Jace escaped the crowds of fellow fifth-graders and those younger by slipping into his assigned classroom, already full of students. Aside from posters and other decorations that dated it, the room looked just like the ones he had gone to at this very same school. The building was the same, but those that went to it were so different.
His hand tightly gripping a backpack strap, he looked and meandered around the desks and kids that sat on top of them, or leaned against them, as the teacher up front organized her papers and prepared to initiate the school year. He was no longer among the shortest around, but was still a little below average in the height department.
After passing by a group of boys comparing and showing off the Nintendo Power and GamePro magazine issues they had gotten over the summer, he stopped for a moment near another gathering of four that was discussing television shows.
"You guys seen the latest Home Improvement? Man, that always makes me laugh."
"Sitcoms and shows about real people are boring. It's all about cartoons. I can't wait until Simpsons comes back and we find out who really shot Mr. Burns."
"If you like cartoons, you're gonna love this new anime stuff coming to the States s-soon. My big brother is pumped that we're getting Sailor Moon. He's n-nuts about it."
"No idea what anime is, but have you guys been following Star Trek: Voyager?" the prototypical nerd of the group asked them. "My dad ordered a t-shirt for the show for me! I had doubts about a lady captain… But she's almost as good as Picard!"
"Robby, man, you're a dork, dude," one of the others boys said with a laugh.
"Yeah, but that's okay. You're still cool."
"Well, as long as I'm still cool…" Robby said with a sigh.
Then all at once, they turned and looked at Jace.
"Hey, you new?" one of them asked. "Never seen you before. You like TV?"
"Y-yeah…" Jace murmured, but then promptly walked away.
He found Wessy's group, where the five of them—no Zach—were hanging out, and could have been in a competition for weirdest way to sit in a chair. Or, maybe they were just trying to "out-cool" each other; that seemed to be important to his peers.
For the first time, Wessy made direct eye contact with him, though it was brief. Thinking that maybe this was one of the teachers that didn't assign seats, Jace went ahead and took the desk to the left of Wessy, and pushed his backpack under the seat.
As he sat and waited and twiddled his thumbs, he looked around again at all the twenty or so kids he would be sharing an indefinite amount of time with. A few stood out, mostly because of their fashion choices. One girl who seemed to have a smile she couldn't erase was showing off her pink backpack to her friends, who paid little mind to the fact that she was wearing an equally pink cat ear headband. Then there was a boy in a dark blue hoodie away in the corner, shadily handing out some baseball cards.
Before he could look at anyone else, the strange girl from his bus stop walked up and without hesitating, took the spot behind him. Jace faced forward with a gulp.
"Hey," he heard Ash say from nearby. "I was going to sit there."
Jace tried to look back and over his shoulder without being noticed. Ash had her arms crossed and looked a little bit upset with her fellow bespectacled peer.
"We can sit wherever we want, Teller…"
She called other kids by their last names. That was never a good sign. Needing to find something out, Jace grabbed his bag and moved up a row. After a few seconds, the odd girl gathered her things and switched to Jace's former desk.
"Didn't want to sit there, anyway…" she muttered.
"Whatever," Ash said and plopped into her seat. "Hey, Arty, Mom didn't pack my bunny eraser. Can I have one of your basketball ones or something?"
Arthur moaned about it, but still gave his sister the orange ball-shaped eraser on his pencil to appease her. She smiled and attached it, as the girl Jace now believed was stalking him took out a composition notebook and scribbled down a few notes.
"Millie, you're such a weirdo…" Jared scoffed.
She poked at her glasses and glared at him for a second before going back to her notes. Jace could feel her breathing on his neck. Sure, he could keep changing desks until she took the hint—and with any luck, backed off—but they were filling up fast, and he didn't want to lose his place so close to Wessy and disappoint his adult version.
"Uh-oh, looks like Millie Vanbusen has her eye on ya," Sadie said cheekily.
"Is… that really bad?" Jace asked.
Colin explained, "She's a creepy weirdo who picks a victim and spies on them for weeks, or even sometimes months. She made two notebooks full of… notes on me in first grade. Yeah… It's been, like, her hobby for years."
Millie grumbled and looked at Wessy's crew. "It's not my fault this school's got so many freaks in it. Someone has to keep a log on them before the bodies pile up."
"Geez…" Arthur sighed. "What is wrong with you?"
"Millie, do you even know his name?" Sadie wondered. "It's rude to not ask."
"Subject #46 will work for now," she replied and jotted down another sentence.
"How do I get you to leave me alone?" Jace asked her.
She just let out a small chortle and kept writing. All the while, he had noticed that Jared, in the desk to the right of him, was looking at him with a curious stare.
"What is your name?" he wondered. "Haven't I seen you around before?"
"Uh… maybe? I used to go to Sherman Miller. I'm… Jason Connor."
"Oh. Guess I could'a seen you around the neighborhood or something."
"Don't worry about Millie," Wessy said. "She's mostly harmless. Hey. Your hair and shoes are all right. Me and my friends here know everything about this school. It's how we made it to fifth grade," he explained jokingly. "But here's the thing. As fifth-graders, we got images to keep like the ones that came before us. So, are you cool?"
"Um. I think so? Yeah. You guys seem… pretty cool."
"He needs work," Sadie stated. "But that's okay. Eventually you don't even need to try anymore. Hm… maybe a nickname would help?"
"Yeah, they can give you a boost if they're good," Arthur agreed. "Of course, we all graduated past that—we don't have to use them anymore."
Jace forced an awkward grin, and thought about how ridiculous and shallow all of this was. Evidently, Ash agreed; he caught her rolling her eyes and shaking her head.
"Jason… Hm, I think you should go by Jace," Wessy suggested. "Maybe. That could be a little lame, actually. Well. It's up to you."
