of the bar. Well...I'm sober, I didn't punch anyone, and I still got all my limbs in tact. So that went as well as it coulda.

Jane stomped out the backdoor, eager to blow this shit stand and get on with things. On her way across the parking lot, the sound of her boots pushing against gravel was relaxing...it meant her escape from this place. But that sound was interrupted by a voice.

“Yo!”

Jane looked over her shoulder to see someone standing in a dim outer reach of the lot. Jane couldn't make out who it was – they had a black hoodie drawn up. But they were standing beside a neon blue mountain bike. Oh, shit. She was still here?

A sudden -pop- echoed across the lot. And Jane knew who it was, for sure. It was Blue.

“The fuh...-?” she whispered under her breath, marching toward the figure.

“Almost didn't recognize you, Bee,” goaded Ethel from atop her bike. “Thought I was looking at full cream instead of half-n'-half.”

Ethel really liked taking digs at Jane's...gender situation. Though Jane could recognize she might pull similar shit on someone if they'd stabbed one of her friends...

“Ya look like shit,” Ethel teased in that stupid, stoically sarcastic way she always did. The punchline was coming, right? “Which, uh...means ya look a lot better than last time I saw ya. How's the head doing?”

“Yea, fuck you, too, Blue,” Jane grumbled. “The hell you doin' here? Dealin' shit with these assclowns?”

“I mean, you had blood on you that night,” Ethel continued, high and mighty atop her dumb bike. “Lotta red. Bit of a mess. Enh.” She shrugged her head slightly to the side, brows lifted. “Matched your hair, though. Ya know, you should consider picking a color and sticking with it. Orange, black, red? Make up your mind, already. How about yellow? I used to be real big into yellow. You seem like a yellow kinda guy. Girl. Aw, shit – girl – jeez, sorry 'bout that-”
“Yea, think that shit's still funny, huh?” Jane dryly retorted, her tone flat. “Know what kinda person keeps tellin' the same joke? Over n' over? A fucking child.”

Ethel smirked, nodding in some weird kind of approval. She blew a purple bubble of her gum and popped it with her tongue. She looked satisfied -- like what she'd been wanting was to get burned right back. She took off her hood, her neon blue hair highlights washed out in the dim lighting of the lot. Elbows dangling over her handlebars, Ethel leaned forward on her bike, intent on continuing this weird staring contest.

“I am a kid at heart huh?” Ethel snickered, chewing her gum with her mouth wide open. Jane caught herself staring at the girl's lips, surprised that they, too, were not colored blue, as they often had used to be. “Lookit how much fun we have, huh? And we're just talking right now. Remember last time we hung out? Oh. Ah, wait.” She laughed. “Nope. Guess you wouldn't remember, 'cuz, uh...-” She tapped the back of her head with her finger, eyes squinted, voice cracking. “-...I did hit ya kinda hard, didn't I?”

Jane hated interacting with Blue. Found herself weirdly interested – attracted, even – in the pint-sized delivery girl, and hated that fact. Hm. Kinda like the cigarette she was gonna smoke as soon as she got to her car. Rather than give Ethel the satisfaction of a reply, Jane made to check her phone for messages that weren't there.

“I got a promotion that night, actually,” Ethel was continuing to ramble. Jane was uncomfortably compelled to listen to the cocky prick go on, while simultaneously still too shaken from her run-in with Jack to make a fuss. “And it seems like you...-” Ethel nonchalantly cast her index finger at Jane. “-...got a demotion. Guess that means I owe you one, huh?”

Jane just silently stared back. Blue was like a kid. If you just ignored her for long enough she'd give up. But fuck, was she goddamn persistent.

“Know what?” Ethel continued to tease. “I'm a good sport, I'll get you a beer sometime. Girls' night out, huh?” She grinned a toothy grin, squishing her bubble gum in her canines.

Ethel's taunting glee came to a stop as she realized her phone was vibrating.

“Gotta take this,” Ethel dryly informed, whipping her smartphone out of her hoodie pocket. Eyes still narrowed at Jane, she sighed into her phone, “Hey.” The enthusiasm that had started bubbling up had swiftly been snuffed out.

Jane's teeth were clenching up, and she had to consciously loosen her jaws.

