3 Bar Stool: Chapter 3

"Nate~"

What?

"Nate!"

Someone is calling me?

"Nate I swear -"

I must have had too much to drink last night. I can't remember anything. And that dream...

"Nate. This is your last chance."

… glowing green eyes, regrets, going back in time. Man that was crazy. Never again.

"NATE! WAKE UP! THIS SHOULDN'T BE THIS HARD!"

My eyes shot open just as I saw a hand fly towards my face. I ducked just in time, and it missed me by a hair.

"Oh so you're dodging me now eh?"

"Wait hold on," I said, as my sleep started wearing away.

"No. You made me do this."

"No, no, seriously. Who are you?" I asked, now fully awake and aware that there was someone in my house and that that person was trying to hit me.

As I said this, the mysterious assailant stopped and wore a concerned expression on their face. Now that they were standing still, I could make out that it was a male, around their 19's, kind of looked like my friend Raul back in high school…

"Raul?!" I gasped out.

"Yeah…?" Raul replied carefully. "Are you okay Nate? Did the exams stress finally get to you?"

"No, I mean. What?"

"Are you okay?"

I did not even hear that last question clearly. My mind was still reeling from the fact that "high school Raul" was in my house. How is this happening? I thought to myself. Am I still asleep and dreaming this? How is he in my house… and that is when I realized that I was not in my apartment, but my room. My room in my old house that I used to live in when I was a teen. Then it all started coming back to me. The glowing eyes, regrets, the going back in time, the drink. It was not a dream, it was real. It was real, and it had worked.

"What is today's date?" I asked, whipping to look at Raul.

"February 18th, 2007… " Raul replied.

"2007? It's 2007? So I'm 19?" I asked, hearing my voice rise in excitement.

"Nate, I think we should go to the hospital or something. You really don't look like yourself," Raul said.

"Oh no, I do look like myself. I look like myself 10 years ago, before everything happened and I ruined my life!"

"Ruined your life? 10 years ago? Nate, we need to get you to the hospital right now."

"Raul," I said with a sudden warmth and kindness in my voice.

"What…" Raul replied.

"Thank you."

"For what?"

"For waking me up!"

"Okay…"

"Come on, let's go for breakfast," and with that, I sprung up from bed and ran out the room.

As I ran down the steps of my childhood home, I got hit with a wave of nostalgia. Every step I took seemed to bring up new memories from my childhood. The way the stairs creaked on the third step, the unusually spaced out steps, trying to to guess what was for breakfast or lunch or dinner from the smell that wafted out from the kitchen. By the time I reached the bottom, I felt tears beginning to form on my eyes. I quickly wiped them off with the back of my hand, when I heard Raul coming down the steps behind me.

"Were you just crying?" Raul asked, as he looked at me with concerned eyes.

"No, I just yawned," I replied, turning away so that he could not see the emotion in my face.

"Okay…" Raul replied reluctantly. "Let's see what's for breakfast. Whatever it is, it smells good."

"How much do you wanna bet it's just cereal and toast?" I said smiling, because I remembered that that was what I ate in the morning every single day until I graduated high school.

We walked into the kitchen at the same time, and lo and behold, on the table were 2 bowls of cereal and 2 plates of toast.

"You owe me a dollar," I said, pulling my chair out and sitting down.

"I never agreed to it. But man, you weren't kidding when you said you ate the same thing every morning did you?" Raul said, as he now sat down at the table.

"Nope. Why would I lie about that?" I replied. "My mom doesn't want to think about what to make in the morning, so she just prepares the same things."

"Yes, but I always make up for it for lunch and dinner," a voice said.

I turned to the source of the voice. Staring back at me with loving eyes, was my mother that I remembered from my childhood. Still young and happy, and not brought down by what life in the future had dealt her.

"Mom!" I said, as I ran over and hugged her tight. "I love you."

"Woah, what's this?" my mother laughed. "Are you okay? What's gotten into you?"

"I don't know miss, but he's been a little weird since this morning. Asking what year it was, and whatnot," replied Raul from back at the table, already starting on his toast.

"Well, it's okay," mom said, hugging me back. "I love you too sweetie. Now go and finish your breakfast, you have to get to school."

"You're right, I should get going. I have so much on my mind right now, I think I just lost it for a moment," I said, realizing that I had maybe been acting a bit to erratic. Considering that to everyone else nothing has changed, my sudden change in behaviour would be a little abnormal.

"Honey, are you sure you are okay?" my mom asked.

"Yes mom, I'm perfectly fine," I said quickly with a smile on my face. "I think we'll get going now actually. I don't want to be late."

