Okay people! After a recent Back to the Future marathon… THIS popped in my head! I'm not exactly sure if it had been done before in Star Wars fanfiction… but I'll try my best. It is going to be very similar to the movie but I'll try my hardest to add as many original things as I can. I'm not even sure if it IS fanfiction… just enjoy!
Summary: When teenage fanboy Griffin and fangirl Sarah put their lives into a nerdy cousin of Sarah's hands, all for the glory of time travel, they get sucked into the world of the 1960's. They need the help of a young boy… a senior in 1962 living in Modesto California… the one that will change millions of people's lives and the history of cinema itself… George Lucas. How will these super Lucas fans get back home without drastically changing the life of George? Where were YOU in '62?
Notes: Steven Spielberg and George Lucas had been friends since 1966, George Lucas had his life-altering accident June 12th 1962… that's all I think you need to know for this chapter.
Somewhere in the galaxy this could all be happening right now…
Modesto, California: Thursday, June 10th 2010 (Present)
The bell rung in Downey High School signaling the end of all classes. Sarah Johnson stood at her locker and sighed. It had been an interesting day. All her teachers had been choosing her for all the questions she didn't know, they loaded her up on homework, and to top it all off she was going through her period. At least she had one more day to look forward to until the weekend.
She took another glance at her locker. It reflected her interests to a great extent. There were pictures upon pictures of Star Wars characters, Star Wars vehicles, Star Wars merchandise, and a bit of Harry Potter, Indiana Jones and Muppets thrown in there for a good measure. At the bottom, as a bit of an afterthought, where her books and school supplies. The satchel she wore was already stuffed with books of homework, pens and her lucky sketch pad but she added a science textbook to the mix.
She was pretty, but not in any extraordinary way. At least she thought so. She looked a bit like Natalie Portman only with her chestnut hair down to the middle of her back. She liked to wear one thing every day that reminded her of her favorite movies, sometimes a belt, sometimes an earring. Today it was an Empire Strikes Back t-shirt.
A voice dominating over the crowded halls resurfaced her back to reality. She smirked as she watched her tall friend Griffin Nickerson part through the mob. He grinned her way briefly, but it ended soon after as he dodged a well aimed swipe at his shoulder by a fellow football star. He stopped at near her locker and he leaned casually against the neighboring one.
"What's up?" he asked. Griffin was muscular in addition to being tall. His brown hair fell annoyingly in his eyes all the time, despite it being shorter in the back. His eyes were hazel and they seemed to penetrate anyone who locked theirs to his. He was on the football team, but he was no jock. Under his team sweatshirt with the stitched logo of the school was a faded t-shirt with E.T. on it. People often wondered why he hung out with such a plain and nerdy girl but if they really could see past both of their exteriors they would find out that there was more to them that first comprehended.
"The sixties had it good," Sarah replied glumly. She slammed her locker closed and locked it. Griffin grimaced in reaction at her sudden movement and at the pure sadness in her voice.
"Yeah they had it great," Griffin rolled his eyes. "The sex, beer, and cigarettes sounded wonderful."
"No it's not that," Sarah disagreed. "The hair, pretty dresses, the music, the movies, the innocence, the cars! It's just so different than what we have now. Sometimes I wish I could visit there just once."
"Don't say that!" Griffin warned jokingly. He waved a finger in her direction with a smile on his face. "You never know what might happen!"
Sarah rolled her eyes. "They haven't invented a time machine yet! I think I'm safe for now."
Griffin put his hand down and moved to lean on his back instead scanning the halls. "I don't know… Mark seems to be pretty set on making one."
Sarah moved her eyes to the boy packing his bag across the hall from her. "Oh my cousin's all talk. Mark tried to make a spaceship a couple of years ago and it never made it. He forgot to put an engine in or something. Also it was made out of plastic."
"You said that he did that when he was five!"
"Yeah well, he never gave up that crazy dream," Sarah replied grumpily.
"And being a professional movie maker isn't crazy?" Griffin pointed out. Sarah shot him a dirty look.
"Well it's more likely than ever making a time machine! Listen to yourself!"
"Come on! You don't mean that," Griffin said soothingly. "You're just tired and in need of a nap. Finish putting stuff away in your man purse, let's pick up Mark and get out of here."
"I still don't know why he chooses to live in that crummy broken down old house that no one lives in when he could be living with my family!" Sarah exclaimed in exasperation while pulling on a coat.
