In Time

-Twenty Four-

12 April 2017, Wednesday

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Mr Lee strolled into our classroom, his face as stoic as ever. Just when I thought that it was one of those image things that discipline masters had to keep up, I realised the stack of results slips stashed in his tote bag. Right, today was Judgement Day. No wonder Jon was especially fidgety since morning assembly. It must be tough shouldering the pressure of being the top student in all our exams.

I switched off as Mr Lee droned on and on about the statistics of our class' performance. The average score, median score, highest score, nothing I hadn't already heard of twice before.

"...er Tan."

I jolted awake upon hearing several gasps in the hushed silence. Jon was staring at me with widened eyes and I could see surprise, disbelief and finally acceptance flitting across his eyes in just milliseconds. Then he slapped my shoulder, "X, go on! Mr Lee just called your name!"

Without missing a beat, I rose to my feet, strolled to the front of the classroom and got my results slip. Mr Lee grasped my hand in a steady grip and shook it. "Very good improvement Xavier, I'm very proud of you."

I scanned through the contents of the slip as I made my way back to my seat. '91%'. Wow, I supposed I did the exact questions before, so it wasn't surprising by any means. But I still wasn't expecting to do well, maybe just decent enough to skip summer classes and to satisfy Mum.

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"Well, it seems like someone has upped their game for finals. Well played X, totally didn't see that coming," Jon smirked as he sipped on his coffee.

I felt like a cheater, like a liar. I felt bad. I mean technically I did complete the exam based on my own competency, but it didn't really count if you already knew what the questions were. And I did the same paper before. Yet it wasn't as if I could just come clean with Jon and the whole school to request for them to not take my score into consideration. I'd have to explain. And based on my experience in the previous timeline, time-travelling wasn't a good excuse apparently.

"Yeah, spent more time with the books last few months," I lied.

"See Jon, I told you. Hard work does pay off. So stop being cocky and go study more," George dripped.

"Where's Aus by the way? Haven't seen him for the whole of recess," I changed the topic.

"Where were you yesterday by the way?" George referenced my question. "Anyway, Aus had a great time with Mimi at Club Diamond, instead of looking after your Martini. You know Mimi? The badminton girl in Diana's class? They hit it off quite well, so I guess Aus won't be hanging out with us for future breaks anymore. He's probably harassing that poor girl right now," George sniggered.

Oh right!

"Have you guys seen Diana in school today?" I asked too quickly, then realising that my question was out of the blue.

"No, I haven't seen her all day," Jon shook his head. "X, you're really into her huh..."

I wasn't hearing Jon anymore, all that was on my mind was Diana. Nothing could have happened to her, right? I did send her to the taxi yesterday, unless something happened along the way? Or did something happen at home? I stopped myself. I was being paranoid. If there was an accident there would surely be reports on it by now. Besides, nothing could happen at her home. Her mother would be around.