Page 39 of Jinxed

‘A super cool level 3 baku, a place at the fancy Academy, a date with a hot guy, an evening at BakuBeats... you really are living the dream, aren’t you, Lace?’ Her voice sounds wistful, but she smiles at me. ‘I’m really happy for you.’

I shuffle awkwardly in my socks. It all feels too good to be true.

‘Oh, you mightnot want this any more but I’ve been meaning to give it back to you... we just haven’t seen each other.’ Zora puts my old beetle baku on the desk in my room. I’d forgotten that I’d given it to her. ‘I just added a couple of custom apps and tweaked some things as a thank you for Linus. No big deal. Maybe you can sell it to earn some extra cash?’

‘Thanks,’ I say.

‘Don’t wear that shirt,’ Zorasays. ‘Wear the other one – with the little cats on it. And roll up the sleeves. Much more on brand.’ Then she grins. ‘Don’t worry. You’re going to be great.’

I take her advice, switching my shirts and taking one last look in the mirror, before letting out a deep breath. ‘I hope so.’

* * *

I can’t believe I’m about to visit the home of Tobias Washington.

Just stepping on to Companioneers Crescentis as incredible as I imagined it. As someone who’s grown up living the vertical condo life, seeing the oversized mansions lined up in a row makes me feel overawed.

This is a part of Toronto that hasn’t changed in fifty years – whereas most of the city has grownup, a concrete and glass jungle maze of high rise condominiums and office blocks – this is a preserved pocket of old-fashioned suburbia– big detached homes, with grand design features like Romanesque columns and perfectly manicured hedges, with driverless cars parked on paved, circular, heated driveways. There are even real garages here, like the ones from my tech history books. I’m envious.

Tobias’s home is one of the biggest on the block. The Moncha logo is embossed above the front door, but it’s slightly modified – with acluster of stars in the corner. I stare at it as I wait for the entry camera to approve Jinx for entry.

The door clicks open, and Tobias is standing in the hallway. My breath catches, and my feet feel frozen on the step.

I must have faltered for a second longer than is normal, because a small frown creeps on to Tobias’s face. ‘Are you coming in?’

Jinx gives me a tiny electric shock that makesme jump – and gets me moving.

Yet stepping into the house itself does nothing to alleviate my anxiety. It’s the grandest home I’ve ever been in, palatial in size compared to my condo. In fact, I’m pretty sure our ‘open plan’ kitchen and living room would fit inside their entrance hall. Or when it’s this big, does it get called an atrium, like at the Academy?

There’s a wide staircase that spiralsup to the second floor and a blown-glass chandelier hangs down from the ceiling. I can barely fathom living in a home with a second floor and I’m dying with curiosity to see what the upstairs is like, but Tobias leads me past that and into their kitchen. The hallway is wallpapered with photographs and videos of Tobias’s family: his parents, his brother, Nathan, and him. I can’t help myself –I stop in front of one of the videos. I see a different Tobias to the one that I’ve come to know. He’s standing in the background of the shot, while his brother – equally handsome, if not slightlymoreso in a conventional sense, takes centre-stage shooting hoops. Yet there’s something harder about his brother, a glint in his eye, an air of arrogance that comes across even in the way he celebrateswith an exaggerated fist pump, and throws the ball back to his brother just a littletoohard.

Tobias comes up and stands next to me, staring at the video. ‘You know how some families get kind of crazy about sports? They push their kids to train harder, yell at coaches to make sure they get a spot on the first team, line up scouts and judge performance by the number of trophies on the shelf?Well, that’s my family, but with science. Oh, and basketball.’

‘Woah,’ I say.

‘We actually have an inter-family leaderboard, if you can believe it,’ he says, with a grin that seems half-grimace.

‘What’s that like?’

He shrugs. ‘Just means I have to work extra hard to take over the number one spot.’

I can’t imagine what it must be like to grow up with that kind of family pressure. I’ve onlyever placed it on myself – I know that Mom would never force me to achieve, or reach any kind of goals that weren’t my own.

‘Come on, I’d better give this thing to you and then we can get going to BakuBeats.’

I follow Tobias through to the kitchen, which almost takes my breath away. The counters are a polished white granite, which sparkles as it catches the light streaming in from the floor-to-ceilingbifold doors that lead to the enormous backyard. It would be my mom’s dream come true to have a kitchen like this.

‘Here you go,’ he says. On the counter is a circle of silver. It looks like a bracelet of some sort.

I don’t want to sound ungrateful, especially as he’s looking at me so expectantly. I pick it up and hold it delicately between my fingers. ‘It’s beautiful but... uh... whatis it?’ I ask.

Tobias laughs. ‘It’s a boost collar. Top of the line, straight from Moncha Corp. Your baku wears it around its neck and it enhances some of its functions – like speed and accuracy on the battlefield. I was going to give it to Ashley if she won the battle, but seeing as you were the one responsible for fixing up Jupiter... it’s for you.’

‘Wow, this is... amazing.’

‘Put iton your baku!’

For a second, I falter. I don’t know how Jinx will respond to having an... accessory.

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