The sound of your alarm clock wakes you and you groggily switch it off. You go through your normal morning routine and grudgingly head off to your job. As always, you arrive at work on time and walk straight into the back room to put on your uniform. Once there you notice your best friend, Ian, is already dressed and preparing to begin.

"Hey Jake."

"Hey Ian, ready for another exciting day?" You ask sarcastically.

"Oh yea, working here has been highlight of my entire life." He replies with equal sarcasm, "I hope I never quit."

"Ah yes, stocking food has always been a dream of yours hasn't it?"

"A lifelong-dream. Now if you'll excuse me, it's time to live that dream."

He grabs a small nearby crate and rolls it into the main area of the store. You never thought he would end up as a stock boy in a grocery store. Then again, you thought both of you had bright futures. Although you were never really motivated to do anything, Ian was and certainly should have succeeded. You sigh and change into your uniform; this is your life and there's no point in brooding over what could have been.

The day goes by relatively quickly, which is about the only benefit to the job. However it's a rather hollow benefit, as the day passing by faster just means you have to work that much sooner the next day. You and Ian wave goodbye to each other at five o'clock and you walk to your small one-bedroom apartment, reaching it by 5:30pm.

A strange dream

You blink your eyes and look at your new surroundings. You're alone in the middle of a classroom, a very familiar classroom. Glancing down you notice you're sitting in a desk and that there's a small 'J' carved into the bottom right of its surface. This is your desk. At least it was, some point in time many years ago. Bringing your attention back up you notice the class is now filled with other students, each sitting in their own desks frantically writing notes. You don't recognize any of them, or rather you can't since none of their faces are clear to you. A teacher stands at the front of the class by the blackboard, presumably lecturing, though you all you can hear are muffled words.

You idly glance around the room and notice something out of place. A girl stands in the doorway, with long blonde and pink hair, flowing down to just above her waist. You stare at her for a while, trying to remember who she might be. No one else in the class pays any attention to her, and like the rest of them, you can't seem to make out her face. Suddenly, she turns around and runs down the hallway.

You stand up and walk out of the classroom, ignored completely by the rest of the class. As you enter the hallway, you look down the way you saw her ran, but see no one. Curious, you continue down the seemingly endless hallway trying to find her. Finally, you seem to reach the end, as a black metal door now blocks the path. Grasping the handle, you push it open. A bright light emits from the inside, blinding you and preventing you from seeing what's beyond the door. Curiosity gaining the better of you, you close your eyes and step through the doorway.

The other side

"Jacob, wake up it's time for school!"

You hear a familiar voice yell to you, and you groggily wake up in response.

What a strange dream...

You try and remember the girl from your dream, but can't figure out who she was. The classroom was probably from your high school, but as far as you can remember that girl was never in any of your classes. You shrug and proceed to get up. After all, high school was years ago, it wouldn't be unusual for you to forget a few people in that time.

Once fully awake, the reality that you live alone dawns on you; there should be no one yelling for you to wake up. Then another thought occurs, you don't go to school anymore either. Confused, you stand up and walk over to your dresser, which seems different from usual. Opening your drawers you notice your clothes seem different as well. Now even more confused, you get dressed and exit your room to find some answers. Outside your door you find your younger sister standing in front of you, in the uniform that she wore during high school. That is to say, while she has the same face, green eyes, and short brown hair as your sister, she looks considerably younger than she should.

"Mom says wake up." She states quietly, then turns to walk away.

"Um, Tina?" you say, trying to confirm it's her.

"Hm?", she replies softly, turning towards you.

"Ah, um, never mind. I'm up."

She nods and walks away. You return to your room and look for your backpack, the one you remember using in high school. Sure enough you find it, right beside your dresser. You open it and grab one of your notebooks, hoping to confirm what you think has happened. You turn to the last note in the book and look at the date:

April 24th, 2008

You walk to your bed and sit down, trying accept what has happened. Yesterday was April 23th, but the year was 2018. Ten years ago you were 18 and in your last year of high school. The fact that your sister was in her private high school uniform confirms this, since she was in her first year of high school when you were in your last. Your thought process is interrupted by the familiar yell of your mother.

"Jacob, hurry up! You're going to be late!"

There's no point in thinking over this any longer. You quickly grab your bag and head down the stairs to the front door.

"Remember, you need wake up early on Saturday to bring your sister to school, since I'll be working."

