Chapter 1: I love my best friend; she can totally read my mind.

A week after I returned to my seventeen-year-old body, I was thrown back into high school and was surprised how little my perception of it had changed. It was still horrible. The boys reeked of awkwardness and AXE body spray. Even the ones that I thought were pretty cute at the time had a little tinge of Dark Temptation. The girls reminded me of why I only had one close friend in high school with their self-consciousness and pretending to be dumb to impress guys. Though, to be fair this was a stage in my life I had long since outgrown so I figure it wouldn’t be right to judge them with my ‘adult’ standards.

I walked over to my classroom, ignoring all the noise and small talk around me. I figured if I was going to have to start capturing people’s essences, I should scout out my classmate first. There’s this shared trauma between high school classmates that comes from 30 people being stuck with each other for three whole years. It made it easier to make friends during high school because if you’re going through a problem, you could bet everyone else was going through it too.

As usual, my classroom was noisy owing to the fact that the teacher wasn’t there. The sound of loud conversations about nothing made me almost feel nostalgic. I felt a tiny pang in my heart but quickly brushed it aside, remembering just how annoying homework and waking up at 6:00 just to get ready for a 7 AM class was. I picked my seat in the middle of the classroom, making sure nobody took the seat next to me. That was reserved for Violetta. Looking at my classmates all animated in discussion, the memories came flooding back to me. The dreamy, overachieving class representative, Elam was busy walking around listening to everybody’s complaints. Our eyes met for a brief moment, and he flashed me a smile before getting back to work. It was unfair just how pretty that boy was with silver hair combed to the side and grey eyes that looked as if they had a curious twinkle in them.

Every girl wanted Elam’s number and it wasn’t hard to see why, even Violetta had a crush on him for a little while and she didn’t even talk to boys. But for my money, the cutest boy in class back in the day had to be Aaron. Aaron was a bit of a loner. That meant he mostly kept to himself, sitting alone somewhere reading a book or listening to music. He had curly hair that looked so soft with little white highlights I wasn’t sure how he dyed in. He had a quiet, contemplative look in those black eyes and always had a gentle smile on his face. He usually didn’t come to school often but today he was there, looking out the window.

Him and Elam had a look in their eyes that felt as if they always knew more than they let on when it came to high school. They carried themselves like adults but in a subtle, thoughtful way unlike Lloyd. Lloyd, the asshole burst into class holding a radio over his shoulder that exploded with the sound of an obnoxious rap song. He always had a smug grin and a sharp lip, disrespecting teachers without any consequence. I remember last year he was a decent dude who made loud jokes in class on occasion. He was obnoxious but not like this. Something must have changed between this year and the next because he was a far cry from the decent person, we knew last year.

I was about to walk over to him and ask what his deal was, maybe capture his essence or whatever when…

Chapter 9: Time loop hedonism

“April,” said a voice on my bracelet.

I looked down to see a silver glow. Everybody started to stare at me. it was at that time Violetta walked in. Memories started flooding back in my head one on one.

“Mr. Silver?” I asked, confused. “What’s going on?”

“Lloyd,” Mr. Silver said. “He has you trapped in his…”

Lloyd placed a hand over my wrist, the silver was replaced by a dark black void. Mr. Silver’s voice was cut off. I took a few steps away from him.

“W-what’s going on?” I muttered. “I was in my apartment and then…”

Lloyd shrugged. “Well, he was going to tell you.” Lloyd pointed at my friendship bracelet. “But since he’s such a buzzkill I decided I’d tell you myself.”

Violetta stumbled out of the classroom, running away from us. Judging by the weather outside it was early winter, the beginning of the school year.

“W-what?” I muttered. “W-what happened? Where am I? When am I?”

Lloyd followed me till we went outside the classroom. All eyes were on us.

Lloyd grinned. “Welcome to my world, babe. You’re in the beginning of a time loop.”

I couldn’t believe what I was hearing. “What? Why?”

In the distance I heard the roar of a motorbike and students screaming yelling and screeching. Everybody was in a panic now, calling the teachers and taking pictures from their classroom windows.

“Simple,” Lloyd said.

A motorbike appeared right in between us with the Thanatos logo inscribed on its side.

He got on the motorbike, shuffling through his bag. He pulled out a helmet and tossed it at me. It just fell flat by my legs.

“We’re going to have fun, spring-flower,” Lloyd said with a grin, revving the bike. I picked up the helmet and reluctantly sat behind him.

“How did the bike get here?” I asked, as I put my hand on the holders on the back seat.

“State of the art Thanatos technology,” Lloyd said, dangling keys in front of me with a silver button on it. “I just press this button and boom; the bike follows the sensor on it.”

When I hesitantly sat on the bike and put on my helmet, he revved up the bike. The teachers started shuffling in with security guards holding batons on their side. They all threw empty threats that just washed over Lloyd. The rest of the kids went inside the classroom, taking pictures on their phone.

“You might want to hold on.” Lloyd said with a grin.

Before I could even ask why, Lloyd sped through the hallway causing the guards to scatter. After making a sharp U-turn he drove through the passageway and crashed out through the window, causing a sudden jolt to pass through my body. I was screaming in fear, Lloyd just laughed.

As we got on the road, I realised this was going to be a long one.

…

We drove through a freeway, Lloyd deftly driving his bikes through the cars and despite his earlier stunt of crashing through a window, actually obeying road traffic signs.

“Hey you alive?” Lloyd asked. “I’m not feeling your arms around my waist?”

I rolled my eyes. Despite feeling uneven sitting on the back there was no way I was going to wrap my hands around this creep’s waist like he wanted me too. I barely even knew the guy and for all intents and purposes he was keeping me hostage.

Realising that, Lloyd took a sudden break that made my stomach lurch. Instinctively I wrapped my hands around his waist.

“Fuck you,” I growled.

Lloyd just chuckled. When I wrapped my hands around his waist I snuck a glance at my friendship bead. There was a black bead pulsing like a heartbeat and with each pulse, the multicoloured beads I had gathered appeared and disappeared, as if in flux.

All around me the city was telling me it the beginning of the year. From the remnants of snow sticking onto the pavement to the winter clothes everybody was dressed with. Some of the signs were riddle with back-to-school deals.

