It was not supposed to be dramatic. It was just maths. I only wanted my exact marks so I could calculate my percentage properly. Everyone in class was already discussing theirs, and I did not want to be the only one guessing.
So I messaged my teacher politely. I asked her for my maths marks because I wanted to calculate my overall percentage. It felt harmless. Academic. Responsible, even.
She replied quickly.
Forty-two out of eighty.
For a second, I just stared at the number. My brain did the calculation automatically. A little above fifty percent. Not terrible. Not great either. My stomach dropped anyway.
And then I felt it. That terrifying awareness that someone was behind me.
My mom.
Before I could lock the screen or tilt the phone away, she saw the message. She saw forty-two out of eighty clearly glowing on my screen. The silence that followed was heavy. It felt louder than shouting.
That was when everything shifted.
Suddenly, I was back. Ten seconds earlier. My message was still unsent. My thumb hovered over the screen. My heart started racing because I understood what had happened. I could rewind time once a day, and somehow I had just used it.
I had ten seconds to change something.
I quickly deleted the message. Instead, I opened my calculator and pretended to be deeply focused on numbers. Right on time, my mom walked past. She glanced at my phone.
“Studying?”
“Yes,” I said calmly. “Calculating my percentage.”
Technically true.
She walked away.
With only a few seconds left, I sent the message again. This time I was ready. When my teacher replied with forty-two out of eighty , I immediately switched to the calculator screen. I started multiplying and dividing like I was analyzing something very serious and complicated.
When my mom passed by again later, she saw nothing suspicious. Just me and my notebook filled with numbers.
The marks did not change. They were still 42 out of 80. But the outcome did.
That small rewind did not fix my score. It only gave me control over the moment. And somehow, that made all the difference.
I still have to improve in maths. Time travel does not solve trigonometry. Unfortunately.