Jack adjusted his black leather jacket and checked out his fit. He was wearing a fitted dark gray crew neck t-shirt with a small ghost icon smoking at the corner underneath his leather jacket, black cargo pants, black leather sneakers, a silver chain around his neck, silver watch, and he also wore a hat.
"Good thing I still had my big brother's clothes. After growing taller and more muscular, my clothes don't fit as well." Jack muttered to himself as he felt he looked quite stylish, if not a little edgy for liking.
"Alright, it's time to face the outside world," Jack said to cheer himself up and left.
He didn't have a car in this life, so he had to take public transportation. Luckily, in his prior bank account, he saved a couple of hundred dollars to afford to eat and travel.
Arriving near the bus stop, Jack sat on the bench and pulled up his phone. According to Google Maps, this bus stop would only take halfway before he had to switch to another bus and then walk five minutes to the Chili's restaurant, where he and Sarah agreed to meet.
Which would take him forty minutes if everything went well.
They planned to meet in about half an hour.
Jack's eye twitched as he sighed. He was going to be late again. He really had to fix this habit.
"I guess I'll let Sarah know I'm going to be late," Jack muttered to himself and texted her.
He quickly got a response saying that she called it and was going to be late herself, so it was no biggie.
Another ping followed—a selfie.
"Hmmm, she sent me a selfie?" Jack said with surprise.
Sarah grinned at him from the screen, her crimson eyes framed by short black hair tipped with bright red. A white lab coat hung loosely over her shoulders, and the badge around her neck marked her as an intern. She looked... different.
Memories flooded Jack's mind as he recognized the girl in the selfie, even though she had changed slightly from when he last saw her. She had lost some weight and returned to her natural hair color from having it dyed blue for most of high school.
In this world, natural eye and hair colors seemed far more diverse than in his universe, primarily due to the viruses that have entered most of humanity's bodies. Although these viruses weren't harmful, they did affect certain properties, such as natural eye and hair color.
Jack fell silent as he saw the similarities between Sarah, whom he knew, and this Sarah. This Sarah was younger, had different hair and eye color, and was shorter. But other than that, she was exactly the same.
Jack smiled and looked at the text message below.
[Sarah Griffin]: Changed quite a bit. I'm now a looker, so don't mistake me for someone else when you see me.
Jack chuckled before taking his selfie and sending back his response.
"As good as me?"
At the same time as he sent his selfie, a small girl blinked her ruby eyes in front of an underground lab as she cursed under her breath.
Her jaw slackened as her fingers zoomed in on the picture. "What the—" she muttered, earning a few curious glances from nearby interns.
"Is Jack taking steroids? How is he so ripped when he didn't go into military service? Also, in the picture, he looks taller." Sarah muttered with speechlessness.
She had the same feeling as back when she hadn't seen her friends since the summer break, only to find out they all had a growth spurt, yet hers was nowhere to be found.
Her doctors lied to her.
"I thought I was doing great, but Jack seems to be really hitting the gym lately. I should ask him what his routine is." Sarah muttered and sent her response before putting her phone away.
She entered the laboratory behind her and saw dozens of strange-looking plants under hanging lights while numerous interns like her studied them meticulously.
The lab smelled faintly of damp soil and chemicals, the buzzing of fluorescent lights overhead merging with the soft murmurs of interns.
She eventually found her station, where two other interns about her age were in the middle of studying a plant that looked like the short king of all corn. It was only up to her chest, yet it was quite burly, and dozens of corn were growing.
One of the interns at her station was a young girl with black wavy hair who was using tweezers to open the leaves of corn delicately. At the same time, her partner took pictures from every angle.
They had stern faces as they took their study seriously and only paused after they noticed Sarah coming over.
"Sarah? I thought you said you were leaving early. Did you forget something?" The female intern asked with curiosity.
"My friend said he was going to be fifteen minutes late. But with his record, fifteen minutes will turn into thirty minutes. So I came back to help you take the final notes for the day." Sarah said with a smile.
The two interns shrugged their shoulders and handed her a clipboard filled with papers.
Sarah grabbed it and went to work.
Twenty minutes later, Sarah arrived at the Chili's that she and Jack had agreed to and blinked.