"Ever since your Aunt and Uncle died three years ago he's been taking it really hard," Griffin pointed out. "He was only fourteen."
"Yeah I know! But he is our responsibility and one day the kid police are going to catch him or whatever and my parents will be sent to prison with negligence or something!"
"Don't talk of stuff you don't know," Griffin warned. "Your parents are good people but sometimes they do need that extra kick in the butt. Maybe if you would talk to them they would insist that Mark stay with them."
"That's the problem! I don't know if I want Mark staying with us!" Sarah's voice dropped to a confused whisper as they approached Mark's locker.
"But didn't you just say…"
"Hey guys!" Mark exclaimed closing his locker too and striding up to meet them. Mark was a nice looking boy too, but it would have been much more noticeable without the giant baggy sweatshirt that he always wore, his badly cut blonde hair, glasses much too big for his forehead and jeans that were a poor attempt to be cool. His eyes were the most beautiful blue.
"Hey Mark," his friends said tightly. Mark looked at them, innocently smiling while his companions just shifted their feet.
"You ready to go Mark?" Griffin asked.
"Yeah!" Mark exclaimed, sounding like a child and Sarah inwardly grimaced.
"Let's go then." They walked out of the school and took a turn into the parking lot. "Since I knew Mark would be coming with us I had to take Mark's van," explained Griffin to Sarah. She shrugged and Mark smiled some more. The van was a great car… for a teenager. The scratches and dents that covered it seemed almost strategically placed and it looked very much like Hutch's van from the movie Fanboys. The inside was a Star Wars nerd's heaven. Posters and pictures and books and Christmas Yoda lights lined every inch of the inside.
"Chewie!" Sarah called out and jogged to the passenger's seat. She could drive, and she liked it, but the problem was that she never trusted herself enough to go on any major highways in the fear of hurting either herself or someone else. So Griffin always drove them. Mark chose a seat in the back and Griffin climbed into the driver's seat.
"Everybody all set?" he asked and revved the engine. Murmured 'yeah's' made him smile and he gassed it and began to drive.
The highways weren't as barren as they used to be. Just like everything it had become somewhat congested as more people started moving in. The ride from the school wasn't very long, but it seemed to take longer because the only cassettes that Mark could find were old Disney Princess ones. Of course no one knew how those got there.
Griffin put the car in park as they reached the front of Mark's house. Or disaster area. Or junk heap. Whatever. Mark, after tragically losing his parents in a plane crash in 2007, he decided to avoid almost all human contact, continuing to use Sarah's parents for financial reasons but living in an abandoned church. It was near both Sarah's and Griffin's houses so if he needed them all he had to do was walk across the street.
"Sarah and I will walk from here," Griffin stated, getting out of the van. Sarah followed suit and unbuckled.
"Griffin's joining my family for dinner tonight," Sarah said to Mark. "You're welcomed to join us."
"No it's okay," Mark shrugged, placing his hands into his pants pockets. "I have things I need to do tonight. But you're welcomed to drop by my place later. I have something cool I want to show you. And bring your cell phones, iPods, iPads, Laptops, digital cameras, video cameras… I really don't care. Just bring something. It's going to be big."
"Okay…" Griffin said slowly. "When should we get there?"
"I should be done with it by six thirty. You should come down then. Oh, can I have my keys back?"
"Sure…" said Griffin and did what he asked. "What's up kid?"
"You'll see. Now, get you two!" Mark gestured to Sarah's nicer looking home across from his. They gave him a weird look and began to slowly walk in a daze to her home. "Go!"
Sarah was the first to walk in the door. "Honey! It's so great that you're home!" Sarah's mom Nancy greeted her daughter. Griffin walked in and she smiled broader. "Oh it's Griffin! Your dad will be so happy that he's eating with us!"
"I'm sure," Sarah said under her breath and embraced her mother, who looked a lot like her.
"Nice to see you again Mrs. Johnson," said Griffin politely.
"Please you know it's Nancy!" She gave him a hug too and over her shoulder Griffin gave Sarah a comical 'Please get your mother off of me now' look. Sarah dug her fingers into her mom's ribs and tickled her. She screeched and let go. "Now, you kids go and have fun. I want the door to be open in your room Sarah, I want you to finish your homework before I even hear a word that's un-homework oriented, and I want you down by five thirty for an early dinner. Is that all right with you dear?"
