It felt as if the day started differently.

Normally, his alarm clock would go off at 5 am sharp and Knox would blearily open his eyes and slowly get out of bed. He would exercise quickly and run downstairs to prepare breakfast for Nia. Instead, his eyes opened and everything was bright and foggy.

A soft hand was rubbing between his shoulder blades, almost as if trying to soothe him awake slowly.

Knox rolled over and sat up quickly, aware that someone was in his room and he, in his sleepy state, didn't know who it was.

"Honey?" His mom's soft tone said. "It's just me, kiddo."

His first thought was wondering what she was doing in his room. His second thought was, what time was it?

Knox grabbed his phone, noticing the time, almost seven. He rushed out of bed, grabbing a T-shirt off of his dresser. "What are you doing in here, Mom?" Knox asked as he moved around his room like a tornado, grabbing everything he might need for school. "And have you woken up Nia?"

His mother chuckled in a way Knox hadn't heard from her before, it was kind and sweet, almost soft. "Your sister is up. Calm down, kiddo."

Knox felt slightly patronised. "When did you and Dad get home?" He asked, pausing in his gathering of things and turning to stare at his mother. She was dressed strangely, in clothes he would have thought she wouldn't be caught dead in. Her usual prim and proper outfits, business casual he would assume, had been replaced with a soft pink summer dress and a pair of sandals.

"Late last night." She said, seeming concerned. "I sent you a text, darling. Your father and I are going to be spending a lot more time at home now."

"Why?" Knox asked, feeling out of the loop. "Did you get fired?" There was no way in hell they'd stop working out of their own volition.

His mom laughed slightly, "No, silly. We decided it would be best to take off for a month or so to spend more time with you and your sister. It'll be just like when you were younger."

Knox raised an eyebrow in the way his sister hated. "Really?"

"Of course, darling."

He sighed, whatever. "Okay, mom. I have to leave for school, where's Nia?"

His mother stood up from his bed, walked to the door to his room and opened it, "She's gone for school, your dad took her right before I came in to wake you up."

Knox grabbed his cell phone and followed her down the stairs into the kitchen where a spread of pancakes lay on the counter. He grabbed one and shoved it in his mouth, grabbing his school bag from the chair where he had put it last night after finishing his homework. "Okay," he said around the pancake. "I'm going to head to school, see you later, I guess."

Andrea Martin followed him to the door and watched him throw his bag into the car. He sat down, the windows rolled down and as he turned the car on and began to back out of the driveway his mom called out, "Drive safe."

This had to be a Twilight Zone type of alternate universe.

~

Parking in the school parking lot was fun because most high school seniors pulled in almost 10 minutes late and very few of them knew how to drive properly.

He exited his car swiftly, grabbing his bag from the passenger seat before locking the car with a single click.

Knox entered the school and moved quickly to his homeroom class. Entering felt like the rug of life was pulled out from under his feet. Everyone turned to stare at him, which was normal, but it was the way that Kane O'nygua and Javi Alvera laughed.

It didn't feel like they were laughing at him which was the strange part. They were laughing as if he should be in on the joke, which Knox was not.

The only empty seat was in between the two and, despite the uncomfortable nature, Knox sat down in that seat, pulling out his phone and going to some social media app in a desperate attempt to get the two jocks to ignore him.

"So, Martin, slept through your alarm?" Javi asked, seeming to be teasing Knox in a way he didn't entirely understand.

Knox nodded, not knowing how to respond.

Kane laughed, "Dude, you have no idea how often I do that. Like seriously, all the time. I'm almost never here before the bell, dude."

Knox Martin had never been called 'Dude' by Kane O'nygua. He had never thought he would be called 'Dude' by Kane O'nygua. But here he was, being called 'Dude' by Kane O'nygua in his homeroom class as the teacher blew her nose in the background.

"Oh," Knox said, not knowing how else to respond to two of the most popular individuals in the school kickstarting a conversation with him as if they'd been friends forever. "Yeah, I'm not usually late."

