The Loss of Time

Chapter 2

I blinked. Everything was so bright. "What happened?"

"We're in my room." James stood up and picked up an orange cat. "Hi Whiskers." The cat meowed. I looked around in this mess.

"Trash. Trash everywhere," was all I could say in my breathless state.

He looked at me in disbelief. "This isn't trash! This," he pulled out a wrapper, "is, well, maybe there is some trash."

"May I hold your cat?"

"What? Oh, Whiskers has to accept you first." He set Whiskers down. "Friend," he told her, pointing his hand at me.

 I stared at Whiskers, without knowing much to do. Whiskers pawed her way over and curled up in my lap. "Mrow," she purred, settling.

"Huh," James exclaimed. "That was way faster than when she accepted me!"

"Is that so?" I whispered, petting Whiskers gently. "Well, she seems to really like me."

"Okay, but can you focus with Whiskers?" James asked, sitting across from me.

"Of course I can. Tell me everything I need to know," I answered, looking up.

"Well, first of all-" James stopped his speech suddenly and swallowed. "Sorry. First of all, your new name is Emma."

I frowned. "But my real name is Matilda. Matilda Staindrop."

"Staindrop, huh? We can keep that, but Matilda might make them suspicious. Or something. Either Emma or... hmm, do you have any ideas?" James rubbed his chin in thought.

I crossed my arms and leaned forward. "Ma-til-da," I enunciated clearly and slowly. "I. Will. Keep. My. Name. James."

"Matilda. Huh. Maybe..." He paused, and hiccupped. I jumped and Whiskers meowed and ran out.  "Yeah, we can keep that. My older sister has some old clothes that could fit you. That way, it's more... recent." I looked down.

"What's wrong with my clothing choices?"

"Nothing! I mean, it fits you, but it's not... 21st century. Sorry, we'll change you back when we get back."

"What's your sister's name?"

"Lauren. She's a senior at the high school. Oh wait, you probably don't understand... Never mind. She's 18."

That's true, I didn't understand the phrases senior and high school. So I decided to ignore them. "Are you sure?"

"Yes, and I'll introduce you to my parents." Finally, it clicked.

"Oh, we're in Cantilena?"

"CALIFORNIA. And yes, we are. Anyway, it'll be a little suspicious if a girl justs appears from my room when I was supposed to be studying. I made a time machine instead."

"You actually could've been studying instead of making a time machine, going to 1810, and meeting me and making me feel guilty and making me leave my happy home."

James squinted. "Hm... Nah. Besides, who likes textbooks? Plus, it's better here. We have toilets and Wi-Fi."

"Wi-Fi?" I asked, tilting my head.

"Yeah. It's what helps you go on the Internet and watch videos and stuff." James must've caught the hint that I had no idea what he was talking about, so he just shrugged it off. "Never mind, you shouldn't go back to 1810 with this kind of information."

"Um, okay James... How are we supposed to fix 'girl in your room when you were supposed to be studying' problem?"

"Got that. Here, look, go to my sister's room and there should be some clothes there that fit you. Just go there really quietly and I'll fix up a solution. Okay? Go!" He pushed me out.

I wriggled my feet. They were on soft carpet and it was a light brown color.

After a little bit of deciding, I decided on a... what did he call it? Oh, a hoodie that had a gradient of dark blue to a light pink (that was a bit oversized), a white shirt with short sleeves, a soft orange skirt and white leggings with black little shoes.

Those were my shoes, the last piece of clothing I didn't change.

I stepped back into James's room, where he was tying something to something next to his open window. "You're done, huh?" He asked, not stopping his knotting.

"Yes, are you?" I asked.

James' hands flew faster. "Almost... Mm-hm!" He spun around. "Tada!" James shook his hands. "Jazz hands."

I blinked, partially of disbelief, partially of the brightness. Knotted to the hook above the window was a lot of cloths tied together out the window. A gust of wind blew my hair back.

"Wow. A rope. Made of curtains," I intoned.

"Exactly! An old trick. Just slide down the curtains and wait outside the house. Oh, and pull on the rope when you get down the-" James suddenly had a coughing fit. "I'm fine, I'm fine. Pull on the rope when you get down to the side of the house. Okay?"

"Okay." I shoved the long sleeves down over my hands and slid down the rope. I always felt bumps because of the knots.

At the bottom of the rope, I stared at the concrete. I sat and pulled gently at the rope.

Nothing.

Raising my eyebrows, I tugged it way harder. "WHOA!" James yelled. Oops. "Chill!" He yelled down at me.

But I like the summer, I automatically thought. Oh, it must be 21st century speech.

"Sorry!" I called. I waited as I saw the rope inch up the wall. I counted the pebbles in boredom. When I got to 20, I gathered them in a pile.

Count.

Recount.

Count.

Recount.

What else can I do?

I plucked up the stones and laid them down in size order. In words. In pictures of the 1800s.

When I was struggling with how to write JAMES with the small things without grabbing more, a new game I invented, James rushed over.

"STOP!" I yelled, holding my hand out. "I think I got it." James' legs tangled together in the quick stop and he fell on the sharp concrete.

"Got what?" He asked, looking up.

"This. I'm writing the president's name." I quickly rearranged the stones to read a crooked JAMES.

"J-A-M- That's my name!" He read, standing beside me.

"Yes it is! Do you want to try? I can make it a competition." He sat across from me.

"I mean, we could just... You could just show me, I don't exactly like competitions."

"I dislike them as well."

"Why did you say you could make it into a competition?" James leaned on his turned hands.

"I was unsure if you liked competitions. Here's how to play." Matilda showed him how. "It is simple..."

"No, it's good. I like simple." James quickly rearranged the rocks. It spelled, :D.

"Huh?" I was confused. Why was a capital D after... two dots above each other?

James messed up the rocks. "Sorry, in that outfit, it makes me think you're actually from the 21st century, not the 19th. It doesn't matter." James rearranged them again. MAD- "Oops. Madison is too long."

"You think," I smiled. I tried myself. NADisoN. "Okay, maybe it is a bit too long."

We kept playing.