"Perfectly Mrs. … erm… Nancy." Mrs. Johnson smiled brilliantly and the two teenagers made their way up the stairs.
Sarah's room was a pig sty and often confused with her little 15 year old brother Austin's room, the reason being that it looked very much like her locker, only with a bed, closet, desk and drawers. She had attached many strings of lights across her walls, which were painted a very dark blue, to give the room a sort of space-y feel. She never needed normal lamps, but she did have some lava lamps.
"I'll never get tired of your room," Griffin announced and she smiled. They pulled up two beanbag chairs and a book to write on and started on their homework. Sarah put some John Williams music in the background to add to the feel. Every once and a while they would peer out the window to see if there was anything going on over at Mark's place. Griffin could have sworn he saw an eerie blue light crackle across a broken stain glass window.
"Did you see that?" he asked.
"What?" replied Sarah distractingly.
"Look!" he walked over near her window and pointed to the relative place where he saw the flash.
"I can't see anything," Sarah said, worried about Griffin.
"It was there!" Griffin exclaimed. He realized it was no use and sobered. "What do you think we're getting ourselves into?" he looked at her and she furrowed her eyebrows in thought.
"I'm not sure," she admitted. "But he's opening up, which is good. I'm just so worried he'll do something rash. He's been alone too long."
"As long as we keep being nice to him I guess…" he trailed off. "I just hope whatever he's going to show us will be safe."
"Knowing Mark… we'll never know." They shared a glance, sighed and returned to their work. By the time it was five thirty they were finished and they made their way down to the kitchen.
Austin and Sarah's father Paul were already seated at the table. Austin smirked to Sarah and she glared. Mr. Johnson looked up from his newspaper long enough to see that Griffin was there and the paper went right back up again.
"Nice to see you again, Mr. Johnson," Griffin tried.
Grunt.
Sarah shrugged and sat across from Austin and Griffin sat next to her. After handing out meals of chicken breast to all of the people at the table, Mrs. Johnson took her place at the foot of the table, across from her husband.
"Where's that boy that we pay for?" Mr. Johnson grumbled, his voice slightly muffled by the barrier of the paper.
"Oh Mark couldn't come tonight, he said he had some things to do," Sarah explained quietly.
"Good for him! He's going to be a nice self- reliant boy, unlike you two!" Mr. Johnson rumbled and Austin and Sarah looked at their food. Griffin opened his mouth like he was going to speak and then thought the better of it and shut it.
Sarah and Griffin played around with their food, and started eating in small bites. When they sneaked another glance at her father, they re- thought their strategy and began to eat faster. When they were satisfied, Sarah tentatively asked, "May we please be excused?"
"By all means! Don't talk to your dad who you don't see all day! The lack of communication this generation is ridiculous!" Sarah was tempted to point out that he hadn't spoken with them either and that reading at the table was the worst sort of manners possible, but refrained from doing so.
"Thanks," she muttered and stood up. After putting their dishes on the counter, they left the house.
"What should we do? It's only six now," Griffin asked as they walked the driveway.
"I don't know, I just needed to get out of there! How about taking a walk?"
Griffin made a gesture like 'lead the way' and they began their stroll around the neighborhood. The trip was spent in silence, broken only to point out something interesting. They were both too caught up in their own thoughts to take notice of the car approaching from behind. Although they were walking on the correct side of the road, the car was not, and the teenagers that were inside could hardly be considered on the right side themselves.
"Hey nerds!" the driver called out. His name was Butch and he was mean. He wore tight jeans, dog tags and always had a pack of cigarettes on him at all times. His posse was in his four seat sports car and all holding water guns.
When Sarah and Griffin turned they were both greeted by a splash of water in their direction. "I bet you think that's funny don't you!" Sarah yelled out. Butch and his friends started howling in mirth.
"Yeah I wonder how funny it would be if you woke up with a black eye tomorrow, Butch!" Griffin called, threatening them. He balled his fists up and prepared himself for a fight, something that comes natural whenever around Butch or his friends. "Or maybe a few broken bones!"
"Was that a threat?" Butch called. He parked his car on the wrong side of the road and swaggered out, but stumbling over his own feet. His friends made a move to get out as well but Butch laid up a hand to stop them. "This nerds mine!"
"You're drunk Butch! Don't do something you might regret," Sarah warned as Butch got closer. Griffin pushed Sarah behind him for protection and got himself prepared for a surprise punch if Butch should choose to deliver one.
