Phoenix Rising: The Veiðimenn Mob, Book Two

Three

"Week three, and I am already tempted to cause a school-wide tech failure," Jaxon breathed as he and the others walked into the building. The morning was cloudy, but the forecast said nothing about rain. In fact, it was supposed to be upwards of thirty-five degrees Celsius.

Skylar looked over at her brother. A snarl twisting her pretty face as she pressed him with a question. "You haven't been getting bullied, have you?"

He shook his head, "No, I’m not. Luke and I have been having some issues with one of our teachers, but it was handled, sis."

"Good. Don't be lettin' people push you two around,” Memphis said as he high-fived the younger boys. Although the younger teen was sketchy about coming out to his friends, he was glad that they still had his back.

Lukas scoffed, “No worries, guys. Jax and I got each other’s backs. This is different than what we’re used to, but we’ll somehow make it work.”

Phoenix glared over at one of the other teachers who started giving them a hard time during their second week. More specifically, he'd been nit-picking just about everything Kennedy handed in.

"f**k me," he heard Kennedy mutter under her breath. She growled slightly, "I got History with that jackoff for second period."

"Red, I'm in your class, remember?" Markus whispered. "He's been giving you a s**t ton of flack about stuff that you're not even doing."

Kennedy grinned evilly, her darker side surfacing easily. The look in her eyes told him that she was already planning the funeral of the man’s career if he kept up his current behaviour. "That's okay because, if he keeps pushing me, he's going to have to face Declan and my sister. If Callum and Amber get wind of it? Let’s just say, he’ll never bother another student for the rest of his life. However short it may be."

Phoenix shuddered. He knew that his uncle and father would not let any harm come to the girl. As the daughter of his grandfather’s closest informant, she was A-listed as a Golden Child by all the leaders who knew her father personally. Especially since the older generation was about as unforgiving as the weather, and just as unpredictable regarding bullies and respecting others.

"He's not getting physical, is he?" He asked her as they walked into their Math class.

Kennedy hissed out a breath, "It’s been mostly verbal insinuations up to now. He's been making lewd comments, and went as far as to tell me the other day that I wear a little less if I want a boyfriend. Why the hell would I want a boyfriend? I've got enough guys in my life, and you’re all headaches. Besides, any man of mine is gonna need the patience of a saint to deal with me."

"Ms. Rubin, check your language at the door, if you will," Mrs. Harris said as she walked through the rows, placing papers down on the desks. Once all the students were settled, she smirked at them.

Phoenix and Kennedy shared a grin, knowing that their favourite time to show off had just been given to them. Testing them usually left their instructors pulling out their hair with how confidently quick the teens were. Not to mention that their brilliance shone brightly during these times as well.

"Mrs. Harris, are we having a test?" A girl asked.

Another teen paled, "I didn't study for a test! How the heck do you study for Math anyway?"

Mrs. Harris smiled wider. "You are absolutely correct, class. This morning I've decided to start you off with a pop quiz on what we've learned so far. All phones, books, and papers are to be silenced and placed in the basket under your chairs. Scrap paper and pencils are the only things I should see. Talking will be registered as an automatic zero - no exceptions. When you are finished, do all the odd-numbered questions on page thirty-eight."

Giddy with anticipation, Phoenix turned over his paper to write his name on the sheet. Standard Algebra questions met his dark brown gaze, and he grinned wider. These were far too easy for him, having done the same work in his last year at the prep school. He glanced around at the other students who were trying to get through the first question.

Leaning back in his chair, he waited until the others were a little better than halfway through the quiz before caving, completing all the questions quickly. As he put his pencil down, he glanced over at Kennedy, who was already hard at work doing the assigned book questions. Shaking his head, he raised his hand. "Mrs. Harris, may I be excused?"

"We’re not even a half an hour into the first period, Phoenix," the teacher replied calmly. "So tell me what's so important that you need to leave?"

"I forgot a book, and I need it for my next class," he told her as he handed in his test. “

Looking the teen over, she reluctantly agreed to let him go out into the hallway. "Since you’re already done with the quiz, I’ll allow it, Phoenix. Don’t make this a habit, understand?"

"Yes, ma'am, I understand. I won’t make it a habit, and will try to make sure I have everything I require from now on," he advised with a sugary-sweet smile.

Finding herself flustered by his calm, compliant demeanour, Mrs. Harris handed him the hall pass and sent him on his way. Her eyes, full of weary uncertainty, followed him until he was out of sight. “I think he may be one of the most polite students I’ve ever had.”

As soon as he knew he was in the clear, Phoenix bolted down the hall to the gym teacher's office, and knocked on the door. The muffled sound of Thomas yelling for him to go in reached him. There was a reason for his visit, but only a select few people knew about it.

"Mr. Slade, has my father been notified about the rash of drug sales that suddenly popped up?" He asked as he stepped into the room.

Thomas glanced up at him and nodded, "He's not pleased about it. This school is crawling with addicts and junior dealers. I don't want any of you getting caught up in it, but I know that the rest of you won't let that happen. Your lot is way too smart."

"Not to mention my mother would beat us black and blue. Well, she’d probably beat me and Memphis blue, but that’s another story," Phoenix replied as he lounged in the chair across from one of his trainers. They'd been collecting information along the way to ensure that the Don of the Icelandic mafia would be able to take out the supplier. "The hardest thing being handed out here is opioids and weed, but we have an idea as to who the in-school suppliers are. I’m more worried about the opioids, but we need to recon his house before we can act."

Thomas pursed his lips, nodding in agreement. "Good. You remember the steps from training. Expect a mission to be tossed your way by the end of the day. Is your team ready?"

"On a moment's notice, Sir," Phoenix answered gingerly. He rose to his feet, "I have to head back to Math. Do you have the book I told you I needed?"

Not even bothering to look at the young heir, Thomas handed him a Science 12 book. He jotted down an excuse on a slip of paper for his teacher, and shooed the teen out of the office.

When Phoenix got back to Math class, he immediately took responsibility for it. "I'm sorry I took so long, Mrs. Harris. It wasn't in my locker. I accidentally left it in gym class last evening, so I had to go get it from Mr. Slade's office."

He handed over the slip that Thomas had given him, and went to his seat. She narrowed her gaze on the book in his hand and nodded, "Don't let it happen again, Mr. Callumsson."

"I won’t," he answered.

He instinctively knew that she would contact the man to check if he was lying. He could almost see the wheels turning in her head as she continued to wonder what had taken the boy so long to get a single book. Thomas would not contest his whereabouts when asked.

Sitting back down in his seat, he opened his math book, he breezed through the questions with minutes to spare.

When the bell rang, Kennedy pulled him aside to ask what was going on.

"Turns out the info we gathered so far worked in our favour. Dad's looking at sending out the team, so pass the word along that we might have to eat out tonight because of a mission." He told her.

Like always, they were straight to the point with each other. It avoided confusion and left no room for mistakes.

"That's good, isn't it? I mean, our full initiation depends entirely on our ability to pull a successful mission out of our asses," Kennedy replied with a shrug.

Phoenix laughed under his breath as they made their way to the next class. "I got Science with Memphis, the Tech with Mark, so I'll see you and the others at lunch."

"Yeah, sure," she replied, her eyes scanning the ocean of bodies for Markus. "Don't be surprised if, at some point during the week, a certain teacher ends up in the hospital. Bye, Boo!"

"Ciao, Ken," he laughed as he walked into his class. He knew that she wouldn't dare anger his parents or her guardians without just cause. Kennedy was way too good at what she did to let one teacher ruin everything they worked so hard for.