“We really are in the beginning of the year, huh?”

I couldn’t make out his face through the helmet or the mirrors but the way he shrugged made me think Lloyd was used to whatever this was.

“Yep.”

“How?” I asked.

“Let’s just say I have a friend with a ton of issues,” Lloyd replied.

More vague answers. I was starting to get tired of this.

“So, everything is like back to zero?” I asked. “Like all my progress is gone.”

Lloyd nodded. “Yep, unless you have a mark like the one on your bracelet, all your memories are erased on each loop.”

I frowned. “Each loop? They’re multiple.”

“Something like that, yeah.”

Lloyd didn’t elaborate, it was like Mr. Silver all over again. I punched him hard on his back but if he felt it, he didn’t show it. Lloyd drove the freeway out through the city gates. Soon we were out in the countryside with snowy white fields and dying trees. We parked out on the side and Lloyd picked up a bag dangling on the side. Inside the bag was a hodgepodge of glass objects and a rifle.

I backed off as soon as I saw the rifle, Lloyd just kept his cocky grin plastered on his face. “Relax. I didn’t bring you here to kill you. Not that it would matter.”

He set five glass objects on a dead tree and started firing at them. The glass shattered into tiny little pieces in quick succession. Whatever else Lloyd was, he was at least a damn good shot. He handed me the rifle; I shook my head. He brought out five more glass artefacts and spread them across the tree.

“So, wait,” I said. “Since we’re at the beginning of the year does that mean?”

“Yep, your friends don’t know you.”

Another round of glass exploded, mixing in with the snow. Suddenly the empty friendship bracelet on my wrist filled me with a sense of dread.

“So that means…”

Lloyd smiled. “Yep. I don’t know about Amrita and prison but Harper, Wesley and Momoko are still stuck in their unhealthy relationships and your spectre of communism is still haunting Thanatos Inc.”

I felt my stomach sink. “That’s… I have to do something. I can’t just leave them there. It’s not…”

The grin Lloyd had on his face was wiped off and for some reason that made me scared, I took a step back from him. I also didn’t like the way he was still holding the rifle. “Right? Don’t tell me it’s not right. What’s not right blue balling your friends who want answers.” The grin came back. “Come on, this is what you want.”

“N-No,” I stammered. I walked back, Lloyd mirrored me by walking forward. “It isn’t. You don’t speak for me. You don’t know me.”

Lloyd sighed but I also noticed a glimmer of pain in his eyes when I said those words. He still walked forward. “I do know you, Spring-flower. You don’t know yourself.”

I tripped on a stick, falling on my butt into the snow. Lloyd stopped and tossed the keys and they landed on my lap. “Fine. Take this and go help them out.” Lloyd scoffed, tossing the rifle aside and placing his hands on his side like a disappointed parent. “For all the good that’d do.”

I picked up the keys and pressed the button. The bike roared to my side after a few seconds. I got on top of the bike and looking at everything I realised I had no idea what I was supposed to do. Hell, I didn’t even know how to drive a bike let alone a car.

“Um…” I turned to Lloyd. “I uh…”

Lloyd was confused. “What?”

I could feel the blood rushing to my cheeks, I looked away from him and down at the leather seats. “I don’t know how to drive.”

Lloyd just laughed. “Oh my god. You’re so adorable. Fine, I’ll help you with your stupid task. But just this once.”

He gently pushed me aside and took a seat on his bike. Soon we were driving through the freeway and back to school.

…

Before we could even set foot a few security guards cornered the both of us and shoved us to the principal’s office. Lloyd just kept his grin, pulling out a pair of shades from his pocket and putting them on. When we went in, Lloyd’s parents were there. Lloyd looked more like his father with the wavy blonde hair but he had his mother’s blue eyes and sharp features. I realised as we stepped in Lloyd was pretty attractive, he even had a well-built body. Too bad he was a massive douchebag.

“Lloyd Flint,” Principal Khan said, an old man with a thick white beard and white hair. “And April Anji. You’re both in trouble for…”

Lloyd just took out his phone. The principle frowned. “May you please pay attention.”

“Give a call to one of your accountants, he’ll confirm I just sent 1 million bucks in charity to the school,” Lloyd said.

Lloyd’s parents seemed used to this. They just sat there quietly. A disappointed sigh managed to escape from Lloyd’s mum but his dad could barely hide the grin on his face.

Mr. Khan was surprised by Lloyd’s brazen confidence. So was I. A few minutes later an accountant burst into the office. “Sir. It says here that there’s a been a transfer of funds from the personal account of one Lloyd Flint.”

The principle was flabbergasted. His body was so still I thought he might have had a heart attack and died in the spot.

“Now teach,” Lloyd said. “If you could just excuse my trespassing, I’d really appreciate that.”

The principle cleared his throat. “On account of this generous donation, the expulsion charges are withheld. However, April Anji will be suspended for…”

Lloyd took out his glasses and leaned forward. “Come on, old man.”

The principle cleared his throat. “April Anji’s suspension charges will also be dropped.”

Lloyd leaned back. “Good boy.” He turned to his parents, his dad full of glee and his mum face-palming. “Shall we?”

“How do you have a million dollars?” I asked as we left the principal’s office.

Lloyd did his signature shrug. “Once you’ve been through a few loops you memorise a few lottery numbers and stock markets.”

“Huh,” I said. His mum asked Lloyd for a word.

“Go ahead, find your friends,” Lloyd said. “You’ll realise how stupid your little plan is sooner or later.”

I decided to do just that. I headed back to my classroom and started the hunt for Violetta.

…

When I reached my classroom, I saw Violetta sitting on her desk through the classroom window. I was about to open the door when a familiar silver glow appeared.

“April…” Mr. Silver said, the silver glow swirling in with the black one. He said something but his words were almost being swallowed by the black void on my bracelet. Whenever the silver glow appeared, the friendship beads I had gathered temporarily appeared. “Can… you… hear me?”

A few eyes were on me so I rushed into a bathroom. “Mr. Silver. What’s going on?”

“I finally got hold of you,” Mr. Silver said. “I’ve been keeping my communications incognito because I didn’t want Aaron finding me… but…”

I frowned. “Aaron? Aaron as in my classmate?”

