Updated: Chapter 5

JC and Missy

 “Are you alright?” Missy woke up on the basketball court, it was dim, music was playing, the gym was decorated for a dance.

“Give her some air.” A boy said.

“I’m fine, what happened?” Missy asked, sitting up. Next to her was JC. 

“You passed out,” her friend and teammate said. “You both did.”

“That must have been some kiss,” the boy added.

They helped them stand as one of the chaperones spotted them and came over. 

“You feel okay?” J.C. asked Missy.

“Yes, just a little wobbly.”

“Alright, Sarah, escort them to the infirmary,” the dance chaperone said once they explained what happened. She was a strong looking middle-aged woman.

“Yes, coach,” Sarah said automatically. She and her date left the gym with JC and Missy.

Sarah, Missy’s good friend and Volleyball teammate, who Missy had never met yet, talked about stuff they had done before coming to the dance, as they walked down the hallway. It was so weird. Missy had no clue who she was or what she was talking about. But the girl didn’t seem to notice and chatted on like they were best buddies.

“Hey, um, Sarah,” Missy broke in. “I’m fine, really. We can make it on our own.” She smiled reassuringly.

“Ok, text me.” She gave Missy a hug and the guys slapped hands. Once the other couple was gone. JC grinned at her. “What do you think we’re doing here?”

“This is the highschool where you guys would go. I’m supposed to go to private school. I shouldn’t be here…”

“Unless you're my date,” Missy said. SHe smiled shyly then remembered something. “But I’m moving.”

JC’s face dropped the grin. “You are?”

After this year. I mean 8th grade year. Wow,” she said looking around at the hall. A trophy case caught her gaze and she checked out the dates. “Wow, we’re really in the future.

He looked at her in her dress. I think you look a little older.

He glanced away feeling his cheeks warm up. She guessed she felt a little more mature. He looked a little different, two years older as well. She hadn’t seen a mirror yet.

 “ Check this out  ,” he said pointing to a photo of the champion girls’ volleyball team, “It’s you. And I think that’s that girl, Sarah.”

“So I have been going here. We’re basketball team champs too.” She grinned, she loved her sports. “But what happened? Why didn't I move with my dad?”

“JC shrugged. “Guess we could find out. And see what Marty and Smarty are like. They should go here.

“And Laurie. What do you want to do, find a yearbook? Ooh I bet we use the same code on our cell phones,” she thought aloud.

They heard some kids laughing  down the hall and headed toward them.

JC took Missy’s hand and pulled her into a classroom. They hid close together by the wall. “Hope we didn’t change anything.” JC said.

“This is tough. It's the future, how are we supposed to know what to do? I mean what if we would have talked to them if we were really our future selves and that’s a change?” She rolled her eyes and shook her head.

“This is tough. Weird and tough,” JC agreed. “Okay he’s gone.” He caught her hand as she went for the light switch. “Probably shouldn’t.”

“Right, that would draw attention.” she nodded.

They looked at each other in the dim light from the classroom's windows. “Your eyes are still the same.”

She smiled. “Of course, some things won’t change. Yours too. So… we kept in touch.”

“Yeah, that's great. Hey, maybe there’s a yearbook here.

They looked up Thierry in the index and flipped to the page. “There’s Smarty.” 

They stifled laughter. “Awe, he does not take a good picture,” Missy said sympathetically. 

“I wonder when his skin starts breaking out?” JC asked, trying not to make fun of his new friend.

“Let’s find Marty.” Missy said, flipping back to the index. She ran her finger down the names. “He’s not listed.”

“Maybe he moved.” 

“See if there’s an older one,” Missy suggested. “And I want to see Laurie too. She took out her phone. I hope we still hang out with Laurie.”

“Found it!” JC happily declared. 

“Whoa me too. JC look,” she said, showing him a photo on her phone.

He looked at the photo of her and Laurie at a park bench.  “she… she puts on some weight,” he commented.

“Yeah,” Missy said cautiously. She frowned at the belly of the flowy top Laurie wore. “Does she look-” 

They passed out before she could complete the question. 

“So what’d you think?” Thierry asked anxiously.

“It works!” JC exclaimed. He gave him a friendly punch in the arm.

“Awesome,” he said, rubbing his upper arm.  “Any concerns?" he asked Missy. He didn’t expect JC to have thought too deeply about it.

“Well, we wake up from passing out. What if we pass out driving a car or something?”

JC nodded. “Yeah, I already drive.”

Smarty made a note. “I think I can handle that.”

“We can set an algorithm to match sleep brain wave patterns,” Marty suggested.

“Right,” he agreed. “Then you'll only go to a time when you're already sleeping. Marty, can you build a connection to the seat or some way to ensure they come back in a safe position?” 

“Sure.”

Laurie was excited. “So it works, let's go further than a couple years. That’s boring.We already know we'll be in  highschool.”

Missy was reminded of how Marty wasn’t there and how different Laurie looked. “Can’t be sure,”she mumbled.

“So when we’re adults?” Marty asked. “Like 40?

Laurie shuddered. “Not that old.”

Missy laughed. “You'll probably be just like your mom.”

“Shut up.” She turned to Missy and stuck out her tongue.

“Hey, she’s fun.”

 “Okay so…30?” Marty added.

Laurie thought about it. “Ok yeah. I'll go 1st. Do…16 years in the future. Then I’ll be-30!” Her eyes got wide. “This was crazy!”

