JADE (young justice/robin)

17. birthday party

Gotham City
November 9, 15:36 EDT

The shock hasn't settled. The more I thought about it, the more things began to make sense. Whenever Jade was missing, Carter happened to be too. Jade doesn't talk and Carter happened to barely have a voice when I first met her.  Carter is incredible at lying and I've seen Jade withhold her expressions in seconds. The way Carter was able to disappear so easily when she first came to GA.

I rejected the girl I liked, to be with the girl I liked. And the girl I liked cheated on me, with me. How does that make sense at all?

Maybe it was still a stretch. Maybe this really was all some dumb coincidence. Carter could be telling the truth and maybe Jade just happened to have the same name, or maybe a middle name? Or maybe I was just in denial because even after finding all this out, I still liked Carter so much.

I just don't understand. How could someone so funny and warm as Carter be the same person as Jade who's so aggressive and deceitful?

I had to know for myself. A sure way to prove that Carter was Jade.

I'd been avoiding Carter for a few days now, skipping homework sessions and leaving school before she could spot me. I know it was mean, but I just didn't know how I could face her with all of this in the back of my head. So instead of manning up and her asking her straight forward, I tailed her after school.

We had training set for an hour from now, which meant if she was Jade she wouldn't have enough time to get to the rink and to a zeta tube. She'd just stay in the area and use the zeta tube close by.

I felt insane hovering behind a corner, waiting for her to leave school but I needed a for sure answer.

She left with a duffel slung over her shoulder, taking a route opposite from the one she usually took to get home. Sure enough, after walking a few miles she turned the corner towards a familiar alleyway.

Trailing a few yards behind, I turned the corner to find that she was completely gone. There was no one in the alleyway except me and a couple stray cats rummaging through trash.

"What...?"

"Are you following me?"

I jumped when Carter's voice sounded from behind me. She was watching me, arms folded, while I tried to think up some explanation.

"No," was all I could say.

"You're saying this is a coincidence?"

"I thought I'd enjoy the detour."

She let out an exhausted sigh. "What're you doing?"

"I..."

"You ignore me for a week, now you do this."

"Carter, I—"

"If you don't feel the same anymore, that's fine, but just tell me."

"What? No, Carter I..."

She grew impatient. "You what?"

"What's in the duffel?"

"What?"

"Your duffel bag. What's in it?"