Lit-erally Yes

Ernest somehow managed to get through the rest of the class without completely losing focus. He even managed to take some notes. He'd never enjoyed writing down formulas off the board, but today, there was something about the task that seemed comfortingly prosaic, a moment of normalcy in the midst of startling events.

Finally, the bell rang. Reflexively, he collected his book and notes, and shoved them back into his backpack. Tiffany leaned over and gave him a peck on the cheek.

"I have to swing by my locker. See you in class, babe."

"Bye, Tiff," he replied. He was still not 100% used to having this version of Tiffany be this interested in him, but he'd be lying if he said he wasn't enjoying it.

Still lost in thought, he started walking down the hall, joining the throng of other students also headed for their next classes. He was barely paying attention to anything around him, muscle memory propelling him toward the proper destination, until he heard a loud voice just behind him and to his right.

"Hey Ernest! Bro!"

Ernest's head bounced up, and he turned around to find none other than Brad Myers. Or, as he preferred to be called, 'Thundercock'. It was, in Ernest's humble opinion, just about the stupidest nickname he'd ever heard, but it wasn't like he would have said that to Brad's face. Or indeed, have said anything to Brad's face. As far as Ernest could recall, he'd never spoken a single sentence to Brad, and was fairly sure the other boy didn't even know his name. Ernest, of course, knew who Brad was -- defensive superstar of the Eastlake Tigers football team, the one whom the Division I college recruiters were all in the stands to see. He was school royalty, the kind of person any given student wouldn't even have to like sports to be able to identify. His social circle had almost no overlap with Ernest's: basically, it was just Jessica and Tiffany.

Tiffany. Obviously, if he was dating her, Ernest's social status must have improved. Which might explain what was going on.

"Oh... hey," Ernest said awkwardly.

"'Sup, my man?" Brad grabbed Ernest's hand, and pulled him into a quick bro-hug, complete with an almost-painful thump on the back, "You coming to the party at my house on Saturday? You'd better say yes, man."

"Um...I think so? There's a thing my mom might make me go to -- I'm still trying to get a firm answer from her."

This was, of course, a lie. Well, Ernest's mom did have a thing on Saturday night: her still-life painting class at the community center. It was not, however, the sort of thing that she would invite Ernest to. She already had a companion for the class -- a bottle of rosé, which would be nearly empty when she returned. The answer seemed to satisfy Brad, however.

"Come if you can, man. It'll be awesome."

"Sure thing. I'll let you know," Ernest completed the fist bump that Brad was offering, and then slipped away towards his class.

This, he thought to himself, was getting out of hand. Changing Tiffany had changed a whole host of other things too, and even just navigating a normal school day was proving difficult.

Fortunately, there was a way to fix that.

Ernest darted into the nearest men's room, and walked into one of the stalls. He shut the door, and then stared at the ring on his finger. What was it? He took it off his finger and held it closer to his right eye to try to get a better look at it. And that's when he noticed that there was an inscription on the inside, one that he didn't remember seeing when he'd picked the ring up at Jessica's party.

Ernest Redmond

The ring did belong to him, he knew that, so maybe that made sense? Mystical, magical, fourth-dimensional sense? There was no way to really understand what he was looking at, so he put it back on.

"I wish I had access to the memories from this reality too," he muttered.

Immediately, images filled his head. His chemistry class, junior year, except instead of Donald being his lab partner, it was Tiffany. Feeling shy, but having Tiffany invite him out to a movie. And another movie. And to make their relationship official. Tiffany introducing him to Jessica, to Brad, to Samantha, and to a host of other people that he'd only vaguely been aware of in his previous life, but whom he now knew counted him as friends: Chris, Cassie, Nina, Zara. Dinner with Tiffany's parents, somehow making a good impression on them. A few months later, Tiffany's dad clapping him on the shoulder and handing him the key to the Corvette.

He could still remember his other life as well. But now, just as if he had actually been there, he knew his current life inside and out. It was overwhelming, but somehow, his brain was able to keep the two tracks separate.

"Well, that ought to help," Ernest said to himself.

He shook his head once, and then slipped back outside. There was little time left to get to literature class, and he hurried down the hall, making it inside the door just as the bell rang.

Ernest went to take his seat, but as he did so, someone tapped him on the shoulder.

"Master, I need to talk to you after class," Jessica Edwards said. "Meet me in the library."