Waking up, I knew that something was definitely different. Before I even opened my eyes, I could feel it.

So when I sat up, my suspicions were correct that something was a hundred percent wrong. My room was a mess and I definitely did not sleep with it in this state, especially since I never got fully drunk. I actually made an effort to slip into pajamas, put my shoes in its proper place, and throw my clothes into the laundry basket.

The mess was not something that could have been done in one night, this was an accumulation of several weeks or even months. It was familiar and my stomach dropped when I was slowly connecting the dots of what could have happened.

Then my eyes went to the my study table – which also looked like a hurricane passed by it – and the corkboard on the wall above it. It was filled with pictures, those with Zoey, others with both Sasha and Mia, and the biggest dead giveaway of all – a lot of photos of Pat and I.

And not just any photos, it was taken from when we went out on dates.

Don't tell me.

I quickly felt around my bed until I got my phone. My hands were shaking when I pressed on the lock button, my heart thumping out of my chest as I waited for today's date to appear.

It was spring. More specifically, it was the day after Pat broke up with me.

When I looked at my bedside table, I almost wanted to cry when I saw that the whistle was still there. It didn't move an inch from when I placed it there after I got home from the party.

I hastily put it on, as if it would act as a shield from all the bullshit that was happening.

Hold on, what about Leon?

Opening my phone, I scrolled through my messages and something in me just died a little when I saw our texts. Our conversations were gone, all the friendly and the flirty ones weren't there. In fact, there was only one chat and I could feel the aloofness coming from both sides. It was sent months ago, probably when Pat and I weren't having problems yet.

Avery Barber: Is Pat with you?

Leon Colten: No.

Avery Barber: Ok, thanks.

That was it, that was our only exchange. It was hard to remember that we did act like this to each other, considering what we have been through.

I prayed to whoever was in charge of this time travel jumbled nonsense that he would pick up when I pressed the call icon.

"Avery!" was his loud exclamation when he answered the call, his voice as frantic as the emotions I was feeling right now. This could only mean that he was as confused about this situation as I was. This indicated that he still has his memories, he was still my Leon.

Thank you, universe. At least you still kept him by my side.

"Leon, what's happening?" I asked, my voice going small because this situation was honestly terrifying.

I thought he would have more clarity since he had done the time travel thing at least thirty times by now, but to my horror he answered with, "I don't know."

Oh no. Not good. Not good at all.

"I'm on my way to your house," he told me, "Let's go to school for the meantime and figure things out."

"Okay," I murmured, quite unsure with what to do. At least one of was still thinking rationally during all of this.

When he hung up, I jumped out of bed and made my way to my closet in order to get dressed for the day, possibly tripping every two steps or so because the amount of clutter on the floor of my room. When I opened my school bag, I almost shrieked in terror that it was also in a state of disarray.

This really was the time when everything was going downhill. I could barely take care of myself and my whole life was in shambles.

It was horrifying that my mental state did reach this point. It seemed so far away because even though life wasn't perfect when I went to the past, having Leon did bring some sort of relief and peace within me.

I brushed a comb through my hair, which was also a struggle since I had a huge difficulty in trying to locate a single hairbrush or comb, and pulled it into a ponytail. Thankfully, I had a makeup bag that was somewhat organized so I managed to fix up my face with little to no hassle. I grabbed my bag, no matter how frightening it was, and went out of my room as fast as possible.

I had to get out of there because staying was definitely going to drive me insane.

"Avery!" mom gasped when I walked into the kitchen. Before I could react, she already pulled me into a hug, squeezing the life out of me, "Sweetheart, I'm so happy that you're up."

My heart clenched when she said those words. For sure, no mother ever wants to see their child suffer, especially with what happened to my father. While my own mind was in disarray, mom was not only carrying the burden of her own emotions but also mine.

When she pulled away and kept me at arm's length, I almost burst into tears at her face. She was tired, it was written all over her face. Now that I've seen what mom looked like at the start of the school year, I couldn't even imagine what she has been through. She looked like she aged ten years when it had only been a few months.

