“There it is,” Warren said to Wes from the passenger seat as they pulled up alongside a small red house, barely bigger than a cottage and tucked away behind foliage. “Your new place. An improvement over The Flamingo…”
Wes looked at the residence, then back at Warren, who was without his mask for the moment to let his face breathe. “We can just go right in, right now?”
“I can unlock the door and we can take a quick look. But you have a busy day ahead. I’ll give you directions to the apartment where the nice old lady who owns this place lives, but from there you’re on your own. After you fill out the paper work to rent the place, sell the car and buy a different one. Don’t worry. I made sure you’ll pass a credit check. I can… falsify information more easily than you.”
“Oh. So, we’re renting it… Here I thought we were squatting.”
“It’s lightly furnished; probably enough to keep you going. Better beds.”
“Good,” Jace said with a yawn from the back. “I’m ready to sleep…”
“You have school in an hour,” Warren said, looking back at Jace and Millie, and the morning light through the car’s rear window. “Your upcoming date with detention is important. Can’t have you missing any days and risk altering who’s there and who isn’t.”
“Ah, man… Really? It’s bad enough just getting myself sent to detention…”
“Aw, it’s not so bad,” Millie replied. “I’ve gone a few times. Good place and time for more note taking, getting to meet all these bad kids from other classes…”
“I’ve never gone. Not once. I had troubles, but I wasn’t… bad.”
“You don’t know what you’re missing! Ninja guy, do I have to go to school?”
Warren shrugged. “A mind’s a terrible thing to waste.”
At the house’s front door, Warren used the magnetic clasp on his palm, which he could utilize to grab his sword like a Jedi, to unlock the deadbolt. He was the first inside, and introduced the others to the nice little living room, which had a wooden floor, a red sofa, a decent TV in an entertainment center from the 80s, and not much more.
“Quaint, but more than enough for us…” Wes said. “Looks a little bigger than our apartment. Definitely an improvement.”
“Breaking and entering…” Millie sighed a little wistfully.
“Is that a pasttime of yours or something?” Wes asked her.
“I told you, um, Dad,” Jace replied. “She broke into our place, remember?”
“Ah, yeah. That was rude.”
“Nick,” Warren said to Wes. “Let’s get all that crap out of your car. We can keep it in one of the closets until after Ms. Morris officially shows you this place.”
“Y-yeah. Okay. You’re probably in a hurry to get back to jumping around time.”
“You two might as well relax on the couch for a minute,” Warren told Jace and Millie. “Don’t touch anything. This place can’t look like we’ve been in here yet.”
Wes and Warren left them alone so they could grab what few things they had taken from the apartment, and as instructed, they checked out the sofa.
After a moment, Millie asked Jace, “Gimme your cell phone for a second. Your normal, not-future one that will actually work… I need to call my dad.”
Jace dug around in his backpack, found his clunky old phone, and handed it over. She put in her digits, and after a yawn, spoke to her father quietly.
“Yeah, so, anyway… we woke up kinda late and are just going to go straight to school. Ya-huh. Yeah, we’re still on for, uh… TV tonight. See you, Dad.”
“TV?” Jace asked and took the phone back. “You two got a favorite show?”
“Something like that…” After they heard the car trunk slam, she hurriedly asked, “So, hey, can you give me a hint at least about why you’re in 1995?”
“Uh, I don’t know If I’m supposed to.”
“I’m sure that you think we’re all a bunch of primitives and I wouldn’t get any of your reasons, but could you just tell me something, future boy?”
“First off, my dad has all the plans and he doesn’t tell me much. Also, we’re only from 2020, not some distant future. I don’t even know if I was allowed to reveal that…”
Wes and Warren hauled in several bags, a couple suitcases, and their computer and monitor. Once they had stuffed everything away in one of the bedroom closets, they returned to the living room and looked at the kids, both of them ready to fall asleep.
“Jace, buddy… want to try some coffee?” Wes offered. “It helps.”
“Can’t I just… sleep in today?” he groaned.
“It’s not really up to me,” Wes sighed, looking at the ninja.
“It mostly still is, actually,” Warren replied and took his mask out of one of his pockets. “I’m going to disappear for a while, and if I return, it’s only because you screwed something up. Millie, you’re this guy’s eyes and ears on the ground.”
“Huh?” she murmured sleepily.
“He has plans involving your classmates. But he can’t go to school for obvious reasons. You can give him info, or correct him when you three are brainstorming.”
“But what the heck is, um, Mr. Deckard’s end game? His… goal?”
“To save the world,” Warren stated, covered his face, and headed towards the door. “One tiny little moment at a time.”
“I can’t tell if he was serious…” Millie said once he had left.
“Well… we’re saving someone’s world, in any case,” Wes said and tossed Jace his backpack. “Come on, let’s get you to school.”
Now that they lived in Desert Tree, the school was much closer and a short drive away. It wasn’t quite in walking distance, but it did mean that Jace would be departing the bus earlier and, as Wes explained, getting off with the rest of the gang.
“So, it might make it easier to hang out with them after school,” he said as he pulled up to the parent dropoff, where kids were meeting their friends and chatting about the day ahead. Once Millie got out, he added, “Come to think of it… now might also be about when we start hanging out at the Circle K after school sometimes.”