"Dude, you were late yesterday?" Javi ribbed.

"I had to drop my sister off at the elementary school," Knox excused. "She didn't want to go."

"I fucking hated elementary school," Javi said. "It was so goddamn boring. Like bro, I know how to use scissors I don't need you to teach me."

The bell rang and Knox stood up, grabbing his bag and rushing out of the room, confused even further when Kane and Javi followed him. They fell into step behind him, almost as if he was in charge of the trio and they were his lackeys. People moved out of their way in the halls. Knox felt feared and he lowered his head, trying to keep attention off of himself and failing miserably.

"So," Kane threw his arm over Knox's shoulder. "We were planning on skipping after lunch, you coming?"

Knox didn't want to think about it but the concept ran its course through his thoughts. He had two classes after his lunch period, a lab and his AP literature class. Both of which he didn't feel comfortable missing. "No, sorry."

He paused as he approached his locker. An envelope had been taped to his locker. Javi reached a hand out and ripped it off, handing it to Knox. "Dude, I wonder what that is."

It felt weird to open it in front of the other two but Knox pushed past that, wanting to know what was inside. It opened smoothly and inside was a note written in simple block letters.

KNOX MARTIN.

UNFORTUNATELY, DUE TO EXTENUATING CIRCUMSTANCES, YOUR AFTERNOON CLASSES HAVE BEEN SWITCHED WITH YOUR EARLIER CLASSES. YOU WILL HAVE GYM AND ART AFTER LUNCH AND YOUR AP LITERATURE AND YOUR BIOLOGY CLASS WILL BE THIS MORNING. YOUR TEACHERS ARE AWARE OF THIS CHANGE.

– VICE-PRINCIPAL MORDOVA

There was no way.

"Dude, that's awesome." Kane slapped an arm across Knox's shoulders. "You can totally hang out with us this afternoon."

Yeah... he supposed he could, which is a little suspicious if you asked him. But there was no way that Kane or Javi would have any way of changing his schedule and it wasn't as if hanging out with them was the worst thing in the world. Knox nodded, "Cool."

The bell rang for the first period and Knox really had to run. He couldn't be late, not for his AP class.

~

Art class was weird. Knox sat down in his usual seat. He had a few friends he usually sat with but, since his classes had been switched, they weren't there with him.

Kane O'nguya smashed into the seat next to him, almost toppling it but gaining control at the last minute. Javi Alvarez sat down much lighter and without too much disruption. It was making the already strange vibes of being in a class he wasn't used to, weirder.

"So," Kane said, rolling up his sleeves and grabbing a paintbrush. "Ms Franklin, am I right?" He gestured with his thumb towards the tall teacher at the front of the room.

Ms Franklin was really tall and maybe about 50-ish. She had grey hair which was pulled up into a loose bun and she wore those hippie skirts you see often on those Instagram girls who live in their vans. Knox couldn't entirely tell if it was a 'she's-hot' 'am-I-right?' or a 'creepy-old-lady' 'am-I-right?' and either one would be weird.

"Huh?" Knox said, generally confused as he washed off his brush and tried to figure out what kind of shit he should paint.

Javi looked confused also. "Dude, what the fuck are you talking about?"

"Uh..." Kane said, looking up from his painting, which he had slathered with a lot of yellow. "To be totally honest I have no idea what I was trying to say."

It was weird, but Knox laughed along with Javi. He sort of felt like he had to and it was a funny situation so he laughed. Sometimes in life, it's better to just go with the flow, and Knox decided that'd be his mantra for this encounter.

He sat there for a bit, listening to Kane and Javi gossip. It was weird, Knox had only known the gossip in his friend group but how he was privy to the popular people's gossip was new and definitely strange. He heard all about the cheating scandals and who made out with who at the last party and, "Dude, did you hear Katelynn M. is having a party this weekend, like a full-on rager? Her parents are out of town."

"No." Javi shook his head as he digested this second-hand info. "Do you know who's going to be there?" he asked, looking towards Knox as if asking him.

