Pandora's Box

Golden Opportunity

Light shines through the slightly open drapes of Jemma's bedroom window. A sleeping Jemma stirs as the sun hits her face, eventually making her wake up. The sound of a text message on her phone makes her pick it up.

'I'm really sorry. Can we talk?'

She turns over to look at the ceiling. After a few moments, she smiles, getting up for the day.

* * *

Jemma steps off the bus in front of the school. She makes her way toward the entrance, dodging a few classmates who weren't looking where they were going, on her way.

"I can't believe I forgot." a classmate says as she passes Jemma.

"I... I can't..." another of her classmates mumbles as she goes.

The previously possessed girl notices several of her classmates grouped together, trying to figure out what they're doing.

"Do you remember where it is?" questions one of them.

"Why the hell are you asking me?" responds another with a question.

She walks into the school and heads to her locker. Just as she does, Jemma can't help but look towards the locker of her former best friend and almost girlfriend. There's no one there. For a while, Jemma just watches it before turning her focus back to her own. She sets her bag into it and pulls out what she needs for her first class.

"Get the hell away from me."

Jemma turns to hear Sarah while the head cheerleader passes her.

"I can't..." insists Kat, adding, "You... you remember. You can... remember... things..."

"And that makes it okay to harass me?" responds Sarah.

"I... I don't know... I..." stumbles Kat.

"Go bother Nina about this." Sarah says.

"Who?" a confused Kat asks.

"You don't remember your best friend?" Sarah questions rhetorically.

Jemma closes her locker door and walks away.

* * *

Jemma smiles as consciousness comes back to her. She wraps herself in her blankets in something of a hug. After a while, she lets go of the hug and pulls herself to a sitting position on her bed. Her phone goes off and she takes a look, knowing who it's probably from.

'I know you're angry with me, but I need someone to talk to.'

Running a hand through her hair, she stretches out, throwing her phone on the nightstand and leaving her bed.

* * *

"It's happening again, isn't it?" Sarah asks, turning to Jemma with concern.

Jemma turns to Sarah with a bit of a strange look, "You know it is."

"But... why?" an uncertain Kat asks, "I still don't totally understand what's going on."

Again it's Jemma who turns to Kat, "Probably has something to do with the whole forgetting thing you went through. Trust us, this is what it was like when you did it."

"She's right." agrees Sarah, "It was really freaky the way everyone was forgetting stuff. Still not entirely sure how I kept my memory."

"Probably the same reason whatever you did wasn't working on me." Jemma suggests to Sarah, "We both already went through it. I guess that makes us immune or something."