I then motioned for Raul to follow, grabbed my bag, and left the house. As soon as I went past the door, I was hit again with a blast of nostalgia. It had been a while since I had last visited this neighbourhood, and it just reminded me of all the happy times of my childhood. Raul got to me just as I was about to leave again.

"Why are you in such a hurry to get to school?" Raul asked. "You were never this excited for anything. Well besides applying for RISD of course."

"What do you mean applying for RISD?" I replied.

"You know, the most prestigious art school that we both submitted a portfolio for?" Raul replied. "Although we did it as a joke, 'cause there is no way that we would ever get in."

"Don't be so sure about that," I said, starting to walk. "You may never know."

"Huh?" Raul said, following. "Is there something you aren't telling me?"

"Never mind, forget about it," I said, and then wanting to change the conversation, I asked what school he wanted to get into if not RISD.

"I already told you, but UCAC," Raul replied. "It is not an art-only-focused school, and it is nowhere near the level of RISD, but I still think that their design program fits what I want to do."

"I think that's a good choice. I hear that their most recent graduates all got hired almost immediately out of graduation," I replied.

"That's what I said when I first asked you to apply with me, but you said that you wouldn't do it."

"What? I did?"

"Yeah, instead you applied to UT to get on a fast track to be a teacher."

"Oh, well yeah I did."

"How are you this forgetful, but still get better grades than I do?"

"Well nothing that ever happens to me could ever make me dumber than you. I could write the next math test half asleep, and I would still beat your mark by ten percent."

"Woah, low blow dude."

"Hey, I'm just stating the facts."

I then looked up and saw that we were at school already. Surprisingly, I did not have the nostalgia blast as I had the last times. I guess I did not really have that fond of memories of the place. I never really did feel comfortable in that place.

The high school I went to was "AG GRACE HIGH," named after the founder of the school: AG Grace. The place was built as two, four storey buildings, connected at each storey by a walkway. The school focused on technology, and most of the students that went here were planning on being computer programmers, or computer engineers, or work somewhere in the tech field; these students occupied the left building. The right building was occupied by the general studies students, which was for students who wanted a more normal education. Raul and I were both general studies students. I also never liked going to this school, because there was this intense rivalry between the tech-side and the general-side, and I never liked getting into the middle of those things.

"But," I thought. "If I have to try to keep my actions as close to the past as possible, it means that I have to go in and act like everything's normal. As if it wasn't the first time I set foot in here in ten years. Problem was, I barely remember what classes I had."

I decided to just start with remembering where my locker was, and as I was trying to remember, we arrived at the entrance to the general studies building. Raul stopped in front of the entrance and turned to face me.

"Are you ready?" he asked.

"Ready for what?" I replied, still trying to remember where my locker was.

"Okay, there is definitely something wrong with you," he said, pushing the doors open. "Today is d-day man! The last day of classes before exams, where the tech-side and general-side have an all out war with each other!"

The memories of d-day then came rushing back to me. It was the event of the year, with some students spending the entire year coming up with strategies to beat the other side. I could not believe that I had forgotten about it.

"Of course! Right sorry, I just zoned out for a second," I said.

"Yeah, you've been doing that a lot this morning. Get yourself straight though, because we need you focused for the war, alright?" Raul said.

"Yeah, of course," I replied.

We then went through the doors of the general studies building, and was again hit with a wave of nostalgia. The entrance opened into a big lobby with a high ceiling. On either side of the lobby were two big spiral staircases, leading up through the entire length of the building. Just off to the side of the staircases, were elevators that also went through the entire length of the building. The elevators were only meant for students with disabilities, or faculty. In the centre of the lobby, and the first thing you see when you go through the front doors, is a massive awards and trophy cabinet. It held everything that the general-side of AG Grace has ever won, which was a lot. The general-side may not be as intellectually inclined as the tech-side, but they are very athletically prolific. At the centre of the awards cabinet, was a plaque showing who had won the war each year. I walked up to the plaque, and saw that the tech-side had won last year's war, and the previous three before that.

"Yeah, we are in bit of a losing streak right now," Raul said, walking up behind me.

"Yeah, I can see that," I replied, still looking at the plaque.

"That's why we have to win this one, before we graduate. I want at least one win man!" Raul said, slapping my shoulders.

"Ow!" I said, rubbing my shoulders. "And yeah of course. I want to win too. But how?"

"Well that's what we are having the meeting for," Raul said. "I'll you at lunch okay?"

"Yeah for sure," I replied.

Raul then turned, and went up the right-side staircase. Just as he disappeared from view, the bell rang for the start of classes. The bell snapped me to attention, and reminded me that I had no idea where my locker or classes were. Slightly panicking, I decided to go up the left-side staircase, because Raul saying to meet for lunch, hinted that we do not have classes together. I turned away from the awards cabinet, and ran up the left-side staircase.