I sat in the Jump Street Chapel with Harry Ioki, Doug Penhall, and Judy Hoffs while I was reading through my next assignment. I have worked for Jump Street for nearly two years under Captain Jenko, and the team has always been a family to me. We usually call each other by our last names while we are at work.

Jump Street is not only the name of our program, but also the address. It's a precinct for officers who look young enough to pass as high school or college kids. We go undercover at schools, and investigate crimes involving teachers, students, and other youths.

It was Captain Richard Jenko's idea to begin the Jump Street Program. He was always a little kooky, but he was a great cop. He had dark hair and was quite tall. He definitely looked like an adult, but he liked to wear clothes that he described as "hip".

My first day at Wilcox High School was the following day, and I still needed to memorize my file. I kicked my feet up on my desk, and I could see my Nike sock below the taper of my pant leg. I was using my leg as a surface so I could write on my paper, careful not to get any of the blue ink pen on my loose denim jeans.

"Who are we today, Mick?" Doug asked me from his desk.

Douglas has been a part of the Jump Street program for almost as long as I have. He looks rugged, but he is one of the funniest people I know. He has voluminous short dark hair, a strong jawline, and expressive brown eyes. He is laid back and sarcastic, and he is a bit of a dope. He reminds me of an energetic golden retriever. He is very sweet and fun, but he is a great street-smart cop.

"Um." I glanced down at my file.

"Um, is not an answer."

"Cut me some slack," I chuckled. "I just got this assignment today."

"And you've been working at Jump Street for how long?" Doug asked, teasing me with his sarcastic questions.

I rolled my eyes and smiled. "It really does not matter how long I've worked here, I can't memorize an entire file in—" I pulled up the sleeve of my black leather jacket and checked my dainty gold watch, "—ten minutes."

I knew I wasn't going anywhere any time soon so I leaned forward and shook my jacket off to sling it over the back of my chair, leaving just my soft duty pink sweater. I got the jacket at a thrift store when I was shopping with Judy last year, and it is perfect for the colder spring days we have in Metro. It's perfect in the autumn months too. The black leather is just barely faded from the years of love it has already embraced, and its oversized silhouette is timeless.

Ioki scratched the back of the little hamster he held as he spoke up, "give us what you've got."

Harry Ioki started here almost a month or so after I did. He told us that he was born in Japan, and has been a cop ever since he moved to the states and turned eighteen. He has a nice, thick head of dark hair and the brightest smile. He is one of the sweetest guys I know.

I closed my file and leaned back in my chair while I shut my eyes. I fiddled with a pen in my hand as I tried to remember my assignment. "I'm Michelle Foster... I am a transfer from Metropolis High..."

"And what will you be busting...?" Doug asked.

"A drug ring," I answered confidently. "There have been three deaths already that are drug related at the school just from the past few months."

"What's the drug?" Ioki asked.

"Vamp," I answered and blindly leaned forward to grab some sour gummy worms that were on my desk. I leaned back and ripped one apart with my teeth. "Makes you hallucinate and feel the urge to drink others blood."

"Gross," Judy grimaced.

Judy Hoffs has been a cop longer than I have. She is very smart, being the only one on the team with a college education. She is very sweet and caring, and made sure I was welcomed when I first joined Jump Street. She is very pretty with her high chick bones, striking eyes, and dark shoulder-length curly hair. She conveys both warmth and confidence. She is one of the oldest on the team, but she still looks very young.

"And how long will it take for you to track it down?" Doug asked me.

I ate another sour gummy worm in thought. "Two days. Give or take."

"That'll be your goal," Doug said as I opened my eyes again.

"Consider it done," I said back and opened my Manila folder again to continue memorizing my assignment. I needed to have this completely embedded in my brain before I was going to take one step foot out of the chapel.

I could feel my dark blue scrunchie loosening from the top layer of my hair that I had in a ponytail. I pulled the scrunchie out from my hair and wrapped it around my wrist, planning on throwing it in my car later. I ran my fingers through my hair, letting the artificial curls drop down my back one at a time while my attention was on the case.

Suddenly, Doug stood up from his chair and shouted, "everybody out the back door!"

I immediately turned my head toward the front door to the chapel and saw an officer in his uniform enter with a white styrofoam cup in his hand. He was tall with dark hair that had so much pomade in it, his hair was reflecting the lights above, but he was very handsome. He has striking features. Shockingly good looking.

Doug shouted while walking up to the unsuspecting officer, "it's a bust! Nobody told you this prom ain't formal. Doug Penhall."

The officer looked slightly confused but Doug gave him a handshake and he introduced himself.

"This is Jump Street Chapel?" The officer asked.