After Jace cursed his uncle under his breath for not being more creative with his fake name, and ending up with something that rendered its whole purpose a moot point, the teacher finally stood and addressed the class, five minutes after the bell had rung.
"I think Jace is kinda cool for a name," Sadie whispered and faced forward.
"Good morning, fifth-graders!" the teacher announced as the last of the kids scrambled to their desks. "I'm Ms. Porter, and congrats on making it! You're at the top of the student body, and I'm going to get you ready for middle school! Yay!" she introduced herself with perhaps too much enthusiasm, and finished with a little cough and a nudge of her glasses. "Ahem, well… Let's begin with roll call."
She struck Jace as a little dorky, but friendly. If his uncle really saw this year as the one when he was in his prime, he likely had a good teacher as well. He zoned out some after he bumbled his response to his own new name, only shouting "here" once the teacher was half way to marking him as absent. He didn't really absorb anyone else's names—aside from the fact that one of the girls in the class was actually named Spice.
"She better not make us introduce ourselves…" Wessy muttered to his friends.
"I hate when they do that," Jared replied. "Think she's a first-day homeworker?"
"Doesn't strike me as one. But looks can be deceiving. She could be really mean."
"I'm so glad that everyone made it to the first day of school!" Ms. Porter exclaimed once she finished writing down names. "Now, if you ever want to switch desks, ask me first, because… I'll have to write that down. And if you're talking too much with your friends or misbehaving, well, I'll have to move you. Anyway. I believe math wakes up the mind. How lucky that we get to start with it in the morning."
She grabbed a box full of workbooks with covers in the most boring shade of green possible, and began passing them out. Once Jace got his, he opened it and flipped through the newsprint pages. Evidently, he was meant to write on them.
"Aw, cripes," Arthur groaned. "I hate these things. You have to press the pencil so hard just get anything to, uh, you know… come out?"
"This school year's looking bad already," Wessy surmised.
"I detest these…" Millie also complained. "Wish I could burn them all…"
"So many dour faces," Ms. Porter continued. "Dour… Hm, do you know that word yet? Anyway, the school board is running just a liiiitle low on cash this year," she tried to grin, "and these old books are what we're left with for math. But I'm sure you've gotten sick and tired of them by now, so we're treating them like textbooks. All we need to learn math is a bunch of problems to solve, right? So, let's take turns coming to the board and working these out together! Oh, and you can also introduce yourself when you come up. If you want. So… who wants to try some long division from page 56?"
Robby the Star Trek nerd was the first to raise his hand, and he went up to the whiteboard and began talking about how his favorite show got him interested in math. Then he went on to solve ten problems in all, each one more "exciting" than the last.
"Huh. Maybe it's not so bad," Wessy said. "I mean, it's still math, but at least now it might not suck so much. Teacher seems kinda cool, too."
"Hey, Wes, what's that shirt you're wearing?" Jared asked. "Forgot to look."
"Oh, this?" He turned and exhibited it so everyone can see. "I love it."
The colorful blue and red shirt had a high-contrast, grungy tattoo-like print of King Arcade's Tony and Apple mascots, looking pretty serious in imminent combat poses. The title of the amusement park was particularly stylized in a lightning font.
"How many times did you go over the summer?" Colin asked.
"Three! My mom really liked it, and then my dad took me last weekend."
"Just once for me," Colin sighed. "Dad doesn't like amusement parks."
"At least you guys got to go!" Sadie whispered as loudly as it was possible to whisper. "My parents say parks are way too expensive. I have to save up my allowance."
"What about you… Jace?" Wessy asked. "You been yet?"
"Um, yeah. It's a cool park. I hope it sticks around and is… cool for a long time."
"You good at video games? You gotta at least play them to really enjoy the park."
"Y-yeah… I'm pretty good."
The hoodie-wearing boy went up next to solve some monetary-themed problems—it looked like he was good at handling money—and introduced himself as Park. But he didn't want to share anything about himself other than his name.
"What systems you got? I don't play favs. I do Nintendo and Sega."
"Yeah. Me too. And I do some arcade. Yeah… I'm hip. Up to date."
"What're ya playing right now? Maybe I can give you some tips."
"Hey, maybe the new kid doesn't want to talk about video games all class," Sadie suggested. "I'm more interested in hearing about how things work at Miller."
"That school sucks, that's all you need to know," Jared scoffed.
In a try-hard attempt to make a new friend like his uncle wanted, Jace skipped to the 'we're like brothers!' stuff, replying, "I probably like the same games you do, Wessy."
"Pfft. Wessy!" Jared chortled as his buddy's expression turned flat.
"Seriously? Wessy? Don't call me that, dude. It makes you sound like my mom."
"S-sorry!" Jace apologized. "We had, uh, a kid at my old school who was actually literally for-real called Wessy… So…"
"Man, he must've had lousy parents. But seriously, don't call me… that. Anyway, I play everything on every system. Mario, Sonic, Link, Samus, Kirby, Donkey Kong, Mega Man, Doom Guy, Pac-Man, Burger Time guy… They're all good friends of mine."
"Mine too. I play lots of games. Hey, what if there was, like, a video game where all the best characters got together to fight each other? Even… Smash each other?"
"That sounds stupid. Why would they all get together to fight?" Jared questioned. "And the guys with guns would just blow everyone away."
"Sounds kind of cool to me," Colin argued. "They just gotta balance it right."
"Colin likes fighting games the most out of us," Arthur explained.
"Oh," Jace exclaimed. "That's kind of surprising…"
Colin let out a faint laugh and cleaned his glasses with his shirt. "I like doing combos right, and figuring out the right strategies to beating someone. That's all."
