"I know a few people who can't face reality.
All of them have a crush."
- Author.

***

Yassi opened her eyes, expecting herself to be back at the classroom.

She was still in the alley.

An evil smile started to curl itself upon Faith's lips. "There, it's done."

Yassi knew it wasn't. It shouldn't have been. Absolutely nothing had happened, except for the blinding light and the agony as she was pulled out of her body. "No, I felt myself being pulled out! I should be somewhere else. I shouldn't be here!"

For the first time, a look of sympathy appeared on Faith's face. "That's right."

"Then why in the goddamn world am I here!?" Yassi screamed.

"Let me explain," Faith began, though she wasn't sure if this would make Yassi's situation better, "you were ripped out of your body. You were transported back in time. But, not in this timeline. The device created another timeline, another you. Your twin is somewhere unreachable by distance right now, probably claiming Chris as her own."

"But why make a copy of me? Why didn't it take me!?"

Faith sighed. This was going to be hard to explain to a panicked girl. "Because, if it took you, the world as we know it would be literally fucked up and cease to exist. So it made an exact copy of you, then put it in that other timeline."

Yassi couldn't believe what she was hearing. A copy of her, having Chris, while she was stuck here, having to endure eternal loneliness!? It was unfair! She took in deep breaths as rage began to boil in her blood. No one, not even an exact copy of her, could have Chris. No one.

"Is there any way I can travel to that timeline?"

Faith frowned at the question. It sounded too desperate, even for a high school girl who was going through the painful process that was puberty. Chasing after idols and hunks they can't have; that was normal behavior for a young lady. But this girl, risking her own life and her very existence just to try and go on a virtually impossible journey to get the heart of an overweight boy? This was far from normal.

"You know what, I've had enough of this nonsense," Faith snapped. "If you want to get that sack of turds, go ahead. Just don't get me involved again."

With that, she turned away. Faith didn't like snapping at innocent people, especially this girl, but she knew she had to. Hopefully, Yassi would come to her senses soon enough.

But as the girl turned away to walk back to her classroom while still sobbing, Faith wasn't sure.

***

Chris didn't want to stare at Gwen, but he did. She looked exactly how he wanted her to be like, sitting at his bed, sorting through the papers needed for their study.

He shook his head. Where was he getting these thoughts? He leaned forward to try and hide the growing bulge in his pants and pretended to be tired.

"Of course, that kiss did happen, but..." He stopped as he realized he was thinking out loud.

Gwen was giving him a funny look. "We're doing homework, Chris. The devil of all devils, aside from the annoying teacher who gave this assignment."

Chris didn't reply. He just stared at her. He wanted to make it look like he was pouting, but in reality, he was admiring her.

No, not here. Not in your own bedroom, he thought.

"Hey!" Gwen was waving a hand in his face. "Look, I know that we...kind of...kissed last time. But that was just a kiss. We're still best friends. So if you're worried about it, don't. It's no big deal. Well, just don't do it again..."

Now he was actually staring. "No big deal"!? How was that wet, sloppy-even slurpy-kiss no big deal? How were they still best friends? Kissing wasn't what best friends did.

Gwen stared back, and Chris realized that only part of what she said was true. Like him, she was thinking deeply about it. Both of them were worried about what that kiss meant.

"Ok," Gwen began, breaking the awkward silence, "any questions about our research topic?"

"I do." Chris raised a hand, even though he didn't have to. She rolled her eyes.

"Chris, we need to be serious here."

"I know. It's just that...researching about relationships; isn't that complicated?"

"It is. But we'll get to the complicated part in due time. So chill, before you worry your ass off." She giggled. He shook his head. Gwen was a total nut case, hard to crack, and even harder to figure out. One minute she's glaring at you, and then before you know it she's giggling.

As much as it was annoying, he liked it. Girls that were hard to figure out were usually worth it, except for that one who had a crush on him bordering into obsessive.

Yassi might think he doesn't notice it, but he does. How she would stare at him, admire him creepily. Gwen never did stare at him that way, and she wasn't creepy like Yassi.

That was why he stopped being friends with her in the first place.

"Hey!" Gwen snapped in his face. "That's probably the millionth time I've said it, though I think it was the second." She smirked. "Stop looking at me like that, cute boy. We have some work to do. Like, really serious work."

Chris blushed. He was sure that Gwen had flirted with him just a few seconds ago.

But, of course, priorities first. He grabbed the pile of papers and sighed. This night was going to be very boring. "Let's start."

***

Ken Gallagher poured a flask of chemicals into a glass bowl. The chemicals were unlabeled, probably because the entire world would run at the sight at them once they knew what the substances could do.

This time, Ken was modifying a virus that turned mucus into sapient lifeforms with little intelligence, and it seemed to be going well. He'd had thousands of little living globs in the rat cage earlier.

He wondered what would happen when a human was infected with the virus. The mucus a human could produce was huge compared to a rat's, and there was the possibility of the lifeforms being more intelligent. Larger brains meant greater danger.

So, for now, he'd rather not risk injecting the virus into himself.

Funny, I was forced to attend that stupid research class by Señor Cubelo earlier, and now I'm back here, doing things the world knows nothing about, he thought.

Sometimes he would entertain the thought of showing his works to the world, getting a Nobel prize or whatever. The aspect of being recognized tempted him. But he knew he'd end up dead soon with a bullet with his head if he did that.

He set down his work to look into the mirror by his side. For some reason, seeing himself comforted him. The face he saw reminded him that he hadn't become a monster on the outside, but with the countless evils he had committed through the biological weapons he was making, he sure felt like one on the inside.

Ken considered himself handsome, while others would call him average. He could see that. His eyes were a bit too far apart, his skin tone was too dark, and generally those two things alone just ruined everything. No matter how many times he had begged for plastic surgery, he was refused. The face recognition systems wouldn't recognize him, they said. He knew that was just an excuse. The systems could easily be reprogrammed.

He envied his brother, the right hand of Señor Cubelo, for his good looks. The only thing that set back his brother's handsomeness was his refusal to gain weight and work out. He'd said, Ken, I already know how to defend myself. So stop worrying about me. I don't really want to become a chick magnet.

A chick magnet. If Ken hadn't known better, he would have thought his brother was vain. But he wasn't. His brother was kind to his comrades but sadistic to those he assassinated, or worse yet, tortured. One of the cons of being an assassin for Señor was that you had to be a sadist. Or appear like one. Day by day his brother would struggle with his conscience.

Though Ken envied his brother, he also pitied him. He was younger, but he was the one who wasn't a virgin anymore.

It had started when he had wandered into the halls of his brother's barracks, curious. And then he had found Faith, the second in command of the barracks, just below his brother.

And while so young, he'd tasted the sweet poison that had always seemed to satisfy his lust.