Just In Time

Book One
Past

Prologue
At 6:45 am, Justin Time's alarm went off. It took him two seconds to turn it off. He got up out of bed and trudged down the hall, silently complaining about the earliness of the hour. He dragged his feet into the bathroom to take a shower. By 7:05 am, Justin was sitting at his kitchen table eating breakfast. At 7:20 am he got in his car and headed off to school. Seven hours later, at 2:00 pm, he came home and started on his homework. Four hours later, at 6:00 pm, he had dinner with his family. Then he finished his homework and went to bed. That is when his day began to be confusing. At 12:04 am he was woken by a loud clapping noise in the middle of his room. He quickly sat up in bed and looked around for the source of the noise. He looked on the ground and found a boy that looked like him. He had the same long, dark brown hair that wouldn't style in any way besides lying flat against his head. He looked almost identical to Justin. Even the freckles. The only difference seemed to be that he looked a little older. Blood covered his clothes and face. The boy looked up and Justin realized he was staring into his own face. Justin gasped.
"87 A.D," his voice matching Justin's almost identically. He sounded tired, weak, and out of breath. "Top of the Roman Coliseum. Hurry." He raised both shaking hands and with effort, clapped them together. The clapping sound returned and he vanished. Not long after, Justin fell back on his pillow; out cold.

Chapter 1

Justin Time woke up at 6:55 am. He had slept through his alarm and was now running late. He grabbed a piece of toast from the kitchen and ran out the door. He started his car at twenty-five minutes past seven. He had only five minutes to beat the traffic and get to class on time. He threw the car into reverse and backed out of the driveway, running over the bushes his mom had just planted and nearly hitting the mailbox. Once out of his driveway he shifted into drive and headed toward school. It wasn't long before he had to bring his car to a stop.
"Stupid traffic," Justin muttered, pushing his hair back. It immediately fell back over his eyes again. His hair never did what he wanted it to. No amount of gel could tame his mass of hair. He sat in his car waiting for the light several cars ahead to change to green. It was then that he remembered the dream he had last night. To him, it didn't seem like a dream. It felt too real. Hearing his voice, it sounded too real: too lifelike. 87 A.D. What did that mean? His thoughts were interrupted by the driver's horn behind him. He looked up and discovered the light was now green. He slammed on the gas. He stopped thinking about the night before. He was more concerned about being late to math again. The last time he was late his teacher had made him stay after school three minutes for every minute he was late. He had been twenty minutes late. He was not planning on trying that again. He swerved his car into the first open parking space he saw and turned off the engine. He checked his watch, he had two minutes to get to class. He's walking through the parking lot when he saw his friend, Chris, walking up to the school.
"Hey Chris," Justin yelled out, waving to try to get his attention. Chris looked up, and waved back, as Justin walked over to him.
"Whats up Justin?" Chris asked, taking out his headphones.
"Nothing, just trying to get to class on time."
"Same here man," Chris replied, walking faster to keep up with Justin's speed. "There are not enough hours in the day."
"Tell me about it," Justin said walking up the stairs.
"You know, I wish there was a way to control time," Chris said as Justin took the stairs three at a time. "Wouldn't that be the greatest?"
"Yeah," Justin said, his pace slowing a bit. He then picked it up again and walked faster down the hallway. "But, that's impossible, there's no way to control time."
"Yeah, I guess you're right." Chris replied as he walked into his class. "Catch you later." Justin opened the door right next to the one Chris had just disappeared behind. He sat down at his desk just as the clock on the wall changed to 7:30.
"Just In Time," someone behind him said. The rest of the class started snickering. Just in time had become his nickname throughout the school year. No one knew how he did it, but he always seemed to be in his desk just as the clock changed; never a few seconds before or after. A clever bully started the nickname, and it stuck from then on out. . Even some of the teachers had picked it up. Justin didn't mind it in the slightest. He had never had a nickname and he liked how it seemed to fit so perfectly.