The Juniors - The Villains of Valley View

EIGHTEEN / "Family Reunion"

CYBER // JOSIE

"What is this?" I asked in confusion as I clutched the crumpled paper in my hands.

I found it when I woke up and was about to leave my room to take a shower. It had been stapled to mine and North's door (yes, we've been in the same room this whole time and still haven't made amends). The silver staple was likely still embedded in our door since I'd just ripped the memo off before coming down here.

I expected to only see Renee down here after her failed attempt at a get together. But I learned a long time ago to never doubt my team leader. She can get anything done. At times she'd been more menacing than Onyx, but I knew too much about her, so my relationships with the two of them were vastly different.

Anyway, Jepito, Jaxon, and North were all down here in their usual spots on the couch and love seat. Then there was Renee standing in the center of the living room with her back erect.

The paper clearly read 'Team Meeting' the last time I saw it, but this was beginning to feel like an intervention.

"What is this?" I asked, my tone completely different than the last time I said it because now I was talking about something else.

"Look who's late. Again," Jaxon said with his head turned to me from the back of the couch.

"You can sit down, Josie," Renee said.

I looked at Jepito who only shrugged before I sat as far away from Jaxon as possible on the sofa. The only problem was that it put me closer to North who was sitting on the perpendicular single-seated couch.

"It's not about you," Jaxon said with a slight, yet disinterested nod in my direction.

I rolled my eyes without meaning to, but my gaze accidentally settled on North. Her eyebrow lifted slightly as the corner of her most slowly turned up.

But she looked away almost immediately after that. "So what are we doing here?" the redhead asked, trying to follow the conversation and search for answers.

"It is about Josie," Renee corrected, which was a big surprise for me.

My eyebrows lifted in confusion as I looked around the room. "Wait, huh? I— me?"

"Oh I get it," Jaxon started, but I kept my puzzled eyes on our team leader as he went on. "We're finally addressing her illiteracy."

I seethed angrily before taking a deep breath. "You go to one tutor session with Jake and suddenly you're a master of the English language." My voice was embedded with sarcasm. Unsurprisingly it wasn't enough for someone with an ego the size of his forehead.

"Oh, thank you so much, Josie Jos," Jaxon said with a wide smile. He winked, and it was almost enough to set me off. Almost.

"There's one big elephant in the room, and its name... is Josie and North."

Isn't that two names? So there's two elephants?

Wait, what the hell...

My mind backtracked to Renee's earlier words. My eyes quickly found North's, and she looked just as dumbfounded as me.

The girl squinted while leaning forward in her chair, before looking up at Renee. "Wait, Renee. We can really handle this ourselves."

"No, I know everyone here read those memos. You know what this calls for. Team bonding."

The groan escaped my lips before I could stop it. Before all this started, I'd be showing more respect for Lawmaker. But goddamn, this whole trip to Texas has been one shit show. Except for its few redeeming qualities like Amy and, admittedly, Hartley.