Phil was on his bed staring into the air. He had absolutely no idea for how long he'd been lying there, and he didn't really care. He was feeling seriously depressed. He was feeling very lonely, and he did not really think there was a point in continuing his life. What was the point? He'd lost his one and only love. He heard a knock on the door.
«Phil? Are you hungry? I got your favorite, peanutbut-,» Barb tried, but she was interrupted by Phil.
«No thanks Mom. I just wanna be alone,» he said, not entirely sure if it was loud enough for her to hear. But he guessed she did, because she heard her sigh, put something down on the floor by his door before turning away and walk down the stairs. Phil didn't move. He was thinking about Keely, of course. He missed her badly. Not only was the fact that he would never see her again awful, but the worst thought was that Keely was probably dead. She had already gone on with her life, probably gotten married and maybe she got kids. She'd had a successful reporting career, he was totally sure of it. Keely was the most wonderful person he'd ever known, and she was a very talented reporter. He knew she'd made it big.
After wondering for a couple of minutes, he had an idea. Why lie around here wondering when he could just check The Giggle?
«Of course,» he muttered to himself before he stormed out of his room, downstairs. As he passed the kitchen his family was eating lunch and they were all staring at him, and smiling.
«What are you doing here, Phil? Feeling any better?», Lloyd asked, between mouthfuls of scrambled eggs and bread. Phil was outside at once, and climbed into the time machine. They had yet to get all of their boxes of stuff and belongings from the time machine. He found the one he was looking for, labeled «Phil's future gadgets», and carried it out of the time machine. As he passed his family, he tried to force a smile. It seemed as though they bought it, cause they all smiled back, even Pim. Miraculously, Pim had been very nice to him ever since they got home. She was the one who'd seen them together at school, and she was perhaps the first one to notice that Keely and Phil shared a special bond. Phil almost smiled at the thought. Just almost, though.
He sat down on his bed, before carefully opening his box. He retrieved his Wizard, Insta Morph, New-Ager, and Replicator before he finally found his Giggle. He took it out, and he activated it. He pulled down the screen from the helmet he was now wearing.
«Giggle, on,» he said in a surprisingly clear voice, before it repeated him.
«Search Keely Teslow, year 2035, news reporter.» The Giggle showed him once again a video of a beautiful, grown up Keely reporting in what looked like Egypt, for CNN. He couldn't help but smile at the fact that all of Keely's hard work had paid off. But, he couldn't help but feel a twinge of jealousy that she'd done it with someone else. As wonderful as she was, surely she would find some awesome, faithful guy who didn't leave her to go back to the future. His stomach turned in a dangerous way, and once again, he felt a single tear twinkling on his cheek. Then he froze. He was still watching the news report with a stunning Keely wearing a black pantsuit, her blonde hair curling its way down her front, and her shining, blue-green eyes and some shiny, silver earrings. What he noticed now, was that apart from the video he'd seen with Keely ages ago, Keely was not wearing a wedding band. She was not married. She might even be single. He felt really guilty as this information made him really happy. This was not fair to her. He'd left. She had every right to move on, and find someone else. Yet, she hadn't. Was it really possible that Keely cared as much for him as he did for her, and that it was impossible to move on from him as he knew he couldn't move on from her? The feeling of guilt was still there in the pit of his stomach, but it didn't overpower the true feeling of happiness that made him smile so big that his face was starting to hurt. Keely loved him.
Keely was standing on her bedroom floor, deep in thought. Her entire closet was emptied, and all its contents were lying in a pile on the floor. She had no idea what to wear. This would be her first day back at school after being allowed to stay home for a couple of days. She was beyond happy that her mom was somewhat understanding about the whole situation. She'd been really great to her, cooking her favorite dinners and treating her with a girls only trip to the city, giving her mani-pedis and a new haircut. But now she was standing there, unable to decide what to wear. In some way, everything reminded her of Phil. Her cute dark green tank with reddish flowers on it, that she wore the time that she'd totally embarrassed herself by saying she wanted to be Phil's «girlfriend», and then trying to talk around it... or the green sweaterdress with the pink belt that she wore on her birthday when Phil made her a picnic... and the orange and white pladded sweater she wore when they were babysitting... on the bottom of the pile was one of her favorites, the light blue tank with the white detailing on that she wore a couple of days ago when they finally became a couple. Every piece of clothing was filled with memories she couldn't handle at the moment. She looked at the time on her bedside alarm clock. 7.23am. She didn't start school for another hour. She decided to do something she'd never consider ever doing again, but she was desperate. Still dressed in the dressing robe, she went downstairs and found some Pop tarts(her mom had just bought her favorite ones, raspberry) and put them in the toaster and waited for them to finish. As soon as they popped up from the toaster, she swallowed them both in a couple of bites. She ran upstairs again and fetched her backpack and her purse containing her wallet. Then she went outside, into the garage. At the back she found her bike. Knowing she looked totally crazy, she jumped on her bike and sped down the street to the centre of Pickford. Then she spotted her favorite clothing store down the street, and parked her bike. The store was not open yet. She glanced at the watch on her left wrist, informing her that she'd have to wait for about ten minutes for the store to open.
Then, 3 minutes past 8am, the owner flipped the sign in the window from saying «closed» to «Welcome!». She opened the door and heard the bells chime to say that someone had just entered. The owner, Mrs. Wilson, looked at her like she was maniac. I can't blame her, Keely thought to herself. She started browsing the racks. She spotted the purple top she'd wanted for so long but never had the guts to buy after she'd noticed the price. Now she didn't care at all. She found a cute dark denim skirt and some matching purple leggings. She moved towards the mirror, and held all the pieces of clothing in front of her, deciding that they'd fit. She sighed, and made her way over to the cash register and put her items on the counter.
«Um, are you all right, Keely?», mrs. Wilson asked. Keely came by the store very frequently, but usually she was fully dressed and her hair and makeup was done.
«Yeah, I'm fine... just couldn't decide what to wear, that's all,» Keely said, a nervous laugh escaping her mouth. After she paid, she brought her items into the dressing room and changed into her brand new clothes. She turned around in front of the mirror in the light beige dressing room. She had to admit, she looked good. After packing the dress robe back into the bag, and putting it down in her backpack, she walked out of the store, throwing a goodbye at Mrs. Wilson before closing the door. She was standing right by Pickford Square, and she walked over to one of the benches. It was slightly windy, but the sun was shining. She found it odd that the sun could make everything seem so okay, when she felt all cloudy on the inside. After realizing she had to get to school, she threw herself on her bike once again, and raced all the way to the school.
Before she hurried over to the video lab for the morning news, she went to the ladies's room to freshen up. After putting her messy hair in a ponytail, and putting on some mascara, she heard someone outside the door, talking. She didn't know why, but she hurried into the nearest stall. She heard a couple of giggling girls enter, talking, unknowing that she was there.
«And you know that Teslow girl? Keely? She skipped school for 3 days cuz of a guy! I mean, how pathetic!», said one of the girls, that Keely recognized as Candida, the leader of the Fashion Zombies. Keely stood as still as she could, attempting not too breathe too loudly. Not that they could hear her breathe over their loud giggles, though.
«I thought you liked Keely. Adored her, actually. I mean, she's so gorge-,» one of the Fashion Zombies whom Keely did not know the name of started, before getting interrupted by Candida.
«Are you serious? She's so last year! I mean, now she's just a pathetic, alone girl!», she said. Keely heard her smacking her lips, after probably having applied lipgloss. Keely felt a tear on her cheek. Did everyone think this? Come to think of it, she didn't have many friends. Both Tia and Via had moved away, and Phil had been her best friend for the past years. She heard the younger girls exit the room gossiping about Candida's latest crush, but Keely still felt unable to move. A couple of minutes later, she realized she had to run to make the news recording. She smoothed out her new shirt, glanced at her reflection in the mirror one last time before running to the video lab.
Phil was feeling remarkably better, not totally understanding why. Why should he be so happy that Keely was not married, when he was still stuck in the future and she was already dead? Yet he had a feeling of undying hope deep inside. Sure there was some way of fixing this mess... Just in that moment, his Wizard lit up, and his awesome alarm told him he had to wake up. Only then did he realize he'd been up all night thinking about Keely. Again. This was the third night in a row. He could not focus properly on school. His mind was always somewhere else. 100 years back in time, to be exact. He got dressed, and went downstairs for breakfast. Nobody else was awake yet. He liked waking up a little extra early to have the house all to himself in the mornings. He opened one of the drawers filled with seasonal spray food(such as Unification Meatloaf, Christmas Turkey and more) cuz that was the drawer that people wouldn't likely open anytime soon. Behind all of the spray cans, he found what he was looking for. His toaster, and a package of Raspberry Pop Tarts. He liked the old fashioned cooking. Cooking as in heating up Pop Tarts in a toaster. He'd grown fond of the Pop Tarts back in 2006, so he brought some with him. Keely loved the Raspberry ones. So every morning he ate some in secret. He really missed 2006, and it was not just because of Keely. He liked the fresh air, how neighbors were all so friendly, and the old fashioned houses with big gardens filled with flowers. Once again, he felt the stinging pain in his stomach, missing the place and people he'd loved so much. He just sat there, eating his Pop Tarts in silence. Just as he finished, the whole family came rushing in the door to the kitchen. All of them looked rather tired, and Phil watched in amusement as each of them pulled out their favorite breakfast spraycans and getting their food ready. Only when they sat down at the table did they notice him sitting there.
«Gosh, Phil, why are you always up so early?», Pim grunted. Phil almost chuckled at their surprise, before placing his plate beside the sink. He ran upstairs, and picked up the Giggle. Once again he put it on, searching for Keely Teslow through the years, watching her from her late teens and through her life, becoming a more beautiful woman at every news report. It was easy to spend his time like this. Not having to think much, just enjoying the sight of Keely, pretending he was the man she would go home to every day after work. He knew he had to make that happen somehow.
Keely sat by her desk in the dim lighting, staring blankly down at her algebra. She didn't understand any of it. Back in the days Phil had explained it all to her using vegetables, but this was way more complicated. It had been 3 weeks since that painful day when Phil left. She didn't think about him all the time anymore, but at times like these she would remember the good old times. She would feel a tear or two running down her cheeks before wiping them away, and then she would continue whatever she was doing. She kind of knew she couldn't keep this going for much longer. She cried every night, and she hated the feeling of not knowing what to do. There was nothing she could do. According to Phil, the time machines wouldn't be invented for another 110 years. Yet, she did not lose hope. Some time, in some way, she had to see Phil again. She continued to stare down at her book, her mind at Phil. She was thinking about the wonderful feeling of holding his hand, not noticing the time being long past midnight.