I reach my class, half expecting Samantha and Nathan to be there. And they are. And I can swear that this is exactly how they were sitting yesterday. Though, that could mean nothing. I'm just going slightly crazy.
I sit and try to calm myself. The door creaks. I sigh to myself, expecting to see Tim.
Only, it isn't Tim.
It's Alex.
She walks in, with her stride of a dancer and takes the seat right in front of me.
She does that sudden hair flip and turns to me.
"Are you okay?" She inquires.
"What makes you think I'm not?"
"Well, for starters, you thought yesterday was today and seemed pretty convinced that today is a Sunday and whatnot, and right now, you look like you're having a breakdown."
"Okay, maybe I'm not okay."
After a few seconds of consideration, Alex says, "You want to tell me what the heck is going on?". She has that irritable-yet-motherly look.
"Yesterday was today! I remember it being a Saturday, the 8th of July! You hadn't come to school! Tim also mentioned that you didn't, cause-"
"Tim? Who's Tim?"
"You're kidding me, right? You have to be kidding me."
She slowly nods.
"Timothy S Karter? Tall, skinny guy? Glasses? Talks to you for practically 3 hours a day? Makes up words like 'Bananashit'? Introduced us both? A really important reason anything 'that happened' happened?"
Her cheeks are so red right now. She gets this way when she's thinking too hard.
"Okay, you've gotta calm down. You're not making any sense. Who really is Tim? And 'what happened' happened?"
I am definitely going crazy.
Maybe mementoes will help? I start looking for a notebook where Tim made a drawing of Alex and me from when we were together. It was the stupidest little comic stick figure drawing ever. I love it.
I pulled the book out of my bag and flipped through the pages.
I catch a glimpse of something that looks like Alex's stick figure. I open the page.
There's Alex's stick figure, alright. But the other one isn't me. This one has glasses. It's not the one Tim made.
"Who made this?" I ask, a bit tiredly.
"You did! You are you honestly okay, Twix?" She calls me Twix because I love Twix. I can't resist them.
"Alright, so I made this. Okay. Then who is this?" I ask, pointing at the spectacled stick figure.
"That's Hal." Her expression slightly changes. "Dude, C'mon, I told you not to talk about him around me. It does not help me feel any better now that we've broken up."
I can't breathe. I think I've forgotten how to. Do I suck in air from my nostrils? Okay, wait I think I have it. There. Gods. That's one thing down.
Now about the rest of the problem. Tim still doesn't exist, everything that happened due to him, including Alex and I, never happened. Way to sum it up.
Alex is still looking concerned. And I think I do owe her something. But I think I have an idea to help explain myself better.
"Okay, Alex? Listen to me. This is going to sound insane. Like, totally bonkers. But you just go with it, okay?"
"Ohhh-kay?" She doesn't look too happy about this.
"Have we ever discussed multiple world lines?"
"Steins Gate?"
"Yeah, precisely. So, not exactly, but somehow, I think I've switched world lines. I have gone through the same day, the 8th of July, twice. The first time, everything was normal, a regular school day. You didn't come to school that day. In that world line or whatever, you and I have dated, but now we're just friends." I say the last two words under double quotes.
She has a confused expression and something else too. I can't seem to put my finger as to what it is.
I continue. "Tim, or Timothy Seville Karter, is both of our best friends. I really can't believe you don't know him right now, if you were in my place, you'd be freaking out. The only reason I'm not is that, well, I'm smarter." She glares at me.
"Anyway, since Tim doesn't exist, everything that happened due to him didn't happen, including us, making you end up with Hal, who you told me, back when we were dating, that you initially, before me, of course, had a crush on."
I stop to catch my breath.
She has an incredibly confused and disheartened look on her face. She's always been a bit harder to read than most people. But I manage.
There's a moment's silence. She looks like she's not buying it.
"Who asked who out?" She asks, still looking disheartened.
She doesn't mention what she's talking about, but she doesn't need to.
"I did," I say.
It's time for lunch, and I'm incredibly tired. In a few minutes, we stuff up our food and head out to the grounds. Nathan starts playing ball with some juniors, as Alex sits down next to me.
Ever since I've told her, she's been lost in thought.
"I've got a question. If you dated me, what about Natalie?" She inquires.
She has gotta be kidding. Natalie and I? No. No way.
"She's with Andrew." I look at her face, and I see another question coming up.
"But I still don't get how you can just switch world lines. There has to be-"
"Look. Try to understand my situation here. I don't care about how and what happened. My best friend literally ceases to exist. None of you happens to have any memory of him. I feel like I'm losing my mind. I dunno what to do."
"Hey. It'll be alright. You've been crazier. Believe me. Take some time to figure things out. You just need to take a day to relax. You can skip tuitions today if it's not too important."
"Oh, no, I have to. I've missed four days already. I will have to go."
I wonder if I've haven't skipped tuition in this world line.
"Alright." She says, zoning out a bit.
She does that a lot.
It's about to be 4:00 and I'm still a few minutes away from the tuition centre. I pick up a pace. Gradually, I see a tiny building emerge with "CCI" printed on top. No one has ever known what CCI is. It looks out of place as if it was from another continent entirely and put in the middle of the neighbourhood.
I hurry inside and find my classroom door. I open it a crack. Mr Hillary is inside. He looks like a teddy bear, huge and scary at the same time.
With utter resentment, it hits me that I've forgotten my physics notes.
"Late, are we, Mr Braun?" Darn it. He's seen me.
"I'm sorry, Sir, it won't happen again," I say, putting on my innocent face. He gestures me to get in. I sit down next to Paige and Jake, leaning to the wall. In front of us, Amy, Laurie and Akina. Jake talks too much, Paige helps him out. Amy is the smart one, almost as smart as me. Laurie is really fun to talk to. Akina, out of the five, is the one I know the best and talk to the most. We both are a lot alike. Sometimes it gets a bit uncanny. So, that's my tuition squad.
"Your puppy dog face so worked on him," Akina whispers, leaning back. She has the weirdest of names.
"It so did." I grin.
And just like that, it feels for a second that everything is normal.
The door creaks open suddenly. A guy appears.
Looking at him, I lose my grip on reality a bit. The voice. That face. Those glasses.
"Who...who is that?" I manage, with nausea rushing all over me.
"That's Timothy. He prefers Tim." Amy replies silently.
Tim's alive.
Tim's alive.
Tim's alive!
Jesus Christ.
I still can't think straight.
Wow.
Okay.
----------------- END OF PART 2 ----------------
