In Time

-Seven-

6 April 2017, Thursday

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"X, so how was it?" Jon asked casually as we strolled down the corridor after a gruelling four hour paper.

"It was alright, I think I can pass and not have to go for summer school this time round."

Of course the paper was manageable, I did it once before. Only that time travel was screwing up with my days of the week; I totally forgot that today was the 6th of April and I did not prepare in the slightest bit for this paper.

"Well, good for you. I totally screwed it up, the last question was practically unsolvable. Let's hope that George screws it up too. Otherwise I would have lost our bet again," he sighed in defeat.

I rolled my eyes. Didn't Jon ever get tired of challenging George all the time?

"Hey X, is your leg okay? You seem to be limping more than usual today," Jon furrowed his eyebrows in concern.

I didn't like to be reminded of it. Perhaps it was a guy thing, but I hated to talk about my insecurities.

"No big deal, probably just another sore forming, but what's new?" I brushed him off.

"You better take care of it, get it infected and you might not even have any leg left!" he mocked.

I punched him hard on the shoulder. That was Jon, always dishing out bad leg jokes that bordered on being offensive.

We joined George and Aus in the canteen for lunch shortly, just like last week. Jon and George were debating about their own right answers for the paper while Aus had a dejected expression on his face, numbing himself by surfing on his phone I supposed, just like last week. They weren't aware of the tragedy that would soon befall one of our schoolmates in one week's time, just like me last week. But I had to start the topic; it would be great if I could convince them to help me out on my mission.

"Hey guys," I garnered their attention, "do you all think that Diana's been kind of sad lately?"

"Diana Choo? Since when have you been interested in her affairs?" George raised an eyebrow.

"I just kind of realised, you know, I saw her yesterday during recess and she was all alone. Do you all think she's been behaving differently recently?"

"Jon, shouldn't you be the one noticing these kind of stuffs?" Aus questioned.

"No, I think that Deedee's been fine, nothing out of the blue that I've noticed," he shrugged. "Well, if she's lonely, maybe I can strike up a conversation with her tomorrow..."

I piped in. "I did talk to her yesterday Jon, but I don't know if it'll be enough."

"What do you mean by enough?" Jon frowned. "X, you are not interested in Diana are you?" his tone sharpened.

"Of course I'm not. I'm just concerned. Of whether she would be okay."

"Ahhhh, what was I thinking? Of course you wouldn't go for girls like Diana, you're my best pal," Jon ruffled my hair. "Besides, it's not as if Deedee would fall for a cute little boy like you," he smirked.

Right, who was I to think that Jon would view me as an equal rival, as a worthy opponent? I was just a small nobody, that was all.

At the corner of my eye, I thought I saw George sighing. I wondered why.