Your mother tells you, as she stands beside you watching you put on your shoes. You nod quickly in response, and although you're tempted to hug her or say you've missed her, you put it off. The you in the past wouldn't have done it, so you're not going to do it either. After all, if this really is the past then doing something different could screw up the future in a major way.

You open the door and find Ian standing in front of you. Well, a younger version of him.

"It's about time Jake, you goin' to school today or what?"

Yes

"Yeah."

You turn and wave goodbye to your mom, who waves in response, then quickly walk down your front porch to Ian. The two of you reach the sidewalk before you take a brief look back at the house.

Exactly as I remember it...

The walk to school is uneventful. Ian tells you some story involving his older brother but you don't really pay attention. The thought that you're ten years in the past is all you can think about.

"Hey."

Ian pushes your shoulder once you reach the entrance of the school and the two of you stop. He has a concerned look on his face.

"You alright? You sick or something?"

He asks.

"Huh? No, I'm fine. Don't worry about it."

You walk ahead into the entrance of the school and Ian follows shortly after.

You class

Although you roughly knew how to get to the school on your own, you have no idea what class you have. You follow Ian in hopes that you have the same first class together. Once at the classroom door Ian turns to you with a puzzled look.

"Aren't you going to class?"

"Uh, yea...right..."

"You're acting pretty weird today man."

"Yea well...today's a pretty weird day for me."

Ian seems even more confused now, but decides to drop it and heads to his seat once he hears the warning bell. You walk down the hallway a little further before opening up your bag in hopes of finding some sort of clue telling you where you're supposed to be. Inside you find various notebooks and textbooks, but nothing concerning your schedule. You sigh and notice the hallway is now completely empty.

The final bell which marks the start of class should be ringing any minute and you have no idea where you're supposed to be. Unsure of what to do, you decide to sprint down the hallway and look for whatever seems familiar. Fortunately (or perhaps unfortunately) you find two room numbers across from each other which seem somewhat familiar: Room 134 and Room 135. You'll have to guess which is the right room.

You room 134

You quickly open the door to room 134, the final bell ringing almost as you enter. You managed to make it on time. At least you would have, had this actually been your 12th grade class. Inside you recognize the teacher as the one you had in your 11th grade history class. However, apart from her no one else looks familiar, so this isn't your class. This is further confirmed when the teacher begins speaking to you.

"Why hello, Jacob. Did you miss me and my class so much you felt compelled to return?"

You grin, unable to withhold a sarcastic reply.

"Yes, yes I did. May I have a seat?"

The teacher smiles, amused you played along.

"Sadly no, you will have to return to your classroom."

She then points you to the door. You shrug in response and walk across the hall to room 135, the correct room.

You late for class

You enter room 135 a few moments after the bell rings, your attention quickly brought to the middle-aged man at the front of the room. He strokes his short beard while glaring at you.

"So, Jacob, I see you've arrived late."

He says in a angry tone. Luckily, and unfortunately, it seems like this is in fact your current class, which makes you late. The rest of the class joins him in staring at you as you awkwardly nod in response. You've never been particularly nervous in front of crowds, but you still dislike being the center of attention for a negative reason.

"I'm sure you understand this means you will have detention after school today."

He continues in a demeaning tone. Again you nod in response and quickly take a seat, trying to ignore the majority of the stares in the class.

"Now then class, reviewing what we learned yesterday..."

The teacher says, beginning his lecture as he turns to face the blackboard. You pay attention for the first few minutes, as a sort of apology for being late, but you quickly lose interest in the topic itself. If you really have gone back in time, then you already know all this anyway; at least that's the excuse you give yourself. You idly look around the room for anything that looks familiar as he drones on.

You sigh softly, thoroughly confused at your current situation and bored with this class. Eventually, you spot a girl in the corner of the room that you seem to recognize. Or, rather than recognize, you should say you feel like you know her, for some reason or another. No name comes to mind, nor any memories involving her, but for some reason you still think she's someone you know.

Long, black hair, with brown eyes, and a slim figure. What's most noticeable about her though, is her gothic outfit of all black, complete with a spiked dog collar, and black painted finger nails. Looking at her closer, you determine that her black hair is probably dyed, your guess being her originally hair colour is a light brown. You brood over how you may know her, and your predicament as a whole, until the class finally ends. As the goth girl leaves she seems to ignore you completely. Maybe you don't know her?

You continue with your classes

The rest of the day goes rather smoothly, sort of. Eventually, your body seems to fill in the blanks as to where you're supposed to be going, and you manage to find the rest of your classes for the day without issue. Unfortunately, Ian wasn't in any of your classes, and you got lost during the lunch break, so you've spent the school day feeling incredibly awkward and alone.

