Back In Time

Chapter 2

"I'm surprised you don't smoke weed before you go to school or anything. With your anxiety, I'd figure you'd need it."

What a lovely way to start the day. Hah, that rhymed.

"Congratulations, Evan," Connor replied, crossing his arms as he walked next to him. They were going to Evan's locker which was hopefully the same from the original timeline or else Evan was fucked. "We're all so proud of you."

Thanks.

He walked past a couple crowds of kids before arriving at his locker. After putting in his combination, he took out his textbooks for first period before hanging his backpack on the hook in the locker. Then, Evan closed the door shut.

"Oh, you've got to be kidding me," Connor mumbled, seeing who was walking up. "Don't tell me I'm in Kleinman's position."

Evan's eyes widened, with worry more than anything, before turning around. There he was, a new Connor Murphy. Not wearing black, but like- normal, typical senior clothes. That's... weird.

"That doesn't even look like me. My hair's short!" Connor frowned, looking at his alternate. "Is this Kleinman?"

"Hi, Evan! How was your summer?" New-Connor asked, walking over to him.

Not Jared, Alana.

"Oh thank god. Still annoying, but not as bad," Connor shrugged.

Everyone is annoying to you.

"True."

"Uh, i-it was..."

"Mine was productive," New-Connor said, chuckling a little. That threw original-Connor off a bit; he hadn't heard his laugh in a good bit. "I did-"

"A ton of scholarships and stuff?" Evan interrupted, gaining a nod from Connor before thinking of an idea. "Hey, is it okay if I call you Con?"

"Uh... Con? Why?" Con asked, glancing at Evan with a hint of confusion.

"Yeah, Evan, why?" Connor questioned. "Did you always want to give me a nickname?"

No. Your names will just get really confusing, and I can't deal with that shit.

"That's- honestly fair," Connor replied. "I'm surprised you thought of that."

"I just, uh..." Evan mumbled. He felt kind of bad for using his alternate timeline for knowledge about Con. Since Alana felt like she could disappear and nobody would notice, Con now felt like that too. Because of that, this excuse would probably work. "I just uh. Don't have... many, um. Friends? And you seem nice a-and smart, so... I'm sorry, that's probably weird."

"Hey, don't apologize," Con said, smiling a little. "Sure, Ev, you can call me Con."

Evan smiled a bit too. "Thanks."

"You're welcome," Con replied before walking away and waving goodbye. "Happy first day!"

And then he was gone.

You know, Con is a lot more nice than you.

"Well obviously, Con is Alana. I'm me." Connor leaned against the wall, crossing his arms. "I'm not nice."

Just because you're damaged doesn't mean you can't change.

Connor glanced over at Evan and scoffed. "Says you."

Evan just shook his head, turning away from Connor and heading towards his classes. Last time he did this, Jared walked down.

And as much as he didn't want to hope too much? He really wanted to see him. Jared was the sense of normalcy he needed right now. No spirits, no weird switches, he just needed a stupidly funny Jared.