So I pulled out all the strength because now it was my turn not to worry her, "I'm fine, mom."

I could see the bags under her eyes. She must not have slept a wink because of what happened yesterday, especially since I didn't even give her an explanation on why I refused to talk to anybody.

"I'm going to work now, but call me if you need me and I'll be there before you know it," she said, grabbing her purse and kissing both of my cheeks, "Don't forget to take your meds, honey."

My meds.

The moment I heard her leave the house, I ran to the cabinet and practically ripped the door away. There it was, the pill bottles.

I couldn't even fathom the immeasurable amount of anxiety and depression I felt to need those every single day to function.

Now it was a debate whether to take them or not.

As I felt my phone vibrating in my hand, which was Leon calling me, I decided to just grab them and stuff it into the blackhole known as my bag. If I decide to take them, they were right there with me.

I got out of the house, locked the front door and first looked next door. Zoey's car was gone, which meant she already left for school. I bet she was also filled with so much worry this whole time because of what happened.

I didn't even give her a chance to explain.

I was going to worry about that when I come back home. For now, I had to focus on the main problem at hand.

I got into the car and turned to Leon, my eyebrows knitted in concern, "What's going on?"

"I honestly have no idea. This is the first time I jumped forwards and not backwards," he explained, already starting to drive, "And I didn't even blow on the whistle, did you?"

"No," I shook my head vigorously, "That's why I was so confused when I woke up."

He slammed his head back to his headrest, "And here I thought our first day as a couple would actually be something normal."

Through the whole dilemma of this morning, I had the audacity to forget about that. Sitting right next to me was Leon Colten, a boy a was heads over heels for. And because of some miracle, I could call him my boyfriend. Me, who had been a train wreck, managed to be with him.

And that was all I needed to believe that we were going to get through this craziness.

Even if it was just the drive to school, I wanted to act like we were just a normal couple, "Good morning then, my angel."

He quickly glanced towards my way and I was expecting him to react the same sour way as the first time I called him a pet name. But to my pleasure, he simply chuckled and returned the greeting, "Good morning to you too, babe."

Babe.

It was so fucking corny and borderline cringy but I was already over the moon with it. I sat contentedly on my seat, humming a gleeful tune and completely ignoring the odd reality we were living in.

The school still looked ordinary. I didn't know what I was expecting or how I thought it would look like, but I imagined it being at least a little strange.

But nope, it was still the same. The world revolved like nothing happened.

Okay then.

He took my hand in his when we got out, something that we have been accustomed to doing. While we walked to the school doors together, I kept an eye out for anything weird because my head was still trying to make sense of this situation.

According to Leon's explanation, he blew on his whistle and because I was wearing mine when I went to bed that day, I also traveled to the past.

However, none of us blew the whistle and so we were both in the dark.

I honestly thought I finally got used to being in the past. Of course, too much bliss was dangerous so the universe had to cut it off one way or another.

"Avery?" I heard someone call my name, causing both of us to pause and to see who it was. This was going to be the first time we interacted with someone else since we woke up.

It was strange to see Mia and Sasha next to each other, still close to one another. When Pat and I started having problems, I shared this to them and convinced Mia to ride with Sasha and her boyfriend instead since I knew being stuck in a car with a couple on the verge of a breakup was extremely uncomfortable.

And the said boyfriend, Ian, was standing next to Sasha, also staring at me with a similar expression to my two other friends. It was a very strange mixture of puzzlement and concern.

At least I was no longer on the receiving end of Sasha's cold looks.

I wanted to run up and hug her because I terribly missed her. I didn't care if she was actively distancing herself from us, she was still one of my closest friends and the memories we shared was something I dearly treasured.

But I stopped myself because I knew that if I did that out of the blue, it would lead to more confusion.

The school bell rang, signaling first period. Ian excused himself after giving his girlfriend a small peck on the cheek. Still, Sasha and Mia didn't wipe off their gaping faces and I was starting to get awkward under their gaze.