“You’re in a new timeline,” Mr. Silver said. “It’ll be hard to reach but I will get you and I will tell you everything…”

The silver glow was suddenly taken over by the black. “Mr. Silver,” I called out. “Mr. Silver!”

There was nothing. Only a swirling black bead. Hopefully I’d finally get answers. Till then, I help out my friends. I was just about to enter the classroom when I felt someone tap my shoulder.

I turned to see Lloyd leaning on the door, in between his fingers was a slip of paper he handed to me. Inside was a list of dates, numbers and convenience stores.

I frowned, turning the paper around. “What’s this?”

“Million buck lottery tickets,” Lloyd explained. “You redeem them and you get a million bucks. Goes without saying but this is for your eyes only.”

I chuckled. “Oh wow. You really expect me to believe you.”

Lloyd smiled but he wasn’t fully there. It was as if he were relieving a fond old memory. “You saw what happened at the principal’s office.”

“Samantha did say you had a rich family,” I said. “There’s no way any of this is true.”

“You’re very stubborn you know that?”

I smiled proudly. “Yeah. One of them is redeemable end of this month. Let’s see how real this scam of yours is.”

“If I win, I get two million dollars,” Lloyd said.

I laughed. “You’re a real funny guy, you know that?”

He looked me dead in the eye. “Oh no, I’m dead serious.” And then he walked away. I tried to ignore it but I really liked how blue his eyes were.

…

I didn’t find the time to talk to Violetta. I made a stop at the convenience store and grabbed the lottery ticket that was written in the instructions, praying that the clerk didn’t see the nervous glances I cast at the piece of paper in my hands.

The lottery numbers were 23 11 00 25. I went back to my room, holding the lottery ticket close to my chest. There was no way these numbers were correct, right? I mean I was back in the beginning of the year and Mr. Silver did tell me he was looking for me but lottery numbers? That was a stretch.

The fateful day came where the Walled City monthly lottery was being held. I anxiously checked my card to make sure that the lottery company was the one that I had.

The 10000, 100000 and 500000 buck lotteries were agonisingly slow. All I could was glance at my ‘million’ buck cards. If Lloyd was pulling my leg he owed me my grocery allowance.

The million buck lottery numbers rolled in. the announcer took a deep breath as he announced the numbers and started building anticipation.

“And now we end this with the jackpot!” he said in his deep confident voice. “The million-buck elephant in the room.”

The attractive lady in the glimmering dress walked over to the bowl of numbers. Multicoloured balls bounded around the glass bowl like atoms colliding with one another and soon the first number popped out.

“23.”

I scoffed. Just because it was the first number didn’t mean Lloyd was right.

“11.”

Wow, two numbers in a row. How wonderful.

“0.”

Wait a second.

“And finally… 25!”

My eyes widened, feeling as if they were about to pop out of their sockets like I was a cartoon character. I couldn’t hear what the announcer was saying over the sound of my heartbeat and blood pounding through my head. I almost didn’t call before the announcer said he would re roll the numbers.

I grabbed my phone and called them. “I WON!” I yelled out in disbelief. “I got these numbers! I… I…”

One million bucks. One million bucks! It felt like it was someone else saying those words out loud to the announcer.

“Someone’s excited,” said the announcer. “What’s your name and age young lady?”

“April Anji,” I said. I was about to say I’m 24 when I realised just how old I actually was. “I’m uh… 17.”

The announcer winced at the announcement. “Ms. Anji are you married or are you acting with your parents’ permission?”

God dammit why couldn’t I have won this when I was 24? I don’t think the orphanage that raised me would allow me to go off with all this money without taking a cut. I wanted to cry. My voice shook as I got ready to reject the money, out of the corner of my eye I noticed the announcer getting a call.

The announcer cleared his throat. “It seems a backer of this show, Lloyd Flint said that you’re employed and self-sponsored and therefore are entitled to the million dollars. Give it up for April Anji who’ll be going home with our jackpot price of a million dollars!”

The crowd yelled out uproariously as the show went off. As soon as it ended, I got a call from the lottery company. My body was on autopilot as I stuttered out the details, my mind completely in disbelief as I walked around the house.

After the call ended, I was left alone. My apartment suddenly felt smaller and I felt as if I was dreaming. I could barely carry my body back to my room and when my ringtone started chirping it took me a while to register what was happening. It was a call from an unknown number. I picked up my phone.

“You owe me two million dollars,” Lloyd said. I could almost see the smirk he had wherever he was on the other side of the phone.

…

The following day, Lloyd was waiting for me outside my apartment block in a fancy red sports car. I wondered why and was ready to ignore him when he got out and said “You really think they’re going to ignore a lone lottery winner at school?”

I froze. He had a good point. I turned to him. “What do you have in mind?”

“Let’s get that money in your account,” Lloyd said. “And then I’ll tell you what I have in mind.”

A few hours later and after a lot of documents had to be printed, Lloyd and I were on the outskirts of town as I stared at my bank account with a million dollars in it.

“I can’t believe it,” I said. “Now I never have to go to school again. God damn.”

Lloyd just leaned back on the car seat. “You still owe me two million.”

“A million bucks,” I murmured.

“Yep,” Lloyd said. “You can do whatever you want.”

“We need to get Harper away from Skye using this money,” I said. “With this, Harper doesn’t have to spend this much time alone for that toxic bitch.”

Lloyd sighed. He looked disappointed. “Are you sure that’s what you want to do?”

I nodded.

Lloyd started up the car and started to reverse.

Unauthorized reproduction: this story has been taken without approval. Report sightings.

“By the way,” I said. “How do you know so much about lottery numbers? I mean can you time travel or…?”

Lloyd shook his head. “I can time loop. I’ve been looping this year for…” Lloyd scrunched up his face in thought for a brief second but immediately gave up. “I don’t know.”

“And I’m stuck with you in a time loop.”

Lloyd glanced at my bracelet. “Long as you have that black mark.”

“What’s the point of all this?” I asked. “This doesn’t seem to be part of the experiment?”

