School proceeded the same as always. If there was one thing that eternity managed to achieve, it was to transform something utterly boring into an outright dreary experience. Will spent three classes hearing the same lessons presented the same way by the same people. Any hint of originality had vanished dozens of loops ago. Sadly, with the group agreeing to take it easy for a while, the only thing that he had to occupy his mind with was worse than the boredom.

Will glanced forward at Helen. The girl had chosen to keep her loops to ten minutes for the near future. And, just to avoid temptation, she had not even taken her knight class.

Initially, Will had mixed feelings about it. This would be possibly the only time his loop extended Helen’s. It provided some possibilities and also freed up the knight class for use. Sadly, one additional class in itself wasn’t a major benefit. Alex and Jace had taken theirs, and if Will were to fight anything more than a snake, he needed at least three classes.

“Stoner,” Jace said as they made their way to the final class of the morning. “I’ll need your help tonight.”

Will kept on walking.

“I’ll need skills to fix your dagger.”

“Sure.” Will gave him a quick glance. “I’ll tell Alex to help you out. Also, get Helen’s class. It’ll help.”

“Hey! It’s your dagger.”

“I know, man.” Will shook his head. “Sorry. I’m just out of it this loop. Sure, I can be there, but you’ll be better off with Alex.”

The jock gave Will a long glare, as if estimating whether to punch him or not.

“Whatever, man,” he said, walking further down the corridor. “I’ll do what I can.”

Not the best guarantee, but the topic was moot. Will didn’t plan on fighting this turn, and possibly the next. Not unless something extraordinary happened.

“What’s the oof, bro?” Alex appeared next to him. Having gotten used to the spontaneous appearing and disappearing of the thief, Will barely arched a brow. “You were lit yesterday. Main character seven manga volume. For real! Taking out a hidden boss was… I didn’t know they existed.”

Will somehow doubted that.

“Jace took him out,” he said. “Can you join him tonight? He’ll need to boost some levels before fixing my stuff.”

“For real? You not joining?”

“No. There’s something else I need to do.”

“Spend some time with Miss Perfect?” The goofball asked with a sly smile. “Won’t work, bro. She won’t change, just won’t be able to break your neck when you fight.” He laughed at his own joke.

At another time, Will might even have found it funny. The truth was that he didn’t envy what he was about to do. Not in the least.

“Alex, do you have Danny’s file on you?”

“Shh!” The goofball looked about. “You want everyone to hear, bro? Yeah, I got it. Why?”

“Give it to me. I want to check something.”

Alex’s expression soured.

“Still messed up on magic? Forget it, bro. If we were going to see that, eternity would have told us.”

“And after the tutorial? We’re a loop from completing it. What happens when we have to fight magic users?”

“If there were any, we would have learned. Archer wasn’t shy about showing how OP he was.”

“I’m talking about monsters.”

“Ah. Oh.”

“Just give me the file.” Will sighed.

Alex looked at him as if he were an obsessed collector asking for money to buy the latest junk. For several steps, his expression froze as he made up his mind. Then he took off his backpack and shoved it into Will’s hands.

“Tell me if you find anything. For real.” He wagged a finger. Then, before Will could respond in any way, he vanished in the blink of an eye.

Sneaky sprinting, Will thought. It was a scary skill combination, and all linked to a single class. At least this part was over. He’d have something to spend the rest of his loop on. After what was about to follow, the boy had the feeling he’d need it.

The final class of the day was boring as everything else. Will was tempted to give the answers before the teacher had posed the question. It would have broken the monotony a bit and maybe taken his mind off things. Ultimately, he didn’t. Part of him called himself a coward, but it was something he could live with.

When the class was over, he sent a text to Helen: Need 2 talk.

The girl looked at her phone, then at him. One of her close friends did the same. Unlike Helen, the look on her face was anything but approving. Normally, she wouldn’t matter, but in this case, she had the power to drag Helen away.

“You’re not serious?” she said out loud, not considering Will worthy of a discreet whisper.

Stolen from its original source, this story is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

“It’s fine,” Helen said. “I’ll just take a minute.”

“Helen, seriously? He’s just a loser.”

“So? I get to talk to losers, if I want.” Placing her books in her backpack, the girl went to the back of the classroom. Several of her friends remained at the door, looking intently in her direction.

“Doesn’t look like they’ll let you go,” Will whispered.

“Do you seriously think you’ll be able to get anything from me?” Helen whispered back, arms crossed. “I’ve played this game for longer than you’ve had loops.”

“I know. I just wanted to borrow the fragment.”

“Good luck. Eternal items don’t exist beyond eternity.”

In truth, Will suspected that to be the case. This was only meant as a diversion and icebreaker. What he really wanted to talk to Helen about had nothing to do with her fragment.

“Can’t we go somewhere? I don’t want to discuss this in front of them.”

“Why are you wasting your time? They won’t remember a thing and neither will I.” There was a pause, followed immediately by a chuckle. “Is that why you’re doing this? Wow! I thought you had a crush, but to try a confession on my non-looped self? I never thought you’d—”

“It’s about Danny,” Will quickly interrupted. He’d be lying if he said he hadn’t given the other matter some thought. At the same time, if he were going to go through with it, it wouldn’t be on a loopless copy.

