Crossed Worlds

Chapter 16: The Storm

The clouds looked especially deeper and darker as Jade walked to break time that morning. She couldn't help but think of her bad dream from a couple of weeks ago. It was as though they were pressing down on her and suffocating her and she felt her palms go clammy.

Seeing her friends at the picnic bench like usual was like a glimpse of sunshine, though, and as always, they held the power to make everything feel okay again.

"So, how did all of your parents take it last night?" Anna asked them all. "Hunter and I's just sort of blankly stared at us. I guess they trust us to know what's best for ourselves, even if they don't agree."

Jade smiled and wished it had been as painless for her. When she got home, her parents seemed to already know she was involved in the little protest, and they pulled out the cliché of not being upset with her, or angry, just disappointed. They'd asked her to promise never to do it again, and she'd told them that she simply cannot promise that, and they'd yelled and been clearly angry as well as disappointed and she hadn't spoken to them since. She explained this to everyone, and Zoe and Jack revealed they had similar experiences.

"They will have to accept it eventually," Zoe sighed, and everyone nodded in hopeful agreement.

"I managed to successfully lie to my parents," Lily said. "It didn't feel good, but it's the best option for me right now."

Everyone understood that; it wasn't only scary for her to tell her parents, it was dangerous. They worked for the government after all. Lily would have to try and hide it for now. It didn't make any of the group any less proud of her. They were even prouder, if anything, of her willingness to get involved even when she had the most at risk.

"Hey, Lily and Zoe? I don't think I said it enough yesterday, but I'm so proud of you guys for coming out to us. That's really brave and lovely," Jack nodded at them warmly.

The girls blushed and nuzzled in to each other, smiling appreciatively.

"Thank you, Jack. That means so much. All of you were so accepting and you have no idea how great that feels when you've found it so impossible to accept yourself," Lily smiled.

Jade felt tears form at the corners of her eyes at that statement. It was so beautiful to see Lily's growth, and to see the power acceptance had on a person's health and happiness.

"Acceptance is so powerful," Anna read her mind, a common occurrence between the best friends. "I guess that's why we're doing what we're doing."

"Cheers to that! Lily and Zoe, we don't only accept you, but admire you so much," Luke raised his orange juice carton and the others laughed, raising their water bottles or empty hands to give an imaginary clink.

"I admire you all very much," Hunter nodded, and Jade was about to start some kind of soppy speech to explain her emotions when a rumble of thunder boomed so loudly the entire school fell into silence.

The gang all shared looks with one another as an explosion of lightening set the whole sky on fire, and someone screamed.

"Calm down, guys!" Mister Albert had appeared. "It's just a storm. Everyone come inside."

So the pupils did as they were told, too afraid to be exposed to the sky anyway, but another roar of thunder halted everyone again, and as they all became paralysed by fear, rain began to fall rapidly from the sky.

"Everybody in!" Mister Albert repeated, yet his cries were like a whisper against the raging storm.

The rain felt bizarrely painful. It fell with such aggression, stabbing at Jade's scalp like needles, and it caught in her eyelashes turning everything around her into a smudged blur.