Free No Regrets by Elizabeth Karre

chapter one
    I wasn’t going to let him get away with not giving me the details. I’ve seen too much old sci-fi on TV for that.
    â€œSo can I go anywhere in time? Can I change what happens? Will I meet myself from before or in the future? Or do I have my old or future body but I know everything I know now?”
    The guy groaned and put his head down on a desk. “Maybe you should choose something else instead of time travel. There are lots of other gifts.” Without raising his head, he waved his book toward me.
    I slapped it out of his hand. “No! C’mon, you said I could choose, and I want to time travel. I just need to know exactly how it works.”
    He rolled his head back and forth on the desktop. He kind of looked like the band teacher at my school. It’s so dumb—most of my dreams are about school or at least start there. But I’d never dreamed about Mr. Washington, and I knew this guy wasn’t him. This guy was here to give me what I needed … if I could get him to explain how not to die while traveling in time.
    â€œStop being lazy!” I said to him. “Sit up!”
    He slowly pulled his head up but then slouched down in the seat, looking at the ceiling. “How come you want to time travel, anyway?” he asked. “It’s not fun.”
    â€œNone of your business,” I said. “Just answer my questions.”
    â€œIt’s like you think you’re running this show,” he said, finally looking at me. “I’m the magical one here. I’m offering to share a magical power with you. You could be nicer.”
    â€œNice never got me anything,” I tell him. “But I can be polite. OK—PLEASE. Satisfied?”
    He pulled himself out of his chair and slowly walked to a box of books on the floor. He started throwing books out of it. He grabbed one from the very bottom and came back to his seat.
    â€œThat’s To Kill a Mockingbird ,” I said, pointing at the cover. “I didn’t finish it when we were supposed to read it, but I’m pretty sure there’s no time travel in it.”
    â€œIf you want to be in charge,” he said, flipping pages, “you can wake up whenever you want and go back to running your life perfectly.”
    That shut me up. I bit my lip.
    â€œOr maybe things aren’t so perfect,” he said, almost to himself, “if you’re so ready to be jumping around in time trying to change things.”
    He was really irky, but I had to get a grip on myself. I breathed out through my nose. I would get what I wanted. That was what mattered.

chapter two
    â€œAll right,” he said. “Hmm, OK, let’s start that you can only go back from now to one year ago or forward now to one year in the future. So no preventing MLK being killed or all the other noble things I’m sure you’re thinking about. Got it?”
    He looked at me. I nodded even though I wanted to argue. A year wasn’t far enough, and I was pretty sure he was just making up rules as he thought of them. But I decided to hear him out first.
    â€œAnd you have to visit yourself, your life. You can never be more than … I don’t know, maybe fifty feet from your past or future self. I’m not very good at judging distance, so don’t quote me on that, but you get what I’m saying. You can’t go far away from her.”
    â€œOr else what?” I asked.
    He scratched his head. “How ’bout you just stay close to the other you like you’re supposed to, and we don’t have to find out. Then, like I said, you’re still you, and you-in-the-past is you back then, and you-in-the-future is you later. Man!” He shook his head. “OK, anyway, just don’t mess with her. I mean, the other you.”
    â€œWait, I can’t talk to myself? What’s the point then?”
    â€œIf you’ve watched some sci-fi, you know what happens when people meet