Page 46 of Jinxed
That’s cool, no problem.
Now I reply to his question.
I can’t do tonight – Mom will kill me if I leaveagain.
But I can talk you through it?
‘Okay, Jinx – you can send that.’
>>You got it, boss.
Now is my turn to scoff. ‘As if there’s any way you’d let me be your boss.’ Then I type something more to Tobias.
Do you have a strategy down yet for the battle?
He replies:
I might have something up my sleeve. We need to get through to the next round alive, and I’m worried what Carter might do now that we’ve really ticked him off.
Look forward to watching it!I reply. Then some words come up that I didn’t write.P.S. I think you’re really hot and can you please be my boyfriend?
I shriek and jump on the bed. ‘JINX, DO NOT SEND THAT.’
Thankfully thewords disappear without being sent and I collapse on to the mattress, my heart pounding in my chest. Jinx leaps up on to my stomach, his face looking down over mine.
>>Don’t worry, it was just a joke!
For about a millisecond, I’m mad, but the anger bubbles over into laughter instead. I pull Jinx down towards my chest, and even though he squirms a little, he nestles into my neck and purrs.
He might be a pain in the butt, but I wouldn’t change him for the world.
>>Lacey?
His voice sounds different than I’m used to. Smaller, somehow. Quieter.
Yes, Jinx?
>>Did you make me?
I take a deep breath. I knew this conversation was going to come up again. ‘No... Mocha Corp did.’
>>So I’m just the same as all the other bakus - just an ordinary house cat model 2.0.
Now, I frown.Well, no. You’re not the same. There’s definitely something strange about you. You’re unique. The way that we communicate – like this – it’s different. Your ability to make your own decisions, outside of the commands I give you – that’s not like other bakus.
>>Oh. So I’m not like other bakus.
No. Not to me. Even mechanically you’re different. You’re – so much better. But I haven’t really looked into your code. It’s possible that this is all something someone wrote into you, and if I was a better coder then I would be able to tell you what that is.Idon’t speak that language very well.
>>But you could look into it if you wanted to. The person who created me - they might have left a trace of themselves in my code.
That would mean revealing that I didn’t exactly come across you in the ‘traditional’ way. I didn’t buy you from the Moncha Store. That’s what everyone thinks. If I tell anyone... they might take you away from me.
A thought strikes me that’s so painful, it’s as if a searing hot dagger has plunged its way into my heart. Maybe Jinx doesn’twantto be with me. What if he wants to be with his original owner? I never even considered that possibility.
I promise you, if you want to find out who made you, I will help you in any way that I can.
LIFE AT THE ACADEMY IS HECTIC, AND being so involved in Baku Battles takes its toll on my other classes. For the first time, I come close to flunking a test in History – I just haven’t had any timeto study.
