16. Test

"Paige. Paige, look at me." Lance was sitting on the floor with crossed legs, not caring about his image at all; his face was full of worry. He had been gripping her arms, trying to find out what was going on.

She came to herself after a few minutes of being shocked and was still terrified. 

"You won." She said out loud, not speaking to Lance but at the same time telling him. 

"I won't disclose any more information, even if I have it in the future." She cast a look at Lance, who got the message; she didn't know any more about the reborn Jace. 

"I really won't tell you. I'm sorry, but this is too hard for me." Her eyes wandered to the floor, feeling a little disappointed in herself for giving up this soon.

"What even happened?" He didn't care about the golden finger anymore; he didn't want to witness such a seizure again.

"Can I disclose this information?" she asked again loudly.

After getting approval from the system, she told him, 

"My heart stopped for a few seconds, and I never want to feel that again."

Bewildered, Lance nodded, promising her, 

"Tell me what you can without getting punished; the rest is up to me to discover. Everything else doesn't matter."

She nodded weakly. 

"What are you doing?!" Right at this moment, Jace's surprised voice was heard. Scrutinizing their positions on the floor, being all chummy.

Paige looked up and ignored him; he would get behind her not being the original Paige faster than everybody else if he were reborn. On the other hand, she didn't have any more energy to spend on him.

Lance threw a fleeting glance at him, feeling that he had great timing. Just as one information source got lost, there came the next. He would ask that prick. But not now; he too didn't answer and helped Paige up, finally going to the infirmary.

Jace, being left alone, pushed his glasses up in hatred. But they didn't matter that much for now; he had to go back to see Tasha again.

When they arrived, a male and female school nurse were standing ready. The female school nurse was tying her hair and looked a bit sloppy, apparently just getting here.

"We were informed; I got this." She shook the two little bottles for their pee. "Lance Walker and Paige Smith?"

Lance smiled teasingly at Paige and mouthed 'Smith?' getting an eye roll in return. That's the innovative surname the system created, not her real one.

"Yes." She answered the nurse.

"Good, you go with him, and I go with you." They were accompanied to their respective school toilets, Paige having the female nurse with her, and Lance the male. 

He scoffed, "Is this really necessary?" 

The male nurse patted him on the shoulder. 

"Yes, if you are on drugs as a minor in school. And yes, if you have been wrongly accused and have to clear your name." 

That, he understood, so he fully cooperated. After their pee was gathered, they met again in the corridor . 

"My first drug test with my crush!" Paige first tried to be enthusiastic, then just sighed sorrowfully.

Lance laughed, 

"The original Paige had thrown a tantrum."

"No way, she would just have them all pushed down the stairs," she giggled. 

Lance was laughing harder than necessary, finding everything so absurd. But looking at her, when her face unfroze, she looked rather vivid. That was a Paige he had never seen before, and somehow he felt that he should say "Good night" today back to her.

"Let's go back to class." She said, stretching. This was all too taxing for an old lady like her.

Lance heard her mumble absentmindedly again and could only agree. 

And if he couldn't make money with his golden finger due to a speech ban, he had to somehow work on his own shortcut.

'Ah, I bet my brother would love to help.'