Cybil sometimes had nightmares they werenât too frequent but often enough that she knew just how to deal with them. She could usually wake herself up, or Courtneyâs usual morning self would do the job.Â
This was different. Her nightmares were always more on the calmer, mystery side, something more eerie coming after her, but this nightmare was more intense, and not at all the strange uncanny feeling she would get. This dream had more agency to it, a more crushing and forceful feeling, to the point that Cybil sat up before even opening her eyes, forcing herself out of it.Â
Thatâs when her eyes landed on her handâ darker, with thinner digits than she remembers, âwhaâŠâ She sat up again, only then noticing the other things amiss in her room, or well, that it wasnât her room at all. Who, what? She looked down, now realizing that this definitely wasnât her body either. She quickly searched the bed for her phone, finding a nearby one on the nightstand and using the black screen as a mirror.Â
Ah⊠Henry???
She jumped out of bed, almost tripping on the clothes on the floor. Well, thatââs not different. Was this Henryâs doing? Had he somehow gotten their minds switched? No, Cybil thought. He wouldnât do that at least- not on purpose. She immediately went to contact him- or well herself, on his phone, but obviously her pass code didnât work. Well, duh, Cybil. Â
Then this must be the boysâ room. Her breathing slowed realizing that, at least, she was among friends. Better wake them up, she threw the phone on her- Henryâs bed before rushing over to Dillons. She looked at the sleeping boy, a sharp pain running through her head as she flinched away from him. As if thoughts were trying to push their way into her head, Cybil momentarily ignored the pain before shaking Dillonâs body. âDillon,â she said in a  voice that wasnât hers. âOh my god Dillon wake up!!!!â She shook him harder.Â
Honestly, Jaina consumed a lot of media. She was a watcher of many TV shows, some foreign, some domestic--she liked comics and games and very much preferred the world of fantasy and science-fiction to her reality. Things were predictable there, things could be solved and the good guys always won. If youâd have asked Jaina how she would feel about some body-switching, well, she wouldâve probably been somewhat interested. The idea was odd, crazy even, and to someone like Jaina, experiencing the world through someone elseâs eyes sounded like a dream.
She didnât much like what she saw through her eyes much of the time. She also didnât like what she heard in her head. Not a fan, really.
So, when she awakened hearing Henryâs voices of all voices, she was understandably confused. Groggily, she blinked the sleep away from her eyes, rubbing at them and the crust that had formed overnight. âWhuuu--â her voice was a little deeper, the room was darker--the curtains were closed? She was so used to them being thrown open at the crack of dawn, she had forgotten what it felt like to... Was this sleeping in again?
âIâm--Henry?...â Jainaâs voice came slowly to her, only it was not her voice at all. âWhy are...â She yawned, sitting up and shoving him away--not roughly, she just wanted her personal space back again. âIâm not Dillon...â The idea astounded her and she had no idea what he was saying. âMâJaina--are you okay?â
Jaina nudged at Courtney and motioned for her to follow her--crawling on all fours until she reached the desk, seeing Dillon and Dex crouched, coming over too. âI bet you guys came to spy,â Jaina said, looking directly at Dillon with eyebrows raised and holding back a bit of a laugh, even though she was annoyed.
Dillon put his hands up defensively, "I mean i wouldn't call it spying."
Dex raised his brows as he glanced in Dillon's direction before turning back to Jaina, "You guys?? You look a bit to smug to be innocent."
Courtney was still rubbing her face, trying to make sure it wasn't red. "We ARE innocent!" she whined, trying not to stomp her foot in frustration
Jaina shrugged, "What she said--she's the one that dragged me here. She's the one you gotta, like, question." She paused. "Me and Dex are the innocent ones."
Dillon shrugged along with Jaina, "I just wanted to check up on Henry, make sure he was all good."
Dex held his chin, "Yeah. Just. okay." He glanced behind him, "We're all innocent so lets just. Be innocent, elsewhere?"
Courtney didn't look at Dex due to sheer embarrassment, but she nodded. "I agree! Lets go before we get caught please?"
Cybil tried to ignore the fact that Henry was acting oddâŠer than usual. âYeah, okay Iâll do that.â she nodded and smiled before hastily making towards the markers. âIâll grab the markers, weâll need some glue too, scissorsâŠâ Cybil went on a bit to fill the air with something a little less awkward.
