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[fourthsaken]

WELCOME TO YOUR PRIVATE CHANNEL, JADED. FOR SECURE COMMUNICATION, USE 005.04.008.13 *** CHARACTER NAME/ALIAS has joined 005.04.008.13 <JADED> hey, you've reached Jade. <JADED> leave a message or whatever and i'll get back to you. <JADED> God, I hope this shitty thing actually works.

Comments

[allucinator]

Jesus Christ. Did-- I mean-- were they-- you know-- offed?

[He wonders if that's bad to ask.]

I don't think Davey ever said nothin' about exercise or shit. Just math an' English an' history.

[fourthsaken]

Uh, I know some students died. Zoe did. Another friend of Hunter's too. The rest came back later. Ike and I stayed because of the thing we did to help Casey. It's... kinda a long story.

[Jade doesn't mind telling it exactly, but she wants to give Jack an easy out. Maybe he doesn't want to hear about every detail of her messed up life back home.]

[allucinator]

You wanna talk about it?

[He sits up, staring at the posture of her body, trying to read her. He'll drop it if she doesn't want to talk about it, but he's ready to listen.]

[fourthsaken]

... Okay.

[She really does want to talk about it, so much so that she abandons the sewing machine and joins Jack on the couch.]

It all started because Hodge, she's like, our guidance counselor, she told Casey that she could get us out of there. Casey thought we were gonna escape. Uh, me and her and Hunter.

[allucinator]

Was it a trap?

[He settles in, leans forward and pays her proper attention.]

Cuz-- I thought all the teachers were against you.

[fourthsaken]

Hodge might not be. She at least acts like she cares about us. Sort of. She gave me pills to stop me from throwing up all the time.

[Jade waves a hand. She's getting seriously off topic here and the story's long enough already.]

It was sorta a trap. Hunter and I weren't there to escape with Casey. We were there to help Casey escape. But, uh, Hunter wasn't with us. He was all pissed because he and Casey and just broken up so he was like, avoiding us. He ended up on a different team and Casey and I were stuck with Ike.

[She somehow manages to convey so much disgust in the way she says his name.]

[allucinator]

Jesus Christ.

[Every time she talks about her school, Jack is struck by how strange it is. There's a level of terror there, of escape from a hellish location-- but then there's the ridiculousness of teenagers, of this one not doing something because he's fussy. He wrinkles his nose, silently agreeing with her assessment of Ike, and nods.]

[fourthsaken]

It turned out that all of us leaving was never Hodge's plan. She needed Hunter's and my help to get Casey out. She wasn't even sure if it'd work with Ike. Probably cause he's a selfish asshole. Casey wasn't gonna do it if I couldn't leave but, I told her to. She needed to try. And I knew she'd come back for me. Casey would be able to find me again and get all of us out of there the next time.

[There's a sense of pure belief in what she's saying. Ike and others might tell her that Casey isn't doing anything just to help Jade, but she won't believe it. Casey's her friend, has saved her life more than once, and she'd come back for her. Casey is one person Jade feels she can completely believe in.]

So, uh, I told Hodge and Casey to go ahead. I'd help. I'd make sure Ike helped too.

[allucinator]

Did it work?

[He leans in, biting at one of his thumbnails as he does.]

What did you guys do, exactly?

[fourthsaken]

We, uh, waited for Casey and Hodge to disappear.

[Jade knows how stupid it sounds, Ike told her how stupid it was a hundred times, but that's what they did. And it worked.]

We prayed. I thought... I dunno, I thought it'd work. It'd help them. Maybe that's why Hodge and Casey needed me because I'm the only one who would've thought to do that. It's how my mom came back...

[She's rambling, talking too fast and looking away from Jack, obviously distracted. The reality is, Jade's not really sure what happened. She's definitely not sure how it happened.]

[allucinator]

They just . . . disappeared? Like-- like, what, poof?

[He snaps his fingers to emphasize-- and then scoots forward, til their knees are touching. He means it to be assuring, gentle-- it's okay. He's not about to judge her, no matter what she says.]

[fourthsaken]

[She looks over with a small smile. It's nice that Jack never seems to judge her, no matte what crazy story from home she tells him.]