Sadly, that's the least of your worries. You've also spent the majority, or rather the entirety, of the day pondering over your current predicament. If you really have gone back in time, there's a lot you can do to improve your future, probably. While that's the conclusion you've reached, you really have no idea where to start in order to "fix" your future. Sure being a stock-boy isn't a grand job, but what else can you actually do? What exactly is there to "fix"? Maybe you're just meant to live unhappily in the future. Maybe you should just enjoy your youth while you can, and accept your future.

Maybe you can't even change anything. If fate is real, then any attempt you make to actually change the future should result in, well, nothing happening and the future merely correcting itself. At least, that's what you think. Truthfully, you have no idea what may or may not happen if you attempt to change anything. In fact, you being in the past means you're bound to do something different at some point anyway.

Putting all that aside, even more questions come to mind, that you actually try to ignore. "Why" and "how" being the two most disturbing. Even if you can accept you've gone back in time and need to relive the last ten years, you have no idea why this happened, or how it could possibly be possible. Sinister answers are the ones that come to the front of your mind, the most prominent one being that you've somehow pissed off some supernatural being that has decided to make you loop through time forever, until you're driven insane.

You always were a pessimist. Although you try to shake it off as impossible, the idea of going back in time was also something you thought impossible up until recently, so you can't get rid of the idea completely. As the day ends, you walk to the front entrance of the school, mentally exhausted.

You remember you have detention

Suddenly, as you reach the front entrance of the school, you remember you have detention. You sigh, not thrilled at the prospect of having to spend the next hour sitting in a class to make up for something you didn't even do intentionally. Ian approaches you from behind and then reaches your side, looking at your face as he does.

"We going?"

"Sorry, I was late for my first class. I got detention..."

He frowns, though he doesn't seem that shocked.

"Alright man, I told you to hurry there though."

"Yeah I know...Where is detention by the way?"

"Er, Room 225..."

Ian replies, confused that you don't seem to know something that obvious. He looks like he's about to address the issue, but you quickly thank him and head towards room 225, leaving him behind.

Sure enough, it's the correct room for detention. An older woman you don't recognize at all sits at the front of the room. She looks up from her book in time to give you a quick glance, then returns to reading. You put your bag at the side of the room and take a seat away from most of the other delinquents already in the room, not wanting to associate yourself with them. You're only here because you've gone back in time after all, you're not like them.

As the minutes pass, you find yourself looking around the room for anything of interest, and quickly spot something, or rather someone. The gothic girl from your first class is also in the room, staring out the window and paying no attention at all to the others in the class. She's only two chairs over from you, and with no one between you and everyone else in the class already occupied, you figure you can use this time to talk to her. If you actually want to that is. It is detention after all, so if you're caught you'd likely be punished.

You try to talk to her

You decide to take the chance and go for it. The gnawing feelings inside of you that say you know her are too much to ignore, especially in this situation. You wait for a moment when the older woman at the front of the room seems engrossed in her book, and gracefully move over to the chair beside the gothic girl. With all the grace of a stampeding elephant that is. Not only do you turn over the desk your were previously sitting in, you manage to miss sitting in the other desk, and fall to the ground.

The class uproars in laughter before they are hastily shushed by the older woman at the front. You sheepishly smile and turn back your original chair to its original position, then sit in the one beside the goth girl. The woman at the front glares at you for what feels like eternity, before finally returning to her book. Meanwhile, the girl beside you is now turned towards you and glaring at you.

Mustering your courage, you finally speak, or rather whisper, to her.

"Hey, I'm Jacob."

You say, darting a quick glance at the front to make sure you did it without being caught. The girl continues silently starting at you for a moment before replying.

"Olivia."

"Hey, Olivia. So, this is a bit forward, but I could swear I know you from somewhere."

You say.

"Have we, like, met before or something?"

Olivia looks to the front of the room, then back to you and shrugs.

"If we had, I'd probably be offended you forgot about me."

She states with an apathetic tone. Though, if someone you knew had asked if they knew you, you'd certainly be offended they had forgotten as well.

"Well, nice to meet you then."

You say, extending your hand. She slowly extends her own hand and shakes yours.

"Yeah, I'm sure we'll get along like the bestest of friends."

