Disclaimer: I OWN NOTHING!...Except John and Lily…you should know this by now, though…
A/N: Thank you all very much for your kind reviews! (Note: this doesn't mean stop posting them. ;)) You think the last chapter was weird? Then hold on to your hat! Leave a review on your way out!
The Switch
Part Six: I Smell Flashback
Jeremie shut the door and left, leaving John to wallow in her thoughts.
To her distress, her mind crawled closer and closer to memories of a girl in her past…a girl that had meant the world to her.
Flashback
A 13-year old John walked down the halls, smiling proudly as he wrapped his arm around another girl, a brunette with short hair and a kind smile. Her eyes were an icy blue; the same shade as Lily's. She had a scent of apples around her. John loved that. He flared his nostrils and took a deep whiff. It was heaven. John slowly turned his head towards the girl, who turned her head as well. They gave each other a large grin, and embraced each other in a bear hug. Onlookers shook their heads in disgust and jealousy, but neither of them cared. The world couldn't have done anything at the moment and they would have just kept on walking. Well, except for one thing.
End Flashback
John broke down crying again. It was just an accident. A freak accident. John gave a laugh that had nothing to do with happiness. A freak accident indeed, he thought. The accident that left me alone and a freak. I wish I had been in her spot…then she would have been spared…
John slowly got up and managed to get dressed once more, still blushing madly but no black eye this time. She nearly strangled herself, however, when she attempted to put her bra on.
"Whoever invented these things should be shot." John said to nobody in particular, and walked out carrying a bulging suitcase.
John walked out to the bus stop to find that the rest of the gang was waiting impatiently for her arrival.
"About time you got here, John. What kept you?" Ulrich asked.
"Eh…bad memories sprang up," John said sheepishly.
"Oh, is that why you were crying?" Jeremie asked.
John flushed and quietly said "yes."
"What happened?" Odd asked.
"…I'll tell you later. For now, I need to think." John said, sighing.
"What? Why not now?" Odd said, earning an elbow to the stomach from Yumi.
"Oww! The hell, Yumi?" he whispered to her.
"There's this new thing now, called sensitivity, ever heard of it?" Yumi whispered angrily.
"No, not particularly—OOF!" he said, getting elbowed again.
The bus arrived, and the fivesome walked onboard, with Ulrich taking a seat next to Yumi and Odd taking a lone seat. John attempted to sit by herself, but her plans were shattered when Jeremie took the seat next to her.
"Ugh…what do you want, Jeremie?" she asked, disgust apparent in his voice.
"What's wrong? Obviously this memory thing is hurting you, and I wanted to see if I could help."
"Nothing. Nothing at all. Now will you leave me alone?" John asked, staring out the window.
"I would if I had believed that. Now tell me, it helps to talk about things."
"I would believe that if I didn't know you're just giving me the pity treatment and are going to drop me like a hot potato once I get out of your precious Aelita's body." John said, sounding either angry or depressed.
"What in the world gave you that idea?" Jeremie asked, astonished.
"The truth. I know you're thinking that right now, and I know Dog-boy and the rest of them are as well." (A/N Yes, John is very paranoid. It happens after a few months or so of being beaten on physically and emotionally.)
"That is not true in the least. In fact, I was going to make it a surprise, but I was going to have you transferred here so you wouldn't have to deal with the Bahamas ever again." Jeremie said, staring intently at John.
"Lies." John said.
"We'll talk about that later. But tell me…what happened?"
"You're very stubborn, aren't you?"
"You're no different."
"Touché. But I can see that you're not going to get off my case until I talk, so fine."
John sighed deeply and leaned forward in his seat.
Flashback
"This is so great." John said happily. "I don't know what I'd do without you, Princess."
"Oh, John, I told you not to call me that in public," the girl replied, pushing John playfully.
"Whoops. Sorry, Jenny, I guess it just slipped my mind."
Jenny laughed. Strangely enough, although it was obvious to both John and Jenny and everyone around them, neither Jenny nor John had admitted their feelings for each other. They hadn't even kissed yet.
John decided that this was an excellent moment to tell Jenny his feelings.
"Jenny, I have something to tell you," John said.
"Oh? What's that, John?"
Unfortunately, this was perhaps about 7 seconds too late.
"I…I…uh…I lo--" John half-said, when all of the sudden his world tipped upside down.
A power surge through the boiler system caused a huge pressure buildup, resulting in a rather large and impressive explosion. Unfortunately for John, Jenny was exactly one floor on top of the boiler when it happened, resulting in immediate death for her. John managed to escape with some major burns, three broken ribs and a broken arm.
But the emotional scars from losing his first true love never healed. Plus, Jenny was very popular and as such John was too. When Jenny was killed, John immediately sank to Nerd status and was the victim of bullying of all kinds. His life went straight to hell from after that day.
End Flashback
John finished speaking, sobbing gently into the window.
"Oh my God…that's…that's…" Jeremie half said, unable to find words to describe how he was feeling.
Ulrich and the others also heard this, and were shocked. Yumi was close to tears herself.
"But I thought you said you had never been in love before?" Ulrich said.
"I think I just repressed the memories…I didn't want to feel the pain anymore; I was getting enough of it in school…" John sobbed.
Yumi went over and hugged John to little effect. John stopped crying for a moment and punched Yumi right in the nose.
"GET THE HELL OFF OF ME!" John yelled, continuing to weep.
Yumi backed off, rubbing her sore nose.
John stood up, face contorted in a hideous combination of rage and gloom.
"What do you guys want from me?! WHAT? Why are you so…so…nice to me?" she yelled, spitting out 'nice'.
"Because we want to help you!" Odd said.
"Oh yeah, because you want your Aelita back. But what will you do when I get back in my own body, huh?! Will you punch me in the kidneys first, or perhaps a kick to the groin?!" she cried, tears streaming down her face.
"No! We wouldn't do that!" Ulrich protested. "Those are awful things to do to a person, we're not like that! Besides, Jeremie told you, we want you to stay here with us!"
"Bullshit! Stop lying! Tell me the TRUTH!"
(A/N Although this whole scene would attract a lot of eyes, the bus was empty save for the bus driver who was behind a wall of soundproof glass. Just in case you were wondering.)
"We are! What bakes you dink we're dot?" Yumi asked in a nasally tone, due to her rapidly swelling nose.
"Because!" John yelled. "Because people are assholes, out only for personal gain! They never care about other people! Kindness is an illusion, made to make us sleep better at night! Happiness is a myth, made to get us through the work day! There are only their selves, others can die for all they care!"
John continued to sob as everyone remained silent at John's sudden outburst.
"Not us, John. We're not like that. We want to help you. You've suffered enough hardships." Jeremie said.
"…Why am I so emotionally confused? Normally, I would just be pissed, but I just can't stop crying…" John said, thinking out loud.
"I think it might be the estrogen being produced by Aelita's body overpowering the remainder of the testosterone of your system," Jeremie said.
"In English, Einstein?" Odd asked.
"Er…how to put this tactfully…John's…well, now mentally becoming a girl."
John kneeled down on the floor, clutching his head. "Great…great…at least this'll end once I get back in my own body."
The bus driver interrupted the moment by walking through the soundproof door.
"Hey, I hate to interrupt your weird teenage angst moment, but we're at the airport," he said.
"Thanks." Jeremie said, and with that, everyone got off the bus.
A/N: And that's the end of chapter 6! Lots of angst/sadness/whatever. I tried to insert as much humor as I could, but still ended up being a lot more serious than I intended. I hope you enjoyed it anyhow. I really enjoyed typing up John's rant, though…I don't know why. It'll come to me later. Leave a review on your way out, please!