I walked into the store, searching for Matt. After a couple minutes of searching, I found him. I held out my hand and he grabbed it. I looked him in the eyes and said, “I wish I could go back to February 29th, 2016.”
He furrowed his eyebrows, completely confused about why I looked so serious. I let go of his hand and walked back to my car. I opened my phone, the music app, and then put “Don’t Start Now” by Dua Lipa on repeat. I started the car and began to drive towards his town.
After a couple of minutes, I saw the figure again, out of the corner of my eye. I ignored it as I kept driving and dancing to the song.
My heart stopped as I felt the figure hit the left side of the car. My hair flew in the air and my vision began to go black as I was being choked by my seatbelt.
I woke up to the sound of my alarm. Turning to the sound playing from my phone, I picked up my iPhone 6s. Squinting when I turned the alarm off, I saw the date on my phone:
February 29th, 2016.
It worked. I smiled as I got up and quickly got changed. I put on a black and red flannel, some black leggings, and my light brown Uggs. I stopped. In the future, I have money, a license and a car. I need to go back more. Wait. Maybe I don’t need to go back more.
I remembered that my friend Kharma had a friend named Luis who said he would drive us anywhere. I pulled my phone off the charger and I found him on Facebook. I messaged him, saying that I needed him to drive me to LA.
It was a Monday, but since he was a Senior, he didn’t care about a road trip during a school day. Luis was cool like that. He said he was down and he wanted to know when I wanted to leave. I told him as soon as possible. He said he would be over in 20 minutes.
I grabbed my black and green duffle bag and stuffed a week’s worth of clothing, a toothbrush, toothpaste, and my portable charger.
He drove up in his silver sports car and we were on our way. He asked me why I needed to go there so badly. I told him that I had a relative who was dying and I needed to visit them before it was too late. I told him that my great-grandmother was in LA with stage 4 breast cancer.
I needed to get there for a different reason. My great-grandmother was actually cured from her breast cancer earlier in her life when she got a unilateral mastectomy (they removed the one breast containing the cancer).
I pulled up google maps and looked up the address to find her. Her name was Valentina Valdez. She lived in a small town in LA by the name of Moss City. It was a strange name for a city since LA was known for its hot weather and cloud of pollution.
I looked up the nearest high school and it was Moss City High. My cousin was attending that school. Her name was Malia Harris. She and I had similar facial structures, but she had green eyes, while I had brown eyes. She also had long dirty blonde hair.
I asked Luis to take me to Hollywood Toys and Costumes. It was this store that Matt took me to before an anime convention. Luis and I walked in the store. It was beautiful. There were all sorts of wigs with different colors, styles, and lengths.
After a little while, I found the perfect wig which closely matched Malia’s hair. I walked up to the counter where there stood a tall teenage boy. He had fair skin, green eyes, and dark black hair. He was wearing a Soul Eater t-shirt and black skinny jeans.
“Hey…Evan,” I read his name tag, “Do you happen to have any green, natural looking contacts?” He smiled at me.
“Of course! This is a cosplay shop after all.” He bent down and reached into a cabinet. He got back up and handed them to me. They looked perfect. I bought the wig and the contacts and we left to go see Malia.
Luis and I pulled up to a small wooden house.
622 Cathedral Dr.
I walked up maybe ten stairs before I made it to the front door. I gently knocked on the door and waited anxiously for an answer. I heard footsteps coming from the other side and I jumped back when I heard the door open.
On the other side of the door stood a five-foot-five teenage girl. She had long, straight, dirty blonde hair, and clear, green eyes. She stuck her tongue out at me. “Hey, Carlix! Long time, no see. Who’s that guy?” She pointed to Luis.
“Oh, that’s my Senior friend, Luis. He drove me here. Listen, Malia, I need a favor.” She raised her eyebrow.
“Yeah, sure. Ask away.”
“Can I go to your school for the next two weeks in your place? It’s hard to explain, but there’s someone I need to meet.” She looked at me and laughed.
“You’re offering to get me out of going to school for two whole weeks? Of course, I’m in.” She motioned for us to come in. Luis brought in the bag with the wig and the contacts.
“Tell me everything I need to know about going in your place.” I looked at her with a serious face.
After she told me everything, I think I got a pretty good list of what her schedule is like.
(Always Wears Her Hair Down)
6:40 Bus Picks Me Up At The House
7:30 School Starts
Class 1: English: Mr. God
Class 2: Band: Mr. Belcher
Class 3: PE: Mr. Silver
Class 4: Science: Ms. Flint
Class 5: Math: Ms. Asada
Class 6: Spanish: Ms. Colder
Nickname: Lia
I thanked Luis for the ride as I sent him to go back home. He said he had a fun time, I watched him get into his car and he left.
I grabbed my iPhone 6s and began to set all the alarms I needed to in order to be on time for everything tomorrow. Tomorrow was Tuesday. That means that I have classes 1, 3, and 5.
I grabbed her freshly washed PE clothes and put them into her incredibly weird Jansport backpack. It had puppies with glasses, kittens, candy hearts, mixtapes, cupcakes, rainbows, and a bunch of other weird designs on it.
Malia let me sleep on the air mattress in her room, and I fell asleep peacefully until the next day.
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