November 1st

Chapter Two

"Hey, Diavian!" people greet me, smiles on their faces. Returning their smiles, I wave at them as I make my way down the hall. More and more people grin at me as I'm walking, like every day I've walked down a hallway. Even then, I find that my sincere smile is crumbling ever so slowly, forcing me to use more emotional energy to keep up my jovial attitude.

In six more days, they'll be doing this for the rest of their lives, I think to myself. Not because they want to, but because they'll be repeating themselves. I can feel the corner of my lips momentarily dip downwards and shake my head. I then smile so widely and forcefully that my cheek muscles start to hurt, and it may seem like I'm smiling more than what's deemed natural.

Luckily, I'm spared from grinning a fake smile when a friendly voice shouts, "Divi, over here!" Another sincere smile appearing on my face, my eyes find a large group of girls waving at me. Waving at them, I make my way over to the small crowd.

"How was your guys' day so far?" I ask, hugging as many people as I can while doing so.

"As good as the beginning of school can get," a brunette, which I immediately recognize as Sidonia, pipes up, earning laughter from everyone within earshot.

Kristen, a dark blonde, adds with a smile, "We just put out things away in our locker and waited for you. The usual!"

I swear that my face falls for a moment. Specifically, when Kristen says the word "usual". Luckily, I've done this enough times to instantaneously put a smile on my face. Rolling my eyes as playfully as I can muster at the moment, I say, "Well, I should probably put my things away, shouldn't I?"

Kristen laughs, causing me to look at her. "You have a free period today, remember?" she asks me. "You know, with Sidonia?"

My eyes widen in realization, causing me to facepalm myself. "Oh yeah!" I exclaim, causing everyone to laugh. "I totally forgot!"

"Make sure you don't repeat this once you're eighteen!" Kristen jokes, pointing at me. At this, all of my friends that are illegally repeating before they're supposed to burst into peals of laughter.

I cringe inwardly, but still manage to keep my smile up. Turning to Sidonia, I ask, "Want to go to the library today?"

Sidonia smiles, tossing her ponytail over her shoulder. "Don't we always?" she asks, smiling happily. "We are the 'nerds' of this group!"

"And hopefully, you two never change!" Kristen exclaims happily, wrapping an arm around Sidonia and my neck. The three of us walk down the hallway with our group, chattering happily. Before long, Kristen has to break away from us as well, since she needs to go to her English class. But before she actually enters the class, the blonde turns around and says, "Make sure you don't repeat anything you'll regret!"

I can't help but wince at the thought of repeating. I don't realize that Sidonia's seen me wincing until she asks, "Still nervous about repeating?"

I nod- I've known Sidonia my entire life, and I can relate the most to her. "My parents still talk to me about repeating early," I admit to her as we make our way to the library. Once we enter, I use a hushed voice to continue. "But I still don't like the idea of repeating- early," I quickly add after realizing my slip-up. I can feel my face paling in fear of what Sidonia would say as we make our way to our signature table. After sitting down in our respective seats, I can't help but ask, "Sidonia?" I've always worried about what people were thinking during an unnatural silence.

Luckily, Sidonia looks up innocently, as if she didn't notice my slightly iffy response. "What's up?" she asks, pulling out a book of her own from her school bag. "Oh, the repeating?" She closes her book without a second thought. "I can see why you're hesitant, but at the same time, I can see why the others started repeating illegally. Might as well catch on with the trend-" I have to strain to hear the last part, "that never goes away."

Masking my emotions so it seems like I didn't hear her grumbling, I pull out my book and open it. "You have what- seven more days?" I ask, glancing over at Sidonia as she starts to read. Sighing, I return to my own book, flipping to the page where I had left off this morning. "I have five."

"Technically, I have eight," Sidonia corrects, looking up from her book again. "But my parents say that I have seven... I've been keeping track of the days myself."

My eyes widen. Raising my eyebrows at my best friend, I can't hide my surprise. "You do that too? I thought I was the only one..!"

"I thought I was the only one!" Sidonia exclaims. The two of us gape at one another before erupting in faint giggles, using our books and our hands to muffle our laughter before the librarian can overhear us. We both smile at each other before returning to our books; this time, we're actually reading

I can feel my lips weighing down into a frown as the only sound that's being made is either one of us flipping a page of our books. Why did I smile..? I ask myself, now halfheartedly reading. I hate the thought of repeating... So what am I doing? Now trapped in my own self-conscious thoughts and absentminded reading, I don't even realize that so much time has passed until the bell rings loudly throughout the library, causing me to abruptly close my book from being startled. Shaking my head, I exhale a bit more sharply than I would have liked as I pack up my things.

"What do you have next?" Sidonia asks me as we exit the library.

I can't help but laugh. "Haven't I told you about twenty times?" I ask her jokingly, smirking when Sidonia laughs as well.

"Maybe," she agrees. "But I forgot... again."

I shake my head, "How are you a nerd like me?" I laugh more when Sidonia shrugs. "Well, for the twenty-first time, I have Science right now with Kristen," I explain. The two of us are in such a deep, yet joking, conversation that we almost pass the classroom I'm actually supposed to go to.

Waving a chaste farewell to Sidonia, I turn around abruptly on my heel and walk into my Science class, where Kristen almost tackles me with a hug. Smiling at me, she drags me over to the front of the class, where I like to sit. "I usually don't like sitting here," she begins, making me laugh. "But..." She whispers the rest. "Since I'm repeating now, I'd like to sit in the front with you, you know..!"

"Oh wow... Thank you, Kristen!" I exclaim, hugging the dark blonde with as much happiness as I can muster. My face crumbles as we hug, and I can't even describe how happy I am that no one can see my crestfallen expression. Building a smile upon my face, I then pull away from Kristen and pull my things out, trying my best to keep my smile up as people greet me.

Once everyone's seated down, the teacher, Mrs. Swann, walks up to the front of the class. Smiling down at everyone, she chirps happily, "I know that it's still early in the day, so I've decided to have us talk about the law that everyone knows and loves!"

Right after she says that, even a kindergartener would know what she's talking about.

The law of Time.