"Arthur, would you like to come up?" Ms. Porter asked him. "I believe you were in the fourth-grade math team last year, isn't that right?"
"Yes…" he said with a huff, and then grumbled to the others before going up to the board, "I wish she wouldn't say that out loud to everyone…"
"Hey, you almost made math seem kind of almost cool," Wessy told him.
"It's really crucial that things are cool, huh?" Jace asked.
"Better than being lame," Sadie said with a shrug.
"Shallow, simple-minded plebs…" Millie quietly scorned them.
Maybe, but Jace knew that becoming 'cool' was the way into Wessy's crew.
• •
The lunchroom smell hadn't changed. It was rubbery, with hints of food and cleaning product. The table arrangement was different from what Jace was used to; instead of multiple round tables, there were several very long ones, with hard plastic stools. It didn't matter much that they were uncomfortable, as with a half-hour lunch, kids were in too much of a rush and usually only had five to ten minutes to actually sit.
Styrofoam tray full of cafeteria pizza in hand, Jace looked around at the entirety of the fifth-grade student body, most of whom must have felt on top of the world as they were finally the oldest students at school. He wasn't sure if he should sit next to Wessy's group again—he didn't want to look like he was trying too hard to get in with them—but he did at least want to keep tabs on them and pick up on their quirks.
He paid for his meal, looked back at one of the younger lunch ladies that he was pretty sure still served food in 2020, and took a step forward—almost running into a girl with light brown hair and dressed in ratty black pants and an oversized 'No Fear' shirt.
"Watch it, kid, or you're next on my list!" she threatened him, holding up her brown bag lunch high above as if it were a weapon.
He recognized her as someone from his class, and watched as she stomped off towards a girl in a vibrant red dress who wore multiple bracelets on both wrists. Jace believed that her target was the young lady named Spice, and from what little he had learned about her so far suggested that she was a cheerful, advice-giving fashionista.
The angry girl slammed her bag down on the spot next to her, and Spice glared up in response. It looked like they had known each other for a while, and were already trading insults about some past event Jace couldn't care less about. He just wanted to avoid being put on any more lists after already attracting Millie's gaze.
He spotted Wessy and his friends, already surrounded by other kids from his class, and took one of the seats close by that was still within earshot. They were talking about current media trends, and what they thought would last and what "sucked."
Millie came in and sat at the other side of the table. As she munched on carrot sticks from her lunch box, she took out a trapper keeper with raccoons on the front and opened it, revealing stacks of messy paper. She looked a little like his mom when she did paper work during dinner. Seeing a chance to reason with her, he opened his mouth.
She spoke first, "I'm not writing about you. Writing about kids at lunch is rude."
"But not rude all the time? Do you, um… Do you live at the Flamingo, too?"
She stopped, looked up at him, and then back down at her files. "I'm trying to organize here. New school year, new file system. Not enough time in the day…"
"What do you get out of these notes? I mean, I don't like you spying on me, but you seem pretty dedicated and… kind of organized about it."
She was a little agitated, but replied, "Because people always act so surprised when someone does something surprising. But I could've told them it was bound to happen eventually. They should'a been paying more attention to that particular maniac."
That was hardly an answer, but Jace continued, "Do you got anything on Wessy, I mean Wes and his friends? I'm trying to, er, impress them."
She raised an eyebrow. "I'm trying to concentrate, but… why them? All they care about is mainstream junk. They're boring. Try being an individual. Try being unique."
"I get the feeling that doing that will only make you write more about me…"
"I'll get plenty more on you later. Not that I'm ever gonna let you read it."
Jace said nothing for about a minute and chugged down his milk. He watched as other kids went by, none of them sitting by Millie—and some of them clearly cracking a joke with their friend about her behind her back as they passed by. He could see why a quiet, strange kid like her would be shunned; she had all the makings of a gossip, but kept all the juicy tidbits to herself. Still, he was starting to feel just a little sorry for her.
"So…" Jace spoke up again, and trying to be clever, asked, "do you ever dress up as anything cool? Like… something that would have a neat sword?"
She stared at him. He knew his question was incredibly stupid, but he wanted to gauge her response. The chance of her being a time-traveling aware ninja was there.
"You… may be even weirder than I thought. But you're talking too much and ruining everything, so I'm getting out of here. Enjoy your lunch, weirdo boy."
She got up and left in a hurry, keeping her binder close against her chest. He knew he had only lengthened and intensified his sentence of observation, but his strong desire to uncover his mysterious, potentially dangerous stalker was worth the pursuit.
He spent lunch watching the hundred other kids in his grade, and taking in more mannerisms. It did feel familiar being back, but he also felt out of place, a little special, maybe a bit wiser. And he didn't feel pressured. Might school actually become… fun?
• •
There was a chance to answer that question when recess came up next, in an era where it was longer and actually let students burn off some of that excess energy. But Jace wasn't surprised to see that at this age, kids were more interested in milling about, hanging out on the equipment, and chatting in groups rather than playing on anything.
The playground was wide open, with multiple forts and swing sets, and trees dotted about to provide needed shade. The grass was only lightly watered, making it dry and brittle, and waves of heat emanated from the basketball courts. On the hottest days, "floor is lava" became "air is lava", and it was a mad scramble to secure the shady spots. That was a tradition that existed in his time, and likely began the year the school opened.
"Hey," a dull, deep-for-his-age voice said from behind him. "J. Connor, right?"
Jace turned around to see Park, still hiding in his hoodie despite the heat. "It's… Jason, but, yeah. Uh, do… you want something?"
"I usually don't rely on first names that much."