Exactly like, poof. Them and like, all the other students. The guards were only able to find me and Ike. They were so pissed at us.

[allucinator]

Did you get in much trouble?

[He feels stupid for asking that, but it is a murder school.]

[fourthsaken]

I had to make-out with Ike, almost got strangled by Gribbs, almost got fucking shot by Ike, and then had to defend Ike from that crazy bitch Irina. It was a mess.

[allucinator]

What the hell is with Ike? Why-- why did-- why did any of that have to happen with him? What the hell was he shootin' at you for?

[fourthsaken]

[Jade wraps her arms around herself, looking uncomfortable. It's hard to admit that home, she keeps being a bargaining chip for others to use.]

Guess he listened to what Gribbs said. You know Gribbs said that the only reason I was alive was because I was a prize for Casey? That's why they didn't kill me. They wanted to reward her. How fucked up is that? And Ike, he wanted to use me to get his dad to talk. His dad like, knows stuff about the school and shit. Ike thought threatening my life would get his dad talking.

[allucinator]

[He pulls a face.]

Yeah, well. Ike sounds like a fuckin' idiot. An' if you're a prize, fine. Let em think that. Whatever keeps you alive, you know?

[fourthsaken]

Still makes me feel like shit.

[allucinator]

Yeah. I know the feelin'.

[He hesitates, and then--]

I, uh. When thin's got real rough, when I wasn't so good at talkin' to people, I used to beg, you know? Nothin' like a kid beggin' to get money movin'. An' it worked, but god, I felt like shit. Cuz people'd look at me like-- like I was nothin', you know? Not a person, just-- somethin' less'n em.

But just cuz they think that don't mean it's true.

[fourthsaken]

[Jade bristles at even the idea of people looking down at Jack. It isn't right.]

Dude, I hope you told them to fuck off. Or at least got all their money. You're a much better person than those idiots.

[allucinator]

And so're you.

[That was his point, after all, and he meets Jade's eyes, trying to cement it.]

Just cuz Ike or-- or whoever thinks you're a pawn don't mean it's true. Just means they can't see much.

[fourthsaken]

[Jade gives him a soft smile. She's not sure she believes him, not entirely, but she can try. She leans against him slightly, shifting to tuck her feet beneath herself and get more comfortable on the couch.]

I just wish I could figure out how to stop getting myself into those kinda messes. You wouldn't believe the last thing I remember happening back home.

[allucinator]

Tell you mine if you tell me yours, yeah?

[Carefully-- a little nervously, honestly-- he puts an arm around her. It's meant to be comforting, platonic-- he'd do it with any one of the guys, but he's never had a female friend before. Doesn't want to send the wrong signals. But she needs a hug, god knows.]

[fourthsaken]

[Jade nods, leaning into the touch. It's nice and she's grateful for the comfort. Jade doesn't know why her friendship with Jack's so easy, when most of her relationships are such a mess, but it is. Jack may not understand everything Jade's gone through, but he tries and that means a lot to her.]

Yeah, okay. You go first.

[allucinator]

[He lets out a little hah, because he walked right into that one. Idly his fingers drum against her shoulder as he tries to think.]

I think . . . so we won the strike, yeah? We were all celebratin', me an' Dave an' Katherine an' Crutchy an' all the boys. Everyone was. First time anythin' like that'd ever happened, you know? An' . . . she an' I went off to be alone, I remember that. I remember . . .

[It's blurry, honestly, those last few days. He remembers going off with her, kissing and laughing, teasing both of them. Remembers thinking to himself that he better savor it, because surely they wouldn't last. Rich girls might like slumming it, but eventually everyone went back to their rightful places. He wouldn't even blame her, when the time came. What could he offer her, poor and uneducated as he was?

Anyway. So: celebrating with Katherine, late into the night, and then . . .]

I think . . . yeah, I went-- I met up with Dave, afterwards. He came to the lodgin' house an' we talked for a while. Til it was near mornin'-- yeah, cuz I remember thinkin' we'd be exhausted the next day, but it didn't matter. We fell asleep, and then-- all this.