Henry nodded, grunted as he lifted up the roll, and heard the voices againâa little louder this time. This was only getting more and more frustrating. Were they there? Why was this âhappeningâ? âWe should go back to the table. Orâyeah, markers, glue, scissors, sounds good, we need to get back to the table.â
Cybil âs brows furrowed, âNeed?â Well they didnât really need to, the library should still have plenty of room and they werenât in a rush, but she wasnât about to argue with him. If thatâs what he needed then sure. âOkay. Grabbed everything. You donât need help with that roll?â the words already spilled from her mouth as Henry made his exit and Cybil followed.
Henry shook his head. Getting back to the table and seeing what--or well, who was out there was the most important thing--but Henry didn't exactly want to spill all this out to Cybil. He already looked like enough of an idiot. It was time to, you know, not be himself. He lead the way out, and instead of hearing the voices in his head, he heard them out loud: âbefore we get caughtâ. Amazing. With a tilt of his head he saw them: his friends. Only now, he definitely didn't think of them in such a way.
Cybil cocked her head to the side, "Henry? Why'd you st.." she heard a voice she recognized too well and the urge to drop all of her belongings surged. "Get caught, doing what?"
Jaina was about to answer Courtney--of course they could leave. The last thing she wanted was for Cybil and Henry to catch them--their wraths combined didn't sound like rainbows and butterflies. In fact, Cybil's voice definitely made her feel like ice was running down her back and she was about to die. Cybil had a good scary voice. Maybe later Jaina could compliment that.
Dillon turned around to see Cybil and Henry, and quickly smiled. "Oh hey, you guys are here do? Now Its a âpartyâ!" He said, throwing his arms in the air. "We didn't want to be caught by the librarian being loud in the library, but someone." he looked over at Courtney accusingly, "Had to drag us to do our assignment."
Dex brows shot up, but Dillon quickly took over the situation. This seemed a bad idea, trying to fool a telepath, but maybe they'd get away with it. He turned to them, feigning light surprise. "Hey."
Courtney was breathing heavly throw her nose, trying to keep calm. She slipped back to hide behind Jaina. She knew she was going to give it away if she kept freaking out, so she tired to breath evenly. She was just glad they weren't in a horror movie at the moment, even if it felt like one, because she would have been dead.
Henry sighed, trying to hold himself back from rolling his eyes--there was a part of him that was sure they'd fall out of his head. He inhaled, then exhaled slowly, calming himself down and putting on a small smile in an attempt to be... Somewhat civil. "Right." He nodded, "âThat'sâ why Courtney's hiding." It was getting increasingly difficult to not be completely and utterly annoyed, not annoyed actually--âangryâ. He just wanted to do his project, he just wanted to be able to spend time with Cybil and not have it center around the fact that Cybil was a pretty girl, a pretty girl who yes, it would've been nice to be friends--but clearly that was out of the question now. Hell, he was thinking about asking for a change in rooms at this point.
Cybil might have been less mad, had they had the decency to come out clean, but even after getting caught it seemed none of them had anything to say except good ol' Dillon. "Right, you're all here to work on your assignment." All before noon? What a believable load of horseshit. HEr eyes squinted and her head tilted and she failed and ridding the eyes of the glare.
Jaina swallowed thickly, and cleared her throat--"Well, Court..." she glanced back at her roommate, who was cowering. Awesome. "We, were here to do. Stuff, but then--" Jaina chewed at her lip and thought for a second, trying to remember--"Oh, and, you know, Courtney likes to do stuff early, and she woke me up, but I didn't want to come because projects are stupid--"
Dillon "And we all ended up meting here! And I figured, hey, lets go out and hang for a bit and pick this up later?" He tried to pick up Jaina's mess she just layed down all while excusing themselves from a pissed off telepath and someone with crazy chaos powers. "Ya'll wanna join? Or you doing your project?"
Dex kept quiet, as it was his usual instinct to, but figured it might look even more suspicious if he didn't put in any input. "Yeah we were-" before he had properly formed a sentence Cybil had already interrupted him- saying that he shouldn't even bother trying to come up with something.