"You and Millie both, huh…"
"Hey, don't lump me in with her. Just thought I'd introduce myself. We don't get many transfers and new kids here. I'm Park," he said, his hands firmly in his hoodie pockets and not about to come out for a shake. "I procure things. Hard to get things sometimes, or stuff parents don't want their kids having. You got any spare coin, and I got some stock inventory I keep in my backpack. You know, for the rough times."
"Oh. You're a walking RPG town store owner."
"Heh. You're funny. I also know things. Sweet intel, stuff like that. Streetwise. The latest happenings going down. But not gossip. Again, I'm no M. Vanbusen."
"Um. Thanks. Good to know."
Thinking that maybe Park would have something valuable to share, Jace stood there and thought about any possible questions worth asking. But before he could, Wessy came over with his full crew—Zach in tow this time as all the fifth-grade classes were together at recess. Wessy smiled, walked up, and slapped Park on the back.
"Hey, Jace! Park already hitting you up, huh?"
"I meet with all prospective clients, Colton…" Park responded flatly.
"Yeah, sure you do. Hey, his prices are pretty fair, but still, would you trust this guy? Wanna hang around with him more than you have to?"
Park sighed and walked off. Zach then stepped up to look over Jace.
"This the new kid?" he asked Wessy. "Not a bad get-up, but he lacks that cool confidence." He turned to Jace. "Just sayin'. If you dress like that, you gotta back it up."
"I can! I was cool at my old school. First day jitters, that's all. So many new kids."
"Aw, Wes, you gotta show him a few faces, bud. You know everyone."
"I was going to," he told his taller, even cooler friend.
"Well, good! Get to it. I got a wager on a Pogs game. See ya."
"That's Zach Pentino," Arthur said after he left. "He's always going somewhere."
Wessy stopped him. "I got this, Arty. Jace, come on, let's find some of the kids from our class. I've known a lot of them since kindergarten or first grade."
"Sure. I mean…" He shrugged and tried to chill out some. "That's cool."
"So, yeah, Zach…" Wessy continued as he also began a tour around the playground. "He's the coolest kid in school, but he also kind of knows everyone and does everything, so he doesn't stay put for long." He looked around for someone to introduce. "He's still got nothing on the legend, though. That'd be Charlie—"
"Pippin," Jace finished with a sigh, tired of hearing about the kid.
The others stopped and turned to him as Colin asked, "You know him?"
"Oh, uh, sort of. His, uh, name echoed through Sherman's halls."
Wessy rubbed his chin. "Hm. I guess word of his exploits would travel that far."
"There's Willa," Sadie said, pointing her out. "She's a basket case."
"And we don't have time to listen to her whine," Jared interjected. "Sorry… had to. Yeah, she's kind of been pretending that she's a cat since, like, third grade?"
Jace looked at her, under one of the trees by herself, cat ears still on her head as she played with both toy cats and actual cat toys.
"She really wants cats, but her mom's allergic or something," Wes explained. "But she's otherwise normalish. I mean, she has friends and stuff, but when she's alone…"
"Millie gave up on her after a week," Arthur said. "No progress, I guess."
"Not all of us are crazy or strange," Wes promised.
They stopped at a basketball court, where a black boy in a light shirt and shorts was resting on the ground next to a hoop pole, his legs going straight up its side.
"Hey, Carson," Colin said. "What'cha listening to?"
He wore sunglasses and headphones that were even bigger than Lucy's, which were plugged into a portable CD player spinning a disk on his stomach. Jace could tell he was another one of the cool kids in the class, even if he wasn't part of Wessy's group. There were likely plenty in school; not all of them could fit in one squad.
He turned down the volume a little and said smoothly, "Seal's Kiss From a Rose, man. On repeat. One day I wanna sing like that to all the ladies."
"That's a nice dream," Jared said. "I won't need to sing to get them, though."
"Sure, Jared…" Sadie mocked him in a friendly sort of way.
"Yo, watch out for Delilah," Carson added before going back to jamming. "No idea what her prob is, but she's starting off the year all agro."
"Carson's all about music, obvs," Sadie said as they moved on.
They arrived at the central playground, the largest of all, with a massive fort that had a bridge in the middle, and a tic-tac-toe board. Jace was surprised—it was the exact same as it was in his time, only not at all faded and worn. It must have been brand new.
"Oh. And speaking of Delilah, there she is…" Jared pointed her out.
It was the same tall, brutish mean girl from the cafeteria. She was patrolling and stomping around the playground, and kids gave her a wide berth and averted their eyes.
"She hates everyone, Spice especially," Wessy explained. "I think because she's obsessed with how she looks and likes to insult Delilah's lack of fashion sense, so…"
Jace found Spice, hiding in relatively plain sight at the top of the jungle gym with her friends. Once Delilah spotted her, she dropped down into the dome and then took off, with her nemesis close behind. How strange, he thought, that all of this had taken place regardless of whether or not he was here to see it; moments lost to playground history, but also playing on repeat, with subtle variations in each new generation.
As recess came to a close, Jace was beginning to understand that there were different kinds of "cool." His young uncle wasn't too outward or elitist. What he had, and likely respected in others, was complete confidence in himself and his ability to make friends. If he wanted into his circle, Jace knew he'd have to work on his own skill.
With the bell ringing and Wessy unable to find anyone else from their class, Jace went with the others back inside, having never touched any play hardware. He hoped he could make it through the rest of the day without screwing something up.
• •
Wes woke up again around noon after seeing his nephew off in the morning. All these months later, deep into his long vacation from his job, and the great feeling of sleeping in as long as he wanted like a college student had yet to fully diminish.
He yawned a whole bunch of times, put together a lunch of leftover Chinese food and pizza, watched some crappy daytime TV—as usual he was more interested in the commercials—and ate his grub on the grubby couch. After a belch, another yawn, and a few itch-killing scratches, he got up and headed to the computer.