"Only if you're Catholic. Ioki thinks it's a Buddhist temple. For me, a synagogue. My mom's Jewish which only means I celebrate both guilt and hell," Doug said.

"His father was a priest." Ioki walked up to them. "Don't play Bingo with this guy. He's a killer. They want you to infiltrate student council?"

"I doubt it," the officer said. He introduced himself as Officer Tom Hanson.

I found myself pinching the corner of one of my assignment papers, but I couldn't get myself to move on to the next page. I kept reading and rereading the last paragraph, but I couldn't retain it. Instead, I kept looking over at Tom and my coworkers that were harassing him. I was curious on why he was here, and how he knew we were here.

"H.T. Ioki," Ioki said.

"'H' for Harry, 'T' for Truman," Doug said.

"I'm here to see—" Tom took out a paper from his pocket and read the name off of it, "—Captain Richard Jenko."

"Yo! Jenk!" Doug shouted over his shoulder. Then he turned back to Tom and gestured toward his too-perfect hair. "You got to turbo-charge your hair or something, Hanson. You look like Richie Cunningham."

Tom patted down at his hair after Doug's comment and Doug walked off. Ioki saluted Tom, and Tom saluted back. There was a massive portrait of James Dean leaning against the wall behind him. Jenko has been meaning to put it back up after the last little earthquake Metropolis endured, but that was about a year ago.

I popped my bubblegum and asked, "newbie?"

Tom's head turned to me and he flashed me a dashing smile. I saw a heavy glaze leave his eyes, and I felt like we were the only two people in the room. There was just something about him that I felt drawn to. "Hi."

"Hi." I smiled back at him. There was a spark in his dark eyes that pulled me in. It was something familiar, something that my soul was connected to. He is indeed very attractive, but it was much more than that. Something has to be done about his hair though. "Did anyone tell you that this is an undercover unit?"

"Yeah."

"Then what's with the uniform?" I asked, gesturing with my pen toward him in circles.

"I— uh..." he looked down at his uniform awkwardly.

I laughed, "you're fine."

"Officer Tom Hanson," he said to me.

"Yeah," I said and I turned my attention back to my file and flicked my pen between my fingers. "Heard you the first time."

Just by reading his facial expressions and body language in his first few seconds in the chapel, I was expecting him to run out and never turn back. If he did, he would not have been the first one. He had an intense scowl look of concentration on his face. He is really cute, but I'm dedicated to my job and I did not want any distractions. A boy has never distracted me before, and it wasn't going to start today.

I didn't bother introducing myself, especially if he wasn't going to become a part of the team. He must have wanted to know because he waited a second before asking me, "what's yours?"

I kicked my feet off my desk and dropped the file on the messy surface and walked up to Tom. I tried to keep my face natural, but I could feel my face grow hot because Tom was a lot more attractive than I was expecting. I almost hope he doesn't stick around. And I really hope I don't have to be the one to train him. My brown curly hair bounced off my back as I walked up to him. I continued to chew my gum as I introduced myself. "Mickey Gregg."

"How do you do, Miss Gregg?" Tom asked.

"Officer," I corrected teasingly.

His eyebrows raised and asked, "Officer?"

"Don't seem so surprised," I said as I crossed my arms.

"I— I'm not," he stammered. "I would have remembered you at the Academy."

"Maybe I would have rung a bell if you were there two years ago," I said.

"Is that a fact?" He asked with a crooked smile. "I guess I was a little too late."

"No matter how you slice it, you're here now so it doesn't really matter," I said. "Coming to join our crew?"

"Think so," he said, looking around scornfully. "This is an official... police station?"

"Yeah," I said. "Jump Street headquarters."

He seemed unimpressed. He laughed and said, "this is ridiculous."

"You might not like us, but you better respect us," I said. His hair was so shiny, I wanted to see if I could see myself in the reflection. I looked back down at his dark brown eyes when he put his hand up on top of his hair to smooth it down. It seemed like plastic already, I wasn't sure what he was trying to accomplish by doing that.

We were both interrupted when I heard the familiar sound of someone sliding down our fireman's pole. I turned around and saw Jenko walking from it and he said to Tom, "hey, what's happening, man?"

"Excuse me," Tom said to me before he walked up to Jenko. "Hi. I'm here to see, uh... Captain Jenko."

"Yeah? Far out," Jenko said.

"Is he here?" Tom asked.

"Yeah." Jenko chewed on a toothpick. I walked back to my desk, and assumed my natural position of kicking my feet on my desk and leaning so far back in my chair I was testing the theory of gravity.

Ioki called out, "yo, autograph."

Jenko walked over to Ioki and Tom followed him. "Could you tell him Patrolman Hanson is here? I don't want him to think I'm late."