Lloyd smirked. “What’s the point of anything really? It isn’t part of the experiment; I just want you to have fun.” He winked at me. “You’ve been lacking that back in your timeline for the past 9 months. Unfortunately, it seems you don’t want to.”

“I can’t just leave my friends,” I said. “Especially after I know what they’ve been through.”

Lloyd just smirked, sitting there quietly.

“What?”

As we got on the road Lloyd looked ahead. “Staying stuck for a year in the same city, in the same school for a hundred years with the same people you expect things to be boring, don’t you?”

I chuckled. “I mean… duh.”

“Nah,” Lloyd said, the road ahead reflected in his black sunglasses. “You’ll find people are full of surprises. Especially you, Spring flower.”

…

Helping Harper didn’t cost as much as I thought. Lloyd mainly handled the funds through his company since he didn’t want me wasting my precious money. In just a few weeks, Skye was cured, Harper was immunised and a widespread research team and companies were created to exploit the wild depths of African rainforests for a heart shaped butterfly perfume that would get all ‘the girls and boys running after you’.

Much like where I came from, Harper and I weren’t friends. Turns out paying for work to be done wasn’t as meaningful or a good basis for a friendship as working together on something. It didn’t help too that I had long left school and had gotten myself a mansion on the rich kid street I used to look on in envy back when I stayed in the orphanage. I tried helping out Karl but he just looked at me as bourgeoise scum and roamed the hallways of Thanatos aimlessly.

Lloyd called what I was doing a ‘friendship speedrun’ and through it I barely got any beads. Violetta had left by the time I was a millionaire leaving only me to enjoy my huge mansion. Tomorrow, the Momoko attacks would start and Lloyd and I would be heading over to help her in his red sports car. Not that I was complaining. I sat submerged in my marble bathtub soaked in the finest soap from Qatar in my massive bathtub in my glittering bathroom with its shiny floors and luxury mirrors.

It was then the silver glow of my bracelet interrupted me. I was startled, the cucumbers on my eyes sinking into the tub.

“You asshole!” I snapped. “I’m bathing.”

“No time,” Mr. Silver said. “I’m closing in on your location. You’re…” the silver light flickered for a second. “Why are you in the Upper Echelons?”

Upper Echelons was the rich neighbourhood of Walled City and Lloyd helped me through his company to buy a mansion up there.

“I uh… live there.”

There was a brief flicker before Mr. Silver spoke. “What’s been going on?” his voice changed from urgent to concerned.

I scoffed. “Nothing. Lloyd’s been helping me out in this time loop. I’m a millionaire now.”

“I don’t care about that,” Mr. Silver said. “What’s been going on with you?”

I scoffed. “Nothing. I’m fine, happiest I’ve ever been.”

Mr. Silver sighed. “Cameron and Samantha shouldn’t have let Lloyd get to you.”

“What’s wrong with Lloyd?”

“Other than being horrendously out of touch with people,” Mr. Silver said. “Not much. He’s very good at enabling.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?” I asked.

“Cameron told me what he said to you before Lloyd got to you,” Mr. Silver said. “Told me what he told you about your other self.”

“Cam and Sam are with you,” I said, trying my best to change the topic. “Tell them they did what they could…”

Mr. Silver interrupted me though whatever signal he was on was starting to get cut. “April… the only way to stop this… is to stop running.”

And then the silver glow disappeared. I was left alone in the tub with the black swirl in the centre of my friendship bead. Well, I wasn’t running, I was in the tub.

Mr. Silver’s statement about my young self left me in a sour mood. I wrapped myself out in the shower, let it drain and then called one of the workers to come clean it. I wrapped myself in my linen sheets and found I couldn’t sleep.

“You asshole,” I said to the empty black swirl on my friendship bead.

…

The Kaiju Attacks started as per usual and this time around I wasn’t stuffed in a classroom with a bunch of sweaty students. From the hills of Upper Echelon, I could see Momoko rampaging through the streets in her Kaiju form. My staff had already found themselves in the saferoom leaving me in my mansion, waiting for Lloyd as the sound of helicopters roaring and missiles dropping blew through the air. I almost didn’t hear Lloyd’s slick red convertible pull up in the driveway.

“You ready?” Lloyd asked, eyes peeking through the rims of his sunglasses.

I hopped into the passenger seat. “I was born ready.”

We zoomed through the streets, past evacuated cars and empty malls. The robots were weirdly working so Lloyd jokingly stopped at a few of them, almost making my face hit the dashboard.

“Why are you like this?” I groaned.

Lloyd chuckled. We sped through the streets, Momoko’s great thunderstorm roars in the distance. As we got closer, the sounds of warfare grew louder. From the screeches of missiles striking hard plated armour, to the sound of tanks firing in unison. Military vehicles rumbled passed us, seemingly ignoring us. Momoko’s roars were like a distant thunderclap but as we got closer, they sounded like the rattle of an earthquake. A large cloud of dust formed around Momoko and when we entered it, Lloyd put up his roof.

It was as if we were trapped in fog. “Are you sure this is a good idea?”

Lloyd shrugged. “You live and learn.”

As we descended deeper into the fog, it was like watching a military slideshow. Military trucks zoomed past us. Missiles exploded randomly and through it all, a massive clawed foot struck the ground like an avalanche.

“We need to get out of here,” I said, my voice shaking. “This is a bad idea. Lloyd.”

Lloyd remained nonchalant. In fact, he just had a smirk on his face.

“Lloyd, you’re driving too fast.” I shook his arm. “Lloyd.”

Momoko’s footfalls were getting closer. I could barely see them with how fast we were going. “LLOYD!”

And before I knew it, a missile struck us. I was thrown through the world like a doll. Lloyd too. I saw bits and pieces of him before the world went black.

Chapter 1: I love my best friend; she can totally read my mind.

A week after I returned to my seventeen-year-old body, I was thrown back into high school and was surprised how little my perception of it had changed. It was still horrible. The boys reeked of awkwardness and AXE body spray. Even the ones that I thought were pretty cute at the time had a little tinge of Dark Temptation. The girls reminded me of why I only had one close friend in high school with their self-consciousness and pretending to be dumb to impress guys…

Chapter 9: Time loop hedonism

Wait a second. I stopped in the middle of the locker room, feeling my body. All my limbs were there. Somehow, I’d survived. But I was back to the beginning again. What was going on? I didn’t have to wait long for an answer as Lloyd crashed through the windows on a bicycle this time.