"Naw, I'm always drunk," Butch said with a sneer.
"That explains a lot, you big wuss!" Griffin scoffed.
"Bring it on Dork StarTrekker," Butch taunted and threw the first punch. Now legally Griffin was allowed to hit back. The hit got Griffin in the arm but it made almost no difference because he retaliated by slugging Butch in the nose. Sarah made a move to get involved but Griffin pushed her back into the grass.
"Don't!" he warned. Butch nursed his bleeding nose with one hand: the other found its way to Griffin's stomach. Griffin doubled over in pain and Sarah attempted to get up. "Sit down!" yelled Griffin. "I'm fine!" he staggered over to Butch and stood right in front of him.
"Give up yet?" Butch taunted. Griffin was taller than the bully so he just gave a little smirk down at him.
"Never," he said and kicked his right in the sweet spot. Butch went to grab at his injury and Griffin slugged him in his already swollen nose and as Butch's hands went back up he got the wind knocked out of him by a swift punch in the gut.
"Damn! Let's get out of here Butch!" yelled his right- hand- man, Pete. Butch managed a scowl and hobbled into the passenger's side as Pete climbed into the drivers and revved the engine.
"This isn't over punk!" he called out as his car drove away. Sarah stood and ran to Griffin.
"Hey, you okay?" she asked, concerned.
"Yeah, I'll be fine. Butch will be feeling worse tomorrow then I will," he assured her.
"Damn I wish I could have been fighting alongside with you!" Sarah grumbled.
"Don't worry. If I get the whopping that I did just now again, I'll need you someday. But until then, we're late to get to Mark's. We were supposed to be there five minutes ago."
"You sure you're all right to walk?"
"I'm fine," he rolled his eyes. "Let's go, okay?"
They walked back to Mark's house and it only took them three minutes at a nice brisk pace. They knocked at the entrance and Mark came out with his evil scientist lab coat and goggles on.
"Come quick! It's in the back! Did you bring any sort of recording device?" they nodded, still stunned by his choice of wardrobe. He grabbed them both by the arm and pulled them in. He led them through the church and into the backyard.
"This church burned down in '62 right?" Sarah asked.
"Yeah, its 48th anniversary is coming up soon… two days I believe," Mark explained.
"That's the twelfth?" Griffin asked. Mark nodded an affirmative.
"Something else happened that date in '62, but I just can't remember what!" Sarah exclaimed, frustrated.
"Yeah me too," Griffin agreed. Mark shrugged, too caught up in his own excitement.
"Here it is…!" he announced and gestured to the yard.
"Mark," Sarah began slowly. "There's nothing in this yard besides the van covered up with a tarp."
"Precisely!" he gushed. "Take out your recording tools please!" Sarah reached into her bag and pulled out her video camera while Griffin just grabbed his cell phone from his pocket. They got their instruments all ready and Mark looked as if he was going to pee in his pants from excitement.
"Okay, you are about to witness something so amazing, so undeniably wonderful it will blow your minds!"
"Are you sure you haven't blow your mind already?" Griffin murmured to Sarah. She rolled her eyes.
"Prepare to become face to face," he grabbed the edge of the tarp, "with the world's first and only," he pulled, "Time Traveling Machiney Thing!"
"That's the van," Griffin pointed out. Mark face punched himself.
"Yes, I know it's the van! But what's inside the van is what matters!"
"Disney Princess cassette tapes?" asked an amused Sarah.
"No!" exclaimed Mark with frustration. "No, no, no, no! The inside, inside! The engine! Observe!" he walked over to the front and popped the lid. "See this engine? Well, I programmed it to a computer which runs into there," he pointed to the inside dashboard, "where you can type in your location, where you want to go, and where to go back and such. Also, the engine runs on energy, heat or thermal energy, so it's ALSO connected to this solar panel!" He pointed to a solar panel on the lid.
"Well, how does it, like, go?" Griffin asked skeptically. "Like, connect to the space time continuum or whatever?"
"You know that movie Back to the Future?" they nodded vigorously, it being one of their favorite movies. "Well, I figured out how he did it and I did it the same way!"
"Isn't it patented though?" asked Sarah, not comprehending. Mark allowed himself another face punch.
"Well, yes, but no! I mean I actually did it!" Sarah and Griffin stared back with blank expressions.