Olivia says sarcastically. She then turns her attention back to the window, effectively ignoring you. Detention ends without too much else happening. You make your way back home afterwards, and along the way you try to retrace your steps from this morning. Although you go down a wrong alley or two, you eventually make it home. Of course, your mother is noticeably upset you are hours late from school.

"So Jacob. Mind explaining why you have come home at such at late hour?"

Your mother asks impatiently as you enter the house, two hours after you should have been home.

"I...err...sort of had detention."

You reply.

"What for?"

"I was late for my first class..."

Your mother seems annoyed, but doesn't push the matter too much further.

"Honestly Jacob, you won't ever succeed in life if you don't take things seriously. Even if you dislike school, being tardy is no excuse."

She says in a rather condescending manner. You nod your head in agreement and your mother shakes her head, then walks away. The rest of the day passes by with nothing of interest really happening. At the end of the day you go to sleep and wonder if you'll wake up back in the future.

You waking Up

You wake up to a brand new day, and to a familiar sight. Sure enough, you're still in the past, in your old bedroom. You get up, get dressed, and make your way downstairs to eat some breakfast. There you find your sister, already ready for her school, eating a waffle. She looks up at you and you can tell she's a bit surprised to see you up already, but you ignore it and grab a poptart for yourself. As you munch on it, you can feel Tina's eyes staring at you.

"What?"

You ask, slightly annoyed. She visibly flinches at your question and quickly returns her gaze to her waffle. The two of you never really got along, before and after she entered high school, so this kind of interaction is normal. You finish your food and head out there door, just in time to see Ian walk up.

"Yo."

He says, giving you a short wave. You walk to the end of the walkway and join him in walking to school. Like last time, Ian goes on about another story involving his older brother. This time, once you reach school, you split up and find your class without issue.

You class

You first class begins, but instead of teaching like normal, your teacher just stands at the front of the class beside the door.

"Today, a new student will be joining us".

He says. As he does the new student enters the room. You see a pretty girl with familiar long blonde and pink hair flowing down to just above her waist. A realization hits you as the teacher introduces her.

"This is Allison- Jacob, what are you doing?"

He asks annoyed, as you stand up and point to Allison with you mouth open. This is the girl you saw in your dream the other day. Her features are far more defined than they were in then, but this is unmistakably the same girl. She smiles at you, amused at your action, while the rest of the quietly giggles.

"I, um, her, ah never mind..."

You say, returning to your seat flustered. You find it rather doubtful that the teacher will care you saw her in your dream. Rather he, Allison and the rest of the class would no doubt find it creepy.

"Alright, Allison, please find a seat."

The teacher says, and Allison walks over to an empty seat at the back of the room, flashing you another smile as she passes you. A familiar feeling you've been getting all too often reoccurs. Do you know Allison?

You lunch

Lunch time comes, and after finally escaping from your class, you find Allison on your way to the lunch room. She smiles again once she notices you, but rather than approach you, chooses to go outside. Instinctively you follow her out to the bench she is now sitting on.

"So..."

You begin, cautiously taking a seat beside her on the bench.

"I don't I know you, do I? I mean, it feels like we've met before."

You ask, recalling that you asked Olivia the same thing yesterday. Why does it seem like you know but can't remember so many people in this school?

"Hmmm. You could ask far more interesting questions than that."

She replies.

"Why I'm here, how I'm here, who I'm here for; all are far more interesting questions."

She says. You silently sit together, unable to come up with a proper response for her rather odd answer. Sensing that won't change soon, Allison sighs then speaks again.

"We just met now, correct? So it's safe to say it's our first meeting."

She says.

"If you believe in a linear concept of time that is."

Allison adds in a playful tone. You frown, having no idea what she's going on about. Her answer puts you a bit at ease though. You haven't met before, according to her, so maybe you're just imagining things. Maybe your dream of her wasn't really about her then. As you think she stands up and walks a few feet away from you.

"For the love long since lost, the old friend forgotten, the new one neglected, the sister he could never see, and the brother he could never be."

Allison says suddenly, bending forward and leaning in your direction.

"That's why I'm here."

She says smiling, she then quickly runs away before you have a chance to question her about her cryptic message.

Just who is that girl...

You wonder, shaking your head.

You try to talk to Allison more

You chase Allison into the lunch room and grab her hand as you catch up, stopping her from running. She turns to you and gives an exaggerated sad expression.

"Well, ya caught me, now what?"

She asks. You look into her eyes for a minute, and decide to try something.

"You're lying."

You replying accusingly.

"I'm what now?"

