Chapter 2: Chapter 2
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After my mom's incessant nagging, I arrived at school with a blank expression on my face.
Today was Monday and the first day of school.
That was a pretty long and realistic dream, to be honest. No wonder my head hurt that much after… did my drinks get spiked with drugs or something after the back-to-school party?
Well, it's my sophomore year… I'm definitely so very extremely excited to start the school day.
I walked slowly into the school campus filled with greenery, football fields surrounded by running tracks, basketball courts combined with volleyball courts, a swimming pool off to the side, and huge buildings that surrounded everything.
It's a good school the one I attend. The place is pretty well-off and the faculties are top-tier…
Coming here to this chic school and living in this chic area is a result of my parents working their asses off.
Hopefully, in the future, I get a job as good as the one I dreamed of and send my parents on vacations…
Students streamed from the multiple entrances of the school.
Hmm, I kind of feel nostalgic looking at the campus…
It's definitely a good school. Hopefully, my friends get here soon. For some reason, I can't remember their faces too easily… In my defense, it had been a month since I'd last seen them.
I saw nervous and giddy faces all around me, excited at the new school year and the prospect of memories they'd make and the people they'd meet.
Feeling a little concerned at my body's lack of reaction and absence of the usual skittish feeling I get after every year, I decided to take my mind off of it by walking around the campus.
After a while, I just went to the bench area and plopped myself into one of the seats amidst the crowd of people hanging out with their friends.
Seeing no familiar faces, I glanced at my phone to check the time.
Instead, I was greeted by streams of notifications from familiar names.
"Heh," I laughed, feeling waves of nostalgia at seeing those names. They were spamming my phone asking where I was… they were already sitting together.
I opened the chats and saw their images showing where they were.
Hmm, they should be pretty close…
I calculated their position relative to where I was from the picture and glanced at where they were, instantly recognizing their excitedly chattering faces.
They were the loudest, I could hear them even from here… no doubt everyone else was also listening in on their yelling.
I laughed. They never did care, did they?
I stood up and walked to them with a wide smile.
I walked behind my friend and wrapped my arms around his neck, wringing him in a chokehold.
"Guess who?~" I asked in a lovey-dovey voice.
"Gak! Youh—cuh, cough cough," I lightened my arm. Huh, am I stronger than usual or something? My buddy Evan coughed and looked at me with resentment.
"Ivan, you piece of shit."
I clapped, "You guessed right."
"You're supposed to cover my eyes, not cover my trachea you fucking dipshit."
I made crescents with my eyes "Hehe, oops."
He clapped my hand with a young people greeting.
Ah, he's so young… He's the age one of my nephews from my cousin's side is.
I ruffled his hair around as if he was my nephew.
"C'mon, bruh!" He slapped my hands away with displeasure hiding his contented mood.
I chuckled. He's very much like my cousin's son.
I greeted every one of my friends with a hug which they took very enthusiastically.
For the last girl that I was greeting I merely gave her a handshake. To be honest, I get a bad feeling from her… experiences from my dream probably.
She looked a little off-put by the different treatment she was receiving but shrugged it off and shook my hand. "Nice seeing you again, Ivan."
We all started conversing with one another. The chattering that was paused by my entrance resumed with me in it.
"Dude, I'm so hyped for the new year man. It's gon' be hella' fire, I can feel it, bro."
I slightly recoiled at the words. A taste of cringe tingled my back. Ugh, why do they talk like Frat Guys?
Then I remembered once again that we were not adults yet.
And I had not met a frat guy.
I shrugged and kept quiet while listening to my old friends converse.
Hmm, old friends.
Man, I'm feeling kind of tired… the dream changed my memories a little too much… My cousin's son? She's in college right now, and is constantly arguing with her mom that she doesn't want to get married yet… How could she have a son?
Frat guys? I've never met a frat guy in my life… I'm a high school student.
They're all so young? They're my age…
Ah, this is a little confusing.
"Hey, you good man?" my friends paused their conversation long ago after seeing me bring my palms to my head.
I looked at the floor, eyes seeing nothing.
I smiled, "Nah, just a headache. Don't worry."
"Oh okay, you got me worried there bro. You usually talkin' to all of us and I dunno. Yo you guys remember last week? Haha, Ivan got asked out by some drunk chick and shit."
Huh?
Uh… right. This was the period in my life where I was whoring around and flirting with every single person…
Uhhhh, why am I talking as if I already experienced this…
Suddenly I felt a finger tap my shoulder.
My friends became quiet and began clamoring at the new person, appealing to them.
"Heyyy!"