Jack yawned right in front of her, waving her down while she walked over.
"You're late," Jack said with a smile.
"Jack, how are ya?" Sarah said as she skipped over with a bright smile.
"Pretty decent. But you seem to be doing great. I almost couldn't recognize you without your selfie." Jack said smoothly but also literally.
He would still have thought she looked like Sarah from his world if he hadn't seen her.
Sarah rolled her eyes. It was clear to anyone that he was doing much better regarding looks.
"Thank you. You don't have to butter me up. Treat me like back when we were in school."
"Like shit?" Jack said jokingly.
"Hahaha, exactly."
After their small talk, they both entered the Chili's and ordered some fries and a burger while they caught up.
The faint smell of sizzling fajitas mixed with the hum of chatter around them. Jack leaned back in the booth, sipping his water as he watched Sarah poke at her fries.
"So, what got you so busy that you couldn't even bother to keep up with your best friends?" Sarah asked while pouting her lips.
"Have you ever heard about Starry Cloud Studio?" Jack asked before taking a sip of water.
"Yeah, I haven't played any of their games, but I heard that recently, they got into hot water after they illegally removed their games. Their fans were so pissed off it got Steam's attention, and they put the games back up."
"Why do you ask?" Sarah asked as he played with her food.
Jack smiled when he heard that even Sarah knew about his work. However, his good mood left when he heard her continue before sighing.
"I'm working for Starry Cloud Studio." Jack's voice was flat, but his hand clenched the water glass a bit tighter.
"In fact, I'm the creator and sole game developer."
Sarah's face froze in shock as she exclaimed, "No shot! How could such a small but well-known gaming studio be yours? You were kind of…you know, back in high school."
"Kind of shit? Yeah, I know, but a gaming company recognized my talents and hired me to help them break into Timber Woods City."
"Unfortunately, I only found out that they were a Shadow Gaming Company yesterday when they deleted all my accounts and games and even took out my money without even a warning," Jack said, taking a bite of his fries.
It was very salty but good.
"So that's why. It does explain things." Sarah muttered.
"I wanted to tell you guys, but they made me sign an NDA that I couldn't break until I officially started. And after that, they worked me to the bone, which took up all my free time." Jack said without a hint of shame on his face.
"Well, I guess that's a good enough excuse. What are you planning on doing now?" Sarah asked, intrigued.
"Well, I'm trying to get back on my feet. I need to start making some games to pay the bills and for my extension."
"But that's enough about me for now. What have you been up to? How's college? Did any interesting things happen? Did you finally get a boyfriend?" Jack asked with curiosity.
Sarah smiled bitterly when she heard his last part.
"No boyfriend, I'm afraid. But everything else is good. I've been minoring in botanist so that I can be a plant specialist in video games, which will make it easier for me to get signed into a good studio. Plus, I always liked learning about plants, so I might as well put this extra knowledge to use." Sarah said as she poked her head.
"As for anything interesting? Not much. I made a few friends, but none of them are the same type of nerds as us. I haven't been able to play Magic the Gathering or DND with anyone."
"Really? I thought there was basically any club in college. Or you could make your own." Jack said with some surprise.
"I wish I could, but I don't really have time or desire to go through setting up a club and recruiting people. Already have my hands full with classes and my internship." Sarah said with a soft sigh before her red eyes sparkled.
"But now I don't have to. You can play with me."
"Me? What about the others? Couldn't you play with them?" Jack asked with surprise.
"I kind of lost contact with Davin and Flipp. You know Davin left the City to attend Fast Streak College in Long Lake City, and Flipp's internship had turned into a full-time job."
"So he has been busy with his own life. Last time I talked to him, he considered proposing to his girlfriend." Sarah said as she put her finger on her lips.
"Basically, the gang had been reduced to just me and you," Sarah added before falling silent.
"Just us," Jack muttered.
"It's still better than my old universe." He thought to himself.
Back then, he completely lost contact with everyone from high school. He made new friends from college and work, but those relationships didn't have the same deep spark he had with the gang.
Seeing Sarah again stirred something in him—nostalgia and relief. Back in his old world, their friendships had unraveled. Here, there was a chance to hold onto them, even if the gang was down to two.