"Lying. You know who I am. No one acts that friendly to someone they just met, and what you just said before sounds like it has some deeper meaning to it."

You say. Allison looks down to her hand, which you immediately let go of, then she glances around the room. Finally she sighs.

"You caught me. I know you. But the more important thing here, isn't what I know, but what you know. So, what do you know of me, Jacob?"

Allison replies, revealing that your guess was right. Unfortunately, you don't actually know anything about her. The closest you have to a memory of her is your dream, and even if she does actually know you, that'd be a rather odd thing to bring up. Then again, she seems like a rather odd person anyway.

"How do you know me?"

You ask, trying to ignore her question. She pouts and takes a step back.

"Beep beep, wrong answer. Should I take this to mean you don't know anything about me?"

She asks.

You tell her about the dream

"That's not entirely true..."

You reply to her. Curious, she takes a step towards you.

"So, what do you know about me then?"

Allison asks.

"I, um, well, it was just a dream."

You begin.

"I saw you, at least I think it was you, in a hallway of the school. You ran and I chased you, and then..."

"And then?"

She asks.

"And nothing. The dream just ended after I chased you."

"Hmmmm..."

She replies, clearly thinking about what you just said.

"So, when was this dream?"

"Just the other day..."

You reply, leaving out the part that you actually dreamt it 8 years in the future. Allison appears to be thinking deeply again. Then she suddenly giggles.

"That's kind of creepy to be honest."

You almost grasp your chest in response to that critical hit of an insult. Sure enough, she finds it weird and creepy that you would have dreamt about her.

"Well, I suppose it's not that bad. Even creeps and geeks have their own appeal after all."

She continues, teasing you.

"Catch ya later."

Allison says, waving and walking away. You give her a short wave back and sigh, unhappy with the results of your conversation. Even so, you decide to hang out in the lunch room longer and have something to eat.

You look for Ian

After a short search through the cafeteria, you find Ian sitting with a girl, with long black hair, brown eyes, and dressed in a goth outfit. Oddly enough, you recognize her as Olivia, the girl you were talking to in detention yesterday. Noticing you, Ian waves you over to their table.

"Hey man, this here is Olivia."

He says, motioning to Olivia.

"We're both in the chess club together it seems, so I figured I should hang out with her a bit to get to know her better."

Olivia looks at you with a mild expression of surprise while Ian speaks, before scoffing at his remark.

"I have a boyfriend you know."

She states, apparently thinking Ian had an ulterior motive.

"Ah, well of course you do. A cute girl like you is quite the catch."

Ian replies, although you can sense he didn't really expect her to have one. Olivia blushes slightly, but it's unnoticed by Ian.

"That's right, I had forgotten you were in the chess club Ian."

You say, finally sitting down.

"Yep, I'm the best damn chess-inator there is!"

He replies while puffing out his chest with an odd sense of pride. However you don't really doubt he's the best there, as he's always been incredibly smart. You gaze wanders to Olivia, who notices and speaks.

"Just cause I look this way doesn't mean I'm stupid. Girls can be smart too, you know."

She says harshly to you, apparently thinking you were judging her inability to play chess based on her goth outfit. You quickly shake your head in response.

"I, wait, I never said you couldn't."

You said defensively. She turns her head away from you, almost in disgust. Ian looks at the two of you confused.

"Am I missing something here? Do you two got some history or something?"

"No, of course not. We just met yesterday after all. Didn't we, Jacob?"

Olivia replies angrily, even more upset now.

"I need to go."

She announces, quickly standing from the table and walking away. The two of you watch as she leaves and Ian shrugs as you turn to him.

"Girls man. Confusing as hell, right?"

He says before taking a drink of his milk in front of him. You nod, but can't help but think there was something more to what Olivia said.

The next morning

The rest of the day goes by without much else happening. Neither Allison nor Olivia are in any of your other classes, and you don't seem to run into either of them. You walk home with Ian, and spend the rest of the day lounging around your home. You're beginning to feel like you've fallen into your old routine from back in the day.

The next morning, Ian arrives at your door, as per usual, except this time he doesn't seem to have his backpack.

"Yo, Jacob."

He says while standing at the end of your walkway.

"Hey Ian, where's your backpack?"

You ask while walking towards him, a bit confused.

"Ah, well about that, I was thinking we'd do something a little more interesting than school today."

He replies.

"Such as?"

"Well...you'll see when we get there."

He says with a bit of a laugh.

"It'll be fun man, just hide your bag somewhere first, we won't need it for where we're going."