I turned to Doug and I held my folder up to block my lips as I whispered with a snicker, "Patrolman Hanson?"

Doug nodded and playfully whispered back, "he means business."

I responded with a sarcastic salute while smacking my gum, which made Doug laugh. Then we both turned our attention back to the newbie without trying to show that we were eavesdropping and teasing him behind his back.

"Hey, you ain't late," Jenko said to Tom.

"I've got to check in with Captain Jenko." Tom seemed impatient. I watched Tom follow Jenko around like a lost puppy, catching a glimpse of his matching charcoal grey socks that peaked over his black state-issued patrolman shoes.

"Yeah," Jenko said and walked over to Doug to inspect his gun. I smiled down at my file, chuckling at Jenko's antics.

"Where can I find him?"

"You're looking at him, Hanson. I'm right here. Except on Saturday nights. I play lead guitar with some dudes in my garage band ."

"You're Captain Jenko?" Tom was in utter disbelief at our hippie Captain.

"It gets better, doesn't it?" Jenko flicked at Tom's chest and together they walked into his office.

After the door closed, I turned to my team and stated quietly, "I didn't know we were getting a new guy today."

"Emergency transfer. I heard that he has broken the nose of every partner he has ever had," Doug said.

"Oh, I'm sure that's not true," Judy said sweetly.

"Wanna ask him?" Ioki laughed. "Mister Tough Guy seems so tight, I'll bet that if you shoved a lump of coal up his ass, in two weeks you'd have a diamond."

"Listen Ferris Bueller—" Doug started to say.

"It was Cameron," Ioki corrected.

"Whatever. I heard he graduated top of his class at the Academy," Doug added. "Or maybe it was dental school."

"Smart cookie," I said. I flipped the page of my case file.

"Poor guy... probably had no one taking him seriously out there as a uniformed cop," Doug said with a tsk.

"Is that what happened to you?" I asked.

Doug turned toward me. "No. They placed me here immediately after seeing my dashing youthful looks."

"I think you're getting confused with what happened with me," Ioki said with a laugh.

Judy chuckled but said in her level voice, "we should focus on making Hanson feel welcomed. He doesn't seem too thrilled to be here."

"Wanna place some wagers for how long it'll take for him to run out on us?" Doug joked. Besides us core four, people usually cannot take the pressure of Jump Street. They either quit, or accidentally blow their cover and they get fired. Jenko may be fun, but we all take our jobs seriously for the most part.

I looked toward Jenko's office and saw Tom through the blinds and said, "I give it... three days and he will blow his cover."

"I'll give him the benefit of the doubt... a month before he cracks under the pressure," Ioki laughed.

"Six days," Doug said. "What about you, Hoffs?"

Judy was about to answer but she paused and asked, "did Jenko just call for me?"

"I didn't hear nothing," Doug said.

"Hey, Hoffs! Wake up!" Jenko's voice shouted from his office.

Judy ran into the office quickly, leaving me and the boys.

"What's your wager?" Doug asked me.

"$25," I replied confidently.

Doug whistled and said, "you're on."

I smirked softly and my eyes lingered down to my case file and I got back to reading it, while Doug and Ioki got busy filling out their own paperwork.

___________________________

We are technically supposed to have a meeting every day, but with Jenko it's every few days if he remembers. We are all pretty good at our jobs, and we do not require such guidance. None of us like to be micromanaged, and Jenko doesn't like to micromanage us.

It was a few days since I first saw Tom, and Judy had given him a complete teenage makeover. He wore a blue shirt that poked out of a brown leather jacket, and his hair was styled much nicer and younger than before. It was in a messy, effortless style that suited him perfectly. I'm glad she talked him into washing all that product out of his hair. He looks so much better.

Jenko held a clipboard in his hands and he started the meeting by saying, "okay, let's run this down. Hoffs, what's with getting an 'A+' on your book report?"

"Everything's pretty steady over at Bennett high," she said. "I had time. Might even make honor roll."

"It's very unusual for honor roll students to hangout with felons," Jenko said with a soft glare. "Watch your profile, peaches."

Then he continued, "Penhall, what's shaking with you, bud?"

"I figured with Jace out of the mix and my cover blown," Doug said while eyeing Tom who got visibly uncomfortable. "I could play golf for the rest of the semester."

"Yeah, well, figure again. Bob Hope plays golf, but don't sweat it, bud. We'll find a place for you," Jenko said to him before turning to Ioki. "Ioki, what's happening on the hill?"

"I got my dudes set up at Cleveland High for some quantity. I'm waiting for a clearance on that six grand," Ioki reported.

"Gregg, how's it going over at Wilcox?" Jenko asked me.