“Hop on!” he said. He still wore those sunglasses of his.

I got up and sat behind him on the bike.

“What happened?” I asked, as we cycled through the school. “I died and then…”

“Like I said, a time loop,” Lloyd said. “Every time you die, you’re looped back to the beginning of the year.”

“How does that work?”

“Long explanation or short one?” Lloyd asked.

“Uh long.”

“So, when we loop there’s a quantum delay and…”

“Short one.”

“We’re hopping timelines,” Lloyd said. “Every ‘time’ we loop we’re thrown back to the beginning of the year and this creates another timeline.”

“Is that how I came back to this body?”

Lloyd shook his head. “Yours is a bit complex. Outdated. But it costs Thanatos less so that’s why they stick with it.”

“How about yours?”

Lloyd grinned. “You can ask the good old head of research for that. All you got to know is that every time you die, you’ll be thrown back to the beginning of the year and can do whatever the hell you want.”

I smiled. “Whatever I want?”

Lloyd turned to me as he cycled past school security. “Whatever you want.”

I thought about it for a second before finally making up my mind. “Take me to Harper.”

Lloyd groaned.

…

This time around I whipped a cure and saved Harper from Skye but, again, Harper and I were just casual acquaintances more than friends.

I went and saved Momoko and we were super good friends this time around without her having a crush on me which was nice and convenient.

The issue came with Wesley. I learned my lesson the last time when I forced myself into his life. I wasn’t going to make the same mistake again. Lloyd and I stole the time machine from his garage and Lloyd was in charge of the tinkering. He managed to tinker it but it wasn’t Old Man Wesley who popped out of it but a mid-life crisis Wesley who had shaved his beard after having too much fun as Jesus Wesley.

“Are you guy’s aliens?” he muttered. We had gotten him in the middle of a bible reading session so he still held it in his hands and he clutched it firmly when he saw us.

“You think he’ll work?” I asked

Lloyd shrugged. “I don’t know. You’re like the only one that cares about this.”

We dropped him off at the Pointers. Lloyd installed some hidden cameras while they were away (he was an awfully good handyman) and we observed that it didn’t take mid-life crisis Wesley long to fall under the wing of Priest Wesley and join the rest of the squad in the Wesley tradition of verbally berating themselves.

“He was always a lost cause,” Lloyd said, setting his foot down from the table.

“No,” I frowned. “Harper got him better than I did.”

“Whatever,” Lloyd shrugged. “Who’s next?”

I didn’t decide to be a millionaire this time around in order to relate to Karl. I reminded him of his dead comrades and all that resulted in was him going on a Thanatos middle management killing spree. Or attempting one. He was almost put down by the soldiers before he could even do anything. They took him for Ectoplasm experimentation. Lloyd weaselled around to get him out but after that he cut off contact with us and just disappeared.

“See how pointless this is?” Lloyd said.

“One more,” I said. “Maybe Amrita will be open to the idea.”

Amrita was not open to the idea due to the massive headache both me and Lloyd gave her due to all our timeline divergences. She stayed far away from us.

After that incident, Lloyd handed me a slip of paper with the lottery numbers for August. I was just about ready to get back to enjoying living in a mansion when suddenly, the idea struck me.

“Let me show you something cool,” I said, smiling at Lloyd. “And a much, much faster and cooler way to get some cash.”

Lloyd raised an eyebrow. I’d piqued his interest. When I took him to the abandoned janitor’s closet with some torches, he immediately asked.

“Is this the way to the dragon?” he asked.

I felt my body sag. I thought I could surprise him for once. “How do you know about that?”

Lloyd just grinned. “Let’s just say I’ve been around.”

I grabbed his arm and dragged him inside. “Whatever. Gold from a dragon is a cooler source of income than a lottery.”

When I grabbed his hand, there was a genuine smile on his face. Different from the cocky, superficial grin on his face. Seeing that made my stomach feel weird. I thought I had that disease that Skye had.

As we sunk deeper into the cave I frowned, realising something. I let go of his arm. “What do you mean you’ve been around?”

Cause I’ve been around in my college days. Not that anything stuck back then but what did he mean? Wait, why did I suddenly care about this? This kid was a douchebag and I was much older than him.

Lloyd realised he screwed up. “Just. I’ve explored this place in my previous loops…”

His cocky confidence waned when he said that. That made me concerned. “Only Amrita knew about this place as far as I know…”

Lloyd’s face reddened. We didn’t have time to talk about it as the mountain of gold was in sight. I trudged on ahead of him. I saw him let out a sigh of relief. That made my instincts pipe up.

I climbed atop a mountain of gold, spreading my arms wide. “See isn’t this cooler than boring lottery numbers.”

I felt the cave floors below us rumble. “Uh April.”

The dragon appeared from behind me and before I could even react a burst of flames consumed my entire body. I could feel my flesh peeling off and my vocal cords were ashes before I could even let out a scream. I felt my soul leave my body and everything went black.

Chapter 1: I love my best friend; she can totally read my mind.

A week after I returned to my seventeen-year-old body, I was thrown back into high school and was surprised how little my perception of it had changed. It was still horrible. The boys reeked of awkwardness

Chapter 9: Time loop hedonism

Except for Lloyd. I was nervous when I opened the door to my classroom, expecting not to see him. But there he was, sunglasses on and the familiar cocky smile on his face. I smiled back at him, knowingly. I picked up a chair and walked over to the windows, Lloyd followed me. All eyes on me and Violetta walked in, staring at me. Her eyes widening in realisation as she realised, I wasn’t me or whatever. But I didn’t care about that bullshit. I threw the chair through the window, glass shattering around us. Lloyd covered his eyes but when he realised what I did, the grin on his face grew wider.

“Let’s go,” I said. “Fuck this bullshit.”

We leapt out of the window and ran out of the school, laughing all the while.

…

This time around I was a millionaire within a few days. Lloyd and I used those days to go to places I never thought of going to; Japan, Egypt and Venice. It was so fun. After a few months had passed we were back home just in time to try skydiving into a Kaiju’s mouth.