He adds. If you remember right, skipping school so haphazardly wasn't something Ian often suggested. In fact, if you recall correctly, you were usually the one suggesting it and he was the one rejecting the idea. This makes you really wonder what he has in mind for the day. You stand there and consider if you really want to go or not. After all, if you go you'd be missing school, and you guess that would also mean you miss a chance to see Olivia or Allison.

"You won't give any hints about what we're gonna do?"

You ask, hopeful.

"Not a single one."

Ian replies smiling.

You go with Ian

"Alright fine, I'll come with you."

You reply somewhat grudgingly, trying to mask your interest. Fortunately, your mother had already left for work, taking your sister with her, so you easily return your bag to your closet without being caught. During the walk to the unknown destination, you and Ian converse.

"So, now that I've agreed, care to let me in on where we're headed?"

You ask.

"You'll see when we get there."

He replies with a smile. You glare at him, annoyed that he refuses to tell you, but continue to walk along with him. After a short walk he stops in front of what looks to be an abandoned warehouse. You glance at him then to the building.

"Seriously? This is it?"

You ask, clearly disappointed. A worn down and dangerous building isn't exactly your idea of fun, and it doesn't really fit Ian's either.

"You'll change your mind about it once we're inside."

He says, leading the way. You follow him into it, although you're rather doubtful your opinion will change. Sure enough, once you follow him through the main door, all you see is a large run-down warehouse, exactly like you expected.

"Come on, what are we even doing here Ian?"

You ask, suddenly feeling a bit uneasy about the situation.

"Don't worry man, just a little further."

He says, leading you through the large room and into a side-room. In the side room, which appears to have previously been an office of some sort, you see signs that it was recently used. In fact the furniture inside seems rather new, and there's even a mini-fridge at the side, plugged into a battery pack. Ian hops onto a large, comfortable looking couch, and then smiles.

"Welcome to the wolves."

The wolves

"The what?"

You ask, thoroughly confused. You don't remember anything like this happening in the past. Maybe your decisions have been different from before, leading you to a different outcome. The possibilities run through your mind before Ian snaps you out of it.

"The Wolves man. Our gang. Well, you're not really in them yet, but I'm sure my brother won't have a problem with it."

Ian says, standing up and opening the mini-fridge, pulling out a beer.

"Want one?"

He asks casually. You don't really care that he's drinking while under aged, but this isn't how you remember Ian acting.

"No..."

You reply slowly.

"Actually, what the hell is going on? Since when have you been in a gang?"

You ask demanding an answer. Ian doesn't seem too put off by your response. It's almost as though he expected it.

"Ah well, I've been telling you about this club for the last few days. I mean I never said it was a gang or anything, but it shouldn't come as that much of a surprise."

He replies.  That's when it hits you. The stories he was saying involving his brother that you largely ignored were about the gang he was in. Most likely he was trying to talk it up a bit before bringing you here. Still, Ian has a great future ahead of him, so he really has no need to be in a gang.

"So, you in man?"

He asks, with a bit of hesitance.

You protest him being in the gang

"No."

You reply bluntly.

"And you shouldn't be in it either man. The hell is wrong with you?"

You say, your voice getting louder. Ian at this points backs away a step, and seems a bit afraid.

"You're fucking smart man. Why the hell would you throw that away by being in a gang? You won't -"

You yell, then you suddenly stop. 'You won't go anywhere in life', is what you were about to say, but then it dawns on you that that is exactly what happens. He joins you, doing nothing with his life, as a stock boy. Your anger subsides, and your breathing normalizes, but Ian still keeps his distance.

"I...I'm sorry."

You say in a dejected tone, apologizing. You contemplate saying more, but decide against it. Slowly, you open the office door and exit the room.

"I'll see you later."

You say. Ian doesn't say anything in return, nor does he try to stop you. You leave the abandoned warehouse and wander around town for the rest of the day, wondering what you can do to help Ian.

Along the way you run into a group of girls, wearing a uniform you recognize as the one from the school your sister goes to. They laugh obnoxiously and talk about some other girl in their class. You sigh loudly, annoyed by their interruption of your thought process, but continue walking rather than confront them.

By the end of the day, you return home, hungry and without any real solution to how to help Ian. You've concluded that there's nothing you can really do to talk him out of being in the gang. Although you think you probably should have asked him why he's in it before leaving. You eat dinner and go to bed, your mom and sister blissfully ignorant of your day out. You glance at your alarm clock before dozing off, happy that tomorrow is Saturday.