My friends greeted her.
"Aliceee, what're you doing here?"
The girls stood up immediately and made conversation with the newcomer with stars in their eyes.
I recoiled slightly seeing the person.
Her finger tapping my shoulder froze and she smiled at me.
"Ivan?"
What??
"You're…" She was the girl in my dreams of the future…
"PFFFTTT—"
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That's how my day started.
For some reason, I keep shifting between being a normal sophomore to an adult. My perspective keeps shifting to and fro, making every single conversation strange.
Of course, not strange in a bad way. As an adult or as a sophomore, I always could talk and converse with people. Though the slight pauses I made when noticing something amiss were slightly off-putting.
But it always feels weird… The same people I see, I either see them as people in my age group or as children trying to act cool.
My memories feel like a mix of being in the future, and being in my present day, but also as if everything was a dream.
Right now, my younger self feels like a clown for saying such a cheesy line with full seriousness.
"Durr.. uhhh… you're the girl of my dreams, HAHAHAHA." My friends pointed at me while patting their bellies that could not hold back their laughter. My older self is laughing at the younger me but also recognizes that the Senior that tapped my shoulder is also my Manager.
This is so weird.
After washing my face in the bathroom and setting my thoughts. I returned to my friends, expecting Alice to have left already.
Of course, my manager wouldn't leave.
Her eyes lit up when she noticed me again, and the conversation she was in with my friends was ignored.
Her eyes turned to crescents and she held out her arms towards me.
I sighed. Why is she acting as if she just had alcohol?
My manager, especially as a student, was very cold.
"Ivan."
"Alice."
"Heyy~"
The way she talked, answered none of the questions I had and only made more. There's no way the girl that was known for coldly rejecting every guy was acting cutesy with me unless there was another reason.
This must be another timeline. Seeing how friendly she is with my friends, this must be another timeline.
I smiled, "How are you doing?"
"Mmm, well I was blushing when you said I was the girl of your dreams~"
My younger self that was in his whoring around phase could not be refrained by my older calmer self.
"And what if you are?" I almost cringed. Almost.
"Teehee, I'm blushing right now," she poked her cheeks.
If my manager was here, she'd be extremely embarrassed and would cut my salary for not stopping this shameful display.
"Oh, are you?"
This really was how teenagers flirted. I am ashamed.
She looked away and slapped my shoulder. Her black hair slapped my cheek.
She looked back in shock and began apologizing profusely.
I brought my hands up to my face, feeling nails on my face. I frowned. How sharp are those things?
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I looked at my schedule and walked around with other people in the classrooms.
There was always this thrill of searching for new classrooms to meet new teachers and seeing which classmates you get.
I was greeted by people who I do not remember at all but I had the urge to be friendly with them and greet them back.
Probably impulses from my younger self that loved the attention and being friends with everyone.
Finally entering the room, I greeted the teacher who seemed familiar from my dreams.
Ah, at this point this isn't even a dream anymore man…
"Hey, teach."
"Mr. Ivan. How are you doing?"
"Haha, great. You?"
He slapped my back, "You boys better win one of those chips [chips: championship] for our school this year, hahaha," he laughed rambunctiously.
"Haha, you got it, Mr. Trent."
Throughout the class, I interacted with the teacher and constantly made my presence known.
People laughed at my jokes and stupid comments. None of which were funny, but I couldn't stop the instinct.
Trust me, by college, I had mostly incapacitated this weird habit of mine.
"As you already know, I'll be teaching History."
It's weird. I like being social and extroverted and being friendly with others while basking in the attention. The stupid jokes and seeing others' reactions to my stupid jokes is funny.
But there's a section in my personality that wasn't there but is more mellow and cringes at how I act.
That sort of cringe when I think back to embarrassing things I did back when I was younger…
I feel like the adult personality is slowly taking over.
It's a little scary. It feels like I'm being suppressed out of my body and forcefully merging with another existence. But that existence is me from the future so I don't feel against it.
I don't know.
It was the same process throughout each class.
At lunch, I got food from the cafeteria and bought a coffee.
In the past, I'd never get a coffee and the food I ate was less healthy than the stuff I got.
Today, the lunch ladies looked happy that not every single student was harming their body with the food riddled with trans fat and oils that young people loved.
My friends approached and left their bags on the table to go get their food.
It's pretty cute that they follow me around. They remind me of the teenage cousins that hung around my adult self because they thought being older was cool.
I shook my head, there I go again, acting older than I am.
I hope they don't freak out too much when my adult self has completely taken over.
Weekly Power Status
-- Power
Ranking 
-- Power
stone