“You sure about this?” I asked through headphones. We were in a private military helicopter he hired.

“Yep,” Lloyd shouted as the cargo door opened, his hair flapping like curtains. “I’ve been in Momoko many times.”

I nodded. “Yeah. By the way what happens to Momoko if I don’t do anything?”

He ignored me and leapt out the helicopter. I felt a little nervous then realised I’d done much scarier and besides, if I died, they’d be no consequences. I leapt out of the helicopter and into the clouds.

I felt the air fly through me, my hair being pulled back by the wind. It was exhilarating flying in a free fall and soon I saw the city below me, spread across like a toy mat. In the centre of it all, and the big red bullseye I was aiming towards was Momoko, crashing through the city like a tidal wave. As I dived and pulled out my parachute, I saw Lloyd perched atop the craggy peak of Momoko’s back. If I managed to go back, I wanted to be able to do that. Momoko’s claws were way too boring. I opened up my parachute, feeling the sudden gust of wind pull me up. Helicopters and missiles whizzed past me and I heard the air crackle with the sound of tanks firing their cannons. It was exhilarating narrowly being on death’s door. My heart was pumping and I didn’t know if it was the wind or the blood rushing to my head that I heard as I narrowly avoided the wings of a helicopter.

But it was at that moment, that Momoko, irritated by the constant barrage of missiles turned around and prepared a laser beam. Her scales lit up a bright blue as ball of lightning formed in her mouth.

And I was headed straight for it.

I closed my eyes as a beam of electricity struck a helicopter behind me, vaporizing it and my body.

…

But it didn’t matter cause the next loop, Lloyd and I robbed a national bank and with Lloyd’s ‘contacts’ from a previous loop made off to the Swiss alps with some cash, buying up some scenic land before the cops found us out and let’s just say the cops suck and leave that loop at that.

…

The next loop we instead focused on learning some new skills. We had all the time in the world. In a year I learned how to dance, became a grandmaster in chess and even was almost selected as an Olympic level athlete in running. It’s surprising how much skills you can learn in a year.

…

And how much you can learn about another person. It was a dark night in a clearing in the Kilimanjaro Forest, we were under a blanket of stars looking out into the sky at the milky way. Wrapped inside our sleeping bags, Lloyd didn’t have the same grin on his face. No, he looked sincere.

“Been to space once,” Lloyd said. “Not a great place to be.”

“You’ve been through a lot,” I said. “I know the what’s and the how’s but not the why’s.”

“Why I’m here?” Lloyd sighed, staring at the nylon of his sleeping bag. “Why I’m here? Because of someone who can’t let go.”

I shuffled in my sleeping bag, turning to him. “What do you mean?”

“I’m supposed to be dead,” Lloyd said. “Like you. Ironically on the first day of New Year’s I’m supposed to die with some of my family. My…” he coughed, blinking back tears. “Dad’s the only one who’s supposed to be survived. I have no idea how he felt about… all of this. I don’t think I want to.”

I reached out of my bag and held his hand. I had no idea how I didn’t know about Lloyd’s death. But after that whole ‘year’ with the friendship bead I realised I had no idea about anyone, really.

“As to why?” Lloyd smiled, he wiped his eyes with his free hand, holding my other hand tight. “Why? My friend Aaron… he has a guilt complex and is also the CEO of Thanatos Inc.”

That startled me but for once I wasn’t really thinking about my situation but his. “What the hell? Why don’t we confront him? Why don’t we do something about him? He’s trapping you here…”

Lloyd smiled. “We can’t. We’re hopping timelines too quickly for him to catch up. The Aaron you see now isn’t the Aaron that’s the CEO of Thanatos, in fact he’s just a super stressed out 17-year-old boy.”

“Why is he so stressed?” I asked.

“Let’s just say out of all the powers you saw he drew the short end of the stick and leave it at that,” Lloyd said. I frowned, pulling my hand away from him. Knowing I didn’t like it when people kept things from me (Thanks Mr. Silver) he quickly spoke up. “It’s a secret between me and him and leave it at that.”

I wasn’t satisfied but I figured I shouldn’t pry and said fine as I laid on my back.

“Besides I like it here,” Lloyd said. “I like living without giving a fuck about anything.”

Looking at the stars and the milky way in the distance I realised I liked living like that too. I smiled. “You know what? I do too.”

…

The rest of the year we took it slow. We also… uh… became more than just friends. It turned out we were more compatible than we thought. The months went by so quickly with all the travelling and things we did together and before we knew it, it was Christmas Eve. I was making a big dinner (another thing these time loops taught me was to make a gourmet meal) and invited him over for dinner and some TV. It was while I was waiting for the chicken to get cooked in the oven that I was interrupted by a familiar silver glow.

“April,” Mr. Silver yelled. “April. We finally managed to track you down. We’ll be closing in on your location soon. Can you explain to me why it took us so freaking long to find you?”

“I uh…”

“You know what,” Mr. Silver said angrily, the bright silver light brightening to the point of making my eyes burn. “You don’t need to answer that because I saw multiple dead bodies of you and Lloyd. Didn’t I tell you to stay away from him?”

“Hey Lloyd is sweet okay,” I snapped back. “Besides that’s none of your business what I do in those timelines…”

Mr. Silver groaned. “April, you idiot! You forget those timelines go on without you and Lloyd. How the hell do you think Momoko feels about killing you that one time in those two timelines? How do you think Lloyd’s parents feel when they see his dead body after a long string of criminal activities?”

I paused, I was silent for a while. “The world doesn’t end and begin with you two like you always seem to think. No wonder you guys always end up together.”

That surprised me. “How do you know about that? How do you know we’re together?”

Mr. Silver scoffed. “Because of his stupid time loop shenanigans, he’s been with almost every woman on this planet. Give someone a constantly looping year, not a day or a month but a year and it’s bound to happen. Not to mention that he never really grew past being a teenager. He just so happens to have taken a liking to you. Or whatever version of you he previously liked. Why do you think he calls you spring-flower?”

I felt pain shoot through my heart, my legs suddenly felt heavy and the silver light was blur. “How…? You’re lying.”

