Crossed Worlds

Chapter 6: Times are Changing

"Why don't you start with the plaster," James gestured to her arm. "Unless it's for something personal and I've overstepped!"

  Jade looked down at the concealed little jab wound and sighed.

  "That's where it all begins, actually. Random men and women in jumpsuits injected us at the school gates yesterday with zero warning."

  James, unbelievably, began laughing. He stopped suddenly when Jade gave him a serious glare.

  "I'm sorry, I'm sorry. I understand that must have been...traumatic. But isn't it kind of humorous that you guys pull off stunts like that and call us evil weirdos," he began to laugh again. "Anyway, what were they for?"

  "Testing to see whether we were Wild Ones or not. Long story short, our government have sussed out your plans for crossing over, and they claim they jabbed us to see whether or not any of you had already and were trespassing as school students," Jade felt relieved to have finally been able to share this with him.

  This took James a moment to digest. During his long pause, he looked at her plaster again, looked at her, looked at the sunlight fractured between the branches and then huffed.

  "Right. So that makes some sense and also makes none at all. Your leader is right to be concerned, obviously, as his concerns of us trying to cross over are correct. I mean, we both know I already have been," he scratched the back of his head. "But why test students. They only tested students, right?"

  "Yeah," Jade replied. "Well, that's the fishy part. Luke, myself and I'm sure many others in secret think it was a method of persuading us to attend Wild One Awareness meetings. Although Luke went back on himself after he queried it at the meeting, and now won't talk to me."

  Upon finishing her small rant, Jade realised that she had presented her information a little unclearly and simultaneously exposed where she had been the night before. She felt her hands turn clammy.

  "Who is Luke? What are those meetings? And why are you of all people attending them?" James frowned.

  Jade realised that it was going to be easiest if she was always as honest as possible to James from now on. The two of them were going to be, hopefully, consistently swapping sensitive information with one another, and that would only become confused or misunderstood if they weren't always truthful. Besides that, she wanted to tell him the truth. He was different, like her, which made them one in the same. She enjoyed what little of his company she'd encountered. So, she came clean. About everything.

  She told him about her Grandma Jo's revelations, about how her parents forced her to attend the meetings on the day she first met him, and how it'd been as stupid and filled with propaganda as she thought it'd be.

  "I'm sorry your parents are making you go. Sounds like a whirlwind of a few days. However, on the bright side, these meetings can be a great source of discussion for our forest chats," he offered, and Jade smiled in agreement. "So, Luke...is he your boyfriend or something?"

  "Uh, no," she felt herself blushing. She had no idea why him asking her that made her cheeks go warm. "He's my best friend, though. Since we were a lot younger. So, it makes me upset that he's off with me."

  "I see. I'm sorry, Jade," he smiled a smile so kind she felt as though her warm cheeks were there to stay. "Well, I guess what we've learnt today is that your Head Being is a bit mental. Plus, I need to be careful when crossing over. I might get jabbed."

  Jade laughed at this, and they laughed together, and yesterday's troubles and Luke's odd behaviour slowly melted away. She asked James if he had anything to share with her, but his news was mediocre. He described it as same old, same old. News stories, rumoured peace treaty plans and no random injections at school gates.