In one blink, younger Tess was no longer staring at Jeremy's back as he left her. She and he faced each other as they swung in separate swings five feet apart. Their new clothes meant it was a new day and the same time after Academy hours.
Tess didn't know if she wanted things to speed up and so sat with her legs folded on the grass to stare at the two. She didn't know how to wake up from that dream and couldn't alter things away from what happened. If she stayed for too long, the tears were going to come from burns she tried to heal with ice.
She listened as Jeremy spoke. A relative of his parents died and was at the clinic for some mortician matters. Neither of them at that age knew what that meant but Tess knew Petra did that at times.
"This is my parent's home district. They decided to move back here to live in my grandparent's house. So here I am..."