“This is the story of how I died. Well, sort of. I fancy myself a superhero, and let’s be honest, superheroes always come back eventually. Maybe I’ll die halfway through the book and you won’t hear from me again until the sequel. That’d be pretty mind blowing wouldn’t it?

Imagine it. You’re halfway through the story, you can see how many pages you have left, and you assume that I, the main character, can’t die in whatever life threatening situation I’m in because the story has a long way to go. Then, BOOM! I die. My best friend takes up my mantle, rescues the damsel in distress, and it’s over.

Alright, so maybe I won’t do that. Then again, maybe I will. I guess you’ll have to read on to see what really happens. Trust me though; I’m crazy enough to do it. Right now I’m acting as if I’m talking to some on looking audience, when really, I’m biking to High School, on the first day of my Junior Year.”

“Are you sure your Mom has had you tested, psychologically I mean?” my best friend, Stace Evergreen, asked.

“Psssh, I’m telling you, that would be an awesome intro to a book. I’ll use it one day when I finally put pen to paper. I’ll be the next J.K. Rowling,” I declared.

“Except you’re an American. And a dude. And you have no ideas for this book of yours except for 4th wall breaking and superpowers. You don’t even have a main character yet.”

“Obviously I’m going to be the main character. My own name is even weirdly original enough to work: Tempus Mutare. I’ll just use a Pen Name or something so no one knows I used my own name.”

“Yeah… you’ve got some weird parents for naming you that.”

“I’ve asked them about it before, why I wasn’t named something normal like Justin. Apparently some scientist paid them to name me Tempus. I’ll admit it’s a little sad that my parents sold their first born’s name for a house, but, it is a pretty nice house.”

Stace, baffled, looked at me with wide eyes as he asked, “Is that true? You never told me that.”

I got really excited and shouted, “I don’t think so, but wouldn’t it be awesome if it was?! I definitely have the potential to be a famous writer one day.”

Stace just sighed. To be honest, I make him do that a lot.

As we rode up to the off-white painted school on our bikes, it was exactly as we had left it.

Our school was a little strange in its setup, having six or seven decently sized buildings plopped in random spots across a patch of land with walkways in between. These cement paths were built to connect to each building as it was put up, leaving the sometimes covered walkways more convoluted than a tangled up spider’s web. Someone in administration needed to learn how to take care of a lawn, because, despite it being ridiculously simple to grow nice green grass in Florida, the uncovered land was growing a sickly yellowed weed with clumps of brownish grass here and there.

“Same old McFly High,” Stace said as we were locking up our bikes. He paused for a second and stared intently off into the distance. “Wait bro, is that a tree I see?” he asked.

I looked in the direction he pointed and all I saw was a brownish column that with mold growing on top of it. “No, I think that’s just a random pole in the ground. Man, you seriously need to get contacts or something. Where are your glasses at?”

“I’ve still got them bro; they were just chillin’ in my pocket. I can’t really wear them while riding a bike,” he said, reaching into his neon pink and green board shorts.

I didn’t quite understand what he meant by he couldn’t wear them while riding a bike. I mean, isn’t that usually a good time to wear them? Last time I checked, blind people couldn’t ride bikes, at least not proficiently.

He leaned his head over while putting them on to avoid snagging his blonde, surfer-styled hair. When he looked up, it was clear what he had meant. His black, thick-framed glasses were missing a temple piece on the side. “Uh, should I even ask?” I questioned.

“It’s no big deal bro, just a mosh pit at Warped Tour this summer. Really people were just bouncing off of me,” he smirked when he said it. His muscle mass alone would have weighed him down and kept him grounded.

“But someone’s hand caught ‘em and they went flying,” he continued. I wasn’t surprised his face was vulnerable since he was just as tall as I was: five foot short. Technically we were only three inches or so under the average, but when you’re only 5’6”, those three inches feel like a lot.

Stace then said, “I’m just lucky that nothing important broke; these were pretty expensive.”

“Oh right, because they just make those side thingies for decoration. They’re not important,” I remarked sarcastically.

“Bro, I just wish I didn’t have to wear them at all. Just give me a radioactive spider to fix my eyesight.”

“See everyone wants super powers, they’re so in right now,” I said as I started to walk away towards the student union, where they were handing out our student schedules.

“I just wanted my eyes fixed. If I really wanted super powers I’d choose to be bitten by a radioactive tennis ball.” He finished locking up his bike and jogged to catch up with me. The dried up grass crunched with every step he took.

