My Future Self Called To Save My Ruined Life Chapter 02

My Future Self Called To Save My Ruined Life Chapter 02

Less than twenty minutes later, a message from Savannah popped up.

[Jess! My capstone model keeps failing. Can you take a quick look?]

[Just a small block of code! Please, please, please!]

A string of crying emojis and folded-hands emojis followed.

I stared at the screen, remembering what my future self had said.

“Savannah needs you to do her capstone project.”

Not just one section of code.

The whole thing—from proposal to final defense. I’d carried it for her.

And all the time she saved? She spent it sleeping with my boyfriend.

I took a breath and typed:

[Super busy these days. Maybe ask your advisor?]

A long silence followed. Finally, she replied with a flat:

[Okay.]

No emojis.

I knew she was upset.

But I also knew why.

Not because I wouldn’t help. Because she was afraid she couldn’t finish her capstone, couldn’t graduate on time, and couldn’t run off with Liam.

I put my phone face-down on the desk and opened Ashford’s course catalog.

AI Lab. First-semester application.

Acquired by Google in two years.

From this second on, my life was mine alone.

Three days after I turned Savannah down, she asked me to dinner.

She picked The Rusty Grill—our usual spot since freshman year, right off campus.

When I arrived, she was already in the booth, her makeup flawless, waving at me with that bright smile.

“Jess! Over here!”

I sat down. She shoved the menu at me, way too eager.

“My treat tonight. Order whatever you want.”

I raised an eyebrow but said nothing, picking two items at random.

Five minutes of small talk later, she got to the point.

“Jess, I seriously can’t figure out this capstone.” She set down her fork, her eyes glistening.

“You know I’m useless at coding, and my advisor’s breathing down my neck. If I get delayed, my mom will never let me hear the end of it.”

She reached for my wrist—that perfect pressure, intimate and pleading.

“Just this one last time? Please?”

“After graduation, I’ll take you out for a real feast. Promise.”

I looked into her eyes.

I saw weakness. I saw flattery. And underneath it all, a quiet certainty.

She was certain I’d say yes.

Because I’d never said no.

Freshman year: I saved her seats. I wrote her lab reports. I edited her essays.

Senior year: I carried her capstone.

I was her favorite tool.

“Savannah.”

I pulled my hand back, my voice calm.

“I really don’t have time.”

Her smile froze.

“What have you been so busy with lately?”

“Just handling some personal stuff.”

Her eyes flickered, like she was trying to read between the lines.

Then she slipped back into that soft, helpless act and forced a smile.

“Okay. I’ll figure something out, I guess.”

We finished dinner and parted ways.

At the intersection, I caught her pulling out her phone in my peripheral vision.

She was facing away, her voice low, but the night wind carried fragments back to me.

“She’s been off lately… won’t help anymore… what do we do?”

I didn’t look back. I didn’t slow down.

I didn’t need to guess who was on the other end.

Sure enough, that night Liam texted me, ten times more tender than usual.

[Babe, you seem down lately. Want me to take you out this weekend?]

[Oh, and Savannah mentioned she’s stuck on her capstone. If you have time, maybe give her a hand? It’s no big deal.]

I stared at “no big deal” and nearly laughed out loud.

An entire capstone project. He called that no big deal.

Easy to say when it cost him nothing.

I replied with one word:

[Busy.]

He wrote back immediately.

[Busy with what? I thought you weren’t going out-of-state? Grad exam’s still months away.]

I didn’t respond.

Three messages in a row followed—his tone shifting from gentle to irritated.

[Jessica?]

[What’s with the attitude?]

[I’m trying to be nice here. Can you stop being so passive-aggressive?]

I silenced my phone, opened my laptop, and kept studying Ashford’s AI Lab application materials.

The professor was David Kleinman. His focus was natural language processing.

My future self was right.

That lab would catch Google’s eye in two years.

All I had to do was get in before the first semester ended.

As for Liam and Savannah?

Let them help each other.