Chapter 37 Kyle
Kyle
Kyle: Happy week, love! From now on, we have to focus on getting back to our timeline. Any ideas?
Lily: Good morning. No, thank you. I'm loving sleeping more and not having to work.
Kyle: I'm serious, Lily.
Lily: Me too.
Hiding from Lily what I already knew about her brother and Jeremy had been one of the hardest things I'd had to do all weekend.
I never wanted to lie to her again. Things were just starting to feel right between us.
But I didn't want to worry her without knowing for sure if there was anything to be concerned about.
The last thing I wanted was to send her spiraling into panic mode over something that might not even matter.
I knew how her mind worked, and I was sure that if I told her what Jeremy had confessed to me in the park, she'd completely lose it.
I could only hope that no one had seen Leo and Jeremy's romantic moment, and that everything would remain normal so we could focus on what truly mattered: our relationship and finding a way back to our reality.
This was the real problem we had, the one we'd been putting off time and time again. We were living a life that didn't belong to us, and no matter how happy and comfortable we felt in this situation, this was a timeline that was never meant to be ours.
Now that we have no immediate worries and no pressing regrets, we should focus our energy on returning to our present.
I walked into my first class of the day and saw my friends at the back of the room, surrounding Oliver, who was telling animated stories about his party.
He seemed unusually happy for this early in the morning, which I initially attributed to the fact that he'd be the center of attention for the rest of the week.
Something about his energy felt familiarly dangerous.
"I was just waiting for you," Oliver said, rising from his seat to greet me with a grin. "Sit down, today is going to be a glorious day."
"Why's that?" I started having flashbacks of this exact interaction from my real past. Everything was happening exactly the same way. But it couldn't be for the same reason. This time, Oliver didn't have a controlled scenario, and this time, he didn't have any video.
Or did he?
"Oliver is absolutely convinced that Brandy is finally going to break up with Leo," Mike explained with a smirk.
"I was with them yesterday. They seemed fine, same as always," I said carefully.
"She didn't know Sunday morning what she knows now," Oliver replied, practically radiating satisfaction.
My blood ran cold. "And what is she supposed to know?"
I played dumb, even though I had a sinking feeling I knew exactly what he meant. Part of me desperately didn't want to believe that Oliver had somehow found Leo and Jeremy in the car, but the situation was becoming increasingly obvious.
We'd screwed up again. The past was repeating itself. Lily and I hadn't achieved anything.
"Why don't I show you instead?" he said, grinning, and pulled out his phone.
I didn't need to see what was on his screen to know what he was about to show me. My only option now was to get that phone away from him and destroy the evidence.
So before he could press play, I lunged forward and snatched it from his hands.
His expression immediately shifted from smug to furious. "What the hell is wrong with you, Kyle?" He tried to get his phone back, but I wouldn’t let him, so we started struggling. "Don't make me think you prefer your new friend of a few weeks over your best friend of a lifetime!"
"It's not that, Oliver. You're not thinking clearly about the consequences. Why don't you calm down, and we can talk about this privately?"
"I have nothing to talk to you about. Give me the phone before things get ugly."
I wasn't about to give it back. We continued wrestling for it while Mike and Jared tried unsuccessfully to separate us.
"What is going on here?" Florence's sharp voice cut through the chaos as she entered the classroom, clearly furious over the fight.
Oliver immediately froze, and we both stood motionless as Florence looked between us with the kind of teacher glare that could stop a riot.
"Well?"
"Nothing," I replied quickly. "Just guy stuff. Nothing to worry about."
She looked me up and down until her gaze settled on Oliver's phone clutched in my hands.
"It appears you were fighting over the phone, which I find completely unacceptable in my classroom. Hand it over."
"Teacher, it won't happen again. I don't think we need to take it that far."
"Hand it over. This isn't a negotiation."
I reluctantly passed the phone to her, making sure it was locked.
She practically snatched it from my hands and turned to address the class. "Everyone, sit down. We're starting today's lesson with page 158 of your textbook."
Oliver shot me one last look of pure disappointment and rage. I felt like I was having a complete meltdown.
I had to get that phone back before disaster struck.
When class ended, I remained in my seat until everyone else left. I hadn't heard a single word the teacher had said for the past two hours, my mind racing with ways to convince her to return Oliver's phone without appearing suspicious.
"I assume you're still here hoping to get the phone back," Florence said, settling at her desk and looking directly at me.
Recognizing this as my chance to talk, I stood up and walked forward, taking one of the chairs across from her desk. "You are the smartest one of us."
She laughed. "And you think you're going to get it back with that kind of flattery?"
I needed to be strategic here. Florence held all the cards, and I was running out of time before something irreversible happened. "Not with flattery, but maybe with a good explanation."
"I'm listening," she replied, clearly amused, crossing her arms.
"The phone Oliver and I were fighting over isn't mine; it's his."
"So you're telling me I should give it to him instead?"
"Actually, no. There's a recording on that phone of something no one should see, and that's why we were fighting over it."
"This is all very vague. It makes me think the phone is safer in my possession."
I had to be more direct without revealing too much. "Maybe, but if you don’t know what’s on it, how can you know what you’re protecting people from?"
"And what makes you think I don't know?"
I considered my next words carefully. She couldn't know anything concrete; this was probably her way of extracting information from me. "It doesn't matter what you know. What matters is that you understand there's something extremely sensitive on that phone."
"Such as?"
"Something that could destroy two people's lives if it gets out. And I just want to prevent that from happening."
She looked at me like I had just revealed something important to her. "And why should I trust you with it? How do I know you don't want the phone so you can be the one doing the threatening?"
That question was difficult to answer, but I managed to come up with something. "Because everyone I care about would be hurt if this comes to light. All I want is to delete it so everything can stay the same."
"Why would you want something like that?" She looked genuinely puzzled, as if my motives didn't make sense to her.
I leaned forward, trying to convey the urgency I felt. "Because some things are better kept private until the people involved are ready to share them on their own terms. And that decision doesn't belong to Oliver."
She stood up and walked over to me, then unexpectedly took my hand. The gesture caught me entirely off guard. What is she doing?
"You really have matured, Kyle. I wasn't wrong when I observed you at the hospital. I'm proud of the man you're becoming."
"So that's a yes?"
"No. But that was an admirable attempt. Leave my classroom now unless you want detention too. Come back after all classes are over, and maybe I'll consider returning the phone with another kind of motivation."
I didn't even want to ask what kind of motivation she was referring to. Maybe to do her a favor, like washing her car or getting her some medicine from the hospital. I hoped it wasn't anything illegal. "There's nothing I can do right now?"
"Right now, no. Later, possibly. So don't waste your opportunity trying to convince me now."
Realizing I had no other choice at the moment, I stood up and headed for the door. But before leaving, I turned back to look at Florence one more time.
"Just do me one favor, Florence," I called her by her first name as she told me to do at the hospital if we weren't in a school setting, so she knew I was serious.
She looked up and nodded.
"Guard that phone like your life depends on it. And don't let anyone else touch it until I come back for it."
She studied me for a long moment, as if trying to understand why I seemed so terrified, then finally answered, "I promise."