The Thyme Travelers

Chapter Fifteen: Thyme Traveling

Tuesday came around quickly. Ever since the weekend I had been wearing a navy blue bucket hat, pulling my hair into a pony and then hiding my hair under my hat. You could say I wasn't having the best hair week. I was of course, wearing my favorite Harvard T-shirt with some distressed jeans and converse. During school that day, nothing really happened, except for the fact that Zach wasn't in school. I worried just a little, but I knew he wouldn't back down on something that was important to the two of us. After school, I went home, had a snack, and then another brilliant idea.

Slowly I walked up the stairs.

"Hello?" I called out. When no answer emitted, I knew I was home alone. I crept to my sister's room, and opened her closet. Zach said we'd have to change our appearances, so yeah. I was quite reluctant to make this change, however.

"It's only for today," I said to myself. "Only for today. I raided her closet for something nice. Everything in my sister's closet is nice, but I decided that on a scale from nice, nicer, to nicest, it would be smart to choose nicer. If it was too nice, then people would wonder.

I drew out a pair of nice white flare leg jeans and paired it with a one-shoulder light blue shirt. I looked at myself in Eliza's humongous mirror (I didn't have one like that because I didn't quite care) and my jaw dropped slightly. I still wore the bucket hat, but it matched nicely. I looked really pretty, and like a daisy. After this, never again. I looked through her closet for a nice jacket, and found a cute dark blue sweater that my sister had apparently gotten from Gap. And I only know the definition of cute because that's what Eliza had said when she got the sweater. Wow.

The reason I didn't pick out shoes is because I don't fit into my sister's. I decided sticking to my converse would be okay. Ugh. Sure, I looked decent in this outfit, but it was so not me. Whatever. I went downstairs, wrote a quick note to my parents and left, getting on my bike and riding to Parkdale. It wasn't as cold as it usually was, which was a pleasant surprise.

When I got to the school and modular 3A, I saw Zach's bike there and Zach standing just a few feet away, leaning against the building. My jaw dropped as did his when we saw each other.

"Orange? You're wearing...orange?" I asked, bewildered. He wore a bright orange t-shirt with light-blue jeans and a navy blue baseball hat. No black.

"Well look at you," he said softly. "You look...nice." He wore his smile and he said this sincerely. I reached for his hat, but he ducked. I reached for his hat again, and he pushed my arm away.

"What are you hiding?" I asked, settling down.

"Well, what are you?" Ugh. Don't go there, Zach. Then, with lightning-fast reflexes, I reached and stole his baseball hat. My eyes widened. Instead of his hair reaching past his eyebrows, it was short. So short, in fact, I could see his forehead. His hair curled slightly, not like afro curls, but like rings. Then he reached for my bucket hat and stole it, my dark brown hair falling to my shoulders. That's right. I said dark brown. Not a trace of blue. His jaw dropped just a little, but I could see a slight smile forming. I crossed my arms. "Wow... I like it," he said, smiling.

"Zach, maybe we should ditch the bikes," I said, changing the subject. He frowned.

"Good idea."

So we found some big bushes and hid our bikes behind them. When we put them behind the bush, I stepped in some mud and got my converse even dirtier. Zach chuckled. Then we walked back to the modular and went in, the time machine safe and sound. The modular was actually warm compared to outside and I took off my sweater. I saw a look of vague surprise on Zach's face. I ran my fingers through my hair as I walked towards the monitor and turned it on. By the monitor, I saw a vague muddy footprint and had a minor freak out until I noticed it was my own. That's odd. I didn't step on that tile. But it was my shoe-print. Eh, I brushed the worry aside.