The Mysteries in the Mirrors

Chapter 8

|• Jett's P.O.V •|

Gemma answers her phone when I reach the stairs, and I hear her soft, yet particularly hoarse and weak voice greet,

"Hello?"

"Hey, Gem. Are you not coming to school today?" I reply, trying to calm myself as I climb the stairs.

"Oh, no, I'm not. I got sick yesterday and it got worse throughout the day, so I couldn't come to school," She replied.

The strong wave of worry that had crashed down on me, I couldn't describe. I had to see Gemma as soon as I could. Call me silly, but I can't help worrying about her right now. This was the third time she got sick this winter, if I had counted correctly. But unfortunately, I had to go to school, and if I missed out on any classes, no doubt my parents would find out and give me a two hour lecture about the importance of education and learning.

"Oh, OK, Gem. I really hope you get better soon. Rest as much as you can and drink a lot of fluids, you hear me? I don't want you getting sick like this again," I advised her, smiling.

I smiled wider when I heard her weak chuckle, "OK, Mom. I'll do as you say," She laughed some more, "Really, Jett? Don't be so overprotective, just get to class."

"Whoa, OK, OK, I will. Call me a worrywart, but I care about you, Gem," I admitted, "I'll talk to you later, class is about to start. See ya."

"Bye, Jett," She replied, and I could tell she was smiling too.

I hung up the phone, and having reached my first class, I stepped inside, already planning what I was going to do after school.

I found my friends chatting near my desk (we all sit near each other), and I made my way towards them. I passed Gemma's two best friends, Solstice and Ravenna, on the way, and as I did, Ravenna called out,

"Hey, Jett!" She beckoned me over.

I turned around and hesitantly made my way over, "What's up?" I asked.

"We noticed that you and Gemma have been talking more than usual lately, but that's not what we wanted to ask you about," She informed me as she glanced at Solstice and they both burst into a plethora of giggles. I looked at them expectantly, encouraging Ravenna to continue what she wanted to ask me. I'm pretty sure I looked confused too, and that was exactly how I felt.

After their laughter had died out, and they were just catching their breath, Ravenna finished, "We just wanted to ask you if you knew where Gemma is? It doesn't seem like she's going to come to school today."

"Oh, you could have just said that in the first place," I chuckled and scratched my neck awkwardly, "Gemma's sick today. I think she caught a cold yesterday after school."

Solstice and Ravenna exchanged worried looks. Solstice fished her phone out of her pocket as she and Ravenna thanked me. I nodded at them and turned around to head back to my desk.

The moment I sat down, the bell rang, signaling the beginning of my first lesson. I sighed, disappointed, and checked my watch. 8:00 AM. School ends at 3:00 PM. Only seven hours to go, Jett. You can do this, I encouraged myself. If you couldn't already tell, I'm not too fond of school.

*°*°*°*°*°

The moment the school bell rang, for the last time that day, I sprang from my seat with the rest of the class following me a split second later. Finally. Finally. School is over. The weekend is here.

I punched a hand in the air and whooped with happiness, ignoring the looks I had drawn. Then I rushed right out of class, double checking that I had all my homework with me. When I got on the bus, I could barely keep calm. I plugged in my earphones and listened to music while looking out the window the whole time. As soon as the bus stopped in front of my house, I hopped off eagerly, and bolted to my front door as I pulled my necklace that had a house key dangling from it out from under my shirt. I quickly unlocked the door, slid my shoes off, dashed up the stairs, and ran into my room. I dumped my bag next to my desk, and plopped down on my bed.

I paused to catch my breath, then stood up and went into my bathroom. I washed my hands and looked in the mirror, grabbed my comb, and combed my hair a bit so it looked less messy. I nodded my head in approval of what I saw. Yeah, that was good enough. I was ready. I exited my bathroom and took my phone out of my bag. Tucking it into my pocket, I hurried downstairs and put my shoes back on. I opened the front door, stepped outside, and started walking across the street, towards Gemma's house.

When I reached her house, I walked around it until I stopped right in front of the fence surrounding her backyard. I effortlessly vaulted over it, grateful for my tall frame. I walked to the middle of the backyard and looked up at the house. My eyes immediately found Gemma's balcony and I smiled as I made my way closer to her house.

See, I had climbed up to Gemma's balcony before, so I could do it again. I simply had to rock climb my way up using the window ledges and chips inside the bricks that covered the first half of the house. When the bricks ended, I hauled myself up onto the ledge of the window below me. When I looked up to my left, I could see Gemma's balcony right beside me, but a little higher. This part was a bit tricky and dangerous (then again, wasn't all of this dangerous?), but I made it last time. I had faith in myself that I could make it this time too. I placed my left hand on the edge of Gemma's balcony floor, and my right hand up on the railing. Then I stretched my foot up next to my hand on the balcony floor, and pulled myself up quickly. I carefully lifted my left hand to rest next my right on the railing and made sure my other foot found the balcony floor.

Sighing with relief, I pulled a leg over the railing, then the other, and voila, I was right outside Gemma's sliding glass door/window/whatever you want to call it. Since I can't unlock the sliding door from anywhere outside, I decided to pick the lock on the window beside it, like I did last time. Don't ask me how I know how to pick locks, I was just very bored and curious one afternoon, not to mention locked inside my room because I was grounded that day.

I quickly and as quietly as I could, picked the lock on Gemma's window, and opened it. I climbed through and landed right beside her dresser. I peered up, and there she was. Gemma was fast asleep in her bed right in front of me. Half of me felt bummed that I had come at the wrong time, and the other half of me was awed at how peaceful she looked.

I crept closer to her, and placed a hand on her forehead, almost immediately snatching it away. She was boiling! No wonder half of her covers were shoved onto the floor. I desperately looked outside of her room into the hallway. I found that the layout of her house was exactly like mine, except it was like we were reflecting each other. That's kind of creepy, I thought, it's like there's a mirror between us. I found her bathroom and took a hand towel off a rack stacked with them and wet part of it under the faucet. Then I paced back to Gemma's bed, and gently began dabbing at her forehead and cheeks, trying to keep her cool.

I stopped abruptly when Gemma suddenly started to shift, and her eyelids began to flutter, indicating that she was waking up. What a light sleeper.

~•~°~•~°~•~°~•~°~•~°~•~°~•~°~•~°~•~°~

Note to Readers:

I feel like this is a short chapter, despite the fact that it's about 1300 words XD is that even a lot? Oh well. This was kind of like a filler chapter...idk if I'm even using that term right. Oh well c: hope you liked it tho.

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