It was great living the bachelor's life again, where he had no need to impress or clean up just because Jace was around. But he'd be back in a few hours, and then Wes would have to turn back into someone whose sister would let them take care of her kid.
He checked AOL's news page and gave a few of the current events a chuckle. It looked like Windows 95 had just been released. He recalled how many stories there were about the operating system, and knew he'd be seeing them all over again in the coming months. After that, he downloaded the latest receiver data.
He was keeping up the charade for the sake of his nephew, and the audio graph was easy file to retrieve. A full day's actual recording files that were generated would take hours to get on 56k, or a visit to the device. As long as Jace saw the graph, that should be good enough for him. It wasn't like any spikes would appear anytime soon.
However, something had to appear. And the very first daily check was troubling on that front, because the graphic was a complete flatline starting at about midnight. Wes swallowed the rest of his coffee in a big gulp, rechecked his uplink to the receiver, and then initiated a download of the most recent hour of the full audio recording. He spent the ten minutes waiting for the low-quality file to appear in a folder by tapping his fingers on his mouse pad and looking at primitive, early-internet GIFs.
Once it was done and he opened it, he knew that the graph was accurate. There was nothing recorded since just over twelve hours ago, not even white noise. The link to the unit was still there, but it was like the recorder itself had been knocked out.
He let out a big sigh and a groan, and not wanting to leave the apartment that day, sloppily got dressed and grabbed his keys and brick of a cell phone.
It was hot, dry, and bright outside, and his eyes took a minute to adjust. Once they did, he drove off towards the alleyway that hid his handiwork.
To avoid drawing attention, he parked away from the alley and crept in when no one was looking, though there weren't actually many people around the area on a hot late summer day. He quickly found the recording device—but no antennae.
"The hell…" he muttered. "The university won't like this."
He spotted the wire that had been attached to the antennae, dangling freely towards the grimy ground. He grabbed and examined it to find a clean cut at its end, like a sharp, precision instrument had been used to sever it from the now missing detector.
As he looked for clues near the dumpster and broken pallets, he heard a car pull up. A police cruiser was at the curb of his apartment's parking lot, and two cops were stepping out. Then he noticed that one of them had on a pair of familiar sunglasses.
"Oh, crap…" He felt his heart start to race as he crept behind the large, smelly dumpster to hide, where he peeked out stealthily. "Crap, crap, crap…"
There was something sinister about the taller cop of the duo, who looked rather expressionless and serious as his partner questioned an old woman at the bus stop. It was his sunglasses especially—Wes was almost certain he had seen them before.
"They couldn't have found me already…" he whispered, and starting to panic, tried to reach for something on his person that wasn't there.
He couldn't tell what they were saying, but the taller officer seemed to be looking around for something. Was his partner even aware of who, or what he was? Did they replace the original, kind of like a Terminator? He wasn't sure how they worked, but…
Wait, no. Wes let out a big sigh of relief as the tall officer suddenly took off his shades and bellowed out a hearty laugh. Someone must have just told a joke. He looked normal and human as he slapped his partner on the back, and the two said their goodbyes to the old lady, got in their car, and sped off. Crisis averted; never existed.
"Get it together, man…" Wes said, slapping his face lightly.
He grabbed what was left of his equipment, realizing he'd have to come up with a new way to get Jace something to look at daily. Or he could replace the antennae and try hiding it somewhere better. Which seemed stupid, as he wasn't actually going to be using it. But the boy would inevitably want to see it again. What a waste of a day.
His phone startled him. He answered it, and Eddy got to yammering. It sounded like the start of another lengthy call about how impressed he was with the "formula."
• •
Back at the school, Jace had used a bathroom break to go down the hall and enter the nearby lavatory. After checking that all the stalls were empty, he went in one, took out the bulky cell phone that he had hidden under his shirt, and dialed the numbers that Wes had made him memorize. He both wanted to check in, and ask for a few more tips on how to win over his younger self, as he felt like progress had stalled.
The phone just made a strange, unfamiliar beeping sound. He tried a second time, and heard it again. Maybe it was some kind of… busy signal? He vaguely recalled hearing the sound in an old movie, from when before a decent voicemail system existed. Without a lifeline to his uncle, he didn't think he'd be getting into the gang today.
Frustrated that he was still on his own, he took care of business, washed his hands, and began heading to the door. It suddenly swung open—and Jared was there. He didn't look surprised to see Jace. Had he followed him? That couldn't be good.
No stranger to bathroom bullies, Jace kept his head down and attempted to rush the door—but Jared blocked him with an arm, and looked ready to monologue.
"Hold it, Jason. H-hey!" He reacted when Jace tried to physically move his arm to get past. Jared wasn't all that strong, and ended up having to reposition and block the door with his entire body instead. He huffed, crossed his arms, and continued, "Chill, man. I'm not gonna beat you up or something. I just want to make a few things clear."
"Where's Wes? He's not going to like it if you're here to terrorize me."
"I just said…" He grumbled. "Look, this is a friendly reality check. If I said this with him around, he'd tell me to stop 'being mean.' He tries to be friends with everyone, but don't get chummy with him too fast, or try to get into our group overnight… We've stuck together for years, and you just came out of nowhere. You got the looks, but any kid with cash and a style magazine can get that. For all I know, you're another faker."
Already feeling maybe a little superior to any past kids, as if they weren't worth his time if they were just going to upset him, Jace gritted his teeth.
"Whatever you say, Jared…" He said and pushed his way back into the hall.
"Hey!" he called out from behind him as he walked away. "I wasn't done yet! Uh, I'm just trying to watch out for Wes, you know? And don't mess with Sadie!"