"I'll see you in third period," Leon said, giving my hand one final squeeze before releasing it, "Text me if something happens, okay?"

"Okay," I agreed, "See you later, babe."

He walked away and when I turned back to the other two, they were now staring at me in disbelief.

Right, I had to act normal. This is just, ordinary Avery Barber, nothing is wrong. Everything was completely fine.

Wait, how did I act before I went back to the past?

"Uh, should we go to class?" I suggested, hoping it didn't sound too stiff.

"Avs, what's going on?" Mia fired and I internally cursed.

Fuck, was I not convincing enough?

Play it cool, Barber. We have to play it cool, "What do you mean?"

"Other than the fact that you were holding hands with Leon, you called him babe," Sasha pointed out, "What happened to Pat?"

Holy shit. Being close to Leon was something already ingrained into my everyday life that I didn't second guess it. How can we be careless enough not to think about the fact that he was supposed to hate me and that the whole school didn't know that his best friend broke up with me yet?

Like that was some major oversight.

In my defense, I didn't know what to do. Not a single game plan, all I wanted was to survive this day.

"We broke up..." I trailed off, unsure of how I should go about this. All I knew was that I had to clear it up that I wasn't cheating in any shape or form.

Although they knew that us breaking up was near, they were still shock with this and so they both gasped, "When?"

"Yesterday?" I replied though my tone was completely off because at this point, I refused to believe that time was real.

Wow, hit me with that existentialism.

Again, they were confused and they had the right to. In their heads, their best friend just broke up with her boyfriend of many months and then literally the next day, was being all clingy with the said guy's best friend.

Even I would think of the worse.

"Shall we get to class?" I tried again my earlier pitch and this time, I didn't wait for them to reply. I turned on my heel and made my way to the classroom because standing in the middle of the hallway with them bombarding me questions was not going to help any of us.

Again, while I wasn't considered popular, I still sat with a lot of the jocks and were friends with them. Plus, Pat was an athlete so his name was passed around.

It was common knowledge that he and I were dating. Arriving to school with Leon and then holding hands with him was probably not the best for our image.

So when I entered the classroom, our friends who I shared the class with looked my way. The air was extremely awkward and I didn't know how to deal with it since I was still trying to make sense of everything.

Honestly, why couldn't I just have a normal dating life? I honestly think that the annoying religious boy was already my most unproblematic relationship and that was saying something since I hated his guts.

I opted to keep my mouth clamped shut, even when Sasha and Mia kept stealing glances throughout first and second period. While I was excited for third period because I could see Leon again, since he was the only one who could relate to my confusion, I was also half dreading it.

I was going to see this version of Patrick Vincent again. The one that made me hopelessly fall in love with him only to break my heart in the end.

And as I entered the classroom, I saw the pair on their usual seats. Pat was quiet, which was predictable, and Leon also didn't bother with the small talk. They had this tension between them, something I hated because I truly believed that in any past or future we go to, their friendship was something that should remain.

How should I resolve all of this?

"Come on, Avs," Sasha patted my back, guiding me to our desks. She tried to shield my view of them, maybe be because they thought that I didn't want to see Pat after I told them about our break up.

But I did want to look at him.

Because this Patrick Vincent didn't have this jovial aura with him. His past self, even after I turned him down, was still cheerful and good-humored. I made the right decision to reject him because we managed to salvage a friendship, plus his friendship with Leon didn't waver. He teased Leon and I about dating without any backhanded bitterness. Even when we told him during the party that we were finally dating, he was happy for us.

And now this Pat was the complete opposite. He was solemn, he was quiet, he didn't have the same love for life feel around him.

I would never wish that upon him because whether I liked it or not, I treasured him and everything we had been through.

Was I really such a bad girlfriend that he ended up like this? He had always been understanding, but I constantly pushed him off. That was the reason why I didn't protest when he cut ties with me.

