It's Gonna Take A Little Time... A Little Time To Think Things Over...

Chapter 18: Not Rad

KEN
The first thing I did was grab Bre's hand and run to the cafe they always go to. When I stepped inside though, I regretted my choice. It was packed with teenagers and they immediately responded with whispered judging. Suddenly the tallest one in there hovered over us ominously.

He had curly red hair, freckles, and a football jersey. Boy he looked like an asshole. I glanced at Brenda and saw her eyes widen in shock. "Da- William..?" She asked. I saw the guy's pupils contract and he snarled "How'd you know my name, little girl?" I heard some others laughing in the crowd.

"What year is it?" I asked a blonde cheerleader hovering next to the guy. I noticed her eyes were the same color as David's eyes. "1959..?" She uttered, obviously confused. I looked at Brenda, and she looked at me. "Get outta here before I make you!" Yelled the guy, looking at both of us before shoving Brenda. I got in front of Brenda and shoved William into the crowd.

"Don't you touch her punk!" I glared at this guy. He can't just shove his daughter around like he did to his son! If he tried that again I was going to kick him. In the face. Haha, I am so intelligent, this is awesome!

William towered over us and punched me right in the nose. I felt a warm liquid leak from it and a resounding "OOOO" came from the crowd. "Ow!" I exclaimed. Then William shoved me onto the floor. He grabbed Brenda by the arm and yanked her over to him. "How dare you punch Ken and then have the audacity to grab ME! LET. ME. GO!!!" Brenda bellowed in his face. William just laughed. I heard the crack before I realized what happened. Brenda had punched William dead center in his nose.

"You BITCH! YOU. BROKE. MY. NOSE!" he hollered at her. Brenda smiled and slyly said "I know. That was my goal." William raised his fist and smacked it right on top of Brenda's head. She fell over, dazed. Oh hell no! I stood up and kicked William right in-between his eyes. Then as he was startled, I punched him in the nose. He fell over.
I stood over William and then I crouched down to his level and whispered, "If you ever hurt her again I won't be so nice." I then reached out and twisted his nose. (This is a detail I added to explain why William's ugly ass has a crooked nose.) He yelled out in pain, and I said "Ooh, that's gonna leave a mark. Gnarly." I stood up and walked over to Brenda. Her eyes were wide with adoration. I think? I wouldn't know...

I hoisted Bre to her feet, helped her out the door, and as we walked out, we both raised our middle fingers at those bastards. I saw a familiar girl holding a compass and recognized Jolie coming down the street, from the direction of the woods, with Ron and Timothy following closely behind her.

"Hey!" I called. Brenda was swaying and suddenly she dead-weighted. Brenda slid to the ground and I sunk with her, trying to figure out what was wrong. Jolie, Timothy, and Ronald were rushing over. "Brenda?! What's wrong?" She was unconscious, and I clutched her top half in my arms, trying to keep her from being upside down.

Jolie had made it over and crouched down. "Did she hit her head?" She asked as calmly as possible. I told her what happened. "Oh this is some Back To The Future shit right here." She whispered. "Brenda had a concussion. We shouldn't move her too fast, or be too loud. If we are here, the others are too. Let's go find them." I picked up Brenda gently and we started walking when we heard a "WHAT?!" From a girl on the staircase to the high school.

Right next to her was Jackson and Pamela.
"I AM NOT YOUR MOTHER YOU CREEP!" Screeched the girl in Jackson's face. He looked surprised, which melted to sadness, which turned to anger. "Follow me." He snapped and grabbed her arm, pulling the girl into the school. Pamela followed, and so did the rest of us.

When inside the school hallway, Jackson pulled out a coin and showed it to the girl. I assumed it was from our year because her eyes widened and she said "1989?!" Jackson nodded and showed her his book. She listened closely, nodding occasionally as Jackson spoke.

"So... I am your mother from the past?" The girl questioned. Jackson nodded. "Oh what do I do? What's my job? Am I pretty? Am I rich?" Jack's 'mom' bombarded him with questions. Jackson looked like waves of grief were flowing through his eyes. Still, Jackson kept a stoney face and not a tear left his eye.

"You ditched me. I don't know what happened to you, but something is wrong with you. They, YOUR people took our friend David over there and tried to perform tests on him!" I looked around, but didn't see David. Pamela noticed as well and murmured to Jackson, "David and Exer aren't here."

"Of course they aren't..." mumbled Jackson more to himself than us. "Okay, well uhmm... why are you talking to me? Shouldn't you be mad at me?" Jack's mother stated. "We need to find a way home. I assumed you would help us."

She thought for a minute and finally started "Well, if I abandoned you once.... I can probably do it again. Nice story guys, I thought the part with the coin was great. Now go fuck yourselves." And she flipped Jackson a bird and left. Jackson looked like he was in pain.

JACKSON

I told everyone I had to go to the bathroom, and when I got in there I felt like my insides would explode. I sank to the floor, tears rolling down my cheeks as I rocked back and forth. What a bitch! She left again, and when I needed her most. I felt like I couldn't breathe. I was taking rapid, shallow breaths. I covered my face with my hands. I wanted to die. Well, not really, but I couldn't think straight right now.

I heard the bathroom door open. Someone sat next to me and put their arm around my shoulders. I didn't look up, but I enjoyed the company. It was comforting to know that someone was helping me see this through.

After a couple minutes of sniffing I looked up to see Ken sitting next to me. He had his arm around my shoulder and for once, he wasn't laughing or joking about something.

I heard a sniff from my left and looked over to see that Timothy had been hugging me, and there were tears running down his face. Jolie was patting Timothy on the back gently. She smiled sadly at me. "I don't deserve you guys!" I wailed and then everyone was crying and they all hugged me.

"I guess you could say you are getting a blast from the past." Sniffed Ken and I snorted snottily with laughter. Jolie scolded Ken for making a joke at a bad time, but I realized that I didn't need my mom. I had my best friends to see me through this, and for once, I didn't worry about anything.

EXER

Ughhh... my head was throbbing. I went to touch it, but my hands were hooked up to something. I couldn't see a lot, it was pitch black. There were wires attached to my chest, arms, and forehead. I felt like I was suspended in something. I could hear noises outside of whatever I was in, and saw a light turn on. It flickered eeirely and I realized I was in a test tube. Shit. We just can't catch a break.

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