"Watch!" Mark turned on the solar panel. "It needs to get exactly one hundred degrees though, which is annoying. You can't do it on a rainy day. We live in California though; it shouldn't be much of a problem, right?" He laughed to a un- amused audience. "Geez tough crowd. Anyway this should only take a few minutes to heat up, especially since it's so late in the day."
"Okay it's heated!" Mark exclaimed after a few tense minutes. He got into the driver's seat and backed the car up into the road.
"Shouldn't you test that thing first?" Sarah asked worryingly.
"Yeah in a place without this many people watching you?" Griffin added.
"No worries! Hannah Montana's on!"
"But what's that got to do with…" Sarah began and stopped as Mark started the car.
"You see with this one," Mark shouted "You don't need to drive as far to time travel as you do in that movie! Just press the gas since it's all heated up!"
"Maybe this isn't such a good…" Griffin started, but Mark had already pressed the gas and disappeared.
"What the…!" Sarah exclaimed.
"Where did he go?" Griffin shouted and ran to the place where Mark was last. He looked down the street and saw no one.
"Griffin, you might want to move, 'cause remember in the movie? He ended up right where he was last!"
"Oh yeah!" he replied and moved. Just as he stepped onto the pavement Mark's van reappeared right in that same spot. "That was some trick kid!"
"Did you get that on film?" Mark asked, stepping out of his car.
"Hell yeah!" Sarah exclaimed.
"So where do you want to go first?" asked Mark excitingly.
"Sarah was just saying this morning that it would be neat to go to the sixties," Griffin supplied and Sarah nodded vigorously.
"Nineteen- sixty- two it is!" Mark gleefully shouted and ran to the van again. Sarah and Griffin nervously followed.
"Chewie!" Griffin exclaimed and got into the passengers' side. Sarah took a seat in the back and leaned over to see past Griffin's shoulder.
"Here we go partners! Ye- haw!" Mark yelled. He put the gear in drive, and gassed it. Sarah and Griffin were thrown back into their seats but Mark just sat there laughing the whole time. They passed through a warp tunnel that looked a lot like hyperspace and the teenagers were entranced. What they thought would be a smooth landing changed quickly into a bumpy one as they landed. It turns out that forty- two years ago their houses were on the tip of a steep hill. A rock in the wheel caused Mark to jerk the steering wheel turning the car on its side. The teenagers screamed. Another strategically placed rock caused the car to flip, sending it tumbling down the hill. Luckily the seatbelts kept the kids in their seats, unluckily there was nothing keeping the car from turning.
When they reached the bottom Mark was the first to jump out of the car and access the damage. Sarah and Griffin climbed out of the car with expressions similar to one who just went on the worst roller coaster of their life.
"Is it okay?" Griffin managed.
"It seems fine… a few extra dents never hurt anybodeeeeee!" he screeched at the end to find that the solar panel was completely destroyed.
"That's vital… isn't it?" asked Sarah, a sick feeling creeping into her stomach.
"No…" Mark began, and then paused. "Yess!" he wailed. "That's the most important part! Well, almost."
"But a solar panel just captures energy right? Can't we just find heat another way?" Griffin asked desperatly.
"I'm sure we can… maybe we can use a lens or mirror to capture the energy from the sun… it doesn't have to be solar, mind you, but it's the easiest way…" he stopped talking when they heard a crack from up above. They looked up in time to see a lightning bolt and a sheet of rain come pouring down.
"Oh shi…." Griffin began but got an elbow in his side by Sarah.
"Great! Now we'll never get out of here!" Sarah yelled and kicked the tires.
"We should get inside the car," Mark said quietly. "It's unsafe to be out during a lightning storm." His friends just glared at him, their clothes slowly getting wetter and wetter. "Tomorrow we'll figure all this out, okay?"
They both nodded slowly and climbed in their seats without saying a word. Mark climbed in last. He turned on the radio.
The legendary Wolfman Jack's voice filled up the radio. "Gooooood afternoon California! It's the Wolfman Jack with a weather forecast for y'all tonight! This here storm that started, it's going to go on for a right round two days! That's right; the twelfth is when it ends! Now we get back to the music. Let's hear Johnnie .B. Goode by Chuck Berry! I hope all you teens out there are being good! School's almost over and we're gonna end it with a bang, ain't that right kids?"
Mark turned the radio off.
They slept.
Soo…. What did you think? Um… maybe this belongs in Fictionpress… just, tell me what you think.