Jeff awoke the next morning and the day started normally. He got ready for school and visited with friends before class. It wasn't until third period that Jeff realized something strange was going on. It was as though a fog suddenly lifted and he remembered things were out of place.
The school year had recently started and the first and most obvious thing that was really off were the memories of befriending one of the junior varsity football players the end of freshmen year. He recalled learning about sports and spending the summer working out with him, things that he never cared for or had interest in beside a passing curiosity. Though, as Jeff looked at his arms and shifted in his seat, he could feel this new history had impacted him physically.
Jeff looked around his reading class and knew he had to pay attention, though the drive to figure out what was happening sucked his attention away from the lecture. Jeff remembered getting a machine and connecting it to his computer, it promised to be able to make changes like this and he wanted to test it out... no, he did test it out and it worked. Then he was trying to decide what else to do and it was blank... what he did last night was a complete blank.
Did I set this up? Did my parents find out about the machine? Dad was into sports stuff and didn't seem all that thrilled about my growing dedication to the D&D campaign, but changing my interests and turning me into a sports guy is taking it a little far. Also, did the changes just happen or had they already occurred and I'm just realizing? I need to check the Chronivac tonight and can do so after practice. Jeff cringed realizing the new history had him actually joining the football team at the start of school.
"Jeff, why the face?"
"Oh, sorry Mr. Brown, a stray thought got me by surprise."
"Well please direct all thoughts to the lesson."
"Yes sir."
Jeff planned on checking the machine as soon as he could but currently he had to play the part and focus on class.
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The fog slowly lifted but today Jeff realized he was in calculus class. Jeff was immediately confused but like before, the memories organized themselves and Jeff realized he remembered yesterday, a new alternate reality, yesterday's alternate reality, and the original reality.
He meant to look at the Chronivac yesterday but got distracted and completely forgot. Actually, he forgot he needed to look at the machine and even that things were off. Everything seemed normal until, Jeff glanced at the clock in the room which showed 9:03, so again third period...
Jeff began thinking about what this new version of his life entailed and realized almost immediately that all his classes are different, he is a Junior now, and has been bulking over the last year making the varsity football team since he started showing interest end of freshmen year...
Jeff looked around the class in disbelief, sure enough, he saw mostly juniors and a few straggling seniors and overachieving sophomores but he recognized the juniors as his class. Even now as he realized how not normal this is, the current version of reality felt normal, original reality was still easy to recall but not what he thought of right away, similar with yesterday itself, and yesterday's version of reality was even farther away. This meant there were two versions of yesterday but thankfully they were easy to distinguish between because one was mostly matching original reality and one was telling him he was a junior and a football player.
Jeff spent most of the class pretending to listen but was actually trying to figure out what was going on. His standing theory that his dad was behind this seemed much less likely considering he's aging. That has friend shenanigans written all over it, but none of his original friends would do that to him, his current circle of football friends would, but he didn't even know them in any detail until today. Plus, they would turn him and the team 21 and they wouldn't be at school, they'd be sleeping it off.
Jeff turned to check the clock, 9:48. Jeff bit his lip... if he is going to lose awareness of everything, he should probably try to pass himself a message to see if he could jog his own memory. He went into his supplies and pulled out a pen, writing on his wrist to make sure the message will be somewhere he would see. "Your PC"
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Jeff remembered finding his note to himself, and remembered not having any idea what it meant or what to do with it. He had actually been irritated with himself for drawing on himself because if it doesn't come off fast enough, a rumor will start that he doesn't bathe. The note was scrubbed off before he got home
He was still 17 but closer to 18 now. He still remembered the alternate realities but the first one felt more like a dream and reality had switched to make him more interested in bonding with his dad to spark his interest in football rather than using a classmate. It wasn't true, they bonded over dad jokes and acting childish to drive mom nuts, but it was true in this reality.
Jeff had started watching football with his dad and knew some trivia and player's names now. He was entering his second season of being a football fan since his personal timeline is pushing his date of birth back, not pushing time forward. Jeff shook his head in annoyance, "None of this matters if I can get the unaware version of myself to stop the machine from whatever its doing!" With that he pulled out a piece of paper and began writing himself a detailed note.
Finishing his note he slipped it into his pocket and hoped for the best.
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Jeff was 18 now, still working out and bulking in cycles. His unintended years of dedication to his strength and physique was showing and obvious in his burgeoning musculature. His plan to leave himself a note failed horribly. He remembered finding the note and dismissing it out of turn like it was a plan to do something nefarious like throw a game or... weird... he just related something to football. His young and nerdy mindset caught and pointed out how wildly different that was for him from the start of this week.
His younger self wanted to dismiss his older jockish mindset as lesser for sounding like any other brainwashed jock who idealized sports, but his jock mind fought back with fervor and passion his younger mind never understood until now. The comradery of the team and its unified goals, the time and effort put into honing his body and skills over years. Young Jeff finally understood why so many so easily connected over sports. Though this is all beside the point.
Jeff, while unaware, found the Chronivac dull and unengaging, as unrealistic as that was. Any attempt to get his unaware self to make the machine the target of his attention would be met with harsh disinterest and an immediate urge to do something else, avoiding any reminders of the machine, though the regularity of this tendency was not clear to Jeff after just a single message attempt.
Jeff's focus was on the fact that it was Friday and his girlfriend. Being muscular and popular Jeff was no newbie when it came to interacting with girls as he recalled having girlfriends across the new timelines and his struggle had always been keeping a girl, not getting one.
His priorities were always split across practice, working out, school, and his part-time job, leaving very little time to maintain a dedicated relationship to one person with a similarly chaotic schedule. Jeff's girlfriend over summer had stayed with him through the beginning of the school year and was turning 18 this weekend, they had plans to experience sex together and it would be both their first times.
Young Jeff was shocked, this flew in the face of focusing on his future and saving sex for someone truly special. A high school fling wasn't the romantic dedication of love he had envisioned for his first time. The disparity between his current and former mindsets was stark but gradual. Each day seemed to age him by 6 months and leave him more entrenched in a new life.
Jeff didn't seem to have any control on the direction of his life but knew he wasn't college bound unless he pulled his grades above their current C- average, which would take dropping the job to pay for the girlfriend, dropping the girlfriend to get more time, and focusing on school more than football plays. He seemed to have an hour of awareness each day between 9 and 10 am, and an aversion to accessing the Chronivac outside his aware time.
His earlier thoughts that his father set this up for him no longer tracked because he would have ensured Jeff attended college and had excellent grades. The idea that a friend came over and set this up was unlikely because none of his former friends seemed to know him and his unaware self didn't know the sophomore class besides one or two of the promising jr. varsity players. It would be possible that his friend set something up wrong, but it was weird that his memory of setting things up was wiped and that he's only aware for an hour a day.
The teacher prattled on about balancing stochiometric equations and Jeff concluded he will just check the Chronivac himself tomorrow when he doesn't have school and his shift doesn't start till 11. Oh! he has a job now! unexpected but cool I guess...