I tossed him my completed file and said, "busted the teacher yesterday. He got the chemistry kids and the biology kids making Vamp. I got it contained just at Wilcox, and Grant from Headquarters is collecting the drug for evidence as we speak. Just needs your autograph and it goes straight to big dogs at the station."

"Nice work, Gregg," Jenko said and grabbed my file and a pen. "But why wasn't this reported to me yesterday?"

"You weren't here," I answered cheekily.

I have known Jenko for years. He is like a father figure to me, and he has always had my back. We have fun bickering with one another, but I know my place because he is my boss.

"I have a telephone," Jenko replied back sassily.

"I told Briody," I defended myself.

"Captain Briody? Do I look like I'm Captain Briody?"

Captain Briody is the captain over at the Metro Police Station. He is Jenko's boss. He can be intimidating, but he is very nice. He was the one who introduced me to Jenko about nine years ago.

"I'll run it by you next time," I promised.

"Hanson, you're going to get your feet wet at Amherst High. Hanson, you're a disciplinary transfer from Wilcox with a suspected drug problem and a very bad attitude. Dig? Everything you need to know is in this deal." Jenko handed him his file and tossed another one to me. Jenko asked, "Mick, have you met Hanson?"

"Briefly," I said to Jenko, side eyeing Tom. I would rather Jenko not assign us together for this case.

"You were not with us at Jace's arrest, were you?"

"No, I was still at Wilcox," I said. I frowned and opened it to see the name Michelle Bender on the first page of my new profile. I asked, "new assignment?"

"Yeah." Jenko nodded.

"Bender?" I asked. "Like from the Breakfast Club?"

Jenko likes to use last names from his favorite movies and shows as our undercover alias's. We can usually guess where they are from. Today, I guess I'm named after John Bender.

"Yeah, you will be undercover at Amherst."

I cocked my eyebrow and pointed out, "but that's where Tom is going."

Jenko popped a potato chip in his mouth and said, "yeah, Mickey. You're going with Hanson to make sure that he does not blow his cover. Again."

Are you kidding?

"I just busted a drug ring at Wilcox in a matter of days," I said while putting my new file on the table and I crossed my arms in annoyance. "I don't want to be babysitting some newbie... no offense."

"No, I'm with you," Tom said in agreement. "Jenko, just give me another chance. I won't blow it this time, I promise."

"This is your chance," Jenko said. He turned to me and said, "since you missed it, Mister Big Shot here blew his first cover in just a couple of minutes."

"The case I've been working on for weeks," Doug complained.

All I heard was that I was about to make $25.

"His mistake means I'm on babysitting duty?" I asked. I really do not think that is fair.

"Yeah," Jenko said to me and he turned to Tom with a stern look on his face. "Read it carefully, Hanson. You don't want Gregg on your bad side. We take our undercover business very seriously once we go out these doors."

"Okey-dokey," Tom said to him.

"There's absolutely nothing heavy going on at Amherst... that we know of. So just keep your eyes open, stay out of trouble, and remember, you're still in training," Jenko said to Tom.

I glanced over at our back wall where Jenko had individually hung and framed each of our first arrest reports. I couldn't imagine Tom staying long enough to get his arrest report added to our collection.

"Let's go do it!" Doug shouted, pounding the table vigorously, followed by a howl.

"I'm glad he's on our side," Jenko said and he dismissed us.

I grabbed the file with my profile and started walking back to my desk. Doug and I crossed paths and he stopped in front of me. With an eye roll, he lifted up his hand to reveal a twenty dollar bill and a five dollar bill between his middle and index finger. I smirked and plucked the bills from his grasp and said sarcastically, "pleasure doing business with you."

"Uh-huh," he replied jokingly and walked over to his own desk.

I slipped the money in my pocket and then I felt a soft tap on my arm. I turned around to Tom and he asked, "have you read the file?"

"Not yet. Have you?"

"Of course."

"Are you always this uptight?" I straight up asked. I needed to know if he was going to be on my ass about everything. I know what I'm doing, I don't need to be micromanaged.

"I wouldn't call it uptight," he said. "Rule-follower? Maybe."

"If you're going to be at Jump Street, you'll have to stop acting like you could be a narc. Those guys out there can smell you ten miles away." I waited a beat then said, "I can smell you from ten miles away."

Tom sighed. I was almost entranced by his dark eyes as he said, "Captain Jenko says you're one of the best in the unit. Maybe you can teach me."

Despite not looking forward to some undercover practice, I pushed my negative feelings aside and stuck my hand out to Tom. He took it with a firm shake and I said, "welcome to Jump Street."

I headed for my coat and fiddled with my car keys in my hand. I opened the file again and peered inside, and saw that we have to pose as boyfriend and girlfriend.

This should be interesting.