“Um, okay. What’s that mean for me?”
“Nothing, really. Just go with them if they invite you. Ugh… I still can’t believe she’s on our team now,” Wes said of Millie, who was proceeding to the school’s entrance as other kids turned their backs on her. “But Teen Ninja… must have his reasons.”
Jace shrugged. “Guess we’ll need to have her over sometimes.”
“Yeah, great. Then she’ll give me ‘tips’ on note-taking. This new reality sucks.”
• •
“Dump’s closed this week,” were the first words that Jace heard when he stepped onto the playground, straight from Delilah. “Help get the word around if you want.”
“Wasn’t gonna… hang out there today… anyway,” Jace said, eyes barely open.
“Yeah… you looked half-asleep in class. Just hang out on the playground.”
She walked away to tell other kids, looking in a hurry to do so before any of the fifth-graders tried going to the smelly clubhouse. As Jace stood at the edge of the playground and looked around to find a place to just chill, the rest of the gang came up from behind him, still chatting away about 1996 just as they did throughout class.
“Um, hey, guys,” Jace said after stopping them. “Big D says… no Dump.”
“Yeah,” Wessy replied. “A teacher was poking around the place this morning.”
“Someone might’ve snitched…” Arthur said with a shrug. “Or the adults around here are just getting suspicious. The owner’s playing it safe, I guess.”
“Still, it sucks,” Jared groaned. “What are we supposed to do all week?”
“Gee, I dunno,” Sadie replied sarcastically and gestured out toward the large playground. “It’s not like this place is full of stuff to play on.”
“Playing on a playground is kiddie, Sadie. The Dump is where it’s at.”
“Where what’s at? All you guys do there is sit and talk. You can do that anywhere.”
“But it’s exclusive,” Zach argued. “We’re gonna have to figure out something else to do, even if it’s after school. I feel too… exposed out here.”
“I dunno, it’s not so bad,” Colin said. “Don’t you miss being the king of the playground, Zach? Remember when you used to run the show around here?”
“Yeah, sorta. Brings me back, thinkin’ about the ‘playground parties’ I’d set up.”
Needing some peace and quiet, Jace stepped away from the others, eyeing the shaded underside of the playground’s grand fort. It was always a good place to escape the sun, noise, and nosy kids, both now and in 2020. Then he noticed Millie, scribbling away in her notebook near the teeter-totters. That was a normal everyday thing, but when Jace followed her eyes to see who she was studying, he was surprised.
Over on the basketball court, Gerald was talking to Carson, whose headphones were down around his neck—it was also unusual to see him doing anything other than listening to music at recess. Still, Jace never figured Millie would see either as interesting.
“Back to your old ways, huh…” he said once he had arrived at her side.
She nudged her glasses as she wrote furiously. “Hey, apparently I’m meant to do this sort of thing, future boy. Carson’s just another one of the cool kids, but Gerald… officially became Subject #47 today. The two have been at it since the morning bell.”
“A new subject? Does that mean I’m not your big obsession anymore? Uh, so, wait… Gerald’s the nice kid everyone likes. Are you saying he’s actually arguing?”
“I know, right? Ever since first grade, he’s always been the one that’s tried to fix problems, or stopped fights, or was otherwise just nice to everyone. And now, this? Look at him! Mad as Carson looks, Gerald’s almost frowning! I think it has something to do with their musical tastes. I’m not sure who fired the first shot, but…”
Able to provide some input himself, Jace replied, “Even in 2020 school, kids had fights about their tastes in music. They can get pretty intense. They could get, uh, what’s the word? Passionate about this sort of thing. What kind of music does Gerald like?”
“Dunno. My ‘likes’ box on Gerald’s profile page is pretty empty; kid barely talks about himself.” She stopped writing and looked at Jace curiously. “So, they still have schools in 2020? That’s a shame. Figured they would’a invented something better.”
“Y-yeah… I actually graduated fifth grade already.”
“Seriously? You’re, like, a year older than all of us? Huh. Strange.” After Felicity walked by them, still sporting Spice’s make-over, Millie added, “Speaking of strange… I dunno if I can get used to this new Felicity. There’s still something creepy about her smile, though. Rumor is you’re kinda the one that ‘fixed’ her? What’s up with that?”
“Um. She was… a ‘side quest’? Me and my dad are here to fix some stuff, and we knew she was going to have a hard time if we didn’t help her in some way, so… I did.”
“Oh, really?” Millie pocketed her notebook, crossed her arms, and looked at Jace. “Hm. On one hand, maybe you shouldn’t mess with ‘fate’ like that, changing who people become… On the other hand… I don’t get too messed up, right?”
Knowing they didn’t have much on her, Jace simply replied, “You turn out fine.”
“You better be right about that. If you’re helping trouble kids, maybe… Gerald or Carson is next? Anyway, keep doing your thing, and I’ll gather up all my notes and come over someday soon, so you and your dad really know what’s up with everyone.”
For the first time, Jace realized the first benefit of having Millie around: it wasn’t only up to him and his uncle’s fading memories to investigate and manage the class.
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