Crossed Worlds

Chapter 23: Loosen Up

  Nobody had said anything to each other when they'd all been piled onto the bus. The masks keeping them blind and the whole experience had made them all a little disorientated, and words didn't come.

Instead of speaking, Jade had grabs Anna's hand, and they'd held on tight, occasionally squeezing now and again just to remind each other they were there, and that the black abyss they felt as though they were drowning in wasn't real.

After a nauseating ten minutes of driving, the bus pulled over in the same place as before, and they were allowed to remove their masks.

"Are you all...okay?" The assistant asked. It was a slice of humanity none of them were expecting.

"Of course they are, come back up," the driver instructed, and humanity seemed to fade back into senseless authority yet again.

Jade blinked and rubbed her eyes, adjusting to daylight instead of the artificial one she'd been with, and the bus began to move again.

"Apparently, I'm the only one who didn't throw up," Hunter proudly announced to the group. "You know, after the imaginary PE test thing."

Jade didn't have to turn around to know that Lily would have been rolling her eyes.

"Gosh, Hunter, you do have a way with words. It was a simulation," she corrected him.

"It wasn't that exciting. If they can put us in virtual realities, why not have me battle a dragon?" He asked.

Everyone laughed, albeit weakly, and it felt like the black abyss was dissolving.

"What did you guys think of the letter?" Jade was eager to know.

"Stupid," Luke scoffed. "They're trying too hard to seem sane, at this point."

Everyone nodded in agreement, thankfully still on the same page.

The journey home seemed a lot quicker than the journey there, and in no time, they were back at the school.

As they all got off of the bus, everyone who was making their way out of the last period of the day stared at them in shock. It felt like they were celebrities, and it wasn't a good feeling. Jade understood now why famous people went off the rails, or hid from the limelight for the rest of their lives. The stares burnt at her back.

"You will all receive a formal invitation to the Mixed School, though since it is your punishment, it's more a command," the driver grossly smirked. "It will have all the details you need on it. Thanks for your cooperation."

And just like that, the bus rolled out of the gates, and they were all normal teenagers again.

"I have to get out of here," Lily frantically pulled her hair from her face and fixed her glasses. "See you all later?"

Everyone but Zoe nodded.

"I'll come with you," Zoe insisted, and the couple walked off hand in hand as quickly as possible.

  When Jade got home, her Grandmother was sat with her parents in the living room. They all shot up from their seats as she entered and ran to her.

"Jade, are you okay? Did they hurt you?" Her mother asked whilst gently stroking her hair.

She hugged them all back before pulling away and perching on the edge of the coffee table opposite them.

"I'm fine, thanks," she sighed. "They just did a medical check-up. Well, they also placed me in a simulation, but it was just a gym."

"They simulated a gym...and put you in it?" Chris scratched his head.