The Metropolis Series #2: Quinn Beyond Bounds

THE STUDENT COUNCIL PRESIDENT made me late for PE, but it wasn’t all that bad. As I had mentioned before, our PE coach took things way too easy on me because of my health condition. In fact, when I came rushing in with my sneakers undone, everyone was in a circle, stretching, and the coach told me to slow down as I might end up in the clinic again. However, that earned me quite a few looks from my classmates as the coach was usually pretty harsh on latecomers. Oh, look at the sick girl and her privileges, they must have thought.

Of course, I wasn’t allowed to run laps around the gym, either. I tried to sneak in line, but the coach immediately spotted me and sent me straight to the bleachers. It got pretty awkward for the most part, mainly because I couldn’t help but sneak glances at Curtis, especially when Bree had just opened the possibility that he might actually like me.

I knew that there was this issue with the kiss in the storage shed; it spellbound him into thinking that he was in love with me, but if this rumor had been going on for months, then…

Rumors. Now I remembered why I stayed away from them. Among other things, they messed with my head. I tried my best to distract myself, to find amusement in the volleyball game the coach was conducting for class. But then, the first water break came along before I knew it, and Curtis sat next to me on the bleachers.

“Hey there,” he said.

“Oh, hey,” I replied.

I spotted a few students whispering to each other as they glanced at our direction. I pretended they were invisible.

“May we talk?” Curtis began.

I shot him a perplexed expression. “About what?”

“The probable reason why you’ve been avoiding me these past few days.” He took a sip from his jug.

So in this timeline, I had been avoiding him. I guess the kiss really did happen.

“Is this about… what happened?” I stammered. “At the storage shed?”

“Hey,” he laughed. “It’s okay.”

“But it was wrong, Curtis. I shouldn’t have done that. I dunno what had gotten into me—”

He then patted my head—just like what he had done at the arcade. “I’m not going to think of you differently over something like that, Quinn.”

I smiled, not knowing what else to say. Thankfully, Curtis covered most of the talking from that point.

“Don’t worry,” he continued. “I won’t tell anyone about it. Even Rachael. What happened between us—”

“Stays between us,” I continued. “Yeah, I remember.”

“What?”

Oh no, I forgot that whatever happened in the arcade didn’t exist in this timeline. Curtis had said the exact same thing when I had officially confessed to him, and it stuck with me ever since.

I cleared my throat. “Nothing.”

I looked away, tucking some of my hair behind my ear. I was worried as to how Curtis would respond, but then the coach blew his whistle. Water break was over.

“Gotta go,” Curtis said. “I’ll talk to you later.” Then, he jogged off to class.

They were playing volleyball that day, and Curtis was assigned to the court opposite to where my bleachers were, and once he was positioned, he gave me a wave. When the first service was made, he rolled up his sleeves and ran for the ball.

I wondered how much longer it would take for me to get over him. I wanted to close the book on my fantasies, but I was hooked, and all these rumors would probably do nothing but prolong my feelings for him.

But what if those rumors were actually a byproduct of the storage shed incident, making it the main reason why I hadn’t heard of them before? Cassandra, the evil twin she was, had said that I could influence people by the way I acted toward them. As much as I didn’t want to believe that was true, evidence of that was right in front of me: I kissed Curtis, and then he liked me. However, with Rachael in the picture now, it initiated a battle in his head. He was now in love with one girl and infatuated with the other.

It was like some sick algorithm:

Kiss Curtis. No. Life’s normal and bitter. End.

Kiss Curtis. Yes. He likes you. Proceed.

Is Rachael in the picture? No. You go on a date with him, and he turns into a monster. End.

Is Rachael in the picture? Yes. And now, we’re here.

I wondered if Julio had something to do with all of this. Besides, he was probably the reason why Rachael was back. What if she was having doubts about Curtis because there was a tiny piece of her that remembered her past with him?

And I swore, in the corner of my eye, I saw the two of them together again.

At the far end of the gym, a young Julio and Rachael were on the bleachers talking and laughing. They seemed to be having a pretty good time, and it was refreshing to see Julio smile. He looked… less creepy and intimidating.

As these visions continued, my curiosity in them grew. Why was I seeing these things? Was there something I needed to know about Julio’s past?

“Quinn, look out!” Curtis yelped.

I had been staring into blank space again. Great. I snapped back to reality just in time to find a volleyball coming straight for my face.