(OCTOBER 2010)

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RICH MUTATIO

Mr Cranston wouldn't say what we were going to do so we had no choice but to keep quiet and follow him to the field.

   "I thought we were playing basketball this week?" Seymour asked.

   Mr Cranston stopped by the nearest goalpost. "During the retreat, you and the seventh graders will be competing in three different games. As you guys know, once you get to seventh and eighth grade, you won't have a gym teacher. So, technically, I'm your teacher just as much as Mr Darley. And just like Mr Darley, I want you guys to win."

   "But what are we doing outside?"

   "The games you're playing against the seventh graders are pole toppling, hardpoint, and capture the flag; in that order. So for the next three weeks, I will be helping you get better at playing capture the flag, hardpoint, and—starting this week—pole toppling."

   At each end of the field were two ten-foot-tall logs.

   "Today's objective is simple: learn how to play, learn the rules, and learn what you can and can't do."

   We made our way to the closest pole which Mr Cranston held up. "The rules are simple. You and your opponent's team each have an upright pole. Your objective is to knock theirs down before they knock down yours. Questions?"

   "Will you be teaching us strategies?" Grant asked.

   "Just the basics on how to play. The actual strategies are up to you. This is your class against the seventh graders. If you win because of a strategy I came up with, then it would be my victory and not yours."

   "And if we lose?"

   "It doesn't matter if you win or lose. What matters is if you gave it your all. Because if you fought the good fight then your loss is more of a victory than the other team's win."

   Illiana raised her hand. "What are the teams?"

   Mr Cranston let the pole drop. "We'll be in our dodgeball teams. Since this is everyone's first time playing, we'll take turns defending and attacking a single pole. If everyone gets a hang of it by the end of class, maybe we can play a quick game. Bond's team over there, Rich's over here."

   "Which team do I go to, Sir?" Zoey asked.

   "Sorry, Zoey, I forgot about you. Let's see. Your addition is actually pretty good since you even up the class. Annie, go to Bond's team. Zoey, go to Rich's."

   What is up with everyone pairing her with me?

   We alternated between attacking and defending a single pole. Mr Cranston told us that a common strategy was for a person on your team to be a 'rider on top' while the others supported the pole.

   Our team had Illiana. She was the shortest girl and the class gymnast. It only made sense that we appointed her as rider on top. The shortest person on the other team was Charlie. He kept falling off and started bruising up.

   "We can replace you with someone else," Bond suggested.

   Charlie climbed back on top of the pole. "I'm good. I ain't losing a balancing match to a girl."

   Brianna pointed at him. "Sexist!"

   "How is that sexist? It isn't sexist if it was the other way around."

   I pointed at Charlie. "You only wanna stay up there because you'll get trampled if you're on the ground."

   Charlie glanced away. "That is totally not my intention..."

   Mr Cranston blew his whistling, bringing our attention to him.

   "Okay, guys, this isn't an anime. Opponents usually don't talk in the middle of a match."

   Carrie clapped her hands. "You watch anime, Sir? What do you like?"

   "No one's ever asked. I like Death Note and Code Geass. But you guys look more like Naruto and One Piece fans, right?"

   Carrie held a thumbs up. "Dattebayo!"

   "That's what I thought." Mr Cranston shook his head. "Stop talking and focus on the game! We can talk about this later."

   By the end of class, both teams picked up on attacking and defending so well that Mr Cranston allowed us to play a match against each other.

   It was a disappointment. Players from both teams would break off and do their own things. No one won that game, but Mr Cranston assured us that we'd get better.

   The rest of the day were lessons and lectures that ended with Mr Darley assigning homework. It wasn't really homework. More like unfinished schoolwork because Mr Darley didn't believe that we should have homework.

   "Hey, Zoey, do you wanna walk home with us?" Mallory asked

   "Uhh..." She stared at the crowd of students leaving the school as if waiting for approval. "Sure."

   "Where do you live?"

   "In the building at the end of Kitchen Street."

   "Nice, we walk down that street. But you live farther than us."

   Bond poked me with his elbow. "She lives along the same street as you." He turned to Zoey. "Hey, Zoey, start walking with us tomorrow. We usually meet at the playground."

   "Sure, I don't mind company."

   "You should also go to Rich's place and get him to hurry up."

