Dreamjumper

Chapter Eighteen

                 

  It's green.

I turned to the side to inspect it further, though it didn't do any good. I decided that bending over to examine the roots would be a better option.

I had had no trouble getting into my dormitory – I had just used my "JR Anastasia" card and remembered my dorm number (26). My room was in decent shape. Things were beginning to look up for me – and then I saw it.

I had forgotten that when dreamjumpers transformed, their genetics changed as well. My hair would start growing in a different color, and my eyes would likely change as well. So when I walked into the dorm and took a quick glance at the mirror in the bathroom, I was shocked, to say the least, to find the smallest hints of mint green roots growing out of my head.

After about ten minutes of close inspection, I had come to the conclusion that my hair was not in fact vibrant enough to be spring green, or blue enough to be turquoise, but it was perfectly, absolutely mint green. An ugly, ugly color that would take months to grow in – the option of either becoming a redhead and maintaining it for months or growing out the mint both were not desirable choices, though I knew I would have to pick one.

Luckily, though, the amount of mint roots that I had now were almost unnoticeable; you would never be able to guess that it was there if you weren't looking for it.

I decided that it was silly to waste my time thinking about things like my hair when my priority was spending time with my new sector. I could only imagine the reaction I would get when they all came to my dorm – Amy would no doubt be going crazy and thinking of all the things they could do as a group; Luna would offer a meaningful but shy congratulations while Amy pestered her; Jack would say that he knew I would be in Sector 17 all along; and Alistair would be as Alistair-like as ever and try to keep the peace.

As I pulled on an old pair of jeans and retied my hair in its ponytail, I heard the door to the dorm open and close; I instantly dropped my hairbrush, and it clattered to the floor. Mumbling under my breath, I picked it up quickly and called out, "Jay, is that you?"

   "No, it's Alistair," Jay called back; there was the sound of a bed creaking loudly, no doubt because she had thrown herself on the mattress the way she seemed to half-heartedly do everything.

I decided not to respond to her, because I wasn't in the mood to argue. I had been having a good day, and it wasn't about to be ruined about one dreamjumper's sour attitude.

Jay seemed to take my refusal to fight as an invitation to further provoke me. "I've come to talk to you about what happened today. You see, I usually close myself off from the ladies, but I just couldn't resist putting my hands on you today ..."

"Really? You're going to pull this shit today, of all days? Can I not just have five minutes of peace?" I threw open the bathroom door, scowling at her reclining figure.

As I had thought, she had thrown herself down on her bed and propped herself up on an elbow. Her messy black hair had started to grow just past her ears, framing her tired, pixie-like face. Though she was shorter than me, probably around 5"4 at most, her pale legs, exposed by jean shorts, looked long when they were stretched across the bedsheets.

Something about the sight of her struck me mute for a moment, and I was unable to form any words. Seeing her in person again made me so angry, that it was difficult to articulate everything that I wanted to say.

After a moment, I regained my composure and spat, "Didn't you hear the news, Jay?"

She looked intrigued, one of her short eyebrows lifting in curiosity. "What news, pray tell?"