Replaceable Timelines: Book 1. [COMPLETED]

Chapter 7: Convictions.

I spent the rest of the school week trying to do better in my class work, I studied the notes I was given by Ms. Simmons and tried to be outgoing and ask questions during Mr. Radek's chemistry class. Ms. Farley still has it out for me, so I don't stick my nose out too far in her class but do my best to act like a normal student. A diligent student, wanting to siphon all the knowledge I can into my little brain. The math teacher doesn't really care about us and what we do, so long as we're quiet. For some reason, that's even worse than an angry teacher.

Apparently, my keys got turned in to the receptionist a bit after I came by, but she didn't care to tell me. Anna was the one to turn them in, it must've been when I saw her as the lunch period was ending yesterday. My head felt less groggy during the remainder of the week, and I felt like I was able to talk with Anna and Claire in biology.

That dude who was talking with the redheaded girl is in my chemistry class. He's a quiet guy, but he has this aura to him that makes him unapproachable. When I told Austin about what happened with him and that girl behind the school, he asked me why I'm beefing with Spencer. He told me that we were all friends when we were younger, guess I forgot.

We'd hang around the projects and do dumb shit together, to name a few things; we'd often have what we'd call "Stick wars" where we'd all find sticks and rocks and huck them at each other and try to basically bludgeon our opponents. Spencer would always take it too far and me and Austin didn't like playing with him too much.

There was also the time we were all throwing rocks at cars, hidden behind bushes on the side of the road. There was a time when we smashed some dude's window, and he came running after us. While running away, I tripped and sprained my ankle. Spencer kept running, not wanting to be caught but Austin stayed and helped me up. And that's the story of why I'm a bad runner and don't get into sports.

Anyway, Spencer moved away from our town for a few years with his mom and stepdad, and he just moved back this summer for school. Apparently, his mom finally split with his step-dad, the dude was abusive. I don't want to think about what he'd done to her. But the final nail in the coffin was when Spencer beat the shit out of him. I don't know much about the rest of the details.

Eli hasn't shown his face at school this week.

Anna and Claire are both so knowledgeable about the sciences. They wholeheartedly agreed to help me with biology, and it was nice to be around them, But Claire talks too much about dorky things I don't understand. Seems like Anna didn't know all that much about her niche interests but was encouraging of them. On Thursday, Claire had a "Nyancat" hairpin that she made herself, and on Friday it was a four-leaf clover.

Anyway, after the school week continued and ended, it was finally Friday.

I'm currently at home, it's about 8 p.m. and I'm waiting for a text from Austin. He said he was gonna borrow his dad's pickup truck and pick me up on his way to the party. He asked for 20$ earlier to buy a bottle of vodka, I didn't really mind giving it to him, since mom gave me some spending money as she said I'll pay her back when I get a job. Thanks, Mom.

He finally sends me a text.

"you ready bro?"

As ready as I can be, I don't know what to expect or how I acted last weekend, but I guess I was the life of the party. Must've been a manic episode or something. But I'll try acting like that, not entirely sure what "that" is.

After about 30 minutes of sitting around aimlessly staring at my ceiling and wondering if sleeping would be easier and less energy-consuming he tells me he's outside.

Before I leave, I tell Mom I'm going to hang out with Austin. She dismissively waves at me from the couch. I feel like she's a royal monarch and I've been pardoned of a crime. "You may go" Or something.