Rich Re:grets

Chapter 2.2: The New Girl

(OCTOBER 2010)

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RICH MUTATIO

One minute I was sitting in my room finishing up my watercolour painting. The next minute I was back at school.

No "poof". No sound effects. No nothing.

I was in my room. I blinked. I was at school.

The class was chatting amongst themselves and it was clear everyone was growing restless.

I shifted around my seat, searching the room. "Where's Mr Darley?"

Everyone around me just shrugged their shoulders.

"You didn't see him today?"

"No," Annie answered. "Mr Cranston was the one who took us here."

"Supply teacher?"

"Supply teachers wouldn't be this late."

Ten minutes passed before Mr Darley finally walked into the room. He clapped his hands together. "Okay, class, I know you've been eager ever since I told you last week. So I would like to introduce your new classmate."

He gestured for someone at the door to come in and a girl with short messy hair reminiscent of a bob cut walked up to him. She was small, her arms and legs were skinny, and she wore a pink hoodie and a pair of bright dark blue jeans.

"Alright. Introduce yourself."

The girl switched her gaze from one person to another as she waved. "Nice to meet you all. I'm Zoey."

"Please show her around and make friends with her. She just moved here from The Philippines and doesn't know anyone other than family. Group three, please move your things off the empty desk so that Zoey can sit between Rich and Charlie."

Charlie and I removed our stuff from the extra desk.

Charlie raised his hand to get her attention. "I'm Charlie. Hi."

I waved at her. "Ayo!"

She placed her bag on the desk. "Nice to meet you," she told us before sitting down.

The next thing I knew, I was back in my room, paintbrush at hand.

Weird.

That was more than a dream. I usually forgot what my dreams were the moment I woke up. But I couldn't stop thinking about that vision.

It even took a while for me to fall asleep that night, but after a couple of hours, my drowsiness took over.

I opened my eyes to the sun beaming into my room. It was unusually bright for 6:30 in the morning. I checked my alarm clock—7:50.

I overslept...

I hopped out of bed and rushed downstairs to make my breakfast. I had forty minutes to get to school. If I ran, it'd take me fifteen minutes at most. That meant only twenty-five minutes to get ready.

Sorry personal hygiene, you'll have to wait...

I stayed home yesterday so I shouldn't smell that bad.

I jumped into my clothes whilst wolfing down toast. Once I was ready, I sprinted out of my house, only stopping to make sure it was locked.

What a bad way to start the week...

Bond and Mallory were still waiting at the playground. I stopped beside them to catch my breath.

Mallory had her hands on her hips. "You're late."