“Look, what do you want me to tell you?” Ethel hissed into her phone, finally breaking eye contact. “Other than, oh, I dunno...-” She rolled her eyes, pausing for sarcastic effect. “-...that I fucking told you so?”

Jane was disgusted, watching this tiny little bitch, on her tiny little bike, holding Jane up. Having the nerve to-
“That's what I've been saying,” Ethel whined at her phone. The way she spoke was somewhere inbetween a whiney teenager and a cocky cock. “Wh-? No, I don't wan-...No, no. I am a fucking courier, OK? Not-...No, I don't even give a shit, it's not about th...-” Ethel was suddenly uncomfortable with Jane's curious glaring, which Jane savored. “Hey. Hey-hey. Hey, listen, lemme call you back,” she suddenly grunted out. Her phone immediately found its way back into her hoodie, and her eyes were latched back onto Jane's.

“What're they tryin' to saddle you with this time?” Jane mumbled, working an empathy angle.

With an bemused glare, Ethel blurt back, “Not stabbing anyone.” Ethel chewed her gum, blew a big, purple bubble, then popped it with as much threat as one could.

Jane's eyes slid to the side, her arms crossed as she grumbled out, “Didn't have a fucking choice. Kinda like when you cracked me in the skull?” Ethel shrugged in a 'fair enough' kind of way. Jane pressed, “So the fuck they want ya to do, then?”

“Look,” Ethel spat, cutting off Jane's attempt at intel. She pointed a finger at Jane, chewing at her gum with her mouth open. “You think I enjoy this shit? You think I find this all funny? Well, part of me does – 'cuz it's the only way I can stay sane in this shit-hole town. This isn't my world, I'm just stuck living in it right now.”

“Then leave,” Jane starkly retorted. “What I'm fuckin' doing...”

Ethel snapped back in a grumble, “Be grateful you can, you little cunt.”

Jane was tempted to reach out her arms and knock this smack-talking dick right off her stupid bike.

“Call me that again,” Jane threatened, “'N you'll get help leaving this world you're stuck livin' in.”

At Jane's wide-eyed glare, Ethel's eyelids slid down coolly, the edge of a smile at the corner of her lips.

Ethel murmured, “Oooh, big words from the little cunt.”

Screw it, then.

Jane gave Ethel a hard shove on the collar, but the girl's legs were sturdier than they looked – she maintained her balance atop her bicycle. She then smirked up at Jane with amusement.

“What's your fucking problem?” Jane demanded, her tone lacking the sting it had just a moment ago.

“I've got no exit from this bullshit,” Ethel explained with a shrug. “Not yet, anyway.”

That had been a more earnest answer than Jane had been expecting. She was so puzzled that she didn't see Ethel's foot come for her leg. The shorty's heel really got her good, right in the shin.

“Ow, ssss-!” Jane sucked in air through grit teeth. Damn, that had...actually stung a lot. Scraped some skin, there, or...-

“Don't go shoving people, little cunt,” Ethel taunted with mild irritation as she sped off on her bike. She was fast, too – especially given her size, toting a fucking duffel bag on her back. That big ass was like, all muscle, Jane figured.

The hell was all that, anyway? Some kind of playground horseshit? What was this, sixth grade?

Jane grunted and grumbled profanities under her breath as she half-limped to her car. Her brain was whirling with possibilities – potential reasons why a fucking Silver Serpent would be all...hanging out at the Treetop, cool as you like. And nobody had so much as drawn a weapon on her? What had they given her, anyway? Cash they owed? The rumors were fucking true, then: the Eagles' were under the Serpents' thumb. Was supposed to go the other way around.

If shit escalated, people would get hurt. Fuzz would go sniffing around. Attention would follow – attention Jane didn't need. None of them needed.

Finally in the safety of her car, Jane made haste to exit the town. Zipping down the brief stretch of highway between Wayward and Rokudai, she blared country music from her speakers and inhaled a cigarette, her hands shaking all the while. As her brain clicked its gears, sparks flying as she tried to figure out a way out of it all, her eyes started welling up with fear – tears she let spill against her dashboard.

---

- Wednesday, November 26th -

"Damn," whispered Juniper, rubbing sand from her eyes. "Did she finally stop?"

"Yea," Katrina replied quietly, glancing over her shoulder. Jane was sprawled on her stomach, one arm hanging off the edge.

