Chapter 9

Thursday, December 18, 2014, 12:41 p.m. Leda had taken the gate. Cursing, Rebecca kicked the wall directly above the dropped penny and staggered back, hopping one-footed as her left ankle screamed in pain. You stupid bimbo, she thought angrily, trying to walk it off. What are you so angry about, anyway?

“Because!” she hissed angrily. “I’m stranded with my other, unsuspecting self, due home from school at 3 o’clock! How do I explain this to her?”

Hobbling from the shed to the far corner of the house and back, her pain lessened somewhat. Dropping onto the patio chair, she crossed her left ankle over her right knee, and rubbed it through the thick leather of her boot. Thank God she hadn’t worn Uggs. She’d probably have broken a few toes in addition to spraining her ankle.

Why move the gate? Rebecca had mutinied to confront Iris and Younger-Rebecca in 2014, yes, but she had nonetheless undertaken Leda’s quest for the books and records ... if rather clandestinely. Now she was trapped here, with no way to complete her mission.

She sat bolt upright. At approximately 9:24 p.m. tonight, she realized, the gate would suddenly appear in her bedroom and stick around until roughly 10:45 p.m., when she’d send it into the near past. She needed to sneak in the back door tonight, enter her bedroom at roughly 10:05 p.m., and step through with Younger-Rebecca in the shower and Returning-Rebecca yet to arrive. Just be gone by 10:10 p.m., she thought; she had no wish to run into another version of herself, ever again.

Rising, she tested her left ankle, winced, and then returned to the bags. In the short time since sitting down, her ankle had begun to swell. Her nose and ears had grown markedly colder also, to say nothing of her bare hands. Setting the bags on the table, she removed her gloves from her coat pockets and slipped them on again.

Returning to Teddy, she dug out her cell phone and copied Gunther’s number to her new burner phone. Then she turned the iPhone off: no telling what issues an identical twin in her younger self’s pocket might cause down the road with Verizon.

“It’s Becca,” she typed on the burner’s screen. “I got this burner from Amy this morning, but don’t talk to her, because she doesn’t know what I’m up to. My cell phone is inside, and I can’t get it without deactivating the alarm. Mom would know I was home. Why don’t you come pick me up?”

This was iffy, as she, Gunther, and Amy shared 5th period Trig. But Rebecca took lunch before Gunther, and normally wouldn’t see him until English.

“Where are you?” he replied.

“Home, duh! Come get me. We can go to your place. If that’s okay...”

“Fuck yeah! Why aren’t you in school?”

“I’ll tell you when you get here. Don’t be surprised when you see me, though. I have a black eye, and a swollen lip.”

“WHAT???!!!”

But Rebecca had silenced the burner and tossed it onto the passenger’s seat.

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At 8:55 p.m., Rebecca pulled into the drive-through and ordered a cheeseburger and fries, and a large Diet-Coke. She felt alternately numb, and exhilarated. Handing the girl a $5 bill borrowed from Gunther, she shifted uncomfortably on the seat, wondering how long she’d ache. She and Gunther had done it three times. She didn’t regret it, despite cuckolding a young girl working diligently on Groves’ biology report. She laughed softly, imagining Rebecca’s coming chagrin.