“And I’m the crazy one. You think the best super power would be tennis balls.”

“Bro, Tempus, like I’ve said a million times: tennis balls are the best. Imagine having the ability to conjure tennis balls and throw them with godly precision. Basically, I could just randomly throw out my arm and a tennis ball would find its way to whatever target. You can’t beat that. If I’m in this hypothetical book of yours, that’s the power I want.”

This time I sighed as we walked up to the Cafeteria/Student Union (that’s classy McFly High for you) and got into the line for our schedules. It was useless to argue with him. Of course, I’d try anyways.

“Like I’ve told you a million times, that isn’t how geometry works. Secondly, tennis balls have a lot of their energy transferred back into them when they bounce, so they don’t do a whole of damage no matter how hard you throw them. The physics of that super power just don’t make any sense.”

“Tempus, since when do super powers make sense anyways? They’re closer to magic no matter how hard authors try to impose scientific theory on them. So, as I said, tennis balls are the best.”

The long legged beauty in front of us turned, gave him a flirty smile, and said, “You play tennis? I love tennis. Here’s my number.” She grabbed his arm, pulled out a red sharpie, and sure enough wrote seven digits down. “Call me sometime and we’ll play.” She gave me a normal smile for being his friend, then turned back around and resumed conversation with her friend.

“How do you do that!?” I whispered furiously at him. “You were talking about nerdy nonsense and she interpreted it at you being a tennis champ and casually gave you her number. Are you sure you don’t actually have a super mind control power?”

“She just heard what she wanted to hear because she liked what she saw. She’s probably super shallow,” Stace said as he flexed his biceps.

“So you’re not going to call her?” I asked, flabbergasted.

“Are you crazy? Did you see her? A ten out of ten for sure. She may not be girlfriend material but I can sure as hell have a good time.”

I should have known. Things like this had been happening for years, even when he went through the long hair, Insane Clown Posse, and Tripp Pants phase.

I was silent during the next twenty minutes of standing in a practically unmoving line until, you know, it actually moved. It wasn’t a big deal as us ‘Floridians’ have mastered the art of line standing in the many theme parks we have to choose from. Between Universal Studios, Island of Adventure, Busch Gardens, Sea World, and Disney W-O-R-L-D – I’m looking at you California – we’ve basically got every state beat in that respect.

I didn’t really look at my schedule until I met up with Stace outside of the building.

Before I saw him though, I saw the most wonderful face off in the distance walking into the Administration building. It was a little brain melting, because suddenly all I wanted to do was rush over and say “Hi” to Lily.

“So you saw her too. It’s been a while since last year, but it all came rushing back,” Stace mentioned from behind me. “So, what classes do you have?”

Still trying to form a comprehensive thought after seeing her, I looked down to read my schedule:

•First Period: AP Calculus – Odd Days *With Lily

•Second Period: Honors Physics – Even Days

•Third Period: AP English Language and Composition – Odd Days *With Lily

•Fourth Period: Honors American History – Even Days *Maybe With Lily

•Fifth Period: Drafting 3 – Odd Days

•Sixth Period: French 2 – Even Days *With Lily

You’re probably wondering who Lily is and why I knew her schedule. Am I right? Every student in the school had signed up for the classes before the end of last year. Since our school only offered one class of French 2 and advanced classes like AP, I knew that I’d have Lily in at least these classes.

It wasn’t like I was a stalker; it was just that I had remembered going over classes we were signing up for, six months ago, for like two minutes, once. Okay, so maybe a normal person wouldn’t memorize someone’s schedule, unless, of course, they were secretly in love with said person. We’ll get to that later though.

Stace leaned over to check out my schedule and said, “Bro, we’ve basically got the exact same schedule, except I’ve got Pre-Cal instead. This year’s going to be awesome.”

*RING RING RING*

That was the bell to let us know we had less than ten minutes into class. I usually wouldn’t care about getting to class so early, but I wanted a seat next to Lily. Hopefully, if I got there early, then she would see me and sit down next to me. Hopefully. I figured the odds we’re pretty good though since we should be the only juniors in an almost all senior class.

“I’ve got something I’ve got to do before class. See you in Third Period,” Stace said as he started walking off at a fast pace.

“Alright man, I’ll catch ya later. Don’t forget to Google that book for AP Lang, all the kids from last year said that there’d be a test on the summer reading and you’ve only read the cover!” I yelled as I speed walked out of the building, my eagerness getting the better of me.