Concerned seeped into Mr. Silver’s voice but he still maintained his firm tone. “April, I know how it must sound and I’m sorry but you have to know the truth. Whether or not it hurts. What you choose to do with it is your business. I’ll stay out of your hair but just know you can contact me whenever. This experiment has gone on for far too long.”

The silver light disappeared. I was left alone. The oven was starting to steam but I didn’t care. All I cared about was Lloyd, how he viewed me. Or how he viewed other versions of me. It was frustrating, which version of me was the ‘Spring Flower’ he liked?

Lloyd walked in at that moment. He saw me sitting by the oven.

“You okay?” he asked.

“Yeah,” I lied.

He took that as fact and sat on the couch, resting his legs on my coffee table and switching on the TV to a random show he liked. “The oven isn’t smelling too hot.”

“Of course it isn’t.” I got up and stood in front of TV. “Hey, how did you know about the dragon at school? I thought only Amrita knew about it.”

Lloyd frowned. “We talked about this. I explored the school.”

“I just had a talk with Mr. Silver and he’s told me about your little exploits,” I said, crossing my arms.

Lloyd got up. “Elam doesn’t know shit about me. He’s just going on.”

Elam. Elam was Mr. Silver? The student council president, Elam. I was so distracted by that titbit of information that Lloyd took it as a sign to go back to his show. I regained my focus and switched off the TV.

“Hey!” Lloyd complained.

“It’s my house.”

The smell of smoke was starting to rise. Lloyd was getting concerned, eyeing the oven. “Shouldn’t you?”

“No,” I said. “I want to know how you knew about the dragon.”

“I just…”

“The truth!” I snapped. “Now!”

Realising he wasn’t getting out of this, Lloyd resigned. He sighed. “I know Amrita.”

“I knew it,” I yelled. “But how?”

“As in,” Lloyd stared down at the sofa. “I know know Amrita. Like I’ve slept…”

I didn’t want to hear anymore than that. My heart was breaking and I didn’t know why.

“Who else have you been with?” I asked.

Lloyd winced at that question. “Almost the entire school besides the… you know… gay and ace ones.”

I walked back unconsciously, almost falling over my coffee table. “Including…”

“Yes,” Lloyd said. “Including you and Violetta.”

I wasn’t so sure what hurt more, the fact that he’s been with all of us or how he viewed us. These were a hundred thousand timelines with a hundred thousand me and I wondered which me he was talking about.

“Look man,” he groaned. “A guy gets bored. What do you expect is going to happen? I stick with you because you’re the only one who understands me.”

I wanted to believe it. I wanted to believe it so desperately but I still had one more question.

“Who liked being called spring-flower?”

Lloyd frowned. “What?”

“Which April liked being called spring-flower?”

The kitchen was on fire now but neither of us cared. We were trapped in this curse ‘together’ after all. “Because I only started liking it when we were together. Did she like it before or after?”

Lloyd didn’t understand what I was getting at but he answered the question anyway. “Before.”

And I realised something as the fire started inching closer and closer to us. There was no way I could love this Lloyd, just as there was no way he could love this April. I was never his spring-flower.

“Don’t talk to me ever again,” I cried. And as the fire consumed us and the apartment blew, I wondered if the look of hurt on his face was as genuine as the hurt I felt was.

…

I didn’t know how to start this year. For most of it I was listless, just sitting around. So listless in fact I didn’t notice until just a few weeks later that Violetta was sitting right next to me and trying her best to comfort me. But this wasn’t my Violetta just like that wasn’t my Lloyd. Lloyd also tried talking to me a few times, the cocky persona of his long gone in favour of something I could only guess was genuine. But I didn’t know who the real Lloyd was. Did he love those girls? Those other versions of Momoko, Amrita, Violetta, me? Or was he like a chameleon, mirroring who they were in order to satiate his desires? Who the hell was Lloyd anyway?

It was on one winter morning at lunch time, my head still planted on the desk that this timeline’s Violetta decided to speak to me.

I glanced up, my chin still stuck to my desk. “What’s up? Here to complain that I’m not me.”

She was temporarily surprised, especially since nobody else knew that she could read minds. “I uh… want to talk with you. Somewhere private.”

I sighed. “Okay.”

I got up, dragging my feet behind her as we walked up the stairs and on the rooftop. The sky was cloudy and there were a few benches lined up next to a vending machine. Violetta got a drink for herself and me. It was my favourite flavour of Pop Soda, grape. Still, I didn’t feel like drinking it. She opened hers up and started to drink it mainly to calm her nerves more than anything.

“I know you’re not you,” Violetta said.

“Yay.”

“And uh you’re going through a breakup with a guy who isn’t himself,” Violetta said.

“Story of my life.”

“And in another timeline, I was scared of you not being yourself,” she said. “But more importantly I was scared of letting you and people know that I know everything about them. Including their most vulnerable thoughts.”

I didn’t realise it, but Violetta sounded a lot more confident than I remembered her sounding. It was enough to stir me out of my listlessness and actually listen.

“I thought knowing the darkest thoughts of people was enough to know all of them,” Violetta looked down at her skirt, her hands shaking. “After my dad cheated on my mum, I’m not so sure I know anything. Even if you can read minds. I… didn’t know what to do when I found out about it. When I saw that he let his worst thoughts get the best of him. I thought if I just pretended everything was fine it’d go away but mum was in pain and…”

Violetta regained her composure. “All of this to say I know what you’re scared off. And it’s something so many other people are scared off too.”

I scoffed. “What is it?”

“Being hurt,” Violetta said. “You’re scared of losing people and that’s why you put so much pressure on yourself, that’s why you pushed Harper away, because you’re scared that people won’t accept you for you.”

I laughed. “Yeah right. And here I thought you were actually going to say something about my break up.”

I got up, ready to leave but Violetta stood firmly in front of me. She looked directly in my eyes, mustering as much as confidence as her tiny body could.

“I know you won’t hear me,” Violetta said. “Of course you won’t. You like running away but April…”

Before I could even move, Violetta hugged me so tightly I could barely breathe. That or I was crying. “I love you. Harper loves you. Amrita cares about you. We all love you no matter who you are.”

She pulled away. “Now call Elam. Listen to his story.”

