Over the next week I spent all the time that I could with Christa. We hung out at the fair, we went shopping at the mall (I got to see her in some cute outfits) and we went for smoothies at a local cafe. I felt my bond with her tighten. School had started but after school we would hang out with each other. We laughed together, talked about fun things and shared hugs and some kisses on the cheek.

Life was great. The mission for saving Mason was in the back of my head. I waited for the 21st to come closer before getting on my guard. Eventually it did get closer and closer until it was finally the dreaded day.

I knew I had to wake up early to talk to Mason. I had to stop him from going to the base.

“Hey Mason, rise and shine!” I said as I shook his shoulder.

“Why are you waking me up so early?” he asked, pushing me as he did.

“I really want you to hang out with Christa and me today.”

He immediately sat up. “Really? You mean that? Sure, let’s go!”

I smiled at him. I thought in my head: I have to keep him in my line of sight and not let him separate from me whatsoever.

I opened my phone to text Christa that we could hang out, but I just needed a place for us to go. I saw a recent message from Fernando to the group chat.

“First Sunday with everyone back, who’s down to meet up at the base?” Fernando messaged.

“Shouldn’t you ask permission before inviting people to my house, Fernando?” Giampi replied, almost instantly.

Fernando replied with a: smh (shake my head).

“I’m down to go,” Jett texted, coming out of nowhere.

“Guys! I didn’t even say if you all could come over!” Giampi messaged, sounding annoyed.

The feeling of deja vu hit me hard.

“Sorry guys, Mason and I can’t go. We’re hanging out with Christa.”

“Bro are you serious!? Come on! Hang out with us!” Fernando wrote.

“I didn’t even say you could come!” Giampi retorted.

“Hey, why don’t we take Christa to the base with us?” Mason asked.

I turned off my phone and faced him. I needed an excuse. I didn’t know if the situation would change if Christa was there. Hell, I didn’t even know if Mason had his Batman figure at all. For all I knew, if we went, nothing bad would happen.

“I don’t want her to hang out with the whole group. I know the other guys will just give us a hard time.” Which wasn’t really a lie, after all.

He nodded. 

“I see. Well, in that case, let’s hang out. Just the three of us. Where are we going?”

I hadn’t asked where we would go. I opened my phone for the second time and messaged her.

“Hey, where are we going today?”

“Well, I was thinking. You took me shopping last time so why don’t I take YOU shopping?”

“Great! By the way, can my best friend come along? I want you to get to know him.”

“Of course, he can come! But I’m not paying for his clothes!”

“Wait, you’re paying for my clothes?”

“It’s a treat.”

“This is going to be awesome.”

“By the way, I also want to buy some clothes so can we also do that?”

I expected her to say that.

“Sure.”

“We’re going to a mall! She’s taking us shopping!” I said excitedly.

Mason rolled his eyes.

“Seriously?”

“Come on! It’ll be fun! Do you have money or do you need to borrow some? I can help a homie out!”

“I’m good. I have this month’s allowance and I was running out of clothes that had fit me anyways.”

“Alright! Let’s go shopping!”

…………………………………

I had gotten my mom to drive us there. She seemed pretty excited, since she was on board with the idea of me getting a girlfriend. 

I felt a bit queasy in the car. I still had those flashbacks of my whole family dead. I didn’t know how I should feel about seeing them all living well when I had just seen them all dead. 

I made a tight fist. I was going to save Mason and my whole family! I would do this!

“Are you feeling queasy again?” Mason asked.

“Yeah, but I’ll be fine.”

“Have you been having nightmares lately? Don’t lie to me. I can hear you tossing and turning. You keep mumbling in you sleep,’I’ll save them!’”

I was having nightmares. That wasn’t a lie. It seemed like it would be a while until I was fine again. I had been going to therapy but that was going nowhere, since I couldn’t share the truth.

“I think I’ll feel better when I see her.”

“That’s so sweet!” my mom said.

