Chapter 9

The winter months slowly passed, nothing much happening in between. Earn walked down the halls and looked around, He spotted weird Tang and his group doing something, then he spotted Phun and Noh. He sighed and smiled. He decided to let go of Noh before he had time to get attached, he could tell that in a heartbeat Noh would choose Phun over him.

"Hey muscle man!" Pete startled Earn and he jumped.

"What do you want now?"

"What are you doing for summer vacation?" Pete took Earn's books and the pair started walking down the hall.

"Well, I'm going to the States. What about you?"

"Brazil."

"Brazil? You don't sound to excited, I'd love to go!"

"How about you go then!" Pete yelled in aggrivation, as he tightened the book in his grip and marched down the hall. Earn smiled, then he frowned. Pete was going to Brazil, he wouldn't see him for three months.Something about that saddened him.

Later, Earn knocked on Pete's window just as he was taking his medicine. Earn didn't wait for an answer and he opened the window as Pete tried to hide the various pill bottles.

"It's okay, you need them."

"Ah, well um, these are......."

"Just take them you stupid bastard." Pete finished his medicine and sat next to Earn on his bed.

"Why'd you come over suddenly?"

"When were you going to tell me?"

"Tell you what?"

"About you being sick." Pete scrunched his eyebrows together. How had Earn known that?

"How did you know?"

"Pete, I know everything about you, there really isn't anything I don't know."

"Oh really?"

"I know that you've been diagnosed with cancer since 3rd grade, I know you take anti-depressants because of your sever depression, I know you're not attracted to women, I know you sometimes sit on the roof outside and stare at me through my window, I know all your favorite foods and colors, I know you have nightmares so that's why I always find you in my room because you can't go back to sleep, the list goes on."

"Wh-How?!"

"That's not really important. I only came to say one thing."

"And what is that?"

"You better bring your back from Brazil!"

"Well am I just supposed to stay there?"

"You know what I mean! Don't go there and die on me." "

Aw~ You actually care about me?"

"Don't get your hopes up high! It's just you're the closet thing I have to a best friend."

"Really? Well I'm flattered." Pete said as he smiled.

"But you have to promise me."

"Promise you what?"

"Just repeat after me and raise your right hand." Pete raised his right hand and waited.

"I."

"I."

"Pete."

"Pete."

"Will solemly swear."

"Will solemnly swear."

"To Earn that I will come back from Brazil."

"To Earn that I will come back from Brazil."

"Alive and unchanged."

"Alive and unchanged."

They wrapped their pinkie fingers together to seal the promise, although they held on a bit longer than neccesary.

"Remember that you promised, and a man should never break his promise."

"A scrawny noodle like me a man?"

"That's right, you noodle. So don't you die on me."

But in the few months of summer vacation, Pete broke his promise. He didn't come home alive and unchanged.

The night of the news, Earn was boarding his plane from the USA. Throughout the flight and upon returning home, he felt like a huge peice of himself was gone. It had been months since that day, and he slowly went about his daily life. It felt weird to wake up and not see Pete, and he even left his window unlocked out of habit.

He found the bracelet Pete had broken that one day, and he kept it in his drawer. It was hard to keep it together but he did, he carried on as if nothing happened. Or so it seemed on the outside. Over and over in his head Pete was all he thought about when going to sleep, going to school, waking up, spacing out. The constant thoughts of Pete were so painful they caused physical pain to his heart. He sometimes couldn't breath because it hurt so much. He changed the flowers on Pete's grave every weekend, talked to him.

One weekend as he was leaving to change the flowers he walked passed his window and looked over to Pete's. He put the flowers down and went out to sit on the ajoining roof, then tried to open Pete's window. Surprisingly, it opened and he stepped through. The room was empty except for the bed and blankets, and a few books on the dresser.

Earn walked around, running his hands across any surface he came in contact to. He hadn't been in this room on forever. He saw a small journal lying on the bed and he picked it, opening it. It was Pete's manly diary. He sat down on the bed and read through it without a word. At the end, a certain page caught his eye. It asked him a question.

'Do you believe in miracles?' yes/no

He grabbed a pen from his suit pocket and circled yes. The words disappeared and another set replaced them, and he nearly screamed.

"What the hell is this?!"

'Good, may luck be with you.'

He closed the notebook and put it back on the table. He didn't know what just happened but decided to leave, knowing Pete would have left something like that. He yawned and laid on the bed, breathing in the smell of the comforter, it smelled like Pete. He closed his eyes and in no time he was asleep.

*

Earn opened an eye, then another very confused. The room was dark and he couldn't see, so he sat up and stretched. When he did this he noticed it was oddly cold and looked down at himself to see a freshman uniform.

Wait, uniform? He wasn't wearing uniform when he came to Pete's room.

He a light switch and realized this wasn't the room he fell asleep in, it was his own.

"Did someone bring me back here?" He reached for his phone in his pocket and looked at the time.

6:47 a.m

"Morning already? The hell?"

"Earn! Are you eating breakfast or not?!" someone yelled.

He opened the door and every thing looked familiar. He walked passed a calendar and something didn't seem right. The month in the calendar was August when it really was October.

"Mom, when will you remember to change the month on the calendar?" Earn asked sitting down at the table.

"What sweetie?" His mother didn't hear him as she put the breakfast on the table.

"Nothing."

"Here's a big breakfast for my big boy! Aren't you excited to start your freshman year?!"

"Freshman? Mom I'm a sophmore!" "What are you talking about?"

"What do- wait, what's today's date?" "August 7th I believe?"

"That's impossible it's October."

"Son did you hit your head? Don't you remember it's your first day of highschool?"

"Wait." sudden realization crossed his mind. That would explain why he was in a freshman uniform, why his mom would think he was a freshman. It would also explain the strange sense of deja vu. But he was a freshman last year, meaning one impossible thing.

Did he go back in time? _______________________________ A/N: And bang! Here it is! The almighty plot twist! I know I said a few chapters but I was so excited for this chapter and well.....