My Exact Opposite | Jachary AU

33

Jack awoke to an argument.

"I'm telling you, the assignment's done this way -" Was that Corbyn? He sounded like he was rolling his eyes.

"It's not! You have it all wrong man!" Daniel gave a loud sigh.

"Guys, calm down It's still 7:00 in the morning!" Christina whisper-shouted at the two boys.

"Could you guys be any louder? God, my head hurts," Jack grumbled, opening his eyes.

"OH MY - mmf!" Corbyn's shout was muffled by Christina's hand covering his mouth.

"Corbyn Besson. It's 7 AM in the morning. I am tired," Christina rolled her eyes as Jack let out a soft chuckle.

"Anyway, you should see Zach. He's in the room next to you," Jack gave a fake smile and nodded, secretly worrying that the younger boy hated him.

"Yeah, well, you would be the one seeing him if you hadn't decided to pull this shit on us all of a sudden," Corbyn piped up. He received two elbows in the side from Daniel and Christina, which only made Jack smile for real.

"Well, you know how he is. True love and all of that," Daniel teased, making Jack roll his eyes.

"Aw, shut up, man. At least I don't try and convince my boyfriend to hook up with me when I'm drunk."

"That was one time. One," Daniel's face turned red, making the others laugh.

"Anyway, we have to go to school," Christina said while looking at her watch. Jack nodded, biting his lip as he looked out the window. He was lost in thought, thinking about how much he wanted Zach to wake up so he could apologize to him. The door clicked shut as Jack sighed, running a hand through his curls. At least he could do crazy shit with light when he was in this world. That was the only good part.

Jack swung his legs out of the bed and went into the room next door.

"Hey."

"Hi."

"I'm sorry."

"For what?" Zach gave a light scoff, "It's my fault for believing you, so it's my fault for getting hurt."

"Doesn't mean you should go burn yourself and die from choking on smoke."

"I don't wanna hear it."

"Yeah? Well right now, I'm passed out in a hospital chair right next to you, so you better wake your ass up."
"Don't want to though. I can actually control shit here. Like that," the lights in the room flickered off before they turned on again. "And here, I don't have to deal with my eyes changing color. Here, I don't have to worry about that bast- I mean dad, and I don't have to be called a psycho because I'm actually strong enough to defend myself here. If this is what happens when I'm unconscious, I'd rather stay here. Gabbie's gone, you're alright, and no one's hurt. My dad visited me last night and I flinched when he went in for a hug. My dad, going in for a hug! Can you imagine?" Zach gave a sad laugh, "Why would I ever want to go back to that hell?" Jack looked at the ground, guilt crashing over him in waves. He made his way over to Zach's bed and sat in the plastic chair before sighing.

"Zach, please just -"

"No. I said, I don't wanna hear it. Also, why am I not dead yet?"

"You never turned off your phone, so I kinda got a rough idea when I saw that you were headed for the motel," Jack unconsciously leaned back when he saw the emptiness in Zach's eyes.

"Why didn't you just let me burn? Now, it's not even my choice anymore," his voice came out broken and tired, and Jack felt a piece of him break at those words.