We arrived at the mall and my mother drove away, leaving us on our own. We walked into the mall towards the food court where we would meet.

“Boo!”

I yelped and turned around to see Christa. She had her hair pulled back in braids and wore a purple dress.

Mason laughed. “So I’m not the only one that likes to scare Christopher!”

“Really? You like to scare Chris?”

“Yeah! It’s fun isn’t it?”

“Chris, I like your friend!”

I was annoyed. They were bonding over how easily scared I was. I didn’t like it one bit.

“So, did we meet at the food court to eat or are we shopping first? Because Mason and I have already eaten.”

“I was hoping we could shop first and then eat.”

“That’s fine with me, how about you, Mason?”

He nodded. “Oh, I’m Mason by the way. We met briefly at the base.” He stuck out his hand.

“I’m Christa.”

They shook hands.

“What is your fashion sense?”

I looked at what Mason was wearing. He was wearing a long sleeved shirt and ripped black jeans. I looked down at myself. Shit! I thought. I was wearing a black adidas tracksuit. I had forgotten to change out of it, and was feeling a little too casual.

“Well, I like skater type clothes.”

“Alright! We can shop at Zumiez.”

“Sounds good!”

“And you…”

She turned to look at me and eyed me up and down.

“Do you want to go to a sports store?”

I looked down in embarrassment.

“I like Hot Topic’s clothes,” I said, shuffling my feet together as I did.

She smiled. “All right! Let’s go to our first stop! H&M!”

…………………………………

Mason and I stood outside of the changing rooms. I held Christa’s purse. We stood there waiting and waiting. Finally Christa emerged from the changing room.

She wore overalls.

“For some reason...that’s cute,” I said, trying not to laugh.

“I agree,” Mason said, smiling.

“If my boyfriend likes it and so does his best friend, I’ll buy it!”

Christa viewed more clothes, anything from sweaters, to dresses, to skirts. We left the store with Mason carrying bags in both hands. He had offered to carry her stuff and I could see it in his face that he regretted it.

We then headed to Zumiez where we stood outside of the changing room examining Mason’s sense of style and giving him the thumbs up. He bought a lot of clothes too. Since his hands were occupied, I had to carry Christa’s clothes, but I didn’t mind.

Our last stop was Hot Topic. We entered  and I rushed around, grabbing shirts and examining them. I found loads of Rick and Morty stuff and something that surprised me. I found a The Emperor of The Sun! shirt. I immediately bought it. I changed into different clothes and walked out to show them off to my girlfriend and my best friend.

They both gave me the thumbs up and, as we left the store, Christa was forced to carry her own bags.

We went back to our starting point. It was late in the afternoon and we were all tired and hungry. We went and sat down. Christa and I decided to share a pizza together. As we stood up to order, Mason asked if he could share with us. I nodded and we went to buy the pizza.

As we walked to Domino’s I stopped and remembered my mission. I asked to be excused and walked back to Mason. He was playing games on his phone.

“Are you alright there, buddy?”

He looked up.

“Yeah. I’m glad we went here instead of going to the base. This was fun. Your girlfriend is an amazing person.”

“You’re not planning to steal her are you?”

He let out a laugh.“Of course not. She’s yours.”

Christa came back with the food and we ate like animals. We were starving. When we were finished we said our goodbyes, I received a kiss on the cheek and we were sent to the front of the mall to meet up with my mom. We drove home and by the time we reached the house it was 8 at night. 

We headed up to my bedroom and Mason decided to go to sleep early. I understood. It had been a great day, but also a long day. I was tired too but I couldn’t sleep.

I watched as the hours ticked by. I waited anxiously for 12 AM. It was 11:59. I could feel my heart beat fast. I stood there, watching the clock. The clock turned 12. I let out a sigh of relief. I had saved Mason. I had done it. Now I only needed to get through my death day and all would be fine. I couldn’t afford to die, not because I would have to start from the beginning, but because if I died, like Skeleton Master had said, the respawn point would get closer and closer to the day I originally died until resulting in my permanent death.