Katrina was sitting in her desk chair, but had it propped against the edge of her bed. Jane's face was flopped over a decorative pillow with a penguin patched on its surface, her head at the foot of the bed and her socks wedged under Katrina's primary pillow. Her mouth was agape, drool trickling onto the penguin's chest. Their positioning left Kat within inches of her friend.

"She's dead asleep," Katrina observed with a sympathetic smile. Jane's right arm was positioned in such a way that her forearm hung over the bed but didn't bend, her hand flopped down by the wrist. Kat reached up her hand and gave the freckled palm and a light squeeze. Jane's fingers flexed slightly in reaction before she slurped up her own drool.

Endeared but exhausted, Katrina sighed, diverting attention back to her computer. She was reviewing the sentence she was halfway through, as Juniper clicked off her music keyboard.

The snoozing girl behind Kat let loose a deep, drawling yawn, stretching her arms out wide and grimacing as she twitched out her kinks. She grumbled something incoherent in her sleep.

"Rough night, huh?" Juniper mumbled, scratching her chest as she found her way to her bed.

"I guess so," Katrina affirmed warily, struggling to continue her paper. “Didn't explain the details, but-...Well, if I'd had to be alone with him again? And he was making threats? I'd probably be in bad shape, too.”

Spending a couple of hours trying to appease the despairing Jane after a dinner date with Robin after an extra shift at the student editor's desk after classes...It had all eaten away at Kat's dedicated 'crunch-time,' so she was cannibalizing sleep to make up the difference.

"You still writing?" wondered Juniper as she shuffled her blanket over top her body.

An exhausted "Mmm" was the answer given as the delay from her roommate's yawn finally caught up to Katrina and she repeated the gesture herself.

"'Kay,” Jun acknowledged. “Don't stay up too late."

"Not much of a choice," moaned the girl at the laptop. "Almost done..." Katrina took a look at her computer's clock with some despair: [2:45am]

"Good luck, Sugar-Cube."

"Good night."

---

"Should I bring my laptop?" Aaron wondered, wrapping his power cable up as he admired the House of Aero logo he'd painted onto the device's lid.

"Go for it," Siku advised. "I know Katrina and I are bringing ours, just in case."

"Hm..." Aaron contemplated the decision. "I don't want to end up doing any work on it, though."

"Soooo...don't do any work on it," chuckled Siku, folding a button-down shirt and packing it into his case.

"Yea," Aaron acknowledged with a slight nod, tucking his machine flush against the pile of sloppily placed clothes in his duffel bag.

"You might wanna hit the bathroom before we go, too, Champ," suggested Siku. "Gonna be a looooong trip."

"When are we supposed to leave?" Aaron wondered, beginning to zip up his duffel bag.

"Fifteen minutes. Oh-hey-wait-wait!" He flashed up his palms up. After getting Aaron's attention, Siku poked a finger at their small entertainment center. "Would you mind bringing your Wii? We could play, like...stuff...together. On it."

"Haha, sure." Aaron went about sliding the system's components in a dedicated carrying bag with the Nintendo logo emblazoned onto its surface. Siku's phone went off from his desk. He grabbed it, but paused to let the last line play, too amused by it to pick up prematurely.

["Because I'm a lady, that's why!" "Oh, you're not a lady." "You're nothing but a sister!"]

"Cute," Aaron complimented the new ringtone as Siku flipped the device open.

"Hey, Kat, what's up?"

["Hey. Just a head's up that Jun's running late..."]
"As usual."

["Heh. Yea, no kidding. Anyway...ummm...we needed to...to get a few things for the trip, so...-"]

"You OK, there?"

["Ugh,"] sighed his sister. ["Just...so tired. But, so...um...Jane and I? We're heading to the campus store...at the CC. Would you mind, like...meeting us there? We can head back over to Aqua...and grab...you know...our stuff. Get Juniper, and...head right out."]

"Yeeeea, no prob."

["OK. See you, in...um...in a few."]

"Ooookay."

"What's going on?" wondered Aaron.

"We're gonna meet Katrina and Freckles at the CC and swing over to get your girlfriend on the way out. She sounds pretty beat, or...something."

"Ah. She can probably nap on the way there." Aaron set his Wii bag onto his bed beside his duffel, ready to go. "Well, let's do this."