You sleep in

You happily decide to sleep in, it's Saturday after all. You do the same as all teenagers in high school do, sleep as much as possible.

Or rather, you would have spent it sleeping, had you not been rudely awoken at about two by someone knocking on your front door. You groan as you exit your bed and move downstairs to answer the door.

"What?"

You ask angrily as you open it, only to find Allison happily standing in front of you. She smiles as you open the door.

"Why hello there, Jacob, or should I say good morning?"

She says cheekily. You open your mouth to retort, but she interrupts you.

"Anyway, I've been out here for a while, so can I come it?"

She continues, you go to reply, but she again interrupts you.

"What do you mean no? Would you really leave a cute girl outside in the cold?"

You stand silently and glare at her as she attempts to make a cute pose.

"...Done?"

"Yep!"

You say "Good, I'm closing the door"

"Good, I'm closing the door."

You reply, shutting it immediately in her face. You hear a cry of protest from the other side, and some more banging on the door. Happy with your revenge, you open it again to find her standing there pouting. You smile in response.

"Done?"

You ask. She nods in response.

"Good."

You reply, shutting the door yet again in her face and laughing.

"Just let me in already, Jacob!"

You hear her yell from the other side. You comply and smirk once you see her pouting face again.

"Well, what you waiting for? Come in!"

You say, feigning ignorance and opening the door wider, letting her in. Though it suddenly dawns on you that yourself and a high schooler are about to be alone in your house. You quickly shake off some of the thoughts that come to mind and shut the door once she enters, escorting her into the living room.

"So, what'd you want?"

You ask. She places her hand to her mouth and does an 'eh-hem', before replying.

"I came to invite you somewhere."

Allison replies. You wait for a moment for her to explain further, but get no such response. You're getting quite a few of these invitations to mysterious places lately.

"And where would that be?"

"Does it matter? You'll be there with me!"

She answers, smiling. For someone you just met the other day, she sure is acting awfully close to you.

"Alright, when did you want to go then?"

Allison looks at the nearby clock, seems to nod approvingly, then looks back to you.

"Right now."

You agree to go with her

"Alright, I'll go with you."

You reply. Allison does a triumphant fist pump to the air and smiles.

"Great, well then let's go!"

She says, standing up and leaving your house. You follower her obediently for about 10 minutes through the streets of your town before you reach your final destination - a park. She sits on a nearby bench and motions for you to follow.

"So, what was the point of coming here?"

You ask as you sit beside her. Allison gives a soft shrug in response.

"No real reason."

She answers as she kicks her legs back and forth. You sigh and turn your attention to the park, which while not full of people, still has a few pairs of children and parents playing. Allison makes small talk with you for a bit, about how she used to live in this area, and was fond of this park. You in turn tell her a few random facts about yourself, nothing really interesting. The mood slowly goes from being a light-hearted conversation into awkward silence. Then Allison sighs.

"I can't take this anymore..."

She says, and then she promptly grabs your shoulders and pushes herself into your chest. You freeze, her sudden show of affection catching you completely off guard.

"I, um, Allison?"

You manage say, incredibly conscious of the fact that her blonde and pink hair is brushing up against your face, and that you can feel her breathing on you.

"Shut up...you're so stupid..."

She mumbles into you as she clenches your shoulders.

"Why can't you figure it out already..."

You don't respond. You can figure by what she's doing now that she probably has a crush on you. You still have no clue how she knows you, however you can guess that the past you just didn't notice her. Thinking back, the you of the past was pretty oblivious to the things going on around him. You quietly curse your past self for not noticing this cute girl earlier. Then reality kicks in, and you remember that you're in a park with other people, being held by a girl a decade younger than you. Your moral center kicks in shortly after, and you force yourself to gentle push her away from you. Even if you're technically the same age now, something just doesn't feel right. Surprisingly, Allison doesn't protest at all.

"I'm sorry..."

You say, unable to say anything else.

"Don't worry, I understand how you're feeling."

She says softly with a forced smile.

"That was pretty rude and selfish of me, sorry..."

She continues, standing up.

"I should have thought about how you felt too."

Allison finishes. Before you have a chance to properly respond, she dashes out of the park. You sit there for a few minutes in silence. You hadn't thought that going back into the past would have revealed something like a past crush that you hadn't noticed. It depresses you, but eventually you pick yourself up and head home.

You sunday

You wake up the next morning to the sound of your mother calling for you, saying something about a phone. You slowly manage to wake yourself up and get dressed, only to have your mom scold you when you finally get downstairs.