I wanted to ask how she knew but I realised how.

“’They are people just like you’,” Violetta said. “People who aren’t themselves. I should’ve worded it differently. They’re people who are out of time, people who’ve changed. People who are a lot like you.”

“I haven’t changed,” I said, chuckling and wiping my eyes.

Violetta paused for a second. “You’re right you haven’t. But maybe you will.”

And with those ominous words she left the rooftop, leaving me alone to ponder my thoughts and wipe away my tears.

…

I was ready to contact Mr. Silver but I had just one more stop to make. Lloyd. I headed to my classroom only to see him outside of it, kneeling down and begging Samantha for something so loudly I could hear it from down the hall.

“Please Sam,” he cried. “Erase some of her essence. She doesn’t need these memories; I beg of you!”

He looked so pathetic with snot going down his nose and his eyes stuffed with tears. Samantha wasn’t having none of it.

“I have no fucking clue what’s going on,” this Samantha said. “But you’ve been abusing your power for way too long. The CEO will hear about this.”

Lloyd laughed. “He’s my best friend. You think he’ll stand for you not following instructions…”

It was then I decided to walk in. Samantha looked nervous. “Oh shit, it’s the subject.”

“At ease, Sam,” I said. “You know about my essence enough to know I’m not the blank slate you’re looking for.”

Samantha reached out; her hands glowing. Confirming what I told her she looked ready to walk away but decided to stay for some reason.

“Maybe I should quit this shithole,” she said, leaning against the windows and staying there for some reason.

Lloyd crawled over to me, still begging. “Look I won’t cheat on you again just please…”

“Shut up,” I said. “Just tell me something. Why me?”

Lloyd frowned. “Huh?”

“Why me?” I asked. “You could literally sleep with whoever the hell you wanted? Why did you spend most of that time with me?”

“You’re the only one who understands what it’s like,” Lloyd said. “To be trapped in a loop. You’re the only one who understands me, in general.” He looked pathetic kneeling on the floor like that. I was about to leave him there when he yelled out “You’re just like me you know.”

I turned around. “Hell no!”

Lloyd got up, a twisted grin on his face. “You pretend to be holier than thou because you wouldn’t dare treat anyone the way I treated you but you seem to forget who planned skydives onto Momoko and ruined Wesley’s life even further.”

I looked away, clenching my fists. “No. You’re not…”

“Oh, I am right!” Lloyd said, his shadow standing tall over me. “When push comes to shove, you’d take having fun and running away from your problems rather than solving them any day. Or would you rather I remind you what happened to the 18-year-old that died to bring you here?”

I felt trapped by Lloyd. Those words were suffocating and being pushed against the wall by Lloyd didn’t help matters either. He was standing over me with his domineering attitude, grinning like a madman.

“Very bold words coming from a man who was just now begging for her memories to be erased,” said Mr. Silver.

But his voice wasn’t coming from my bracelet. Lloyd stood to attention almost immediately, I wasn’t buried underneath his shadow anymore.

“Elam, you scumbag,” Lloyd snapped. “Things were going just fine and you just had to ruin it.”

However, he didn’t lunge out to him for some reason. Lloyd was proficient in almost all types of martial arts and had mastered almost all weapons in existence he boasted to me once, but for some reason he didn’t go for Elam.

“I can’t really blame you,” Elam said, looking away ashamed. “All these experiments are doomed for failure. But you’re the worst one.”

Elam snapped his fingers and in a split second the black void on my bracelet disappeared. As soon as that happened, Lloyd’s face paled.

“W-what did you do?” Lloyd stammered. “Y-you can’t do this. Aaron will have your head!”

Lloyd lunged at Elam but before I could even blink, Elam stood in front of me with a gun pointed at Lloyd’s nape.

“You’re forgetting my powers Lloyd,” Elam said. “You really want to test whether or not I took you out of the loop.”

Lloyd gulped, raising his hands and walking forward. “No.”

Elam smiled. “Good boy.” He turned to me and his eyes took on a gentler tone. “April.”

“Asshole,” I said, grabbing him in a hug.

He tucked his gun in his school jacket pocket, his silver hair longer and more unkempt. But his grey eyes were as beautiful as ever.

Lloyd tried lunging at him but again before I could even blink Lloyd was on the floor groaning in pain.

“You’re right, April likes running away from her problems,” Elam said. “She loves shirking her responsibilities…”

“Hey!” I complained.

“But unlike you she’s choosing to grow up,” Elam said. “She may be selfish, self-centred, awful to her friends…”

“Is this just an excuse to insult me?” I butted in.

“But unlike you she doesn’t choose to be a child trapped in a time loop,” Elam said. “But I can’t blame you. Whatever Aaron’s perfect world is, it’s based on a delusion.”

He sighed. Lloyd got up. He got ready to lunge again. Elam just shoved him back and sighed. He snapped his fingers again and a black flash engulfed Elam before disappearing as soon as it appeared.

“Enjoy your next loop,” Elam said.

He pointed at me. “I want it with her!”

Elam sighed. In that moment with tears streaming down his face and his fingers pointing at me I saw Lloyd for what he was. A teenager. A teenager who thought that not giving a fuck was the coolest thing imaginable. It made me feel icky of the time we spent together.

Samantha who was just watching the whole spectacle’s hand started to glow and on my bracelet was an orange arrow circling around itself like a snake.

“I don’t know what just happened,” Samantha said, turning to Elam. “But if you have anything to do with Thanatos just know I quit.”

And she walked off, leaving Elam and I alone with a crying Lloyd and a bunch of grinning spectators.

Elam sighed. “Let’s just get out of here.”

We walked into an empty classroom. “You ready to return?”

After the whole episode with Vi I was pumped to return but now, seeing the black swirl gone and all my friendship beads returning I wasn’t so sure. Standing so close to Mr. Silver was also a grim reminder of what awaited me once I did return.

“I… I don’t know.”

Harper, Momoko’s feelings, my mess up with Wesley and me, the old me. It was so good to be away from it all. To not have to think about it.

Mr. Silver, Elam, whatever, sensing my hesitation held my hand. “Fine, a little pitstop.”

We disappeared in a flash of silver light.

“Then, the final boss.”

To be continued…