Don't You Forget About Me

Chapter 8

        As I came back from the restroom, I noticed that Tristen and Mrs. Alksolof were looking through the photos already without me. I noticed that the white ceiling lights in the room were shining on the photos. I left the door cracked open in the room and I heard the two of them talking. I leaned up against the wall that didn't have a window on it and listened to what they were saying.

        "Oh I remember-" what? They weren't supposed to remember anything! "-that one. It was last year and of course both of us were tied for first place for the Futuristic Kitchen Supplies Science Fair. She did a pan that flips pancakes through the control of a remote and I did a pot that can have its handles pushed down to be turned into a pan. It was kind of funny on how she was mad that we were tied for first place for yet another science fair," Tristen said while staring at the picture that he held in his hands.

        "You loved it though, didn't you? The two of you sharing yet another thing. That must stink though since you had to act like you hated her just because that's how she felt about you but really you had the biggest crush on her. Hopefully she never remembers anything from the past and she develops feelings for you. But mainly, she needs to develop the type of feelings for me that a daughter would have for her mother and not that other woman that she lives with," I heard Mrs. Alksolof say. Wait! So she's my mother? How could that be? And more importantly, they actually have all of their memories? How? No one who was there waking up at the hospital should have their memories. I know I didn't see Mrs. Alksolof there but still. Why does Tristen remember things?

        "Not to be rude, but the lady that gave birth to her is her actual mother," Tristen told her.

         "No! I'm her real mother! Those people may be the people that raised her and that woman may have been the one that gave birth to her, but no! Tamera looks exactly like Dakota, she acts exactly like Dakota, and I love her as much as I loved Dakota. Therefore, Tamera is Dakota. My Dakota, " Mrs. Alksolof had said.

        I saw Tristen glance at the doorway and he saw me. I could tell since his eyes grew wide and started to lift his finger and point at me. Mrs. Alksolof quickly turned her head towards me and her eyes grew wide as well. I quickly walked into the room and slammed the door. After that, I yelled, "Who the heck is Dakota?" And whoever she is, don't you dare say that I'm her you psychotic weirdo!"

        "She's my daughter. Five years ago, she was shot by a kid at her school during a school shooting. When I started working here, you were a Freshman I saw you and and was convinced that you were Dakota somehow. Since I knew that she she was dead I thought that I had gone crazy. After I realized that your name on the class list wasn't Dakota and that it was actually Tamera, I realized that I wasn't going crazy. But you act like Dakota, you talk like Dakota. You are Dakota," she explained in a soft voice.

        "No! My name is Tamera, not Dakota. And you need to accept that whether you like it or not." I told her as I shacked my finger at her "And you Tristen! You have a freakin' crush on me and just acted like you hated me whenever you actually like me. You know you could've just told me how you felt. And gosh! The two of you freakin' remember the past! How?" I yelled.

        "The two of us were immune to it. We took something that would allow the two us and the two of us only to pass out when the gas was released into the vents and then the air but not forget our memories when we woke up. So basically, the two of us are responsible for the loss or everyone's memories," Tristen replied softly while looking down on the floor.

        "Why would you tell her?" Ms. Alksolof snapped. 

        "Like she wasn't going to find out about it. I highly doubt that our plan of her being the only one that doesn't get her memories back whenever the time comes. The juice that we gave her before all of this happened was very weak and she was the only one that heard us talking about our plans before any of this occurred," Tristen explained.

        "What is the reason for saying all of that as well, Tristen?" Ms. Alksolof questioned him.

        "It doesn't matter why he said that. What really matters is why the heck would you two make everyone make everyone forget their memories?" I asked the two of them.

        "My reason is because you couldn't stand me and ever since I met you I... I... I love you. It hurt to love someone who hated me even if the two of us ended up being the last two people on the planet-" Tristen explained.

        "No! You didn't love me and you still don't. If you did, for one: you would've let me go and accept that I will never love you. And for two: you wouldn't have made the entire school forget their memories just because I hated, actually more like hate, you but claim that you "love" me", I snapped.

        "Well it's not just because of that, there's also Ms. Alksolof's reason for this," Tristen said as he gestured towards her.

        I looked over ti her and our and our eyes locked. Then she finally explained, "I started to call you Dakota after a while since you're like her so much. You started to get annoyed with it and then eventually, you got mad about it. I explained to you once that she was the name of my daughter that was killed and that you remind me of her. After that, you made me promise that I wouldn't call you Dakota anymore. I broke that promise a lot. You started to pull apart from me after that. Every time I told you to stay after school and hang out with me, you would compare me to your parents in negative ways. That would never happen. It would always be the other way around.

        "So one day after school whenever you weren't there, Tristen came to my class and explained to me that he really likes you but you hate him and he needed advice on how to make you like him. Since you and I were growing apart from each other, I told him that I didn't know. Instead I explained that things weren't going well with me and you and how much I just wanted to re-do everything. So we tried to come up with a plan that would permanently re-do everything and get a fresh start. Nothing that we originally came up with would work. So then we decided that it would be a good idea to just make you lose all of your memories. But then we realized that just making you lose your memories would be too suspicious. So summer break came and during that whole time, the two of us were coming up with a plan to make the whole school lose their memories except for Ms. Alksolof and I," Tristen explained to me softly.

        I glared at the two of them while crossing my arms. "I don't know how you think me being the only one not remembering things from the past will not be suspicious at all. I mean people will notice that I don't have my memories back and they will think that this whole thing revolves around me and they'll start to question everyone I know if they're apart of this. Which will lead to you two and then you'll both get caught and go to jail which won't look good for either of you. I'm just saying it since so far I like being a smart-alec and this plan isn't smart at all," I explained to Ms. Alksolof and Tristen. 

        "That is one of the reasons why we love you-" Ms. Alksolof attempted to tell me.

        "It doesn't matter if you love me! What matters is that the two of you erased everyone's memories here just because the two of you love me and were mad about how I don't feel the same way for you two. You act like doing this will just fix everything and nothing else would happen. But so far, neither of these things have happened," I interrupted Ms. Alksolof. The two of them had sad faces on themselves. "And just to be clear, I'm ratting you two shipheads out," and after I said that, I turned around and opened the classroom door.

        "Shipheads?" I heard Tristen question me.

        "I'd rather not swear so I chose to say a word that replaces it. From the past day, I realized that I prefer to express my feelings. And that was the only way for me to do that appropriately. Also, don't you dare say that's another reason why the two of you love me, 'cause it won't change anything on what I'm gonna do," I said.