What, did Jared have feelings for her or something? Whatever, Jace thought. Wes had warned him that Jared turned out to be a jerk, and he had no patience left for those.
• •
He returned to class just in time to see the teacher getting ready to put a tape into the TV cart's VCR, which she had already moved to the front and center. All the other kids looked pretty excited that they were getting to watch something on the first day. He went back to his seat and snuck his phone into his backpack as the others chatted.
"I'm starting to like this Ms. Porter," Wessy said.
"Yep, she's already my second favorite elementary teacher," Arty replied.
"I believe that an entertained young mind learns the best, so I'll always try to mix things up and keep class interesting," Ms. Porter promised. "So, for science today, we're going to check out an episode of one of my favorite shows! The Magic School Bus! Does anyone watch it?" she asked and saw a few hands went up.
Jace, having only just gotten cable to the apartment a few weeks ago so that he could continue his uncle's "watch all the TV you can" quest, certainly didn't mind getting a chance to see another episode of one of the shows on his ever-growing list.
Somewhat unfortunately, after the teacher hit the lights and the show's theme song finished, he quickly identified it as the episode where the kids went to space and visited the planets. He had already seen that one, so it wouldn't hold his interest as well.
"Oh, this episode," Colin said. "Ugh. When Arnold takes his helmet off on Pluto, and his whole head freezes… That part still freaks me out a little."
Arthur inquired, "You think the kids' parents are okay with Ms. Frizzle taking them into the vacuum of space, and to dangerous planets and stuff?"
"What about the other classes at school?" Sadie added. "Do their teachers also have magic school buses? Probably not, right? So… would they all be jealous that Ms. Frizzle's class gets to go to space, or inside another student's body?"
Jace chuckled at the comments; they were like the kind he'd make, and would be firing off now if he felt friendly enough with the others to partake in childish jest.
Jared finally returned a few minutes into the show, and gave the kid he failed to intimidate just a bit of a stink eye as he returned to his seat.
"You fall in?" Wes joked. "That took a while."
"Oh, shut up. Wessy," Jared retorted and scooted into his seat.
"Ugh. Not you, too. Dang it, Jason, why'd you put that in everyone's mind?"
Jace looked at Jared. He looked back, with a barely perceptible sneer on his face.
Smart enough to understand what he might have just started by denying Jared the success of his scare tactics, Jace realized that making an enemy out of one of Wessy's friends was only going to make getting into his group more difficult. Jared was going to be a roadblock to gaining his young uncle's trust. Tactically, he knew the best way to get any further would be to befriend him first. He was obnoxious, so that wouldn't be easy.
For now, Jace kept his head down and watched the episode. As Ms. Frizzle's class arrived at Saturn, he heard Wessy and Sadie laugh quietly at a joke they shared. He looked at them, and then looked at Jared, who was glaring at him—for just a moment before turning away. Hm. Maybe his issue with him had more to do with Sadie?
"Psst. Jared…" Jace whispered to him. "Hey. Sorry if I was snippy in there…" He cringed a little inside for borrowing one of his mom's often-used words. "I was, uh…" His mind scrambled for an excuse. "Really… uh… constipated?"
Jared suppressed a laugh. "You really don't need to share stuff like that, dude."
"It's okay if you like Sadie. I'm not going to, like, try and steal her from you."
"What are you talking about?" His eyes darted about for a second. "Just… shut up. You don't know anything about me, man. You… new kid."
Huh. Jared seemed to have a little pre-teen angst. Maybe Jace could use that later.
"Hey, I just want to be cool like you guys," he replied, with emphasis on the most important word among the group. "It's important to be cool, right?"
"Yeah, sure. But it's not something most kids just pick up," he said matter-of-factly with crossed arms and a nod. "And you won't be it by copying someone, either."
"Well. What makes all of you guys cool? I won't copy any of you…"
"Dude, that would take way too long to explain."
"I dunno. Why should I believe that any of you are cool?"
"Man…" Jared sighed. "Okay, look. Being cool is something you earn and gotta keep up on, but all of us also has some big accomplishment, too. Arty was in a clothing ad. Sadie's a girl that actually wanted to hang out with us." He paused, probably realizing how lame that sounded. "And… I've always watched out for them, you know?"
Genuinely curious about his uncle, Jace asked, "And what about Wes?"
"That all has to do with Charlie Pippin…" Jared said with a yawn, and then turned to face the TV again. "And I'm not gonna give you that life story right now."
Jace assumed Colin got in just by being Wessy's childhood and best friend, and Zach, in the running for coolest kid at school, needed no other reason for his inclusion in the circle. But he wondered how he could make himself cool. Sure, in his time, it was important to at least not be lame, but popularity boiled down to someone's music tastes, their social media status, and maybe how good they were in video games. All this "cool" stuff seemed intangible, outside of scoring some big win that insta-earned the status.
As Arnold's feud with his cousin Janet picked up and they approached the planet Neptune in the episode, Jace took out his composition book, flipped to the back page, and began to jot down some ideas on how he could achieve glory.
Being the brains of the group, which he might have actually excelled at, wasn't going to work. Both Colin and Arthur seemed to have that base covered already. He still didn't know—or like—much about current music trends. He could probably work up to being a decent gamer, but again, Wessy and Arty could already tear it up at arcades and on consoles as well, so any exceptional skill at gaming also wouldn't be that special.
But he had one very unique special advantage. Though he couldn't exploit it to the fullest by sharing the truth of his chronometric aberration, perhaps his uncle had enough stuff on him about the year to turn him into some excellent prediction machine? Would that even be cool? Or would it just become creepy and weird after a while? Once he began writing suggestions involving time travel, he couldn't think of anything else. And that took a toll on his self-confidence. Did he really have so little going for him?