Courtney 's breathing started to get heavier. She couldn't take the pressure and the lying anymore. These were her friends and she didn't want to lie like this. She jumped out in front of Jaina. "Jaina and I were just trying--! And then Dillion and Dex!!! And we didn't mean to!!" Courtney couldn't form any complete thoughts, she was gasping between sentences trying not to cry, but failing horribly.
Henry looked at Courtney expectantly while everyone else spoke, waiting for the dam to break. And it did. With a satisfied smile, he listened as she spoke, but it was all interrupted when the librarian shushed them loudly and asked for Henry and Cybil to give her the supplies and for all of them to âget outâ. Henry nodded, did not speak, did not say a word to the woman as she glared at them angrily. Together, they all left the library, Henry particularly shamed as he prided himself on teachers liking him. And now that all went right into the trash. "Great. Great. Bloody amazing. Thanks," he scoffed. "Rather âbeautifulâ that."
Cybil couldn't stop herself but look incredulous. She handed in her materials and followed everyone outside, visibly sulking. The whole time she told herself to keep calm, things âhappenedâ and that was â fineâ not big deal. Ignoring the whole of the snoop crew, Cybil spoke directly to Henry. "Let's just- work separately and meet up some other time. Yeah? Okay, yeah." Good plan, she decided without waiting for any input. "Later." And with that she started making her exit.
Courtney, with tears streaking down her face, gave Jaina a nasty look. âNo! This wasnât my idea! I wanted to study!â She snapped at her friend. Normally, Courtney didnât use harsh language and wouldnât use that tone with anyone but she was frustrated and embarrassed. She whipped her face and stood up quickly and gracefully. She grabbed Jainaâs hand and pulled her to her feet.
She peeked back around the corner and saw that Cybil and Henry were started to get up. âWe need to go.â She said. While she was very curious where they were going and wanted to keep following, Henry could probably hear them.Â
She put her hands on her cheeks and tried to calm down. She wanted going to be able to look at Dex for at least a month, maybe more. âAll i wanted to do was study.â Her eyes started to fog again and she started to breath heavier. âI didnât want this to happen.â
 She was terrified that Cybil would think that this was her intention and that it would rune their friendship. Cybil and Jaina where like, her best friends, and she didnât know what she would do if one of them hated her.Â
Jaina huffed, grimaced, and then held back a laugh and just shook her head. Alright--this was... Going to be a hassle. She sighed, and as a distraction, she checked her phone--seeing a text message from Dillon and firing back an anwer-- meet us by the desk :P, she sent back, figuring that the circulation desk would give enough cover that theyâd be able to whisper and duck to hide if needed.
She nudged at Courtney and motioned for her to follow her--crawling on all fours until she reached the desk, seeing Dillon and Dex crouched, coming over too. âI bet you guys came to spy,â Jaina said, looking directly at Dillon with eyebrows raised and holding back a bit of a laugh, even though she was annoyed.
I mean--yeah. Totally. Uh--wait, what? Nevermind! But--yeah. Youâre--cool. I mean, like, itâs sort of--[ shuts self up ] Iâll see you there. Iâll be the one--with. The face. [ nods ]
Courtneyâs eyes widened and she shook her head feverishly. âNo I swear this wasnât my intention!â She whispered loudly and harshly. She didnât mean to stumble upon them. She knew it looked back because well, Courtney liked to check up on her friends a lot, make sure they were doing okay. Part of her was happy this happened but most of her was upset that Jaina thought that and that her foot was still stuck.Â
âJust hold these!â She shoved the books into Jainaâs hand, flustered. She used both of her hands to assist her foot out of the Floor. She then fell foward, but thanks to her gymnastics training, she was able to catch herself quietly, not attracting Henry or Cybilâs attention. When she looked up, she locked eyes with Someone across the Selves. It was Dex. Her fave turned bright red and she quickly scurried back behind the book shelves and held her face.Â
âOh my god he saw me fall!â She whimpered, getting ready to cry. She didnât even have time to process the fact that Dex and possibly Dillon were spying on Henry and Cybil. Only sheer embarrassment washed over her. âJaina he saw me fall.â She started to breath heavily and tried not to start to sob.Â
Jaina fumbled, but managed to hold all the books. Studying was dumb, studying was a huge problem, and studying was especially inconvenient when you were supposed to be snoozing the morning away because itâs a weekend. âCourt--â Jaina was about to launch into another complaint, but it turned out that a million and one things happened in the few moments that Jaina retreated into her head.Â
Well, that was a guess, since she had only caught a flash of movement, and then Courtney was holding back tears.Â
In a panic, Jaina dropped the books and went to her friend, very visibly uncomfortable. âHe? Who--â Oh, right. âIâm--he so didnât. Right? Like, who--â but there was no consoling Courtney, and Jaina knew that they were going to die. Die, of course, meant get caught, but it felt a lot more like an actual death sentence. âHe--probably forgot how to see, so itâs fine, who cares--wait, wait whoa--â Jaina peeked and saw Dillon there as well, a big smile plastering itself on her face.
