Page 37 of Jinxed

DESPITE THE FACT THAT I HAVEN’T SLEPT a wink, I arrive at school extra early. I don’t want to miss a moment of what’s about to happen.

I’m not the only one. It feels like the entire school has turnedup to see if any of the teams will steal some of Gemma’s team points. Carter is there with Hunter, sitting in the front row with the rest of his teammates – except for Gemma. He doesn’t look at me as I walk past him to take my seat – I’m beneath his gaze, not worth even looking at – but I take in every inch of the smug grin on his face, because I want to compare it exactly to what it looks likewhen it gets wiped off.

Mr Baird is in the centre of the gymnasium floor, dressed in a lab coat that falls to his knees, next to Gemma. On a jumbotron screen at the far end of the gymnasium are the point totals. At the moment, Team Gemma are the only ones with anything on the board.

One by one, the other team captains shuffle in with their team’s ‘repaired’ baku to be assessed. Mr Baird’s owlbaku flies forwards and connects to the repaired baku’s leash. Then he projects their functionality. No one even gets close to 90%. I think Team Dorian actually made their bakuworseoff with their repairs.

The clock ticks past 8:15, 8:20, 8:25... only five minutes until the bell sounds and time is up.

‘Looks like Ashley might not even show – what a coward,’ says Carter,justloud enoughfor most of the school to hear and titter away. I’ve bitten my fingernails down to the nailbed, and I have to sit on my hands before I destroy them any more.

What if something’s happened to Jupiter since we left them?

>>Only idiots could have broken what you fixed. I mean I wouldn’t put it past them to be idiots but...

Jinx doesn’t need to continue, because just then the doors open and Aeroflies through. The baku takes my breath away every time. Almost as much as the guy who struts in behind, his head held high. I flick back to Carter, and see him shifting uncomfortably in his seat. His façade of bravado is wavering.

Tobias walks over and stands in front of Mr Baird.

Carter lets out an audible sigh of relief, and foolishly he stands up. I almost want to shout at him to sit downand stay with his team – and it seems like Gemma feels the same way. She’s hissing something furiously at him, but he waves her off. I relax back into my seat. I want to watch this spectacle play out, because I know what’s coming. ‘Come to forfeit in person, Toby? No hard feelings right, my man?’ Carter walks forward as he talks, cutting Tobias off before he can reach the stage, sticking out hisfist to bump him. I frown, wondering what the story is between them.

Tobias stops abruptly, looks Carter up and down, then dismisses the outstretched fist to go and stand next to Mr Baird. Internally, I cheer. Carter frowns, then tries to style it out. ‘Whatever. Sore loser.’ He turns to walk back to his team, just in time to see all their eyes open wide.

‘We haven’t lost yet, Carter,’ saysAshley, who’s just come through the doors. There are audible gasps as Jupiter trots up to her heel, lookingbrand spanking new. It’s enough to make even my tired eyes bulge from my head. She didn’t look this good when she left the locker – Ashley must have spent the rest of the morning polishing her to perfection.

The impact is immediate. The whole school explodes with the sound of students talkingall at once, and even the teachers exchange glances and hushed whispers of amazement. Mr Baird’s face is white with shock.

‘What? How?’ splutters Carter. ‘That’s not possible.’

‘Mr Baird, I’d like to submit Jupiter for review,’ says Tobias, his voice loud, clear and firm. ‘We believe she is back to well above 90% capacity – maybe evenfullstrength – and that we should be able to split the firstbattle points with Gemma’s team.’

‘Certainly – I’ll run the diagnostic tests.’ Mr Baird’s voice tries to remain steady and impassive, but I can tell that he’s impressed.

It’s a tense few minutes as Mr Baird’s baku leashes up to Jupiter. Even that doesn’t seem to be enough. The owl sends various commands to Jupiter – from asking her to walk, then trot, then run to making sure that she can performadvanced functions, such as 360° video capture, facial recognition and multi-way phone calls. Jupiter passes all of the tests with flying colours – and ends with a spectacular demonstration of running through a baku obstacle course, which is set up on the walls around the gym. Ashley is beaming from ear to ear, her pride naked on her face. She catches my eye at one point and gives me a smallthumbs up. I grin back, and hoot loudly while clapping with all my might after Jupiter performs a final jump through a small hoop. What a star baku that is.

There’s a huge cheer as Jupiter’s percentage is displayed: 98%. ‘Well, notquite100, but it looks to me that everything is in order with your baku, Ashley. I don’t know how your team did it, but you appear to have pulled off a miracle. Idon’t think I’ve ever seen a comeback quite like it.’ He turns so that he is facing the school. ‘After the first round of Baku Battles, the top two teams – Gemma and Tobias – split the round points, giving them fifty each. The next battle will take place the first week of November. Be ready, everyone. Now, get to class.’

As if timed to perfection, the bell rings, signalling the official startof the day. Jinx threads through the crowd in front of me, so I have no choice but to follow. As I approach, I catch the tail end of Mr Baird’s conversation with Tobias. ‘Maybe when all this is over, you can give us a masterclass of just how you did it, Tobias? I’m very intrigued how you managed to fix that baku. In all honesty, I’m not sure that I could have done it myself – not in a single night– and not with the resources you have access to.’

Tobias catches sight of me just over Mr Baird’s shoulder, and – to the delight of the butterflies in my stomach – he winks at me. ‘I might just have found a secret weapon, sir.’ I feel like I might burst into flames on the spot – at any rate, I feel my face burning bright red. I duck my head so that my fringe falls over my face, hiding it. ThenI think to myself: no. I don’t need to hide. We just spent all night working together. This is an inside joke. I have nothing to be ashamed off. I raise my chin, shaking my fringe out of my eyes... and I wink back. Tobias flashes me a white-toothed grin, then turns back to Mr Baird. ‘But you won’t mind if I keep it to myself until the end of term?’

Mr Baird chuckles. ‘Not at all.’

Behindthem, I catch sight of Carter. He’s staring at me intently, his boar’s ears pricked forward – exactly in the direction of where Tobias and Mr Baird had been talking. I turn away immediately. Did he catch my wink to Tobias? Did he understand what it meant? Surely not. If I keep on walking, maybe nothing will have changed...

The team gathers around Ashley and Jupiter. Tobias looks visibly relieved,and it’s nice to see a genuine smile on his face instead of the normal frown. Instantly he seems more relaxed. Happier.

‘We should do something to celebrate, don’t you think?’ he says. ‘How about BakuBeats tomorrow night?’

‘Yes!’ says Kai. ‘I kicked your ass at that last year.’

‘I’m in!’ says River.

‘Me too,’ says Ashley.

My heart leaps with excitement. I’ve always wanted to go to BakuBeats.It’s a new Moncha-owned attraction that’s opened up – you bring your baku to a giant converted warehouse with dozens of soundproof, clear-plastic bubbles filled with different instruments. It’s a blend of karaoke and pretending to be your own rock band while your baku helps you not to sound terrible, and bright lights sync along with the music. It sounds ace – and expensive – and the bubbles havebeen booked up for months so I never thought I’d get a chance to go.

I hesitate. ‘My treat,’ Tobias says, bumping me on the shoulder.

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