Empathy (Book 2)

UNO: The Thrilling Sequal

"Uno!" Jorgie, grinning, placed down a yellow 2.

"Nooo!" Neo whined, bouncing nervously in his spot. "Does anyone know what colour she has?"

Even though Ellie wasn't really paying attention to the game, she was having a lot of fun; the bowl of doritos was passed round the circle every so often, and a Star Wars film was playing in the background (Jorgie suggested it, and everyone was surprised when Neo didn't argue). She was enjoying herself so much, she hadn't even noticed the hours passing; it was now half five, and Kat had gone to get fast food.

"I do." Lily smirked as she placed down a colour change card. "Red."

"Why would you do that?!" Gem exclaimed in frustration, watching the couple smirk as she placed down a red card. "Ellie, change the colour!"

"I can't." Ellie replied lazily, placing down a similar red card.

"Ugh." Neo groaned as he placed down another card. "Now she's going to win."

"Or is she?" Luna asked suddenly, placing down a +4 card.

"Ohhh!" Gem and Neo both exclaimed in delight as Jorgie facepalmed.

"Well, I tried my best to help you." Lily shrugged as Jorgie begrudgingly picked up 4 cards. "I guess Luna is more competitive than we thought."

"Sorry." Said blonde grinned at Jorgie, not looking sorry at all. "So, what's it like being in a different body?"

"Well..." Jorgie answered, seeing that Neo was uncomfortable with the question. "Its kinda weird having short hair, and having to wear glasses..."

"Oh, no, I didn't mean that." Luna immediately corrected herself. "Like, what did you do? How did everyone find out?"

"Oh." Neo immediately perked up. "Well, I knew immediately that I wanted to tell Gem as soon as I woke up, as I knew she would know what to do."

"Same." Jorgie smiled, noting with satisfaction that Gem was glowing from the praise. "She's so calm and rational, I knew she would come up with a detailed plan on how to get my body back as soon as I told her."

"But before I could even leave the room, Lily arrived, thinking I was Jorgie." Neo continued, grinning. "However, after using her powers, she realised I wasn't actually Jorgie and pinned me against the wall before I told the truth."

"Really? That's hilarious!" Jorgie laughed, playfully shoving a blushing Lily on the shoulder.

"Wait, what are your powers then?" Luna asked, looking at Lily curiously.

"I can read someone's mind if I have skin-to-skin contact with them." She deadpanned in reply. "But what Neo evidenced is the fact that I can sense people's emotions within a certain radius. I've learned to recognise the feeling of Jorgie's mind, but not anyone else's; that's how I knew he wasn't Jorgie, but also how I didn't know it was him straight away."

"Ohh." Luna nodded in realisation. "So that's also how you keep knowing what colour to choose for Jorgie to win."

"Telling Gem went as we expected it to." Jorgie continued. "She just asked us to prove it using our powers, which stayed the same because they're controlled by our brains."

"Wait, really?" Ellie asked interestedly, turning to what she knew was her boyfriend.

"Yeah." Neo confirmed, raising his borrowed hand; within a second it was in flames.

"Oh." Ellie whispered, watching the dancing flames in awe. She hadn't noticed before, but there'd been a small part of her that still hadn't believed in the mind swap- now, however, seeing Neo's flames around Jorgie's hand fully cemented the reality of the situation. Overcome with love for her boyfriend, she lowered her head onto his borrowed shoulder, still watching his burning hand. In response, Neo lowered his head onto hers, happy, but still wondering how on earth she was comfortable with this.