âOh man, this is gunna get crazy.â She waved wildly before before losing her balance (sheâd been standing on the books,) and tripping right onto Courtney. âCrap--â she rubbed her bottom. If River and Cybil didnât already know, then Jaina swore they would now. âGod, Court, be quiet, what the heck...â she told her friend, wincing a little as she moved off of her. âDonât cry, this was your idea.â
Girl, How you gonna ask me to a dance and then not gonna be dancing yourself?Â
Iâll get you out there one way or another. You may not be a dancer Jaina, but stick with me and you will be taring up that dance floor by the end of the night.Â
First of all, didnât think Iâd get this far! Soooo... Your point is moot, actually. We can just stick to the food, and, like, drinks? Totally. Unless, youâre, yâknow--forcing this whole... Dancing... Well, you would think that this would be, like, dangerous? Powers, yâknow, hah!
Courtney smiled at her in a nice clean shirt that she personally thought looked great on her! She got her and Jainaâs books together. âYou Missy are not a doctor! You are a student here at Huxley Academy and you have a project due soon so chop chop!â She clapped twice and helped Jaina off the bed.Â
She got them ready quickly and scurried off to the Library. Courtney was going through the books, picking stuff out for both her and Jaina when she heard a dull thump coming from the tables behind the bookshelf they were at. She peeked her head out and saw Henry flat on his back. She gasped and went to help, but her foot got caught in the floor.Â
âOh darn.â she whispered, trying to get her food free.Â
Life really wasnât fair, but Jaina had to learn to deal with it anyway. Amidst Courtneyâs amiable chatting, Jaina fought an oncoming headache and just did as she was told. Her movements were slow and sluggish and her responses had reverted to grunts and moans, as the tiredness caught up with her after that burst of energy that gave her the ability to make jokes. So much for fun, she thought.
After being dressed up by her roommate, she followed her. Jaina didnât really remember ever arriving at the library, but it mustâve happened somehow because before she knew it, she was there, looking for books by Courtneyâs side.
There was a thump, some voices, and Jaina moved just as Courtney did, to see what was going on. She gasped at the sight, ducking under the shelves for cover. âYou brought me to spy on them, didnât you?â She hissed, narrowing her eyes at Courtney. âI shoulda known.â
âThey are for sleeping, I knnoooow.â Courtney sighed, grabbing Jainaâs classes and cleaning them since they were always dirty, and then handing them to her. âBut this is different!âÂ
She started ti rummage though Jainaâs clothes and threw her a few clean things should could wear. There was no way she was going to wear that same tee-shirt three days in a row.
âCybil and Henry are already at the Library and Mr.âs Barton and Xander are no where to be found!â She looked at the clock and huffed again. They had already wasted so much time. âWe need to go and not sleep all day. Itâs really not healthy to sleep this much Jay!âÂ
Courtney knew the morning routine well enough. Before Jaina noticed, her friend snatched away her glasses, cleaned the lens, and they were back on her face before she could curse in Klingon. âYeah, yeah,â she muttered, sitting up. It was always different. One day it was yoga, the other day it was pilates, the last few weekends it was Courtney getting her bag stuck in the door.
âNot this one, I want the R2D2 one--â but with a look from Courtney she quickly knew that she was not allowed to wear the shirt one more time. âWhatever,â she said gruffly, taking off the sleep shirt and putting on the plain green tee while Courtneyâs back was turned.