He wasn't the only one scratching away on notepaper. Behind him, Millie sounded like she was already writing his biography. Nervous that she might be peeking over his shoulder at his notes, he scrambled and covered them up before closing the book completely. He then looked back, and she looked up and grinned maliciously. The light from the TV reflected off her lenses, making her look especially fiendish.
Now agitated by her, he unabashedly tried to steal a glance at her work. But she had a fast reaction time, and pulled her trapper keeper away before he could so much as see the white of her paper. She shook her head and used her binder's zipper to seal it.
"You're never seeing what I'm writing. No one ever does," she promised.
Jace growled as Jared turned and gave him more advice, "Give it up, dude. Put up with it until she's done with you." He looked back at the TV and sighed. "I did…"
• •
Science class ended and became social studies, and then the bell finally rung to conclude the first, long day of school. As everyone was getting up to head to the buses, Jace felt a sense of accomplishment in that he hadn't utterly screwed up. The curriculum was a little different, but for the most part, it felt like a repeat of his previous first day of fifth grade. And he was glad to be going "home" and back to his games, as usual.
Wessy gave him a subtle but friendly wave as he and his friends headed out, so at least he wasn't in the negative with him. As Jace grabbed his bag and prepared to locate his bus, Ms. Porter waved him over. He felt his heart skip a beat, as he had gotten used to only coming up to the teacher when he was in trouble. Did he do something wrong?
"Jason," she said warmly, reminding him of his mom. "We didn't get the chance to meet today. I didn't want to introduce you in a special way just because you're new here. I know that's embarrassing. But I was hoping you'd say something about yourself when you had a chance to come up to the board. Are you one of those quiet students?"
He shrugged. "I'm always a little nervous when a new year starts, I guess…"
"Oh. Well, that's all right. I just don't want you feeling like a stranger. I know what moving is like, even if it's just in the same city. But, a new school, too… I don't want you having trouble making new friends. If you need anything from me, just ask."
"O-okay," he said with a stupid smile and clutched his backpack strap.
Man, what a nice teacher. Of course, he had known a few of his own, and even the nicest ones could get scary when a student angered them. Though… was Ms. Porter capable of anger? No wonder she had been his uncle's favorite from the school.
"Actually, I was wondering about the girl behind me… Millie?" He looked over at her empty desk. "I don't want to sound like a squealer or whatever, but she was kind of writing about me all class in her notebook? Like… to the point where I could hear her pencil going like crazy. And I'm actually kind of boring… Should I be worried?"
"My, you do have things to say. If Millie is bothering you, I can move her. Her previous teachers… did let me know that she was like that, making notes and such…"
Knowing it was probably better to have her close so he could keep a better eye on her, Jace shook his head and replied. "It's okay for now, I guess."
"Mr. Connor, if you ever happen to catch a glimpse of her 'files,' do please let me know… if she's written anything about me," Ms. Porter asked, with a worried look.
• •
Jace couldn't explain how the first day of school, despite being among the easiest, always felt the longest. Still, it was over, and even as he had no desire to repeat the entire year, the rest of the days should feel a little breezier in comparison. Thinking about this, he got on his bus feeling relieved and plopped into one of its brown seats.
Other kids of all grades boarded after him, making as much noise as possible it seemed, just as they had in his time. Though the difference in his era was that most of them shut up and got on their phones once the bus began moving. Jace knew that wouldn't be the case at present, so he expected a lot of loud banter all the way home.
He sat in the back like usual, but couldn't get a moment to relax—because Millie had just boarded, and for some bizarre reason, she was heading his way. He scrunched down and watched in disbelief as she came in and sat in the row next to him.
"Hi," she said with a mischievous grin and took out another notebook.
She put her backpack on her lap, and used it as a writing desk as she scribbled yet more junk onto those awful pages full of audience-of-one libel.
"Again?" Jace muttered angrily.
"Huh?" Millie looked over and stopped her writing. "You say something?"
"Y-yeah… I… I want you to stop writing about me. It's really uncomfortable and freaky. I'm not even that interesting. S-so… pick someone else to write about. Okay?"
She let out a little laugh. "I'm writing a letter to my pen pal in Arizona, doofus. Sheesh. You aren't the only person I write about, or to, you know."
"Well… I'm sure you still wrote a whole ton of bad stuff about me today. And I wish you wouldn't… What's your deal with me anyway?"
She frowned and looked overly serious. "Because… Because I like you, okay?"
Jace groaned. "Ugh. Don't be even weirder and creepier than you already are."
"That's not nice. Hey, you're the one that moved into the Flamingo. I know about everyone who lives there. It's mostly old—but interesting—people. You're now the only other kid there, and you go to my class. So, duh, of course I'm going to write about you." She then added, rather forwardly, "Not like I have any friends my age…"
All Jace could think to say was, "Oh."
Awesome, he thought. Now he was really beginning to feel sorry for her. And with that admission, she didn't say anything else the rest of the ride to their shared home.
• •
After those at the Flamingo stop got off, with only Jace and Millie heading to the apartments, she sped-walk past him, in a hurry to get home. Its senior citizens were out and about, and she greeted them all by name. They smiled back. They clearly liked her.
Jace then almost knocked on the wrong apartment door, and after finding his real one, he noticed that it was slightly ajar. He pushed it open to find Wes typing away at the computer, still on the coffee table in the middle of the room.
"You left the door unlocked, dude," he said, throwing his backpack on the sofa.
"Yeah, I didn't want to get up to answer it and break my concentration here."
"What are you doing?" Jace asked and headed to the fridge to grab a water bottle.
"Hacking Royal University's media department records. So I can say that all the equipment got returned and we can keep it indefinitely… You know, to monitor stuff."
