It was the last day of Jacob’s senior year; He got up from the bed and was rethinking all of his memories from high school, good and bad. Like when he won states with his friends a junior year, meeting his best friends freshmen year, and when he met a girl he wished he never did. He got ready for school and dashed out the front door to the sight of his three best friends in their car waiting to pick him up for one last ride. Jason was driving the car along with Hector and Michael; they were looking forward to going to school.
“It’s crazy how this is going to be our last time going to school with each other,” said Jason
“Yeah, I wonder where all the time went, “ said Hector
“Do you guys want to hop on Xbox before we have to go to graduation tonight?” said Michael.
“I don’t know if we should because one game will lead to another and we’ll lose track of time,” said Jacob.
“Just chill; it won’t take that long, plus we have to end off our senior year the same way we started off our freshman year: with all of us online,” said Michael.
They all arrived at school ten minutes later; it was a half-day so time would go by quickly. As they opened the door, the first thing that caught Jacob’s eye was Julia. They used to date all of middle school, but she wound up cheating on him. After those 3 years he never was the same. After that break-up he was devastated and lonely, but one day Jason saw him by himself and invited him to go play soccer with the rest of the crew, which was how he met his best friends.
They all went to their classes and the day passed by. Jacob got back home, threw his bag on his bed, and went straight online, but he saw something weird. He had gotten a notification of a new game in the store called “ Second Chance,” which was a decision-making game that affected the character’s future. Jacob downloaded it quickly and customized the character to look like him, but then he blacked out.
Jacob opened his eyes and got up from his chair. He saw that it was 3 pm and he started panicking since it meant that he had missed his graduation party. He went to go get his bag since his phone was in there, but he glanced at the mirror and realized that he looked like his 8th-grade self again. He looked at his phone and it was the day of the dance at which Julia broke up with him in front of everyone and admitted that she had cheated on him. He now had the opportunity to change the future by instead breaking up with her and not go through all the pain and embarrassment. But he began to think that if he did that, his future would be altered; he might not ever meet his best friends or win States with them.
Jacob was left with a tough decision to make, and time was running out since the dance was at 7. He got ready and sat down on his bed, thinking hard about what to do. He then began to panic since he was stuck in this timeline and he didn’t know how to go back to his original one. Jacob called his cousin Stephanie to whom he was really close for all of his childhood in order to get advice about what to do.
“Hey Stephanie, what are you doing ?” asked Jacob.
“Nothing much; are you going to the dance tonight?” asked Stephanie.
“Yeah, I am. What about you?” asked Jacob.
“Yeah, same. So, why did you call me?” asked Stephanie.
“Oh, I was just wondering about something. I need your advice,“ said Jacob
“Okay, tell me what it is about, “ said Stephanie.
“If you had the chance to go back in time and fix anything, would you do it ?” asked Jacob.
“I wouldn’t, if I’m being honest. I wouldn’t want to mess up my future and besides, everything happens for a reason,” said Stephanie.
Jacob took Stephanie’s advice and decided to play out the night the way it was supposed to. He took the break-up and went back home and turned on the Xbox to play the pain away, but then he woke up it was all a dream. Jacob checked his phone and it was the present time. He began to think about whether he should’ve changed his past when he had the chance, but then he realized he wouldn’t want to lose his best friends or the memories they made in high school. They played the day away and got together before graduation, and they all took photos with one another enjoying their last memories together as seniors.
Steve Baldospin is a student currently enrolled in Dunellen High School, about to finish his junior year. He has a strong motivation to be successful in life, whether financially or in terms of meeting his other goals. He enjoys reading and writing in his spare time. He likes the feeling of taking control and being able to let his creative mind take off and create a picture in his head, word by word. Steve wishes to study psychology once he graduates from high school and to later pursue a career in the field.