âWho cares who is at the library? Or where the other two are?â Jaina yawned and absentmindedly began picking in between her toes. âLike I said, weekends are for sleeping. Doesnât matter if it isnât healthy. Iâm a self-proclaimed doctor and right now Iâm saying that it is healthy. Screw the M.D.s!â
[ Smiles and laughs playfully at her stuttering] Miss Jaina, are you askinâ me to go to this dance with you? Because if you are I have to tell you Iâm one hell of a dance partner.Â
Wait, wait. So... Thatâs a? Yes? Did you say yes? Iâm not sure if you actually said yes, because itâs been a while since-- [ decides not to talk about her terrible personal hygiene ] I have terrible hearing and Iâm not that good at, you know, your face? Yeah.
Yeah that one. I dunno, Sadie probably had a bunch of dudes fallinâ over her? I mean, who knows. But--you know. Since the whole... 25/25... We never really, uh, celebrated.
And, well, okay, so I probably wouldnât be doing this, not that you arenât, like, date-material? Because you so are! But Court goes cray over this stuff and youâre, like, a really cool friend and guy and Yeah? [ pauses ] Wait, I havneât even aksed anything yet, I need a second. [ is very flustered, words come out stuttered ]
âJaina!â She whined and shook her some more. She honestly didnât know how she was still tired. She felt that Jaina had already wasted so much of the day and as her friend, she wouldnât let her waste more.
âI donât want to have to do this.â She warned her and when Jaina didnât move, she moved into more advanced tactics. The lights were flicked on, the curtains were pulled wide open and the fan was turned off. There was no way that Jaina was going to sleep in and miss out on a great study opportunity.
âWe have to go to the library and start our projects. The faster we get them done, the less we have to worry about them okay? Come on!â She went over to the radio, plugged in her phone and started to play One Direction, hoping the âAnnoying Her Awakeâ method would work.
Jaina was pretty sure sheâd died and went to hell. First of all, it was bright, and even if heaven had a monopoly on the whole bright-thing, this was terrible. Secondly, it was hot. It was quickly getting sticky and she was getting sweaty and seriously, only Satan would wish such a fate on an innocent human being. That, or, well--ah, there we go, Jaina thought. Satan, or Courtney.
The sounds of One Directionâs warbling filled the room and Jaina was pretty sure it had to be enchanted with some sort of magic, because no matter how much crap she piled on her head to drown out the music, it came through clearly.
Jaina hurled everyone off of her body and yelled for Courtney to turn everything off. âWhat the hell, man?â She screamed, rubbing her temples. The music was finally shut off and the fan was turned back on and Jaina was finally back on Earth instead of some godforsaken realm where demons ran free and liked to torture people. Oh, wait--Jaina glared at Courtney. âItâs a weekend, Court. What did we say about weekends?â
To Courtney, the morning was already half over. It was dawning on ten oâclock and she felt like she hadnât done anything all day. Cybil was studying and Dex wasnât anywhere to be found. Being completely unproductive put Courtney on edge and she had to start doing something soon or sheâd start accidentally phasing though things. She couldnât think of anything to do alone so she figured sheâd wake Jaina and they would get a head start on their project. Although she knew she wouldnât be too happy about it, she gently shook Jaina awake.Â
âJaaaainaaa.â She whispered, nudging her. âWakey, wakey.â she spoke a little louder and nudged a little harder, poking her cheek and overall annoying her awake. âHow can you sleep this late? The day is almost over.âÂ
Jaina loved sleep. It was a fun and relaxing pass-time. Sometimes she could dream, other times she just rested, but all the time--she drooled. But--she did not care. Who cared? She was resting. She was in a blissful state of--Jaina groaned and swatted at whatever was poking at her face. She turned over, and continued her thoughts. A blissful state of dreamland where--now, there was a voice. Once more, she rolled over and finished the move with a rather sophisticated secret attack: putting her pillow over her head.
But, this did not stop her attacker. No, they just kept on. Jaina was sure this was death.
She breathed in deep and snored loudly, sitting up quickly and almost hitting her head on the ceiling. Jainaâs eyes opened one at a time and she wiped the saliva off of her face with the back of her arm, snorting again and sucking in the run off from the night. âWh...â Words did not properly exist so close to her wakening.Â
Jaina rubbed her eyes and motioned for her glasses, them being thankfully handed to her. She put them on and the first thing she looked to was the clock. âNo,â she said, and promptly fell back into bed and pulled her blanket over her head.