   "Yeah," Mallory joined in, "be a good girl. We're always late because of him."

   "What about your brother?" I asked.

   "He has to leave an hour earlier since he already joined the basketball team."

   The four of us began walking home.

   "By the way," I mentioned, "you know how our group was planning to be Phineas and Ferb characters for Halloween? It wouldn't work out now that there are six of us."

   "Zoey could be Candace," Bond said.

   "I don't think she'd want to be Candace."

   "I can if you want me to," Zoey said.

   Mallory shook her head. "No, it's fine. Who'd want to be Candace?"

   Bond rested his umbrella against his shoulder. "What are we gonna be then?"

   "I don't know, but we have to find a group of six with four guys and two girls."

   We arrived at the playground. Bond and Mallory crossed the intersection, separating from us.

   The geese spotted me and began to advance.

   "Run," I told Zoey.

   "What?"

   The geese began honking and flapping their wings.

   I dragged her to my house in a sprint. The geese had given up by then and we laid on my lawn to catch our breaths.

   "When I heard Canadian geese were aggressive, I thought it was just an exaggeration," Zoey panted.

   "They're actually calm unless provoked. That particular flock just hates me."

   "Why, what happened?"

   "I may have caught one last week and they perceived me as some sort of a threat."

   Zoey gave off a slight giggle before bursting into a chuckle. "Are you stupid?"

   "Shut up."

   We stood up after our breaths returned to normal.

   Zoey continued ahead. "See you tomorrow then."

   "That's your place?" I pointed at the six-story building two blocks away.

   "Yeah."

   I ran beside her. "It's not that far, I'll drop you off."

   "You don't have to."

   "No, it's fine. I don't have homework and it gets boring at my place."

   A crossing guard at the intersection ahead walked us across.

   "I'm guessing you want a career in art?" she asked.

   "Yeah, I don't care what I'm doing as long as it has something to do with art and I'm enjoying it. Comics sound cool, I just have to practice writing a story. I have this heist idea, but I don't know where to take it."

   "I try to draw stories too. I have a story idea about a prince who gets reincarnated a hundred years into the future. And like, he couldn't use magic before he got reincarnated but his new body after is a prodigy of it." She tilted her head towards me. "What's your plan for later?"

   "I don't know. All I know is that I'm going to Crescent College."

   "Crescent College?"

   "Oh yeah, you're new. Crescent College is an all-arts college for creative people. Art, music, film, drama, photography. If you're good at any of those then Crescent College is where you wanna go."

   "I say go for it."

   "Didn't you say you liked to do art too?"

   "Yeah, but my mom wants me to pursue nursing. What do you think?"

   "I don't know. I haven't seen any of your artwork, so I can't judge."

   "Should I bring my sketchbook tomorrow then?"

   "Sure, I'll bring mine too."

   Zoey entered her building while I remained outside. "Thanks for walking me home."

   "Yeah, no problem. See you tomorrow."

   "See ya."

   I headed back to my place.

   What I experienced yesterday wasn't a dream or a vision. I'd have to be dense if I didn't know that by now. Everything happened exactly as I remembered until I passively changed the outcome.

   Is this going to be a regular occurrence or is it just this one-time thing? If these visions continue, then I better name it.

   The experience reminded me of a flashback. But I went forward through time. It was like the flash-forward technique they used in Lost.

   Yeah—Flashforwards—that was the perfect name to call it.

ARC 1: END

What's next on Rich Re:grets?

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Thanks for reading this far and don't forget to comment and vote as it would help push this story out a lot.

As she is the deuteragonist of the story, what do you think of Zoey?

What do you think of Rich's Flashforward ability?

My favourite scene in this chapter was when Rich was showing Zoey around the school, what do you think of it?

What do you feel about Rich and Zoey's dynamic?

Author's Note: When I first conceived of this story, the plot was going to head in a different direction. However, when I was writing Rich and Zoey walking around the school, they decided to stray away from my plan. To put it simply, they were supposed to have a much different dynamic than what we are going to get.

When I went back to edit this chapter, I couldn't bring myself to cut out that whole scene as it felt like I had something special in my hands. So I instead decided to take the story in a different direction--one I am so thankful for. If it wasn't for that scene, the upcoming chapters would've been a lot more depressing.

I Have No Regrets Ditching My Original Outline.