If I had slowed down even a few seconds sooner, my entire life there forward would have different. In an unimaginably old universe, it was amazing how one simple decision to walk to class quickly could spiral off onto a previously incomprehensible tangent. That’s the thing with the universe though; a million different possibilities but only one reality – that we can perceive. It’s almost like Fate handpicked for us the timeline we’re currently living.

This time, Fate chose to it start with a random girl. Imagine my surprise when I saw the same girl trip not once, but twice. The exact same way.

This girl, wearing a bright blue sundress and a pair hipster glasses, zoomed past me. Her light brown hair bounced as she ran past, rambling about being late to Psychology. Maybe if she had been paying more attention to where she was going instead of trying not to spill her coffee, she could have avoided the inevitable scene where she tripped and spilt said coffee all over a group of senior cheerleaders. At least it was an iced coffee.

Caramel colored liquid flew out all over the blue and red uniforms while ice cubes pelted the girls’ faces – I’m not sure if I’d prefer hailstorm to the severe burns of normal coffee. The girl who tripped had it the worst as her glasses shattered against the sidewalk and books tumbled out of her bag onto her head.

Ouch.

I raced over to help out. Luckily the seniors were nice enough about it, lifting the girl off of the ground. Her elbows and knees were scraped severely so she would need to go to the nurse’s office.

Reaching down to pick up her books and glasses, I offered, “I can help you find the nurse if you want since your glasses broke.”

“Oh my god! Amy, are you okay?!” A voice from behind me screamed.

As I went to hand the girl her glasses, someone ran into me, arm brushing mine and I fell over. Then a sudden spike of pain drove into my head. I hurled the books and curled up on ground in pain.

I shook my head in an attempt to alleviate my suffering, but the throbbing only multiplied. Then it was as if thoughts were being downloaded into my brain. Visions of fire, ice, sand, Lily, and other things shook me to my core. Before I had time to make sense of them, they were all gone. I didn’t even remember more than the headache. Each pulse of blood sent another thud of agony to my brain. Quickly though, the pain began to ease up.

I massaged my temples for good measure and looked up; searching for some sign of hope that no one had seen that. Nobody had. In fact, no one was paying any attention to me at all. The cheerleaders had resumed their conversation, somehow in completely clean clothing once again. The girl, however, was nowhere to be found.

Suddenly I spotted the girl running towards us just as she had the first time.

Now I’ve heard of Déjà vu before, but the scene that had just happened literally repeated itself action for action, until I intervened of course.

I gracefully reached out and plucked the girl from her stumble. Yeah, gracefully.

“Are you okay?” I asked all dramatically like a soap opera star. It wasn’t really intentional; my brain just went into autopilot as I tried to sort out what had just happened. I didn’t even notice that I held her up against my chest, our lips only inches apart.

“Yes. I think I’m okay now, if you want to let go of me.” She turned her head to the side as she said it, face reddening with each passing second.

“What?’ I asked, confused. Finally, I realized how uncomfortably close we were and practically leaped back. Being the super smooth guy that I was, I inadvertently knocked the coffee onto myself in recoil. Oh, and I fell over.

Okay, so obviously I’m not a super smooth guy and pretty girls make me nervous.

“Are you okay?” she asked back. She held out her hand.

I grabbed it and said, “No, probably not, but I can’t afford the kind of help I need.” For just a second, it seemed as though she turned pinkish and Goosebumps spread all over me.

She chuckled. “I’m sure you’re fine. After all, you did catch me. Kind of like a superhero.”

Now I was starting to blush.

“Hey, do you need any help finding your classes?” I offered, knowing that the map the school provides for new students is about as helpful as a square wheel.

“Oh no, that’s okay. I’m a sophomore, so I kind of know my way around here now. I was just in a hurry to talk to the Psychology teacher about our summer homework.

“Right, I didn’t know we had a psychology class?” That was something I’d usually know.

“It’s a new class this year. One of the teachers finally got certified to teach Advance Placement or whatever and convinced the school to do a trial run class.”

“Right…” How did I not know about another AP class? I was trying to take every AP class that our school offered.

“I’m Amy, by the way,” she said.

“Tempus Mutare, Junior. I don’t know anything about Psychology, but come find me if you need any help with anything. I wouldn’t mind learning a bit either, if you ever need a study partner.” I was definitely going to take that class next year.

