In Your Time
Chapter 20

It had been a few weeks and everything was calm. I wasn't sucked into the future again, and the kids at school had pretty much left me alone by now with Braden being my ultimate protector. It was weird, I also got to know Braden more in a way I never thought I would. Under all those layers of cool, he was actually kind of dorky. My bruises finally healed up too under George's careful watch. He examined me almost every day after Braden told him that they got worse. I had almost completely learned to filter my words as well. My slip ups were minimal these days. It also helped that I was feigning amnesia. I didn't quite get along with the kids at school yet, but it was getting better. After school, most of my time was spent with Braden at the beach or listening to him compose music.

"What do you think of this?" He said as he glanced away from his notebook. He had been working on a song for a while and just finished playing it for me. Of course, I had to keep from humming along since it was a song he debuted with in the future, but watching the process of his songwriting had me excited in a completely different way. I smiled and clapped in applause.

"It's great! I think it'll receive well and make you famous overnight," I smiled. I wasn't wrong. That song literally had him global in the matter of a few hours. He smiled back at me.

"I think I'm going to play it for the talent show this year," he admitted. That didn't seem right. Based on countless interviews, the first time he played that song was on the boardwalk. Someone recorded him and that's how he got famous. If he played it at the talent show, did that mean I screwed up the timeline? I was so deep in thought, I didn't even see Braden set his guitar down and come closer. I snapped back to reality when I felt a finger press in between my eyebrows.

"What are you thinking about so hard?" He asked with a chuckle. I stopped frowning and relaxed my face. Maybe he planning it this way already and something kept him from doing it. Anyway, if I tried to interfere, I would only make things worse.

"Nothing. I just spaced out for a moment," I lied. Braden dropped his hand to his lap before a look of realization crossed his face.

"Oh, that's right. There's a beach party this weekend. Do you want to go?" He asked. I smiled as I nodded. I didn't go to parties much in my time. It would be interesting to see how parties were here. Braden smiled back before he reached over and ruffled my hair.

"You look a lot better than when you first got here at least," he noted.

"I feel like I am getting the hang of things," I agreed.

"Come on. Dinner is probably ready by now," he said. He put his guitar away and we went down to eat.000