BACK IN TIME ➢ JB MZ

three

right when i wake up, i turn over right away to see my old phone. getting up to check myself in the mirror, i can see my old haircut and my clothes are bigger again. thank god. i let out a sigh of relief.

today is a new day and i need a plan or something. what do i do this time without screwing everything up? as i ponder, i realize i still set my alarm extra early as if i was going to high school. i lay back down and stair at the ceiling.

i wish i could talk to lucas about this, but i can't and you can understand why. imagine me telling him how i time traveled back to the seventh grade and now have the opportunity to change things with maddie. he'd think i'm actually insane.

only in my dreams would he get it, so it looks like i'm all alone on this one. it's fine because i'm smart enough and i'm capable, at least i hope so.

i grab my phone and decide to go through instagram. i deleted everything that i posted around this time, up until tenth grade. the only pictures that i kept were with maddie. i don't really know what to expect, but i expect to cringe.

they're mostly just pictures of me with skateboards and some videos of me skating around. the captions may be weird and contain a hundred laughing, skull, or fire emojis, but i ignore that. i feel a sense of comfort and even nostalgia while watching them. i don't know why i stopped skating entirely, but it's mostly because i thought i looked weird and some kids made fun of me for it.

i almost close my phone, when i decide to go through my dms. there's some with lucas, my older sister, my friend greg, and a few other friends i had. it actually hits me that the only one that is still around is lucas. the others stopped talking to me. i sigh and put my phone down, deciding to get a head start on getting ready.

i don't know quite yet what i'm even going for with this. all i know is that i can't do the same thing i did to begin with, and the stupid thing i did yesterday.

then i hear lucas's words ring inside my head.

"maybe because maddie is hot and everyone wants her. jack made a move on her too, you haven't. she probably sees you as a brother anyway." the words facilitate throughout my brain and a lightbulb metaphorically turns on over my head. that's it! i have to flirt really hard with her, make a move.

the only thing is.. i have to be jack kelly? because think about it, if i act like jack then i'll end up with maddie. if i act like myself, jack will end up maddie. i have to take charge, although it scares me. i don't have that much confidence and maddie, even though i knew her for years, still makes me nervous.

shut up, you can do this. i tell myself over and over.

if i screw up i can still go back and redo it.

i take a fast shower, then throw on something that jack would wear, which is really just basic clothing. he usually wears his football jersey to flex on people that don't care, but i unfortunately do not own a single jersey related to that sport. it's not like it's that important.

i spray so much cologne that i start to cough. i got it for my twelfth birthday. my grandma gave it to me, saying how i was almost a teen and that i'd need it to freshen up since i was around that age. embarrassing, but i never thought i'd actually need it, until now.

i look at myself and i guess you can say i'm satisfied. i run my fingers through my hair and nod. maddie will never be able to resist me!

now that i actually look like jack, i'm starting to think that i'm acting like him. oh what the heck.

i go downstairs to nothing but silence. my mom is sitting at the table, scrolling through facebook posts. my sister isn't awake yet because her school doesn't start until nine. lucky her.

"hey sweetie," my mom smiles. "why are you up so early?"

i shrug. "just wanted to get a head start on my first day of middle school. that's all."

i make myself a bowl of cereal and sit down with her. my mom looks at me with a grin from ear to ear. "you look great. did you use that cologne? you smell good too."

"yeah," i laugh a little. "thanks."

i continue to eat and when i'm finished i put the bowl in the sink. sitting back down at the table with my mom, my phone goes off.

those should be text messages from lucas. i glance at my phone and i am right.

yo fam u ready? i read it, chuckling a little at the fam.

yea. we still got time tho. i text back.

u right lmao i'll see u at school, he says.

meet up with me before homeroom idk where anything is. i lie. i know exactly where everything is, but lucas doesn't. i still have to at least pretend like i'm starting middle school, right?

k. he replies.

i sit there talking with my mom until my sisters comes downstairs. she's wearing a whole entire justice outfit. it makes me laugh when i see her still wearing those clothes. she looks so young and innocent, it sort of makes me sad. now she cakes her face with all the makeup in the world and wears sinister clothing.

"good morning!" she cheers. she still relies on my mom to do everything for her, now she acts like she doesn't need my mom. she's very rebellious, that seeing her when she was normal is now hurting me more than it should.

i get up and go to the bus stop, then i reach school. they make us go to the cafeteria to find our homerooms. luckily lucas is in mine, and also greg. where is he?

the two find me and together we sit. we have nothing to catch up on because the whole summer we hung out nonstop. summer 2014 was probably one of my favorites. i don't think i left greg's house once that summer. he has a pool, a trampoline, and he says he wants to start making youtube videos so he has a whole setup of cameras too.

let's just say we got carried away by filming ourselves skating. i wish i still could find those videos.

we go to our homerooms, and i patiently wait until third period. time to initiate the plan.

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