louis and kris came back noticeably different.
zayn was one of the first people to see them once they returned. both of them smiling, not even really talking all that much. that shouldn't have worsened the growing pit in zayn's stomach with every passing second.
just get it over with, he told himself, spit it out.
"i'll find you later." louis said to kris, smiling again as a goodbye. zayn smiled also, although it was much stiffer.
"so how was it?" zayn asked.
louis smiled, but not before giving zayn a brief look-over. "harry'd said that jacob had talked to you, just wanted to make sure... you know."
"yeah- no i'm fine. spotless." zayn forced a laugh that sounded a little more fake than he'd meant.
louis smiled again, a little softer, and he and zayn began to walk back towards louis's room.
"so. aside from that, what's been going on that i missed?" he asked.
zayn tensed, and he wasn't quite sure if it were noticeable. just come out; say it say it say it say it.
"not much." zayn shrugged, "just the same boring stuff that usually happens. had to help make sure the new guys didn't do anything stupid, but really nothing new."
he could practically feel the shovel in his hands as he dug himself into a deeper and deeper hole.
"all things considering, yeah, that's good." louis cracked his knuckles a few times. "so, kris and i are a, um, an official thing now."
of all things, that caught zayn off guard. "really?"
"yeah it was sort of spastic. we'd woken up and we were on the bed and-"
zayn cut him off with a raised eyebrow.
louis rolled his eyes. "no, goddamn it."
"you set the scenario."
"twat."
they'd already come up on louis's door, stopping once they'd realized so.
"i'll try and catch you later." louis offered.
zayn nodded. "yeah. happy to see you again."
once the door had been closed on him, zayn's smile dropped away and he let his shoulders drop. he wanted to scream at himself. he'd completely panicked; how was he supposed to bring the situation up to both he and harry at this rate?
-
kris noticed something was off not long after she was on her own.
that might've been in part with the fact that her mind was always racing a million miles a minute, it seemed. what was the threat level of jacob? how many powers did she have the capacity to control? what else didn't she know about these "people", in a matter of speaking?
she too ended up in her room, trying to conjure ice again. it didn't take long; thin wisps of frost climbing up the wall for a few seconds before melting away. she didn't know hardly enough about what caused her original power, let alone this slew of new ones. if louis knew anything, it was likely he wouldn't tell her.
as time passed, kris eventually decided that lying on the bed doing nothing of substance wouldn't help her. she made her way to the ugc, which was empty of familiar faces. for a moment, she quietly judged the thought of practicing before deciding against it. kris went to leave when she nearly ran straight into someone. specifically jacob.
however, the something-off seemed to come back to her. kris felt cold, goosebumps forming on her skin. jacob gave her a strange, slightly confused look.
"hi." he said.
kris didn't move. "hi."
jacob shifted his weight, looking around before looking back at kris. "are you...?"
"i was just going back to my room." kris swallowed back the uncertain wash of thoughts that had formed in her mind. "excuse me."
she walked around him and was just out the door when she heard the increasing volume of footsteps.
"i figured; you're able to enter dreams too."
that was enough to stop kris in her tracks and turn to look at him. "that's not a real power."
jacob glanced back over his shoulder, then over kris's. "no, it's not a power anyone's born with. it's something learned or the cause of a specific genetic mutation. science, dna, etcetera."
kris continued to stare at him in confusion. jacob exhaled, took her by the shoulder, and kept her walking down the hall. both their footsteps echoed loudly; it might've just been her, but kris felt like everything around them was... emptier. the dream-entering theory started to sound slightly more plausible.
"what do you mean, dream entering?" she asked.
"considering how much you know, it's complex." they rounded a corner and jacob stopped them there. "essentially, a person is taught to enter a person's mind during the state where they dream, allowing the second party to see whatever the first party is dreaming. it doesn't do any harm or mental trauma."
kris looked around, hearing little else in the lifeless space around them. "so, who's dream are we in?"
jacob looked around. "couldn't tell you."
"then how were we able to get in here?"
"it's an unconscious thing, from what i've learned. anyone in the state that's close enough can be accessed, and it's sort of like a magnet. and everything not bent around the person is just... a vacuum. waiting to be used, really." to prove his point, jacob opened one of the doors across from them. nothing was inside, the walls were hardly distinguishable from the ceiling and floor.
kris looked around. had she been picking up on louis's dreams this entire time? "how is this an important power if it doesn't effect the person or influence anything?"
jacob was almost at an answer when the lights suddenly flickered. "fuck, they're waking up." he looked around, then at kris. "once they're up, we're kicked out. find me again if you want to keep talking, alright?"
there wasn't enough time for an answer. in the blink of an eye, kris was back on her bed, drowsy, but still vibrantly aware of what had just happened. she sat up and looked around. there was a bit of frost on the sheets, which she brushed off with little hesitation. and, before, she could convince herself not to, kris stumbled to her feet and began to look for jacob.
similar to in the dream, kris found him by nearly running straight into him. the little voice of common sense began to go crazy.
"explain." she said, breathing slightly heavy, ignoring her other impulses.
jacob checked to make sure they were alone, then opened a door and ushered kris in. an empty, unused storage room, it seemed.
he asked the first question. "how many powers do you have?"
kris frowned. "why does that matter?"
"well, telekinesis, invisibility, and now you can enter dreams."
"you said this was something taught, though?"
jacob shrugged. "sort of. you have to, first of all, have the right genetics to begin with. a history of powers in the bloodline. a normal person wouldn't be able to do that. but you, you didn't even know this was a possibility." he looked her up and down, as if trying to figure out some unstated concerns. "so what else could you be capable of?"
kris stood there for a moment, debating between herself. on impulse, she walked over to the wall and placed her hand on it. after a moment of nothing, the ice began to branch out again onto the wall, stronger in force. the look on jacob's face was both worrying and somehow enjoyable. kris removed her hand and waited for a response.
"what else am i capable of?" she asked.
jacob took himself from his stunned state and hid whatever emotion had been startled onto his face and hit it, hardening his jaw. "really don't know."
"sure you don't."
his eyes narrowed a bit. "i don't have every fact about our kind memorized, sorry to burst your bubble. i'm trying to figure out what you are too."
the way he worded it made kris think of her and her friends as nothing more than animals, which was true in a certain sense. but it still made her extremely anxious. after a few drawn out seconds of tense silence, kris spoke up again. she didn't understand why, exactly, but something inside her was a little fed up.
"you're going to help me, then. we'll figure it out together."
"and what makes you think you're the boss of me?"
"because you won't hurt me."
jacob actually smiled- there was little humor behind it except for the sarcastic kind. "cute. you think i won't?"
kris crossed her arms in defiance. "i'm different. you've had a dozen chances to do something about me, and instead you're helping me and not threatening me. you're not going to touch me."
the urge to knock kris unconscious was certainly there, that much was observable just from the mixture of anger and self-control battling behind his eyes. after more silence, jacob exhaled audibly.
"i'll look around for information as discretely as possible. but if i need anything, you have to return the favor. does that sound possible?"
without giving herself a moment to think, kris nodded. "deal."
--
god i love jacob's character
i had an entire half page rant here but basically high school sucks and i've made no new friends bc everyone either goes out of their way to ignore me or are totally unapproachable for a person like me..,
at least i have like five friends who i talk to on a regular/semi-regular basis
also i've been listening to "mad world" by gary jules and it's summing up my emotions at current pretty well tbh so i linked it for you guys to listen to as well.
stats;
date- september 18th 2014
words-1,631
reads-2716
votes-33
comments-14
edited- none lo l