“Alright, I’ll do that,” she said smiling.

I was about to say goodbye until I recalled how time had skipped backwards. How did I forget that?

I looked into her bright kaleidoscope-colored eyes. Oh, right. Forcing my brain to think clearly, I asked, “Hey, did you notice anything strange earlier?”

“You mean besides for your lightning fast reflexes catching me? Not really. Why?” she asked.

“Oh, well then, I guess it was nothing. Maybe I’m just dehydrated or something.”

So I was the only one who experienced the Déjà vu moment. Maybe I should have gone to bed a bit earlier last night…

*RING, RING, RING*

The five minute bell rang.

“Shoot! I meant to get to class early today. I’ve got to go. See ya!” I said and raced off.

I didn’t have time to lollygag or figure out what had happened. Homeroom was starting and I had Calculus, which was probably the only class that would assign work on the first day.

Of course, I’d be the one to completely ignore the literal breakdown of time and space for derivatives and integrals.

“Wow Amy, first day of sophomore year and you’re already charming a junior,” a girl said, walking up to Amy after I left.

“Hehe, you saw that? He sort of saved my day. Do you know him?” Amy asked her sister.

“Yeah, you could say that. I’ve known about Tempus Mutare for a while,” the girl said somberly. “I didn’t mean to bump into him this early. Things are going faster than they’re supposed to.”

To avoid all confusion, I’d like to let you know right now that my name is Stace Evergreen. Yes, the perspective did switch. With this book it’ll be a frequent thing, so you might want to get used to it. You see that “.B” right after the chapter number? That means that it’s time for my side of the story. Frankly, I think these are the best chapters, so feel free to skip ahead if you’d like. You’ll probably have no idea what’s going on if you do that, but since when are books about the plot anyways?

Actually wait a second, when did I even write these parts? Clearly there’s no way I could possibly have written this considering the ending of the book. Oh, I probably shouldn’t have said that. We’ll just not mention this to Tempus. Man, this is harder than you’d think. Let’s just continue on with the story before I totally screw everything up.

Now where to start from…

I looked around, witnessing the bloody brutality first hand. Swords were drawn, shields were raised. Soldiers of either side fell, each slowly bleeding out if not yet dead. They called out to me to end their suffering with a flash of my blade, but I couldn’t. I fought with everything I had just to escape my own death from one second to the next, unable to completely free myself from its grasp. It was hopeless; there was no way that we could win. This was no longer a battle of righteousness, it was a slaughter house and I was next in line. We we’re finished. I was finis–

No wait, I don’t think Tempus would be happy with that either and why did I italicize it? I’m not even sure if I can put gory details like that in here. Ugh, alright. I’ll just pick up where Tempus and I parted ways. It’s not very exciting if you ask me, but I suppose that it’s a little less depressing.

I watched as Tempus hurried away, running off to secure a good seat in class. The truth was that I knew the real motivation behind his actions. I knew that Lily had also signed up for Calculus, so I was willing to bet that he just wanted to get a spot next to her. His crush was apparent, and I knew that it would crush him in the end.

For two years I remained conflicted, with an ever growing ache building inside my chest. On one hand, I had my best friend and his happiness to worry about. He had been there for me whenever I needed it and he never gave my any grief when I ditched him for better plans. He was a good guy who deserved someone like Lily. So why did I have to fall in love with her too?

It was hard to describe. I had dated more than a couple of women before I met her, but nothing that I ever felt with them compared to how I felt about her. I fell in love with her before I knew it, but before I had a chance to act on it; Tempus confided in me his feelings for her.

Afterwards I tried to forget about her, but it never worked. Whether it was when I looked into her sparkling emerald eyes, heard her angelic voice, or accidentally brushed against her luscious, chocolate brown hair, Cupid’s arrow struck me once again as if forcing her upon me. I endured this entire time for Tempus’s sake, but no longer.

I had made up my mind over summer to finally act on my feelings. I tried to wait for Tempus, but what kind of life is one of restraint? I’d rather deal with the consequences of my actions than live in everlasting regret of never acting. Wow… that was kind of deep.

I left the Student Union to meet up with Lily and profess my feelings. Honestly I wasn’t even sure if she’d say yes, but it was worth the try. The only question was how to do it?

Just thinking about it made me nervous and caused my mind to go blank. As I walked to our rendezvous location, the only thing I could think about was whether or not I had remembered to put on deodorant this morning. Well, I guess I would have to wing it and see what happened.

