Author's Note: This story has already been written. It will update once a week.

Chapter 1: The Drive

The note said "Unexpected family emergency. Had to go. Should be back in time to take you to school".

However, the time to go to school was fast approaching. And Randy, who at 14 was hardly old enough to drive, would be severely late if at least one of his parents did not arrive home soon. Starting to worry, Randy searched the cupboard for car keys. Surprised, he found a pair.

That was carelesshe thought. Now he faced a dilemma. He could always ask a friend's parent for a ride, but would they arrive on time? Did he dare drive to school himself?

Randy didn't need to look at the clock to tell when two minutes had passed. Now it was too late to call for a ride. Still, there were worse things than being late...

Disregarding his fear (and perhaps his better judgement), Randy took the keys and started his father's car. Randy had always felt that driving would be simple enough, since he already knew the basic rules of the road. It seemed to be simply a matter of not hitting other cars. To his surprise, the drive to school was perfectly doable. Parking at the nearest possible parking lot, Randy got out of the car, and sprinted to his classroom.

Entering the room, the first thing that caught Randy's eye was Harmony Pond. Her face had attractive cat-like high cheekbones and pretty green eyes. Randy tried not to grin. Just setting eyes on her made his heart race. The second thing that caught his eye was Jennifer Smith, who was sitting right next to Harmony. Although Jennifer also had cat-like cheekbones and green eyes, her face was entirely too catlike. It looked almost embryonic, as if it was melting in on itself. She was also pale as death. Whereas Harmony had shiny auburn curls, Jennifer had plain straight black hair.

Randy sat down between Harmony and another boy he knew somewhat. The instructor started the lesson by saying "let's review".

"I think reviewing is pointless. Don't you?" Randy said to no one in particular.

"Nah, I need these reviews" said the boy sitting next to him.

"I agree with you" said Harmony.

"So do I..." whispered Jennifer shyly.

The teacher then gave the class a series of questions to answer. Luckily, Randy knew all the answers from personal experience and the lessons. For some reason, he could always answer a question regardless of whether or not he knew the answer beforehand. Since other people couldn't seem to do this, it felt like cheating. Randy tried not to do it, but sometimes it happened by accident.

When the class was coming to an end, Randy noticed a poster on the wall advertising a school dance. Suddenly reminded of something he had been planning to do, he went up to Harmony when the class ended.

"Um, Harmony, if you're not too busy, there's a dance coming up, and..."

"Oh! Um, I'm sorry Randy but I'm already going with Dean."

"Dean Masters?"

"Yes. I'm afraid so."

"Oh... Okay then" Randy tried not to show his disappointment.

"My cousin Jennifer might be free though" Harmony suggested brightly. Jennifer peeked over at the two of them hopefully.

"Jennifer is your cousin?" Randy asked, surprised.

"Yes. Our dads are brothers I think".

You think?

"Uh, maybe." Randy had no real intention of asking Jennifer to the dance. Not if he had an alternative.

Dean was sitting at the back of the class, trying not to draw attention to himself as he blew spit balls at the head of the student in front of him. Asking out Harmony was a casual endeavor. He was only vaguely interested in her anyway. The main motivation was to see if he could attract a girl that pretty. He'd seen the way Randy looked at Harmony though, and suspected that he might interfere. Just then, Randy announced his disdain for reviewing things.

Arrogant git Dean thought. Then again, he never needed to review anything either.

When school ended, Dean came home to an empty house. After letting himself in and doing his homework very quickly, there was nothing much to do. By the time his father came home, Dean was asleep on the sofa.

"Dean, get off!" his father said without saying hello. I need to check the news."

While Dean irritably moved to a chair, his father turned on the television and did as he said he would.

"At Pear Systems, John Smith and John Tyler are collaborating on a new technology guaranteed to give them an edge over Portal Computing..." said the newscaster.

"Portal's where you work isn't it?" asked Dean.

"Indeed..." Dean's father growled. "I'll stop them though..."

Dean had a feeling that what his father had in mind would not be quite legal. He was very confrontational, and didn't seem to care much about rules. Every time Dean got into a fist fight with another child, his father seemed proud of him. He even congratulated him when it seemed he'd won the fight, and seemed disappointed when Dean didn't. One time, he punched another kid in the nose. His father said "Splendid" and bought him ice cream. The next day that same kid punched Dean in the nose. Dean's father seemed mystified by this. "Why didn't you punch him back?" Dean's father had asked.

"I did. Yesterday." was all Dean could think of to say.

The school authorities still didn't want Dean to fight, so Dean antagonized countless classmates, but was careful not to get caught. After a certain age, this meant bullying other kids with words instead of blows, and making his displeasure more than clear to any peer who wronged him in the slightest.

When Randy returned home in his father's car, he was dismayed to see his mother's car in the driveway. Come to think of it, had it ever left? Perhaps his parents weren't home after all. Randy was disappointed to find however, that, walking in the door, his parents werehome. Quite early.

"Just where do you think you're going?" asked his mother. She was livid.

"Um, to my room. I have homework." Randy replied innocently.

"I sent your father to fetch you. We'd assumed you'd gotten a lift from someone else. Now I'll have to call him, and tell him to come home" his mother replied angrily.

Just then, Randy's father walked through the door.

"He's not at the school" Randy's father started to say, then, seeing Randy said "Oh, there you are" and, seeing the angry look on his mother's face, said "You are in a lot of trouble!"

"Give me your phone!" announced his mother.

"But then how can I play time travel ga-I mean how will I be able to contact you?"

"You have an old phone with fewer capabilities. Use that" his father replied.

Discouraged, Randy gave his mother his phone and trudged up to his bedroom to do homework.