Enrollment
1.
It was hot. Stifling. The sun was absurdly bright that afternoon, and seated right beneath it was a young woman draped in a dark peacoat not fit for the season, large framed sunglasses hiding her face, and short cropped black hair standing out wild on her head. She was also barefoot.
Anyone else would have looked a complete mess. But the hand resting on her hip, an arm draped across her lap, and the knee over knee poise made her likely a model on a fashion magazine spread.
She shifted uncomfortably on the stone bench beneath her. It hadn't been more than an hour in this place and she couldn't wait to leave. She was exhausted, itchy and sweaty beneath her coat, and nursing a bruised shoulder. Getting here had been a pain, literally.
Behind dark lenses, brown eyes surveyed her surroundings. It was a campus of some kind, built on brown stone. It had to be a private school - she had been eyeballed by a bunch of kids while getting ushered in.
Well, that was a way of putting it. Ushered in. She was dragged here. Right out of the sleezy comfort she found in LA. She should've just kept her head down. Shouldn't have tried to help.
Now she's stuck, on the other side of the country, and it's suddenly very likely she's about to get enrolled into private school. Another institution for another stray.
A muscle twitched in her jaw.
Whatever.
"You look like someone took a shit on you," came a deep, rumbling voice.
She didn't spare a glance. "That's because someone did, obviously."
A wide, burly shape stepped in front of her, giving her a moment's relief from the blazing sun. It called itself, Logan.
"Don't you wanna change out of that?"
She scowled, "You're literally wearing two layers of flannel and wool socks."
She looked up at him then, as he came into focus. Tousled, ink black hair framed a square face, every line of it hard and rough. The knuckles on her left hand could attest to that. She clenched it as she stared directly into those glittering dark eyes of his.
"You're dumping me here."
"That's not what ..."
"Don't lie!"
The sharpness of her tone took them both by surprise.
Her mouth twisted as she looked away.
"You'll stay here."
She closed her eyes, willing back the burn of tears. Fuck this.
"I'll be here. I ain't abandoning you. Not now, not ever. You hear me?"
He was quiet as he spoke, but the resolve was there. Iron clad. She glanced at him, and saw the vulnerability in his face that made her step out on the sidewalk that night and into his life.
Her gut twisted, thinking of a home she could never go back to. Was she really trying to make a new one, now?
"Look at me." The air around them shifted. When she met his eyes, they blazed with something else. She wouldn't be able to place it until much later, when she would find herself at the edge again, and he was the only thing keeping her from falling into that abyss.
"Stay, and I'll give you the revenge you been looking for."
She sat up then. Rigid with an energy not unlike the sparks that flew from her fingers.
"What did you say?" She almost growled. "Say it again."
"That's the deal. And it stays between you and me because they won't understand what happened to you."
She stands, nearly a third his size but with a stance that equaled his in ferocity. "I don't know anything about you, this place, or what's happening to me." Her tongue pressed against her teeth. "You don't know me either."
His gaze narrowed. "I recognize what you really are," she scowled. "You're on a long road to being like me - and you don't want that. So I'll do everything I can to keep you off it."
"You'll let me do it, in the end? You won't stop me?"
His expression broke then. A smile, which looked terrifying because it had no business being on that face, made Jubilation Lee dread his next words.
"Darlin', if you become Death itself I won't stop you." His smile softened, "I just can't promise it'll turn out all good, in the end."
She was about to counter him when he waved the conversation off with a massive hand. "It's done. Now let's get going. I got work to do and you gotta get settled in."
Jubilee fell in step with him as he stalked off. "So what, I go to class, get good grades, and you reward me with a shot at righteous murder?"
"No, you go to school, get good grades, and try not to burn the whole thing to the ground."
"What do they even teach here?"
He glanced at her then, "Everything. It's a good school. Even for a smart ass like you."
"What are the kids like?"
"Like you. Like me. Different. Gifted. A lot of them don't have homes to go back to. A lot of them are alone."
"That sounds so attractive, great selling point."
"They all need this place, and each other."
"Still sounds like every other institution I got thrown into."
"Maybe, but we have a pool."
She rolled her eyes. This was actually happening and she was actually allowing it. "When do I start?"
"Tomorrow -- "
"-- But tomorrow is Saturday --"
"Today, you get to meet your roommates."
Jubilee came to a grinding halt. "You never said anything about roommates."
He kept walking, a deep laugh booming from his chest. "Oh you'll like this bunch. Trust me."