Operation catch

The sound of ringing in her right ear woke Mai up. She quickly reached for the phone and turned off the first alarm of the day, as she had done a thousand times. However, unlike her usual self she did not rest her head on her pillow, allowing the bed to embrace her as she snoozed a while longer.

'Waking up with the first alarm, now that is an achievement.' Mai thought to herself.

She couldn't help it, afraid that going back to sleep would mean returning back to that dream-like future world. Everything still felt so vivid and she could still remember everything as if she had actually experienced it. Everything except for exactly what had been the trigger for her to wake up.

Was it just the alarm or had she done something to make it happen?

Just in case she might forget, Mai scribbled the day of the failed robbery on a piece of paper with the note, "Grandma saves the day." Since sleep was no longer an option Mai did her usual routine, and when she entered the kitchen, her mom was in the midst of preparing breakfast.

"Simon is waiting for you outside, Mai. You should really fix your sleep habits." Her mother berated her like any other day,

"What are you talking about?" Mai questioned her. "It's seven thirty, Simon doesn't come here till eight."

Her mother had to do a double check, as she looked over at the clock on the wall in the kitchen. She had been focused on preparing the breakfast and had merely spoken out of habit. Seeing that Mai had indeed come down early, she placed the plate of toast on the table and rushed over to her daughter, touching Mai's forehead.

"Are you alright, Mai? Are you feeling sick? You never wake up at this time unless there is a good reason. Is there going to be an important exam today that you forgot to tell me about?"

At that moment, her sister wearing her school uniform had entered the room as well.

"Huh, what? Am I late for School?!" Cindy panicked. "I've never been late, Mom you've gotta drive me to school, I can't lose my perfect record!"

"Will everyone calm down? Am I not allowed to wake up early?!" Mai shouted, as she took her toast and headed out the door.

In front of their front garden there was a street leading to a large hill. So there were only a few houses all lined up in a row, and only one way to get to school. Since Mai was early she decided to pick up Simon for a change, not wanting to deal with her family.

She was about to knock, but then saw Simon come out from the side of his house, on his usual red bike he would always bring. Her heart thumbed louder a couple times seeing him, pressing her hand against her chest she wondered what this feeling was.

'Damn, those dreams about the future are really affecting me, how could it be possible for the two of us to just suddenly break off contact like that?' Mai thought.

"Did the sun rise from the west today or why are you up so early? Is there an exam today or something I forgot about?"

Lifting her back, she threw it hitting him at the back of the head, and quickly climbed onto the back of the seat.

"Please stop, I've already heard all those from Mom and Cindy. Can you please just paddle, dingus?" She requested and although confused Simon just did.

The two of them would have usually struck up some conversation on their way to school, but Simon felt that something was off about Mai, who in turn was really struggling this time to think of anything, as she was too concerned about something else.

'Damn it, what's wrong with me? I just want to know if that place is real or not. I guess we will find out soon if the video of that robbery goes up online or not.' She thought.

She wouldn't mind if it turned out to be some sort of hyper realistic lucid dream, in fact Mai would very much prefer that to be the case, but if it wasn't… well she wouldn't lose anything by treating it as real for the time being.

The Simon next to her was vastly different compared to the melancholic voice she had heard on the phone and it made her wonder what had happened to Future Simon. Why did their relationships not work out after she had gotten with Chris, and why hadn't Future Simon been happy.

'Did he perhaps never get together with Shirley? At least I don't recall seeing him next to Future Shirley, and I'm sure he would have appeared at the funeral if the two had been a couple. So maybe if he had someone then we could do what Simon suggested and go out on double dates together.' Mai thought, since she didn't want to lose their friendship because of another boy, even if that was Chris.

"Say, are you still up for that get together that you promised Shirley this weekend? Do you know what you're going to talk to her about yet?" Mai asked.

"Oh, thanks for reminding me." Simon said, playfully knocking his own head with his knuckle. "I still need to invite Chris to that this weekend as well, since this is for both of us."

"You better!" Mai also playfully shook her fist, grinning so large that her cheeks had swallowed her eyes. "I promise I'm going to do whatever I can to make sure the two of you get together."

Just then, they were coming up to a convenience store that was a short walk away from school. Usually they would be in such a rush that Simon and Mai didn't have time to buy anything or go inside, but since Mai was early today they still had time to spare.

She tapped a couple of times on his shoulder and the two stopped off here for now.

"From now on, I think it will be best if you don't take me right up to school." Mai suggested, and it looked like Simon wanted to say something but she shook her head before he could reply. "You're too nice, Simon. The other girls may be aware that the two of us are just besties, but Mai might misunderstand, so just let me off here, I can walk the rest."

When she said these words and saw the saddened puppy eye look on his face, her stomach felt strange. She was reminded of the phone call from before.

"Don't worry, I'm not saying we won't meet up, just not right at the school gate. After school, we can still meet up at the convenience store and head back together as well. But for now we need 'Operation: Catch Shirley and Chris' to be a success!"

"Hey, they're not Bokemon, where do you go around putting them all in balls?" Simon chuckled, and the two shared a laugh. Simon agreed to her, peddling away, while Mai started to continue her now lonely walk to school.

'Whatever happens in that future, I won't let it happen here!' She vowed.

---------------

After storing his bike, Simon headed to class. In the middle of the hallway he met a man that stood out like a sore thumb. It was none other than the hotshot Chris, walking towards him.

"Hey, Chris!" Simon called out, and the other stopped surprised in the middle of the hallway. It was still early so there were hardly any students in school yet. "I know you don't know me, but I was planning to host a little party this weekend. My friend Mai said you were a cool guy and she usually knows her people. I would be happy if you could come, so we could all hang out together."

"Don't worry, there's no pressure. Even the new girl is coming, so she doesn't know anyone either. So I thought it would be better if there were four of us."

"Mai…" Chris said softly, and the look in his eyes seemed quite sad when he spoke her name.

"Do you not like Mai or something?" Simon asked, upfront. "I've heard you rejected her recently, but I've heard you haven't been hanging out much with her before she confessed. So maybe it would be nice if we did get to know each other. She's a good girl you know."

Chris paused for a second, and then stared out the window in the hallway.

"She is a good girl, that's why it's best if she never gets to know me." Chris said, walking away.