Well, the first mission was a complete FAIL. After Virgil Fox and his friends finished building their time machine, they had used it for the one thing that Virgil REALLY wanted. He only had two words in his mind when they jumped through the vortex of their machine: the lottery. Everything was running smoothly up until the cashier asked them for ID to prove they were 18 years old.

Virgil smiled because out of the three boys, he was the only one who was 18. When he checked his pockets however, he really wanted to kick himself for FORGETTING HIS WALLET back in his own time period. He wanted to leave the ticket with the Robot Man in front of the convenient store, but Zeke Thompson, one of the three, stopped him on account of "not trusting the guy." All in all, the complete waste of the trip disappointed Virgil. If only he left the ticket with the Robot Man…

The regret was eating at him and instead of mourning about it, he was brainstorming a few backup plans while his best friend, Charlie Tuttle, untied his shoes in the boys' locker room after gym class. It was only when he suggested to have other people down in the basement when Charlie cut him off.

"Forget it Virgil!" he said sharply. "If anyone finds out about the machine it will be the end of you, me and Zeke. The end!"

"Uh…" Virgil had turned his head to keep his nose from touching Charlie's, who had stood on the bench and leaned in towards Virgil to emphasize the point he was trying to make. "Can you back up? I've got personal space issues."

Charlie was stubborn at times, but so was Virgil. Even as they left the locker room, he was still trying to find a way to get his hands on that lottery money.

"Listen," Charlie said as they climbed up the stairs to the main level, "forget about cheating your way into getting that money. We should use the machine to do GOOD, USEFUL things."

"Like what? That 48-hour limit doesn't give us many options you know."

"You'd be surprised, Virg."

A loud commotion further behind made them turn around. They saw an acquaintance, Chester, wrapped in a towel, pleading with a group of punk kids to return his stolen clothes. A kid snuck up behind him and snatched the towel away, exposing poor Chester to the entire student population. Virgil felt a knot form in his throat as everyone roared in laughter. He felt bad for the kid, but he couldn't do anything about it.

"I got it!" Charlie beamed, smacking Virgil's arm excitedly. The two locked eyes, transmitting their thoughts to one another.

The knot disappeared and Virgil felt a smile of his own grow on his face. "We use the time machine to…"

"Exactly!"

The two did Virgil's special handshake, but Charlie didn't finish correctly.

"Scratch!" he yelled.

Virgil looked at him in disbelief and began to walk away to look for Zeke. "It's 'Scorch'. Did you even read the instructions I emailed you?"

…

The boys were preparing to jump through again when Charlie groaned in frustration. "None of these remotes are going to work! One of us needs to stay behind to ensure nothing happens while we're on the other side."

Since no one wanted to miss out on the fun, no one volunteered and the room became dead silent. Virgil knew there was only one way to solve the dilemma.

"Not it!" he suddenly shouted.

"Not it!" Zeke said quickly.

"Not it!" Charlie caught on slowly. "Daaah! That wasn't fair!"

"Not it!" Virgil shouted again.

"Not it!"

"Not—Oh, come on! I invented the thing!" Charlie argued.

Virgil and Zeke smiled in amusement at his distress and glanced at each other. Messing around with the short teen was fun.

"Not it!" a female said, making the three boys whip their gaze to the door.

Cheerful Jeanette Pachelewski stood at the entrance with a girl who unlike Jeanette, gave off a more mature vibe with her posture and calm, almost blank, expression on her face. Being the 'people person' he was, Virgil was the only one who recognized her.

The girl's name was Jade Quelin (although she preferred Jay) and she was a senior who moved to Summerton High School during his sophomore year. He shared a class with her once and after they got different schedules, she pretty much disappeared. Now he occasionally saw her in the hallways, but that was it since she was a person who could become invisible to the crowd. Being present in the basement was an unpredictable move.

And a miraculous one.

Realizing that the girls were an answer to their problem, Virgil glanced at Zeke and Charlie. While Charlie seemed a little scared that JEANETTE was standing in the same room as him, Zeke's blue eyes flashed apprehensively.

The two looked at the girls with a friendly smile and Virgil addressed them both. "Hey Jeanette. Hey Jay."

Jay looked stunned for a brief second, but the expression was quickly replaced by a grin. "Hi Virgil."

"What are you doing here?" Charlie asked Jeanette. By his tone, Virgil knew he was ultimately looking to get rid of them.

"We were just looking for a club to join and we saw yours the 'Back to the Future Fan Club'," Jeanette explained, holding up a paper. "And personally, I love that movie. I just find the concept of time travel very…science-fictiony?"

Jay frowned slightly at the use of the word. "Uh…"

"Excuse us for just one second." Virgil held up a finger and waved Charlie over. The boys huddled up. Zeke and Virgil tried to convince Charlie that letting the girls in on the 'secret' was convenient, but Charlie refused to listen to them. They argued in whispers and slowly got louder.

Jay shifted uncomfortably and shared a confused glance with Jeanette.

The boys' arguing got up to the point where Charlie screamed "No!" and got into a smacking contest with Virgil.

"Hey, no hitting!" Zeke broke them up.

"Uh, would you like us to go?" Jay asked uneasily.

"No!" Zeke and Virgil said, confusing her even more.

Virgil cleared his throat. "We need a favor."

…

"Do you understand?" Charlie's tone carried a hint of annoyance as he finished explaining how to work the machine.

"Sure bluebird," Jeanette answered. "But first…" she turned off the machine and gave the boys disapproving looks. "We so gotta do something about those outfits."

Confused, the boys looked down at their clothes.

"I think they look fine." Jay shrugged a shoulder, earning her the same disapproving glance.

-XY-

So I just saw the movie and freaking LOVED IT. (I can't believe I'e never seen it in my childhood.) Anyway here I am, writing about it years after it was 'the thing'. C: