Against Destiny
By: pnaixrose
Disclaimer: I do not own Phil of the Future or any of the characters.
Chapter 4: Avoiding
Phil walked into the school in a daze, barely noticing the excited teens chitchating idly. Usually, on a Monday morning, everyone would be as dazed as he was, still thinking about the past weekend and dreading the start of a whole new week of school. But today was different...well, at least for the seniors. This was the last week of high school. By the time Friday came, not only would they expect a fun filled weekend of graduation parties, but they would officially be college students. They were all bustling with excitement
As for Phil...he dreaded for Friday to come. Friday was the day he would go back to 2121 and never come back.
As he walked wordlessly down the hallway to his next class, he got startled out of his reverie as a girl with a thick British accent called out his name right in his ear.
"What the heck – Via!" he exclaimed as he rubbed his ear.
"Are you deaf or something? I've been calling you for about ten minutes already."
Next to her, Owen stood there shaking his head slowly. "Tsk, tsk. Something's wrong with Diff Man."
Via sighed at her friend's stupid nicknames. Owen would never change. "Anyway Phil, where do you think you're going?"
Phil rolled his eyes. "Seeing that this is a school...I was actually thinking of going to class. You know...because we have classes in school," he stated coldly.
"Whoa dude, chill with the sarcasticness," Owen commented as Via frowned.
He felt guilty and sighed deeply. "Sorry, sorry. I'm just in a bad mood."
"Obviously. You're usually not this rude," the girl said, clearly surprised with Phil's behavior.
"Sorry, Via," he grumbled.
"Anyway," Via started again, satisfied with the apology. "Aren't you supposed to be going to the video lab to record Keely's report? We were thinking of going with you today and watching the daily news from there."
Phil's heart stopped beating. Keely...He had almost forgotten that he and Keely worked on the school's video lab together. Oh great. Now what was he going to do?
He had been trying to get rid of yesterday's events from his head. But for some reason, every time he closed his eyes, he pictured him kissing her again and that shiver of pleasure would run up his spine. There was no way he could forget about that kiss.
There was no way he could forget about Keely.
All he could do was try to avoid her now. After all, she probably hated him for coming on so strong. It wouldn't matter though. By the end of the week, he'd be gone forever.
And it hurt just to think about that.
Phil gulped his dry throat. "O-Oh...Oh yeah," he stuttered, avoiding his friends' eyes. "A-Actually, I kinda have to finish this report due today so do you think you guys can handle the camera?"
Via's eyebrow rose. "Phil, is something the matter?"
"Yeah man," Owen added, "you and Keel are like obsessed with your video lab club thing. Something happen between you two–?"
"No!" he interrupted suddenly with a slight yell. Via and Owen stood there in surprise, staring at Phil with silent suspicion. Phil sighed yet again. "S-Sorry. It's just that...I...I really have to finish this report. You guys handle it, right? It's only a camera. The rest of the team will help you out. Thanks. Appreciate it."
And with that short explanation, he stalked away quickly, still avoiding their eyes. The two were left standing there looking at each other with confusion.
"Where is Teslow!" the president of the video lab club yelled angrily. "We start in five!"
Via looked up at Owen worriedly. "Where do you think she is? She would never be late for her morning report!"
Owen, who was the one put in charge of the video camera, shrugged as he centered the camera on the news table in front of them. "No idea, Vi." As he looked down at her, he saw the worried frown on her lips and began to frown himself. Gently, he placed a hand on her shoulder. "Don't worry. I'm sure she didn't wake up to her alarm clock or something."
"No, Owen. Not Keel," Via said worriedly. "I really think something happened between Phil and Keely. Phil was acting really strange and he wouldn't even come here to record the morning report like he usually does. I'm really starting to get worried."
Before Owen could say anything to comfort her, the door burst open and there stood a disheveled Keely. She muttered an apology as she walked over to her seat and sat down while trying to fix her tussled hair.
"Miss Teslow! Do you know what time it is!" the president exclaimed.
"Sorry...I slept kinda late last night and–"
"I DON'T want to hear it! We start in two minutes!"
Sighing, Keely quickly organized her papers and looked up at the camera, expecting to see Phil standing behind it.
She had been dreading this moment. She and Phil had been doing this for years, but she had never been this self-conscious in front of a camera that Phil would be behind of. That kiss still burned clearly into her mind...but so did that look of regret in his eyes. She just couldn't figure him out. Did he...love her? If he didn't then why did that kiss feel so...passionate?
But as she looked up, her eyes widened to see that Owen and Via were standing behind the camera instead of her best friend. Something struck her heart. Did he not want to see her after that kiss?
"THREE...TWO...ONE! You're on, Miss Teslow!"
But Keely stared straight ahead into the camera, completely expressionless. Her mind was in a whirl and she couldn't think straight. She was completely oblivious to the recording camera pointed in her direction and the other people in the studio waiting for her to start.
All she could think of was one thing...
...Phil didn't want to be with her. He didn't even want to see her.
