Diane and the Problems with Time Travel

-1-

"Again? I had to tell Mom you were out with Theo," Athen whines. Diane looks at her with an annoyed expression taking over her features.

"Who told you that you could come into my room?" Diane asked with one eyebrow cocked up.

"I did." Athen replied.

"Get out." The older of the two said.

"But-"

"Get out!" Diane exclaimed once more.

Athen looked at Diane with a sour expression but decided to leave the room, slamming the door dramatically on her way out. Diane closed her eyes but quickly reopened them when she realized that the essay in front of her was still unfinished. A groan escaped from her lips as she picked up where she left off, trying to think of anything that would make the half-finished paper longer.

She picked up her phone, finger lingering over Theo's contact. She looked at her messages frowning to herself.

The Catcher in the rye DUDES stupid hat signifies his uniqueness and individuality right?
Sent 3:58PM

Nvm I'll see what Cathy says
Sent 4:10PM

Your mom just texted me???
Sent 5:30PM

BITCH WHERE U AT?
Sent 5:36PM

omfg u in troy aren't u
Sent 5:49PM

Diane looked over the messages again and sighed. She should probably apologize, but there was something else still on her mind. She put down her phone and left her essay lying on the table once again as she left her house and walked over to Theo's. As she neared the house, she saw Theo's figure emerging from the door. He probably saw her coming over.

"Hey." Diane said.

"I'm still mad at you, you bitch!" Theo's red hair looked as if it had caught on fire. He honestly looked like a flaming hot cheeto, but Diane put that aside and barged into his house.

"Hey! HEY! What the hell!" Theo yelled, but Diane could no longer hear him.

The red-haired boy ran in after her and found Diane seated on his bed. She looked up at him and then back down at the floor.

"I saw a girl." Diane said.

"Ok?" Theo knew where she was going with this.

"She was really pretty." Diane couldn't stop thinking about the girl she saw.

"Don't tell me you fell in love with another girl from Troy."

"But that's just it. I don't think she's from Troy. I think she's from now, and I'm not in love with her, she was just really pretty." Diane exclaimed as she glared at Theo.

"Are you sure?" Theo fingered his notebooks with tight precision.

"What that I'm not in love with someone I just met? Yeah," Diane said, flopping into the center of his bed.

"No, idiot. That she wasn't from Troy," Theo said picking up one book in particular. He flipped through it pausing at certain pages, dog-earing them.

"Her clothes. You would've known immediately if you'd seen her. They weren't from the past, factory stitched," She murmured. Theo opened a page in his book, tilting it towards her.

"Theodore, come here and help me with the laundry." A cry came from the kitchen. He gave a groan, before pointing to the book.

"Read it."

As Theo left the room, she held the book. It was well worn with several notes in blue ink on the margins. She recognized the book. The cover was blank and so was the spine, only a deep blue covering the pages. The words inside were written by their great-great-grandmother, who was known for her odd experiences when she traveled. The book she wrote in was passed down from generation to generation. It was in Theo's possession now.

Diane refused to look at the book when she was thirteen. This was mostly due to her fear that she would get lost in the past. She got over it in two months but by then Theo refused to let her read it. She read the pages it was open to.

The pages were apparently about the vicious feud between two families. She began to wonder if her grandmother had actually rewritten Shakespeare before she noticed the blue note on the side.

Girl with time period inaccurate clothes found in Paris. Check other forms of sewing.

Theo's methodical handwriting had reminded her of why she was looking through the book. He must have seen her in Paris! But why would he write this on this page?

Peering over the pages once again, she noticed the feud, seemed to have been between her family and another time-traveling family. She hasn't heard of this power existing outside of the family. This makes her sound like she's part of the mafia.

Suddenly, all the clues that Theo had mentioned pulled together in her mind. The girl she saw was from the other family? She grinned, satisfaction running through her.

Theo came in through the door, carrying a laundry basket, like an old French woman coming back from the river. He set it on the bed next to her. "So?" He said.

"She's from the Rulien family!"

"No shit, what else?" He said, rolling his eyes at her. Diane looked up at him in confusion. He sighed, "No wonder you barely passed English, she's the direct descendant of the douche who started the feud."

"Oh," Diane gaped.

"Yeah, I'm pretty sure she's stuck," He continued, with a slight cringe. Being stuck in the past was one of a traveler's worst fears. You couldn't find your place. You couldn't remember yourself. You were lost in a time without any knowledge. A shudder ran through Diane.

"Why would you say that?" Diane asks.

"I've seen her before, but in other places. She always looks lost."

"Do yo-" Diane starts almost immediately being cut off.

"No." Diane glares at him, as he goes to his computer.

"You didn't even know what I was going to say," She whines, petulantly. He sighs.

"You were going to say that we should go save that girl," He says. When he sees her open her mouth, he continues. "No, we are not helping her because we're going to get stuck if we do, and I have an essay due tomorrow... and a future."

"I bet she had a future, too. But she spent too long in one place and all of a sudden she's lost," Diane says, inexplicably protective over the girl. Maybe it was her fear of being stuck pouring out. Theo looks guilty, as if the thought didn't even occur to him.

"Look, we can try to get her help tomorrow, okay?" He says reluctantly.

"But what if tomorrow's too late?" Diane asks, her eyes, for some reason, were watering.

"Calm down. She's been there for a while, and she can probably last just one more day." Theo looked unsure of what he was saying, but stood by it nonetheless.

Diane looked at him with a frown. She couldn't bear the thought of someone suffering because she decided to wait a day to help. She was scared that they would be too late. Diane sighed and closed her eyes.

"I'm staying here tonight."

"Fine," Theo paused for a moment, "But you're sleeping on the floor."

Diane narrowed her eyes at the boy in front of her.

"With all the time you spend flirting with knights, you'd think that you would at least try to be chivalrous," she grumbled.

"Suck a dick," he said, before flipping over and turning the lights off.

Diane glared at him, but climbed off the bed and set up a makeshift one on the floor. She flopped down as soon as it was made and covered herself with a blanket that she had found in Theo's closet, her mind still swarming with guilt. She closed her eyes and shook off her thoughts. As Theo's snores grew louder, Diane got more and more annoyed, but her eyelids soon became heavier as she ultimately lost herself to the sleep that overcame her.