Fenton, unlike Ace, spent his 3,653rd Monday trying to learn instead of pretending he was learning. He went to the Academy to save money for college. He had six older sisters and a brother.
There was no way he was going to college unless he was getting a full ride, and the Defense Program would give it to him.
After his minimum requirement of six years of service, of course.
He worked his butt off, taking advanced classes. He wasn't necessarily smarter, he just knew what to study for, when, which teachers to schmooze and which to simply say nothing to.
If it weren't for Fenton's hard work, none of it would have rubbed off on Ace who was always more preoccupied with Candice, food, or how long he could get away with nothing.
After his last training session and his Calculus class, Fenton made his way to the library, hoping he could get everything out of the way by Thursday.
At the library he saw Santos, sitting in the corner, back in the biography section where no one went. Fenton took a deep breath to work up his courage.
He knew he had a crush on his roommate. Santos probably knew too because Fenton crumbled like a cracker whenever he was near.
Fenton walked up to the section Santos was sitting in. "
Hey", said Fenton. "Mind if I sit here"?
Without even looking up Santos grunted "Sure".
Fenton wanted to talk to him about his screaming but wasn't sure how to bring it up. He decided to just ask.
Fenton got out a book and began to study. He was at the academy on a scholarship. Time is of the essence when he took advanced classes.
Why not interrogate and study at the same time?
"So…", said Fenton. "Seems like you're having a hard time adjusting to campus". Santos looked up from his phone, with a puzzled expression.
"You know, with the morning screams", Fenton explained.
"Oh, that", Santos sighed. "It doesn't matter. Soon you won't remember any of it anyway. It's my way of getting rid of the stress of repeating every single day".
Fenton could read thoughts, auras, and move objects. He had an innate sixth sense. Even if he couldn't read someone's thoughts (for some reason a few he couldn't), he could still tell if someone was lying.
Santos was not lying when he said that he would not remember any of this.
That troubled Fenton greatly.
"What do you mean I won't remember anything", asked Fenton. "That's preposterous".
Santos berated Fenton like one would berate a child for doing something they shouldn't.
"Fine, I might as well tell you. Since this will probably just happen all over again", Santos huffed. "November 1st never comes", says Santos.
Fenton looked shocked. "That's crazy", Fenton scoffed. "What do you mean".
"I've lost count of how many times it repeats. But it's a lot, "said Santos. "At first, I didn't even notice.I've been alive for so long now every day feels like the last. But then I started to notice that everything was the same. Conversations, events, even the weather".
Santos put his phone in his pocket and sighed. "I tried to figure out what was going on, but I couldn't. I even tried telling people, but it wouldn't matter. Soon everything rewinds back to September".
Fenton looked scared. He knew Santos was telling the truth, but it sounded crazy.
"Even this conversation doesn't matter", Santos groaned. "I haven't found anyone else that's realized everything is repeating".
Fenton gripped his pencil and forced a smile, nervous that he was sitting next to a very mentally deranged man. "That's silly. If you've been through all of this before, prove it", said Fenton.
Santos took the pencil from Fenton's hand and ripped a piece of paper out of his notebook.
"Hey", objected Fenton. "My notes".
Without hesitating, Santos wrote down everything he remembered that would happen that day, everything that he was forced to live, again and again.
"These will be your most important notes from now on", said Santos. "Hopefully this will help you understand I'm not lying".
Fenton took the note from Santos and tucked it away in his pocket. "If all of this doesn't matter, how come you're bothering to explain all this to me", asked Fenton.
"Because", smiled Santos. "Out of the thousands of times I've lived these two months, this is the first time anyone has asked me first. So maybe there's hope".
Fenton was too enamored by his smile to notice the two protruding fangs from his mouth.
Santos got up from the booth and was about to leave.
"Wait", said Fenton. "One more thing".
Santos turned around but couldn't hear what he was saying. He mumbled and stared at the floor, his face turning red and his voice starting to crack.
"Speak up, man", he said. "It's a library, not a funeral".
"Your number. In case anything happens."
Santos and Fenton exchanged numbers and Fenton was quite sure that it was more important than the list Santos had given him earlier.
"See ya later man", he said.
Fenton had finally gotten Santos' number.
He was trying to tell himself it was of course, for something important.
Nothing to do with dating.
Fenton's heart was still beating fast.
He just couldn't tell if it was from the strange conversation or his crush.