"Wow. That's kind of scummy. And I didn't know you were a hacker."
"I'm not. But I've learned enough over the years to take on the university's not-so-good 90s security tech. Sort of. I've… uh, been at this for hours. How was school?"
"Not a nightmare, I guess." Jace sat on the couch and gulped down some water. "But if I hear the word 'cool' one more time…"
"Heh. Yeah, I guess you discovered the most vital thing to 1995 ten-year-olds pretty fast. Make any progress with Wessy and the others?"
"They don't hate my guts, at least. Stopped things from getting bad with Jared."
"Oh, yeah, you gotta keep the peace with that guy. He still thinks he's the tough one of the group, and if he thinks you're a threat, he'll ruin you to the others."
"I gotta find my 'cool' thing if I'm going to win them over, Unk…"
"We'll work on that. Okay, hold on…" He tapped on a few more keys, and then hit the enter key decisively. "There we go! All equipment returned. Officially."
"Do… you know anything about Millie Vanbusen? She might… be a problem."
Wes stood up and turned around. "Millie? Hm." He rubbed his chin. "Right, she was one of the kids that kept to herself and just about disappeared from memory."
"Don't you know anything about her? She's writing about me, man. If she gets too nosy, she might screw things up for us, maybe cause a world-destroying paradox."
"Relax. I don't remember her that much personally, but I did my homework on all my classmates from this year. Come on. Let's take a look."
Wes led his nephew into his room, where he took his locked metal case out from his closet. Once he had forced Jace to sit on the bed so he couldn't quickly steal a look of its contents, he opened it and took out a book and his iPad in one fast movement.
"You ever going to give me a peek inside that thing?" he wondered.
His uncle only replied by putting it back in the closet, and closing the padlock with a click. Jace rolled his eyes at all the security measures.
Wes sat at the edge of the bed near him and opened the book—which turned out to be a 1996 yearbook from sixth grade, when he started middle school.
"Thought this would be useful," he said as he flipped through the pages full of smiling, dorky preteens. "It lets me see who's still around at Cookton Middle."
"Why's that useful, exactly?"
"Welp, anyone Wessy—me—is around with past elementary would remember him better. So, they're people we don't want to mess around with, more so than those who move onto other schools and let Wessy and his friends fade into distant, childhood memories. And it looks like…" He closed the book. "No Millie at Cookton. She must've gone elsewhere. I definitely don't remember her from high school."
He tossed the book to the corner of the bed and got on his tablet. Jace watched as he opened his Notes app and opened a detailed file. He quickly recognized a list of names—all belonging to the kids that he had just met to varying extents.
"I did what research I could on where the entire class is in 2020. Some of the kids don't even exist on social sites, but Millie… Okay, I wrote that she has a Facebook page. No kids or partner that I could tell. Two friends… Ech. Feel kinda sorry for her."
"So… you're saying, like, it wouldn't really matter if she just disappeared?"
"Oh, yeah, Jace! I'm totally into abducting the young versions of my classmates."
"Well, I mean, she could find out about us. She was writing about me all day."
"That's her thing—her deal, huh? Do you think she knows about us already?"
"No. I guess. But what if she keeps spying on me and finds out?"
"Don't give her an excuse to find out, kiddo. All the more reason to get in with Wessy's crew. If you're just another one of the 'cool' kids, she'll probably lose interest. Hey, if we have to, we'll steal a young girl's diary and find out what she suspects."
"Can I, what, become less interesting and cool at the same time?"
"Those things are, really, all subjective anyway. But, yeah, if you discover what she'd find really boring, you can use that to drop out of her vision, I bet."
"She told me I'm the only other kid that lives in this place, so I dunno if…"
"Oh, crap. You didn't tell me she lived in the Flamingo! It might be hard to avoid her. Okay. All right, I'll come up with some 'Vanbusen contingency plans.' If we cause a paradox, we don't want it to be named after someone called 'Millie'."
"And what about finding out what could make me cool? You were Wessy. You should know what he, or you, would find cool. By the way… was Arthur really in a clothes ad? Like, some big JCPenney commercial or something?"
"You found out about that? Heh, yeah… It wasn't that big a deal. He and Ash were in a full-page ad in a Sunday catalog for a regional chain. Here, check this out. A few years ago, Arty sent me a scanned copy from a catalog his mom kept."
Wes flipped through his photo albums until he found the digitized version. Arthur and Ash, maybe around five years old, were smiling and standing back to back, with crossed arms—the quintessential 'kids with attitude' look. Above the dressed-up pair sporting their bright, fun, and geometric 1990 digs was one big word in red: "HIP!"
"I would find that more embarrassing than cool," Jace stated. "If… it was me."
"Again, it's all subjective. But that's kind of a good thing. It means we just have to impress Wessy and his friends, instead of, like, the entire world…"
Jace noticed that Wes was staring at the ad, or maybe past it, his eyes distant and contemplative. That was unusual, outside of a few instances of his "nostalgia attacks."
"Y-yo, Uncle Wes… Is there something up with you and Ash? Like, you didn't tell me about her at all before King Arcade, and you're kind of… weird about her?"
"Eh." Wes sighed and hit the home button to close the picture. "I miss my entire class, but some of the kids more than others, you know? As you get older, some of them stand out in more ways than others. She just happens to be… someone I think about in a different way than all the others. And no, that doesn't mean that Wessy is crushing on her or something. They're… we're just friends. Okay, this is getting too feely. Let's go."
With Wes on his feet and ready to move, Jace asked, "Huh? Where?"
"To see Desperado. It's cool. Violent, but cool. You earned a flick after surviving a repeat first day. And then," he turned to Jace and proclaimed, "we get to work on you."