Black Roses {Skephalo}

Day Twenty-three [2]

————— 1 day remaining ————— Tuesday, January 23rd, 7:14 pm

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-Zak's POV-

As the familiar white school walls build in around me, I groan in frustration. Another school flashback, or maybe it's the same one.

It doesn't take one to realise it's a different one. I'm met with the familiar scene of my eighth grade home room, already full of people. I notice Vincent and I sat in our usual seats near the back, completely ignoring everything Mrs Ash is saying.

We throw paper planes between each other, the teacher not noticing because of how short the distance is. Somehow we managed to be sat next to each other, despite being known as the troublemakers.

I search the room for Darryl, finding he's nowhere in sight. "Darryl!" I yell at the top of my lungs, knowing the people around me can't actually hear me. This is an event of the past. I'm a ghost, just idly watching a situation I've already lived through once play out again. Except, this time it's from a third person point of view, I'm not actually me.

This scene must be important. I can't depict exactly which day this is, most of my home rooms started like this. There's no calendar around either to tell me the date.

"CARDER!"

I whip around in the direction of Mrs Ash, breathing a deep sigh of relief once I realise she's not talking to the present day me. "What are you doing?" she asks tersely, knowing damn well what I was going.

I hate when teachers do that. They pretend they don't know what you did so you're forced to fess up to the entire class. Embarrassing myself was something I did regularly, however, so it never mattered much in my eyes.

I watch my thirteen year-old self look between the fuming teacher and his best friend, debating whether to make a remark or not. Somehow, I must've decided yes was the smart idea.

"Y'know" my past self smirks, twirling one of my hoodie strings idly around my finger. "I think you already know what I was doing, so why did you ask?"

The class erupts in a collective gasp, looking between the confident smirk on my face and the teacher. She rolls her eyes, sighing deeply like she always does. "Principal's office, now."

By the time she finishes her sentence, I'm already at the door. My bag hangs over one shoulder, and I salute to the class before inviting myself to leave.

God I was such a clown...

Vincent snickers from the back corner, sending one more paper plane through the door after me. The class erupts into another fit of laughter, Mrs Ash desperately trying to silence them.

Suddenly, I'm moving. Some force is pushing me in the direction my younger self just left from, away from my home room. Reluctantly I let it, not that I'm given a choice anyway. Fighting it is pointless and a waste of my energy. Besides, the notebook must know what it's doing.

I'm lead to the principal's office, right near the end of the conversation taking place there. My younger self rolls their eyes at the principal, sitting in the all too familiar plastic chair in the corner. "Wait there, I have something else to deal with first."

I watch myself roll my eyes at the principal's instructions, pulling out my phone as I'm already in trouble as it is. The principal takes a call, teenage me not paying any attention to it. They sit there chewing gum, blowing decently sized bubbles and making sure to pop them as loudly as possible.

Learning from my past mistakes, I take in every detail of the room. The principal's call is about a new student, who is being sent to the office for their introduction. I remember this day now, it's only a week or so before the event.