"Avery," Mia murmured, running assuring circles on my back, "You want us to go to the restroom?"

Sasha plucked out a tissue and carefully dabbed my cheeks, causing me to gasp. I didn't even realize that I started crying.

Great, just great.

I shook my head, sending a silent thank you towards their way and taking the tissues Sasha was offering me. I didn't want to cause a scene but it was futile, those who were near us started to poke their nose into our business.

I wasn't crying because of the break up, I was crying because I felt so helpless.

But then I heard his voice. My life buoy, my comfort, my literal guardian angel, "Avery."

"Leon," I opened my mouth but right after I said his name, a sob escaped my lips. Somehow, while I was busy with my inner monologue, he stood up from his desk and managed to make his way to ours. He beckoned me to come to him since I was still squished between my two best friends.

So I did. I walked towards him and while he restrained himself from pulling me into his arms, he did run his fingers through my hair and whispered soothing words under his breath, "I'm here."

Rumors be damned. We have both worked hard to have these mutual feelings for each other. My heart did so many somersaults on the way to having a relationship with him, I wasn't going to waste it.

Fuck it.

"Can we skip lunch together?" I asked quietly and he automatically nodded in response.

"Anything you want," he told me.

I wanted to get our of here. I wanted to go back to the timeline we were in. This was a nightmare that I desperately wanted to wake up out of.

"Alright, good morning everyone," the teacher suddenly waltzed into the classroom, causing everybody to disperse back to their seats.

One thing was for sure, we weren't going to stay here. Leon will just blow on his whistle three times and when we wake up in the morning, we will be back to where we came from.

I didn't want to remain here – this was a time where I was miserable and where I thought Leon didn't like me.

This was not where we belonged.

The moment we heard the lunch bell, I shot to my feet and ran to Leon. We were going to leave anyways so I didn't care anymore about being cautious that people might think weirdly of us.

I wrapped my arms around him and gave him an embrace because since this morning, this was the only thing I've been craving for. I wanted to hold him just like this and act like the couple that we really were.

I wanted my Leon.

"Hello, my angel," I said, looking up at him and watching as one eyebrow of his raised. He was giving me that 'are you serious' expression and I had to smile. Reaching up, I teasingly pinched his nose lightly, "Don't give me that look."

"Then don't call me that in public," he scoffed though his tone was extremely lighthearted as he poked the side of my stomach playfully. I yelped and released him, but immediately fell into a fit of laughter when it was his turn to trap me in his arms because he wouldn't let me get away from him.

This was what I meant when I just wanted to have a normal relationship with him. Playful and teasing.

I managed to maneuver around even in his grip so now my back was turned to him. Although, both of us halted when I saw both Mia and Sasha watching us. This time, their jaws weren't on the floor in surprise, but they were crying.

Even Pat, who I chose to ignore for now because I didn't want to blissful streak to go away, was not showing anger or sadness, but sported this soft expression.

"What's wrong?" I asked out loud, referring to all three of them.

"Avs," Sasha sniffed, "This is the first time we've seen you happy and laugh this loud in such a long time."

Oh.

I felt Leon tighten his hold around me and something in my chest ached. I've been worrying all of them for so long, enough to bring them to tears with just me being this cheerful. Everyday, they must have been on edge because they just wanted the best for me. They looked after me, took care of me, and stayed by my side when I wanted to push everybody away.

I was loved. Even when I thought that I wasn't, these people cared for me.

So I gently rested my hands on Leon's forearms, placing a smile on my face. It wasn't forced, I wasn't lying to them when I said with all the sincerity in my body, "I'm okay."

And I truly was okay.

-----------------------------

There were too many unanswered questions from the first chapter for me not to bring them back to their original future. 

Question: We're going to take a page out of Avery's book. So, are you okay?

Today has been my first real break since the semester started back in September and all things considered, I'm still okay. Like I'm so tired and drained, but I'm holding on.

I hope you guys are doing fine. I love you and please vote, comment, and follow. See you next chapter!