Laurie: 

“I don’t want to!” She woke up to the sounds of two kids fighting. She groaned and sat up on the couch. She had a bit of a headache. Missy and JC hadn’t mentioned that. She put a hand to her head and squinted at the two kids.

“Mooom!” The younger, a curly haired boy, whined coming over to her.

“Hey,” a teenage girl poked her head out from a bedroom, “Mom can you tell them to keep it down? I’m on the phone.”

 “Wait, are you all my kids?”

The second oldest girl who had been fighting with the boy frowned at her. “That’s not funny, mommy.”

Laurie got up. She had to get some air. She pulled away from the children and went outside. It was a warm beautiful day but she couldn’t appreciate it. She took big gulps of fresh air as she bent over like she was sick.

“What the?” She stood and felt her belly. Something pressed back. “Ahh,” she yelped.

“30 years old, 3 kids and  one on the way.” She didn’t believe it. She turned around to look at her home, a trailer. What a dump. She closed her eyes and shook her head. No way, no way. This was some kinda nightmare. Their machine messed up.” She sat on the steps. Soon the

teen came out. 

“We need groceries.”

“What?” Laurie responded in daze.

 “The eggs were too expensive last time. Did you get another check yet? Mom? Hellooo?” The teen girl waved her hand in front of Laurie’s face. She was staring into nowhere. 

“How, how old are you?” Laurie was almost afraid to ask. The girl rolled her eyes. Picked up a can on the step full of cigarettes. 

“Really? 15, duh. You’re not smoking again are you?”

Laurie didn’t answer. 

“It’s the middle of the afternoon, couldn't you even dress the little kids?”

Laurie got up and went back inside. The other kids were watching something on a cheap tablet in the living room area. She went to the kitchen and her oldest trailed her. 

“Mom, are you ok?”

“How can I have a teen?” she muttered. 

“Momma, what’s wrong?”

“Everything! Where’s your dad? Did I even finish high school?”

Her daughter gazed at her with worried eyes just like her own. Then she blacked out.

When Laurie returned she was quiet. The others tried joking but could tell she was upset.

“Did it work?” Thierry asked.

“Yeah,” she said softly.

“...How was it?” Missy asked, putting a hand on Laurie’s shoulder. Laurie shook her head. “What happened?”

She couldn’t tell them. She couldn’t let that happen.

Thierry aka “Smarty”, cleared his throat during the awkward silence. 

“It’s okay," he said after a moment. “You don't have to tell us anything personal.”  He got a folder from the glove box. I made up these questionnaires to see if general details match. As proof we went to the future.”

“Really?” Jc rolled his eyes. “You’re giving us homework?”

“It is a science experiment.” 

Missy read the form quickly, then tried to keep the peace. “So next time we need to get  a few facts, like details from the news or something.”

“Right. But try not to look up anything too personal about the five of us. It could be dangerous.”

Laurie thought about her own life. It shocked her and made her sad but what was dangerous about it?

“Dangerous, how?” JC asked.

“Well, we shouldn’t change anything. It would have unknown consequences.

“Are you kidding?” Laurie said “Maybe that’s the whole point. The reason this happened, ‘by accident’. We’re not changing the past but what’s the point of knowing our own future if we don’t make it better. Why not use it to help us make better decisions?” She asked heatedly

JC thought about their trip.“I mean it’s a good point. Some of us are pretty stupid right now.”

“Shut up JC!” she said, actually angry this time. “ Just wait til you go when you're 30.”

“I’m not chicken. I’ll go right now.” 

“By yourself.”

“Fine. Set it up,” Jc demanded.

“Hey,” Marty said worried. “I’ll go. You already had a turn.”

“He’s right.” Missy agreed. They both wanted the fighting to stop. “We should all go. We’ll all do 16 years old, solo.” 

“And we don’t have to share anything we don’t want to,” Marty added.

Missy nodded “But we,” she said indicating herself and JC, “should go last since we already had a turn.” 

“Do I get a say?” Smarty jumped in. “It is my invention, after all.”

“Our invention.” Marty corrected him.

“Right, right but it’s my concept.” Marty glared at him and Thierry shrugged. “But we’re a team now. so majority rules I guess. Ok Marty, get ready,” he said, taking over the controls.

Marty closed his eyes and tried to stay calm, “Ready.”

Smarty hit enter but the computer just beeped. He tried again. Another beep.

  Marty opened his eyes. “What's a matter?

“Sixteen years won't enter,” Smarty explained.

“What’s wrong?” Marty asked again, leaning over to see the computer screen. “Try this year. A month,” he said.

Smarty tried. Soon he was shaking his head again. “No go. It could be a natural rule we just discovered,  like any particle of matter in the universe attracts any other with a force varying directly as the product of the masses and inversely as the square of the distance between them.”

“...What?” JC questioned him.

“It’s Newton's law of gravitation,” Missy said. “Like on earth everything that goes up must come down because the planet’s gravity pulls everything toward its center,” Missy explained, simplifying the phrase. 

“Or maybe traveling to the same year is not possible. Or maybe we can only do 3 trips at a time,” Smarty continued running through possibilities.

Marty shrugged, “Let's just try another year.”

Smarty shook his head. “It’s not working. It’s getting late. Let's troubleshoot tomorrow.”