"Daniel, rise and shine! Co on, wake up!"
I rubbed at my eyes.
God, so sleepy.
"Mom, I am so tired."
I rolled in my blanket, refusing to get up.
"Awwww co on. You don't want to be late on your first day!"
I frowned with my eyes still closed tightly.
First day...?
But my first day was yesterday. What was Mom talking about?
"Co onnnnn."
Mom pulled at my arm. She then put a hand across my forehead. "Unless you are sick? Do you not feel well?"
"I am fine, Mom..."
"Then go take a shower! We must leave before eight!"
Mom went out of my bedroom. I climbed off my bed and found neatly folded clothes at the end of my bed.
I took them and dragged my feet to the bathroom.
Alas, Jaden was still inside.
"Jaden...!" I called. "Quickly co out, I still need to take a shower!"
A muffled cry sounded from inside the bathroom, telling that my brother heard .
He only heard , but he was not coming out at all.
"Jaden!!!" I hamred on the door again. "Quickly co out already!"
Another muffled cry was heard from inside the bathroom.
Dad ca downstairs and saw standing in front of the bathroom. "Danny, what's wrong?"
I gave him a dejected look. "Jaden is taking ages in the bathroom."
Dad laughed.
"Oh, he has been there for an hour. I think it is not going to be over soon. Look, why don't you go up to our bedroom and take a shower?"
"Can I?"
"Sure! Go up!"
Dad gave a slap on the back. "And be quick. You don't want to be late for your first day."
I frowned as I walked upstairs. First day? Why did Dad say the sa thing Mom did?
It was not my first day. It was supposed to be my second day.
Right?
For so reason, Mom got the exact sa outfit that I wore yesterday. Did I have two of the sa outfit in my wardrobe? Weird. Anyway. It did not matter much.
I ca down twenty minutes later. Dad was already off to work. Jaden was poking at his poached egg gloomily. I took my seat next to him and nudged him. "What's wrong with you? Stomachache?"
Did we eat too much junk food the night before? All that cheese must have done sothing to his stomach. Jaden nodded.
"It is fine now, tho," he said.
Mom put my breakfast plate in front of . It was the sa breakfast I had the day before. Two poached eggs with grilled chicken sausages and two pieces of whole wheat bread. I looked up at Mom curiously.
Why was it the sa breakfast as yesterday?
Mom put down the pitcher of orange juice on the table and then took her seat. When she saw looking at her, she tilted her head and smiled at .
"What's wrong, Danny? Don't you like the breakfast?"
"I do," I quickly dug into my plate.
We ate our breakfast in a rush, then Mom ushered us into the car.
It was not until I got into the car that I noticed Mom was still wearing her usual house outfit.
"Mom?" I called out to her with a frown. "Where is your suit?"
Mom widened her eyes and stared at through the rearview mirror. "What suit, Danny?"
She sounded a little flabbergasted.
"Um, your suit? Yesterday you said you got a new job, right?"
Mom's jaw dropped visibly. She took her eyes off the road and turned to look at . "Danny, how did you..."
"MOM!!!" I scread and pointed at the road. There was a truck heading toward us because our car happened to veer off to the opposing lane. The truck driver had no way to avoid the collision. He could only honk the car horn desperately.
Mom gave a shriek before she quickly pulled away to the right lane and saved us all from a collision. Thankfully we did not have other cars next to us when it happened.
My heart was pounding like crazy. Not only mine. Jaden was pale as a ghost and Mom was even paler.
"Okay no more talking in the car," Mom said.
I agreed and said nothing else until we all got out of the car. Mom dropped Jaden at the middle school ground before she delivered to the high school ground. I thought that she was just going to dump in the lobby, but no. She got out of the car and held my shoulder as we walked into the building.
"Mom?"
We were no longer in the car so surely I could ask?
"What is it?"
"Why did you get off the car? Should you not head to..."
My words were swallowed by the loud chatter of the high school students who were wandering in the lobby. As soon as I saw them, I had a weird feeling in my gut. I felt like I saw them before. All of them, in the very sa clothes. In the very sa position. The previous day.
Before I had a chance to process my thoughts, I was hauled up the staircase. Mom took to the principal office. After three knocks, the principal's voice was heard coming from behind the door.
The door opened to reveal the principal, who was all smiles when she saw .
"Hi Daniel," she said as she extended her hand in my direction. "How are you doing today? Ready for so studying?"
I felt as if a bolt of lightning just struck .
What did she say?
I blinked at her in disbelief.
Was this not the exact sa thing that she said a day ago?
Seeing that I did not react, the principal ended up patting my shoulder and spoke to Mom instead. "Daniel looks quite nervous. I guess that is understandable."
Mom patted my head and said, "Oh, he has been waiting for this day to co. He could not stop speaking about it for days! I guess once that the day arrives, he cannot believe it at all."
The two adults broke into laughter. The principal bead at Mom. "Mrs. Weston, do rest assured. Daniel is in good hands."
Mom gave the sa worried look she did a day ago. Seeing the petrified look on my face, she then turned to the principal and said, "Truthfully, I still have so qualms about leaving Daniel out of my sight for the first ti after all these years. Mrs. Briggs, please do contact if anything happens. Anything. This is my number..."
The principal nodded placatingly. "Mrs. Weston, the school shall contact you right away when sothing happens. All the teachers have been briefed about Daniel's circumstances. We will all pay extra attention to him."
Feeling reassured, Mom breathed out a sigh of relief. She pressed a kiss on my cheek, "Have fun, Danny. I will co to pick you up at 3 PM, okay?"
I gaped at Mom's back as she retreated from Mrs. Brigg's office. I was speechless.
What was happening?
Why were we repeating yesterday?
The principal leaned closer to and spoke, "Shall we, Danny? Your first class already started a while ago."
Oh.
"Sure."
I knew where she was going to take and what she was going to say before she even said it.
"You have your titable already, right? Your first class is math. Miss Hayes is your math teacher this year. She has been inford about your presence today..."
It was as if I was watching a replay of a movie back to back. Not a single detail was amiss. As we walked down the corridor, we even encountered the sa student who was late for his science class. The girl was running along the corridor, holding her checkered bag in front of her chest as she rushed to her first class of the day.
"Mary, you are late," Mrs. Briggs noted with a raised eyebrow.
Mary gave Mrs. Briggs and a toothy grin before she ran past us. "Sorry, Mrs. Briggs! I overslept today, hehehe..."
Mrs. Briggs and I took the sa route to head to the math class.
The sa knocks. The sa class. The sa cheerful voice that welcod us as soon as we entered the class.
"Everyone! We have a new addition to the class!"
"Miss Hayes, I brought you Daniel Weston. Introduce yourself, Daniel."
The sa expanse of curious faces looked up at from their seats. They were all sitting in the exact sa seats they did the day before. I looked at the boy who sat in the left corner of the back row of the class. It was still Jason with his thick pair of glasses. He was wearing the sa red reindeer sweater.
"Daniel?"
Miss Hayes sounded concerned. "Everything alright?"
I nodded stiffly, but my head was filled with unanswered questions.
"My na is Daniel Weston. Nice to et you all."
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