Why in the hell would Knox know who was invited to this party and who wasn't? It's not like he's friends with half of the popular and interesting people in the school. In fact he really only knows Kane and Javi and even then... does he really know them or did they just start sitting with Knox this morning and then never leave?

"Huh?" Knox vocalised. Confused as to why they'd be asking him.

"I mean like, are you gonna go?" Javi asked, grabbing a Sharpie to outline one of the aspects of his painting. He wasn't looking at Knox but Knox could tell that Javi was paying total attention to him.

Knox shrugged, "Maybe."

~

Gym class was next. There was no actual reason for Javi and Kane to continue hanging around Knox but... well there had been no reason for them to start hanging with him in the first place.

Coach John called for them to play dodgeball because Gym class was exactly what most high school coming-of-age movies said it would be. And it sucked for anyone who wasn't popular, every time. No one liked dodgeball, not even the popular kids who spent the whole period whaling on the nerds.

Knox watched as Coach John whistled for the game to start and Javi and Kane lunged for the dodgeballs. He laid back, it was weird that the three of them were on the same team. Knox waited for a few minutes before one of the football boys threw a dodgeball directly at Knox's shoulder.

"Shoot, sorry, dude!" The guy yelled.

Knox shrugged, going to sit down on the bleachers. He chose the most convenient seat, opposite from the large double doors that led into the school. Knox sat for a minute, waiting for the guy who got him out to get hit, Knox would be back in if that occurred, such were the rules of dodgeball.

"Psst."

Knox looked around, laying eyes on a sliver of person between the double doors of the gym. He wasn't exactly sure who it was but they must be pointing at him. Mostly because no one was sitting next to him and no one was between Knox and the door. So the only option was that they were whispering to him.

He was confused but walked out of the gym, hopeful that Coach John would just think he needed the restroom.

On the other side of the door stood an incredibly frowny and incredibly annoyed Asian girl. She had her arms crossed over a silver tank top and her black hair was tied up in a loose ponytail. "Do you know who I am?"

Knox knitted his eyebrows together as he thought about it for a moment. He thinks he's seen her around but her name escaped him. He shrugged.

"Noah Pan," she said, annoyed. "Don't you find it weird that you're suddenly insanely popular?"

"Yeah," Knox said, not realizing that other people had noticed how strange it was. "I don't know why Javi and Kane have been following me around."

Noah nodded, "You're normally not popular, you're admired, people think you're unattainable and your friend group is pretty close-knit, people are jealous of that. But popular, you've never been popular before."

"You know me, then I guess," Knox said, crossing his arms as he realised just how well the girl must know him.

"I guess." She tapped her foot slightly against the linoleum. It seemed more like a nervous tic than trying to get her to hurry up. "It's weird right, you've never been popular before and suddenly you just are. You didn't do anything, did you?"

Knox shook his head, "Nope. I mean, at least I don't think so."

She seemed to think about it. Speaking her thoughts out loud, Noah said, "And it's weird that no one else has noticed. It seems like we're the only two who've noticed how weird this is."

"Yeah," Knox said, nodding. "It makes sense that I'd notice because it's happening to me but why are you noticing?"

Noah shrugged, "Weird stuff has been happening to me too, just... not the same kind of weird."

Knox uncrossed his arms, the weird way Noah was acting earlier had made it hard to trust her but the way she had admitted that made Knox less suspicious. He didn't feel like she was lying to him, in fact, he felt like she didn't want to lie to him.

"You're telling the truth," Knox said, eyeing her up and down.

"Yeah," Noah said, looking confused. "Why would I lie? I want your help and lying isn't a great way to get that."

"You want my help?" Knox asked, slightly confused. How could he be helpful to her in any way?

"I just think that if we worked together we could figure it out," Noah declared. She paused a second before finishing with, "And honestly, I'm kind of freaking out about this."

"Okay," Knox sighed. "What weird shit did you notice?"

Noah nodded, "Right, so. It all started when I woke up this morning..." 

words: 2476

dedicated to NaLu4everandalways