Around a week ago I had sent her a message on Facebook to ask her to meet me at the library, which was on the top floor of the central school building. Everyone knew where it was but because it was closed for the first week of school, it’d be private. I arrived a little earlier than we had agreed upon, so I just stood across from the stairway in front of the library. However, my eagerness got the better of me so I moved to the railing and leaned against it so I could casually check to see if she was coming. I didn’t even notice the rust that had begun to weaken the bars.

I heard footsteps and looked down. It was Lily walking up the stairs. Go time.

As she moved up the stairs I began to get a better look at her, and there was only one way to describe her: stunning. Sure, most girls can look good if they dress up and load on makeup, but Lily was so naturally beautiful. She came in with just short jean shorts and a Run-DMC shirt (automatic points for knowing who Run-DMC was) and I bet she still looked better than any model in a designer outfit.

In Florida, summertime temperatures can reach into the upper 90s, and that doesn’t even count the humidity levels, so this outfit was typical of most teenagers and I thanked God every day that it is so. I also noticed she had grown out her hair to a lower than her shoulders. She looked so mature now that I lost all ability to speak, which was probably a good thing because I couldn’t stop my mind from drifting to inappropriate thoughts.

Once she arrived at the top of the steps, she didn’t even look at me as she walked past and leaned up against a wall. It was obvious that she was waiting for me to initiate the meeting.

“Wow,” I said. “May I be the first to tell you how utterly gorgeous you are right now?”

I paused for a second in thought, and then continued, “I don’t think I can do this anymore.”

Despite what I had said, I stood still and waited for her reaction.

Still not looking at me, her face flushed a bright pink and she started twirling her hair. She said, “Thanks… What do you mean though by you can’t do this anymore? Why am I up here?” Finally she looked me in the eyes, transfixing me in place.

“Um, well, I was going to. Hmm, how should I put this? The thing is Lily; I’ve sort of liked you for the past two years. Everything from your smile to the way you fiddle with your hair when someone gives you a compliment. If you’d let me, I’d like to take you to a movie sometime.”

Her eyes widened like a deer staring into headlights, about to get hit by an oncoming truck. It wasn’t the best reaction I could’ve gotten. Then she quickly turned away from me again and went silent, unwilling to confront me.

Oh… I see. So that’s how it is.

I suddenly grew uncomfortable and started pushing up against the rails unconsciously, as my legs were already ready to run away.

*SNAP*

The metal came loose and fell out from behind me. Before I fully understood what was going on, I started falling. I’d like to say that time seemed to slow down as I contemplated my own morality and my life thus far, but really I froze up in shock and all mental facilities shut down. If I hadn’t been preoccupied with my oncoming death, I would have heard Lily scream.

The only thing I had time to do was to turn my head ever so slightly and watch as the ground rapidly approached. Of course I had to have been right above the once spot in between staircases that dropped straight to the ground floor. If I was going to get hurt, I was going to get really hurt.

Something not quite right happened though. Right as I hit the ground it seemed to stretch around me, cushioning my fall. Even though I had fallen from a good twenty feet up, I didn’t even feel the impact. I just found myself looking up at where I had just been standing, where Lily now looked down at me from.

I continued to lay there for a while, until something even stranger happened.

I didn’t know it at the time, but somehow time reversed itself and I was standing back up on the top floor. My memories seemed to fade, leaving behind the feeling that I was doing everything for the second time, but I wasn’t much in control. I asked her out, she turned away, I leaned against the railing behind me.

*SNAP*

I began to tumble downwards again, but it was different this time. My mind was clearer. Although I didn’t quite remember what had just happened, my body did.

My arm reached out and I gripped onto a solid piece of railing. Instead of crashing to the ground, I now hung by one arm.

Quickly and effortlessly I pulled myself back up. I looked down and muttered, “I should probably go tell someone about that…” I was impossibly calm for what had just happened and I had no idea why. It was almost like something instinctual had awoken inside of me, a part of me that had been waiting. It just felt… right.

Lily, on the other hand, was freaking out. “WHAT WAS THAT?!” she screamed out. She was totally freaked. “You go and commit suicide just because I didn’t answer you?! Alright, fine! You win! I’ll go out with you, but you’ve got to promise to stay alive.”

It hadn’t happened quite as I would’ve liked but I guess it’d work.

I smiled as wide as I could and said, “Deal.”