Keep My Secret

I Hate Trains

If there was one thing Juno hated more than the mountains, it was subways. And that was saying something as she despised mountains. But this was her only mode of transportation until she was able to find her bike. 

Juno Hunter had only been in the city for two weeks and had somehow managed to lose her bike, get mugged, and fail to get into her dream high school. And her pissy mood did not stop there. After her mom had made the executive decision to move from the mountains to Cape Staspils her life has been a rollercoaster of negative emotions. But two things kept her relatively sane. Her brother, who had a knack for attracting a humorous amount of girls, and her practice in witchcraft.

Juno was in fact, a witch. She had begun practicing as a sort of rebel against her mother, who was a top biology scientist and had several awards for her research in DNA cloning. She had tried to get Juno to join her and get her interested but to no avail. It had backfired on her so hard that she now had a witch with ten years of experience to deal with. 

And that did not help with her bursts of stressed induced anger. But her brother William had a knack for keeping her sane when their mother got one of her fits. He was a goofy jock who was the most innocent little cinnamon roll the world had ever seen. A bit braindead too. But she loved her family nonetheless, so much so that it was the only reason that she got on this disgusting tube they called a subway in the first place.

When the train dinged to signal the passengers of a platform approach, Juno carefully removed her headphones from her head and placed them into her backpack. She hefted her backpack and her leather satchel and weaved around the other passengers to the door while staying wary of rats under her feet. 

Since it was night outside, most of the people in the train consisted of dolled-up girls going to some club or rave dressed in provocative and sparkly clothing, or tired and sagging workers coming from a twelve-hour shift that reeked of coffee and probably trash.

Juno may be rebellious against her mother, but she wasn't stupid. She could tell when a teen had been smoking weed, or when a man's eyes lingered on her for too long, or when the train brakes weren't at full capacity, but she had learned through her craft to store the info rather than act. She learned to slip past obstacles rather than attack them. 

So when the doors opened she knew immediately that a hand was reaching down into her jean pocket where she kept her phone. She snatched the hand and pulled its owner out from the crowd in an instant and to the side of the platform. She wrenched her phone from their grip and stuffed it into her pocket before even registering who the hand belonged to. Juno snapped her head up to scold the thief but stopped short.

The thief was looking down at her with hooded eyes and a look of disgust. Dressed in street clothes the boy sneered and pried his wrist from her grip. Despite his normal appearance, his energy jarred her senses. He dressed like a city boy, and his eyes seemed too tired to be normal kids' eyes. 

She suddenly was aware of how unordinay she looked, with her jeans and white sneakers and flannel patterned hoodie. She looked more alive than anyone else here. She retracted her hand and stuffed it into her pocket quickly.

"What the hell are you doing?" he spat at her.

Juno snapped out of her reverie and felt anger boil up.

She yelled, "What am I doing? What are you doing, stealing someone's phone?! Do you know how rude that is, and illegal?"

The boy scoffed and rolled his eyes. "What is and isn't illegal isn't my problem, but you will if you don't leave my sight."

Juno's eyes widened for a moment before snorting and letting out a laugh. "You think you have the right to tell me what to do? God, what kind of city kid are you?"

The boy leaned in and stared at her dead in the eyes. "The worst kind." He then stood straight and turned away from her and towards the train, raising a hand in mock dismissal, "See you never, country girl."

Juno was left speechless in the middle of the platform as the subway flew down the tracks and into the night with what may have been the strangest and rudest kid she had ever seen. Sighing and hefting her bags she turned to the stairs that lead up into the city light of Cape Staspils and to her destination.