In Six Years' Time

Spoke Too Soon

You know how when things go really well, you think: This is a trap.

That's how I felt.

I had gone back in time to re-meet my fiance and potentially save his life. I just stepped into his place of employment and walked out with his number.

I saved several people from being shot and killed just by being friendly to an almost-school-shooter.

I had wound up, by default, saving quite a few kids from relentless bullying just by setting up boxes with anonymous reporting boxes in some hallways at school.

And nothing bad had happened.

Yet.

In fact, Jenson's life changed significantly. He had been placed in an emergency foster home while his dad was being investigated. The school took pity on the situation and let him come back. He didn't lose his job. The foster family took really good care of him, despite hearing so many horror stories of terrible foster homes. Jenson came back to school with a new haircut, better clothes and style, and a happier attitude. He had even managed to make a few new friends.

Passing him in the hallway was like a whole new kid. He laughed now, something I never saw before. He had people to eat lunch with, and in class he was much more attentive and focused. His grades improved along with his life.

"Really, I owe it all to Talia," Jenson said in between bites of the spinach dip we had ordered as an appetizer.

The student council had decided I was worthy of joining as a cabinet member after the anti-bullying system I helped place. I brought Jenson along with me to this 'meeting' simply because I thought his opinion mattered too. They didn't seem to like the idea at first but after we all got together and chatted for a while, they warmed up to him.

Now we all sat at a table in an otherwise dead restaurant discussing the next "big thing" to put through our high school.

Molly wanted to do a food drive.

Luke, the vice president, wanted to do a fundraiser to raise proceeds for cancer research.

Jenson thought it'd be a good idea to donate to foster related organizations after discovering how little the government actually gave foster families.

And me? I was wondering how the hell I became this model student that spends her weekends planning the next big charity event.

"What do you think, Tal?" Molly asked, startling me from my thoughts.

"Oh." I saw my phone light up, but I mustered a thought before I even considered looking at the message. "I mean, we can probably do all of them, right? A big fundraiser and we can split the proceeds between cancer research and foster families?"

"But what about the food drive?" Molly whined half heartedly. It was obvious this was a good answer, and everyone else was already on board.

I glanced at my phone screen, smiling when I saw the contact name. Kace.

"We could just set up a few baskets around the school for students to bring in non-perishables. Not to mention, I bet we could talk to the local police department and see if they'd be willing to work something out with people going through community service about donating canned goods to knock off some hours."

I wouldn't tell them I knew for a fact that they did that, just because I had done it in my first teenage run through.

I was typing a reply to Kace's goofy message when I realized it was kind of quiet. I looked up to see everyone staring at me with different expressions. Some mild amusement, some kind of shocked. "What?" I asked.