Chrome & Clover || GL

The air in the North Campus parking lot usually smelled like damp earth and overpriced lattes, but whenever Raine "Jax" Jaxon was around, it smelled like rebellion. Specifically, it smelled of high-octane fuel and the kind of expensive leather that suggested she had better things to do than attend her 9:00 AM Thermodynamics lecture.

Jax kicked the kickstand of her custom black bobber, the engine’s dying growl vibrating through the pavement. She pulled off her helmet, dark hair tumbling out in a mess of defiance, and reached for a cigarette she knew she wasn’t allowed to light.

"You’re killing them."

The voice was small, like the chime of a wind bell, but it cut through the fading roar of the exhaust.

Jax looked up. Standing at the edge of the campus greenhouse was a girl who looked like she had been crafted from watercolor paint and sunlight. Chloe Miller was dressed in a flowy cream skirt and a cardigan the color of seafoam, her hands clutching a brass watering can like a shield. Her eyes, wide and shimmering with genuine distress, weren't on Jax’s leather jacket or the silver rings lining her ears. They were fixed on a row of shivering orchids behind the glass.

"Excuse me?" Jax grunted, her voice raspy from the cold morning air.

"The vibrations," Chloe said, taking a brave step forward onto the asphalt. "Every time you park that... that *monster* here, my orchids lose their petals. You're shaking the life out of them."

Jax looked at the heavy, metallic beast between her legs, then back at the girl who looked like a stiff breeze could knock her over.

"It's a motorcycle, Flower Girl," Jax said, a slow, dangerous smirk tugging at the corner of her mouth. "Not a weapon."

Chloe crossed her arms, her chin trembling just enough to make Jax’s chest tighten in a way she didn't recognize. "To an orchid, it's the same thing."