Not My Name

Part 5

"That friend of yours. Wasn't she close to Vander and the others?"

"Close... Isn't the words I would use. None of us knew anything about her, not even Vander, she would disappear and come back without explaining anything."

"So she was an unknown that he left around... I'll look into her." Jinx rolled her eyes before getting close to him.

"I don't care how you investigate, just don't scare her away."

"Jinx, most of your old family was-"

"Was bad for me I remember..."

"Then you should understand why it's important for me to look into her thoroughly, and if I find something wrong I'll tell you about it."

"Well good luck finding her, she's good at disappearing. We tried to follow her a bunch of times."

"Just because a group of teens couldn't track her down doesn't mean that I don't have other methods."

—-

"Tails, tell your dad to stop trying to track me, it's getting annoying." Corabel glared at the floor after she dropped down from the roof next to said girl.

Jinx broke out in a grin, "Maybe stop making it so hard. He just wants a bit of information to make sure you're 'safe'." She used fake quotation marks on the last word to prove how ridiculous she also thought it was.

Cora tilted her head to give Jinx a look. "You don't think I'm safe? You think I'll hurt you or something?" There was a playful gleam in her green eyes as she asked before she continued, "Aren't you the one who came to me in the first place to reconnect?"

Jinx scoffed, "Yeah but you're the one who walked into Silco's office and pinned me down in front of him."

"Well maybe, don't make it so easy next time, Tails." She grinned and Jinx's head snapped toward her.

"Easy? What!" Her voice raised a few octaves in indignation. "I let you pin me down because I was distracted that you had come back!"

"Oh sureeee..."

The blue-haired girl furrowed her eyebrows, was Corabel always like that? She was giving off this playfulness that she hadn't experienced before. When they were younger she always seemed so, distant, but now, she looked lively and young.

"I can prove it." Corabel only tilted her head and her grin seemed to widen.

"You can try."

Jinx didn't hesitate to lunge for the other girl but she easily dodged and slipped behind her, Jinx could tell where she was though and simply leaned all her weight to the side as soon as the other girl grabbed her. Cora seemed surprised and almost stumbled but Jinx took the opportunity to kick her in the stomach and pull away, which did cause her to stumble this time.

"Oh wasn't that a bit familiar to when you tackled me and I kicked you off?" Jinx teased, and the other girl just narrowed her eyes before she took a few steps back. Jinx readied herself, assuming she would tackle her again, but to her surprise, she quickly turned and went into a nearby alley making her eyes widen.

"No!" She quickly chased after her, but it was empty when she reached it and she let out a loud groan.

"This is definitely cheating..." She walked back out of the alley and into the middle of the road, so she wouldn't be caught by surprise there. It only took about 30 seconds for a few clangs to hit the ground near her. When she looked near her feet she saw a familiar smoke bomb. "Wait, when did you-" She cut herself off when it detonated and she chuckled. Cora was a lot more resourceful than she anticipated.

She tried to keep her eyes open, but she still wasn't able to stop the other girl from tackling her again. Again she tried to kick her in the stomach, but the other girl maneuvered her body so she couldn't reach and she was sitting on her legs.

"I win." Her voice sounded extremely smug making Jinx stop in her attempt to get up.

"Maybe you would've..." She started and she was glad the smoke was starting to clear so she could see the confusion on the other girl's face, "If you weren't so light..." She then jerked her body upward so Cora was slightly bucked up and it freed her legs enough that she could then swipe them under her making her fall and free her hands. Jinx then proceed to scramble up and then pinned down the other girl in the same position. Jinx couldn't help the smugness in her own voice as she looked down at the scowl on the orange-haired girl. "I win."

"That's cheating?"

"Really? Coming from the one who ran away and used my own smoke bomb against me?" She asked while standing up and offering her hand.

"Whatever, next time I'll just use rope and tie you up."

"Good luck with that." Jinx couldn't help the grin on her face as she saw the small smile that was on Corabell's. How often did she actually get to see the girl smile? Even though it's been a few weeks since they reunited it's still been a rare sight.

"I'm happy to have you back." She couldn't help but sigh, and Cora gave her a suspicious look.

"Why?"

Jinx bit her lip unable to stop the voices from intruding on their moment.

'She doesn't care'

'She's gonna leave when she gets the chance'

'She knows how much of a Jinx you are'

"-nx, Jinx, Jinx! It's okay! I'm not upset!" Cora was holding her arms which made her realize she had zoned out.

"S-sorry, sorry,"

"I-it's..." She let go with a conflicted look before shaking her head. "It's okay."

"Are you sure?" She asked nervously, but Corabell only rolled her eyes.

"Yeah, I'm sure... And for the record, I'm happy to have you back too."