12 Change of course

December is going to end soon, people are in holiday spirit. I have gotten ton of work to submit before Christmas, after which I will be free again.

I have not yet found the band. It is either not visible or lost somewhere in time. I regularly search the house in quest of finding the band.

As I was once again rummaging through me room, my phone rang. An email from the school, this was regarding the deadline for submitting the assignments. He had shifted the submission date to after 1st Jan, adding two more to the stack. These ones are heavy already, give me a break.

***

New Year's Eve, the most hated day of my life. Reason: my annoying relatives gather at my house, I have to share room with some cousins. Though my cousins who have known me for long don't bother me, little infant human kids who want my phone, they definitely do.

I often leave the house during the day to spend time in sunlight at park. Having nothing to do, I went to my school. Even though it is holiday, school keeps library open. Thinking that it will be good to spend time there than outside, I went inside the library.

The place was properly lit up, room was warm. I saw few students there. Most of them were probably completing assignments, as tomorrow was the due date. Although I always complete the work on time, I only submit it on the last date, mostly to avoid feeling awkward. Then I noticed an empty seat between third and fourth shelf rows.

I picked up few books and sat down to read. I don't often take time to sit down and read while I work. So this was an easy time pass for me.

When I finished the book, I decided to look for similar books and went to the librarian to ask for the same. She looked for the entries on the computer for few minutes, meanwhile I faced the notice board. There were some new pages on it.

One that caught my eye was regarding submission of all the assignments. It said that 'students can submit all their work to the library, with proper information on the envelope', that made the job easy.

When I got the permission to use the printer (it costs money to use though) at school, I printed out all of the assignments; this took me more time to arrange and label the envelope properly.

When I proceeded to submit the work, I saw a girl already there. As I got closer, her face got more and more familiar. When I finally got to the place, she looked more familiar that ever.

"Maya?" I blurted out.

"Yes... who are you? Your face looks well known to me…" she responded and trailed off.

"Never mind about that, is this the place where we need to submit the assignments?" I asked her.

"Yes, it is… don't change the topic. What was your name?" she seemed annoyed that I changed the topic.

I ignored her sudden rapid fire of questions and put my envelope on the table.

"Shhhh…"

"Oh sorry mam"

I turned to see the librarian frowning upon the very apologetic girl who began shouting when I ignored her. I began to crack up; she probably saw that and gave me a death stare.

I escaped the library, still controlling my laughter. She chased me down the hall and caught up to me by the time I exited the building.

"HEY, YOU- goddamit, what was his name? HEY NATE." She shouted from behind.

I didn't tell her my name, did i? She probably saw the envelope.

"WHAT? You want an apology because I laughed at you? I won't do it even if you plead to me. What is your deal anyway? Stop pulling my jacket, it cold out here." I was getting furious by every second passing.

"Stop please, I need to talk. You remember me right? We were trapped together. Remember? I just got back few days ago. Hey, you didn't really forget, I know that. Stop running away."

"Sorry miss, even if I forgot, I would have avoided contacting you. You seemed calmer in the void. Please revert back so I can talk normally. And if you really want to talk, follow me. I know a place." I shouted back at her.

***

"So why this café? You seem regular here. Oh right, when you got back here?" she asked, looking at the menu.

"I arrived in summer, just before start of term. Now, I am not paying, so order only what you can pay for. Also keep your voice down." I gave her instructions.

"Summer?! Why didn't you contact me then?" she asked in whispering tone.

"First- I had no memory of that place. I just remembered some stuff few weeks ago. Second- you didn't know me before you tried to run from your house. I don't want to mess the timeline. They are probably keeping eye on us."

"...…."

"What? You know that most people were trapped there for messing the timeline. Also, I forgot you existed."

"That's so rude. You meet on old friend and insult her. You don't have any respect for women, do you?"

"Never have I respected anyone who didn't deserve it. You certainly don't deserve any for now." I started to get up.

Before leaving her at the café, I left her my number. So she will leave me alone for now.

It was already dark when I got back.

***

The school is open again, many people changed streams. I almost have new classmates. It didn't matter to me, but she also joined. She didn't disturb the class at least, but also wouldn't leave me alone. Maya spent most most of the time between classes talking to me. I didn't dislike that, considering she kind of reverted to the the personality she had in void. I think i can say that she was a friend I could get along with.

I also have to attend classes from today. The teacher who was supposed to be our homeroom teacher left job. So, we spent the homeroom class goofing around or just skipped school altogether. But today was different, we got new teacher assigned to us.

Many students were here, as today we were going to start with our new homeroom. we spent most of the time chatting, then the teacher entered the class. He was a young man, no older than 10 years than me, tall and lean. He casually entered, put his register on his desk, turned to now silent class, and said-

"Hey class, I am your new homeroom teacher, my duty is regarding your behavior and attendance. I have no other work to do, feel free to talk to me if you need counseling. Also, refer to me as either sir or by my name only."

As we were catching up on every word spoken, someone asked from the back, "um, sir, what is your name?"

"Yes, yes, i forgot to tell you my name. My full name is very long, so you all can call me Jay."