How could she ever think that there might be the slightest chance that he loved her?
"Keely, you're on," Via tried to whisper to get her friend to wake from her reverie. "Keely!"
"MISS TESLOW!"
Keely nearly jumped out of her skin. Trying to mask her uneasy heart, she forced a smile towards the camera when she realized that they were starting.
"G-Good morning, H.G. W-Wells," she started shakily. "Th-This is Keely Teslow..."
"Look, Via, I just spaced out, okay?" Keely insisted as she followed the lunch line. "It's no biggie."
"That isn't like you, Keel, both you and I know it," Via said, following her best friend. "Heck, even Owen knows it, right Owen?"
The teenage boy nodded a bit, his mouth full with some tacos. "Yah. You 'n Pil ahr ahcting weal stwange."
The two girls shook their heads at his blabber. "What did he say?" Keely asked Via.
"He said that you and Phil are acting really strange today and for once, Owen's right!" her friend exclaimed. After finally getting their tacos and drinks, the three headed towards the usual table near the window. "Face it, Keel. If this guy knows something up, then it's definitely obvious."
Owen frowned and swallowed the food in his mouth. "Hey!" he said, looking offended.
Keely sighed, trying to ignore her good friend. But there was no way these two would ever get off her back about this. Especially Via. Still, she couldn't tell them what really happened. No, she wouldn't tell a soul about what happened. Not only was it stupid enough of her to actually love him, she had actually thought that he could love her back! No. There would be less drama and less talk if she never told anyone anything. Not her foolish love for him. Not how she had believed that he could've loved her back. And especially not that kiss...
...that kiss...
Had she been the only one feeling that passion when they had locked lips? Had she been the only one who felt like time itself had stopped in its tracks? Had she been the only one who desperately desired for it to happen again?
Why did he do it if he was going to regret it so much! Why did he do it if he was simply going to ignore her existence!
This was why she was always hesitant about furthering her relationship with Phil. Not only was he simply not supposed to be living in this century, much less falling in love with a girl from this century, but things would never be the same between them if it turned out that the relationship didn't work. It would ruin her friendship with him and she would never want to risk that.
Oh, well. Too late...
As they came up to their usual lunch spot, Keely stopped in her tracks as her two friends behind her complained.
"Keely, what's wrong?" Via asked as she followed her friend's line of vision.
At the table was Phil eating his lunch. Not a very track-stopping sight. After all, they were all close friends and this was their favorite spot and it was lunch.
"Jeez, Keels, it's only Diff Man," Owen said as he brushed passed her and sat down next to the now tense teen from the future.
Phil gulped, his throat suddenly dry even though he had just drank an entire milk carton. Keely was standing there in front of him, staring at him with a slightly upset and confused expression.
No Keely. Don't look at me like that.
The last thing he wanted to do was make her sad. But could he help it? Oh, he was so confused. Part of him wanted to just take her into his arms again and kiss her until he was breathless, while another part warned him to stay away to not further complicate matters. And honestly, the latter of them seemed more reasonable. He would be gone soon anyway...why make things worse? Why long for something you can never have?
He had wanted to spend time with her before he left even if she never found out his true feelings, but now that he had dragged himself into this situation, he knew it was impossible to. He was afraid of what he'd do next. Would he tell her his feelings? Would he tell her that he's finally leaving this century? Or would he simply press his lips against hers once more without warning?
Frankly, even though some of those situations would feel great, he didn't know which was worse.
He looked back into those eyes of hers again and felt guilty. He knew that she was wondering why he wasn't at the video lab like always. He had let her down. She was probably even angrier at him by now. First she was probably furious that he used her for a kiss, and now that he ditched their usual video lab club, she probably couldn't stand the sight of him.
"H-Hey, Keel, sorry I couldn't be there at the lab today," he started as he avoided eye contact, "I had to...to do a project."
She forced a slight smile, sensing that he was lying to her. Phil never lied to her unless it was drastically important. And even on those rare occasions, he had done a much better job lying.
What was he hiding from her? Why was he acting so different? First that amazing kiss, then ditching her at the video lab, and now lying to her? These were not things Phil would normally do, although of course she had thoroughly enjoyed the kissing one.
"It's okay."
An uncomfortable silence settled between them. Suddenly, Phil got up from his seat, forgetting his half-eaten lunch. He couldn't take it anymore. Just seeing Keely made him want to tell her all those feelings that were longing to pour out. However, it also hurt him knowing that by the end of the week, she would be a memory to him...
He had never felt so trapped in his life.
"I-I got to go discuss something with a teacher," he said lamely. "I'll see you guys later."
The remaining three stared at his retreating back in confusion, knowing that Phil was avoiding them once again. Out of all people...Phil? He would never do that, especially to his best friend. Via knew something was up and she was going to get to the bottom of it. Graduation was coming up and she did not want her friends to be like this for their last few memories of high school.
Owen suddenly cleared his voice, slightly breaking the tension. "You think he'll come back for his tacos?"
Count on Owen to change the topic even when the situation was as tense as this.