Helen’s eyes widened. This wasn’t a topic she was expecting.

“Give us some space.” She looked at her friends over her shoulder. “It’s personal.”

“Helen, if you go out with that loser, I’ll…”

Everyone could tell that as much as her friends appeared to protest, their body language suggested that they were encouraging her. It was impossible to say whether this was their attempt at reverse psychology, or they wanted to see her shoot him down live. One was even stealthily holding onto a phone, keeping it at the ready.

“Not that personal,” she said. “A friend’s in the hospital.”

Coming from her, the lie was instantly believed to be the truth. There was no point in making up something so ludicrous, especially if it could easily be checked. Nodding quietly, the small pack of girls slowly left the classroom. Now, finally, Will and Helen were completely alone.

“I saw him,” Will whispered on.

“This better not be one of Alex’s jokes.”

“It isn’t. And he doesn’t know. I saw him in a mirror a few loops ago.” Internally, Will swallowed. “I got a permanent skill. It lets me challenge elites we’ve faced before.” There was another pause. “Somehow, it also worked on Danny.”

If there was a moment for Helen to try and break his neck, it would be now.

“You’re full of shit,” the girl clenched her fists. “If this is your idea—”

“I saw him, Hel,” he said in a more forceful manner. “He was stuck in the rogue mirror and… I just wanted to let you know.”

Helen’s arm flew towards Will’s face. The action appeared painfully slow. Even with all the knowledge in eternity, she was no longer a looper. Her punch didn’t come close, striking the spot where he had been. When she attempted to do it again, Will caught her hand.

“You coward!” she hissed. “You knew what it meant, and you never told me!” She pulled her hand free, but no further punches followed.

Will felt tempted to end eternity here and now. That would be the easy way out, though. This was a conversation he needed to be held. Through the loops, he’d gotten to know Helen a lot better. If she had her class, he knew she was capable of handling almost anything. When it came to the girl herself, he wasn’t sure what he knew. It didn’t look like she’d attempt to punch him again, although there was the sign of a tear in the corner of her eye.

I really have to work on my approach, he told himself.

“What do you want, Will?” Helen asked through her anger. “To see how I’d react?”

“Not only.”

Briskly, she turned around. “I really can’t figure you out.” Her voice sounded slightly different. “One moment you’re leading us, the next you’re doing this. Do you think I’ll ever forgive you if I find out?”

Hearing her refer to her looped self was strange.

“I need to know about Danny.” It wasn’t the question he really wanted to ask, although it was far more important. “He knew about magic and how to block mirrors. And—” he took out his mirror fragment “—he helped me get this.”

It took a few moments for Helen to decide to turn around, but ultimately, she did.

“A mirror fragment…” she whispered. The sight of it almost made her forget her anger. “Where did you find it?”

“The third floor. Danny was the one who told me to challenge both elites at once. After we killed them, the mirrors snapped into this.”

“And you picked it up.”

The boy said nothing.

“Did Danny know about the tutorial?”

“No. He said he’d used a skill to skip it the first time.”

“Did he ask about me?” There was a long pause. “Did he say anything?”

“He wanted me to free him from the mirror. We didn’t talk about anything else,” Will lied. “He wasn’t surprised that there was magic. I know that much.”

“That’s what you talked about? Magic?”

“He said he’d help us pass the tutorial. I want to know if I can trust him. Did you?”

The girl had never confirmed whether she and Danny were an item, but all the signs were there. Being stuck in eternity with one other person tended to do that to relationships. That was until one found out that wasn’t the case. Will remembered how the girl had reacted upon learning that Alex was also part of the loops. She was angry at the goofball, of course, but most of all, she was angry at Danny for lying to her.

“Yes,” she replied. “I thought I did. I’m not sure anymore.”

The implication was clear.

“Thanks, Hel. I’m sorry that—”

“Don’t,” she said abruptly. “Don’t apologize. It only makes things worse. And don’t try to talk to me outside of loops again.”

“I didn’t have a choice. I didn’t want Danny to learn about this.” It wasn’t a lie, but still it wasn’t the entire truth, either.

“It’s not just that. Do you know what happens to people outside loops?” she asked. “Unlike our looped versions, this piece of eternity keeps on going. I’ll remember this forever and hate you for it. You’ll go back, start everything from the beginning, but for me, things will go on. I’ll finish school, go to college, do all the things I’ll get to do. Maybe one day I’ll forget. I might even look back at this with a smile when I’m old, but one thing is for certain. I’ll never let you be in my life again.”

Will had never thought about it in depth. For the most part, he had been spared the possibility of talking to his looped friends outside of a loop. Instinctively, he had been reluctant. As Alex had said, things never felt the same. Now he knew why.

“I’m sorry for that, but I had to know,” he said. “If I get this wrong, it’ll be bad in all of eternity.”

“I know. That’s why I’m telling you this.” She glanced at the door. “There’s no way of knowing whether you won’t do this again. There’s no way of telling how many times Danny had spoken to me out of loop. Maybe he was a jerk, but maybe not. Either way, he’s smart. Never underestimate him.”

The girl turned around and left the room.

Will just stood there, feeling numb. He had done what he wanted, but had no idea whether he’d gained anything from it. At this point, the only thing absolutely certain was that he’d be skipping the rest of school for the day.