"Honestly Jacob, it's noon now, it shouldn't take you this long to wake up on a Sunday."

She says.

"You won't be successful in life if you spend all your time sleeping."

You nod your head, still somewhat asleep in response. You can't really disagree with her, given she's right about not being successful in life, though you rather doubt it's because you tend to sleep in. After she finishes scolding you she explains that Ian called and that you need to call him back, so you take the phone and return his call.

"Hm? Why did I call?"

Ian asks after you call him.

"I'm bored, so I wanted to hang out. You busy?"

He continues. You tell him you're not so he says he'll be over in a minute and hangs up. About twenty minutes later he comes over, and the two of you spend the afternoon together at your house. You reminisce about the times when you and Ian used to do these kinds of things. For you, high school was probably the high-light of your life, as after that you accomplished nothing but working in a dead end job. Sure it could have been worse, but you still wonder about what could have been. Eventually Ian asks you a question you didn't expect.

"So, who you goin' to the fair with?"

He asks. You frown and tilt your head slightly, indicating you really have no idea what he's talking about.

"The annual fair? You know, the thing that comes here ever year? It's opening up next weekend."

You think back and try to remember what Ian is talking about. You're pretty sure you remember a fair happening, or rather it'd be stranger if a fair hadn't happened.

"Ah yeah, that fair."

You reply, vaguely remembering it.

"Yep, that fair. So who you goin' with?"

You haven't asked anyone yet, but you should at least tell Ian your intentions.

You you're not going

Thinking it over, you decide you don't really want to go to this fair.

"I'm not going."

You reply. Ian gets visibly upset.

"What the hell, man? You say that every year."

He says. You shrug in response.

"Just doesn't seem like it would be fun, no big deal. Who are you going with?"

You ask, trying to move the conversation away from you.

"I haven't made plans yet...I think I'll ask Olivia to go with me though."

Ian says, with hint of nervousness.

"Doesn't she have a boyfriend?"

"Who cares? I'm not asking her to date, I'm just seeing if she wants to go to the fair with me."

He retorts. Ian's intentions here are obvious, but he's really trying to deny them. You weren't aware he was into Olivia though. Thinking back it kind of makes sense, they're both on the chess team, and he even introduced her to you.

"Anyway, she might say no, but you never know."

He finishes. You give a short nod, and the conversation ends. The two of you carry on talking and hanging out until the night comes, and Ian leaves.

The next morning

The next morning comes and you head out to school with Ian like normal. The day passes and nothing of interest happens at all. You're not surprised or disappointed by this. Thinking back, this was the way you had always lived, simply going through life day after day, doing as little as possible. With no real ambition, you're likely to end up right back at the grocery store after you graduate. Maybe fate really is preventing you from changing your ways, or maybe you're just afraid of what might happen if you pursue something you actually want. If you're just going to fail and get disappointed anyway, then what's the point of trying to change, right?

At least, that's what you think.

You become content with falling back into your high school routine. Weeks pass, and the thought that you're a decade in the past is all but a distant memory. That's fine though. This is what was supposed to happen; the way it's meant to be. It's because of fate, so it's not your fault that you were unsuccessful in changing anything.

At least, that's what you tell yourself.

You retry

The sound of your alarm clock wakes you and you groggily switch it off. You go through your normal morning routine and grudgingly head off to your job. As always, you arrive at work on time and walk straight into the back room to put on your uniform. Once there you notice your best friend, Ian, is already dressed and preparing to begin.

"Hey Jake."

"Hey Ian, ready for another exciting day?" You ask sarcastically.

"Oh yea, working here has been highlight of my entire life." He replies with equal sarcasm, "I hope I never quit."

"Ah yes, stocking food has always been a dream of yours hasn't it?"

"A lifelong-dream. Now if you'll excuse me, it's time to live that dream."

He grabs a small nearby crate and rolls it into the main area of the store. You never thought he would end up as a stock boy in a grocery store. Then again, you thought both of you had bright futures. Although you were never really motivated to do anything, Ian was and certainly should have succeeded. You sigh and change into your uniform; this is your life and there's no point in brooding over what could have been.

The day goes by relatively quickly, which is about the only benefit to the job. However it's a rather hollow benefit, as the day passing by faster just means you have to work that much sooner the next day. You and Ian wave goodbye to each other at five o'clock and you walk to your small one-bedroom apartment, reaching it by 5:30pm.