Mack looked around the room at her friends from Wet Side Story. She sighed as she realised that with their current clothes they would never blend in to 2013. As the gang from 1962 marvelled over the flat screen TV, Mack signalled for Brady to join her in the hallway.
"Have you found out when the next storm is coming through?" she asked quietly. Brady nodded as he pulled out his cell phone.
"It looks like there should be a storm coming through next week," he replied.
"Okay so we just have to help them blend in for one week. That shouldn't be too bad. All we have to do is get them some new clothes and some new names," said Mack. Brady nodded and the two of them headed back into the living room to tell their friends their plan.
Returning to the living room Mack and Brady were greeted with the sight of the bikers and surfers talking to each other. Mack smiled as she realised it was because of her and Brady that the bikers and the surfers were such good friends. Lela and Tanner were in the corner talking quietly and looking very cosy. Lela looked up and smiled at Mack as she and Brady entered the room.
"So Mack, what's the plan?" asked Lela, loud enough for Mack to hear her over their friends.
"Yeah," said Chee Chee from the corner, "how're we gonna get home?" Brady and Mack exchanged a glance. They knew there was no way they could explain to their friends where home really was.
"We should be able to get you guys home next week," said Brady.
"But until then we need to get you all some new clothes," added Mack with the hint of a smile. She looked at Lela in her iconic pink leather jacket and knee-high pink boots and tried to imagine what she would look like in 2013 clothing. "Brady will take the boys back to his house now to get some clothes, and the girls can stay here and borrow some from me."
The room erupted with sound as the bikers and surfers all began to move. Lela and Tanner shared a quick kiss which earned them a stern look from Butchy before Tanner followed Brady from the room. As Lela and Tanner broke apart Mack could have sworn she saw Giggles watching them with a hint of jealously before watching Butchy leave the room. As the boys left the room Mack and Brady decided to meet back in the living room in an hour.
"'Kay Mack, where do we get our fancy new clothes from?" asked Struts.
"Upstairs," replied Mack indicating with her finger. Chee Chee and Struts ran upstairs without another word, presumably to begin raiding Mack's wardrobe. "Shall we?" Lela held out each arm for Mack and Giggles.
The three girls made their ways upstairs to catch up with Chee Chee and Struts. As they approached Mack's bedroom they could hear the two girls talking about which clothes they liked and which they didn't. When the girls entered the room Chee Chee and Struts were in a heated discussion as to whether the purple sweater Struts was holding was fashionable or not.
"It's an awful colour Struts. The only colours a girl should be wearing is black and red," said Chee Chee pointing to it.
"That's not right," said Mack as she entered the room. "Girls can wear any colour."
"Not if they wants to look good," argued Chee Chee. Mack shook her head before pulling clothes out of her closet and throwing them onto the bed.
"Pick something from here and leave your clothes in the wash basket in the corner. We'll make sure that's what you're wearing when you go home." Mack left the room to allow the girls to pick their clothes and get changed in privacy. After waiting awkwardly just outside the door she changed her mind and headed down to the living room instead. As she settled on the couch her eyes wandered over to the DVD cabinet where Wet Side Story was hidden.
RING RING!
The sound of the landline pulled Mack from her thoughts. She looked at the landline hesitantly before answering. No one ever rang the landline; if someone wanted to reach her or her Grandpa they'd call their cell phones. Swallowing, Mack picked up the phone and held it to her ear.
"Hello?"
"Hello is this McKenzie Fox? Granddaughter of Vince Fox?" asked the voice on the other end of the phone.
"Yes this is she. May I ask who is calling?" replied Mack. She could feel her heart begin to race. No one ever used her Grandpa's real name; everyone just called him Big Poppa after his surf shop.
"My name is Jasmine; I'm a nurse over at the General Hospital. I'm sorry to inform you that your Grandfather was admitted to our hospital a little over an hour ago." Mack froze. She barely heard the rest of the nurse's sentence. Her Grandpa was in hospital. The one person apart from Brady who had always been there for her was lying in some hospital bed on the other side of town.
"What happened?" she whispered, cutting off the woman in midsentence.
"He had a heart attack. We've called your Aunt Antoinette in. She wanted us to tell you to stay at home, and that she'll come and get you for a visit tomorrow."
"Okay. Thank you." Mack hung up the phone and pulled her legs up to her chest. She couldn't say for sure how long she sat there but she figured it must have been close to an hour since the first thing she remembered after the phone call was Brady pulling her into a hug as the tears began to flow.
"What is it Mack?" he whispered in her ear. Although her eyes were closed she could hear her friends whispering to each other. She heard snippets of their conversation and realised they thought her tears were because of them. Wiping her eyes she pulled out of Brady's embrace and faced her friends.
"I got a phone call. My Grandpa's in hospital. He had a heart attack," she said quietly, her eyes on Brady. The room was silent. Tanner circled his arms around Lela's waist.
"I'm so sorry Mack," said Giggles from her spot in the corner of the room.
"It's okay it's not anyone's fault," she replied, her voice sounding oddly flat. "My Aunt is coming." Brady's eyes widened. Aunt Antoinette coming to stay was not good.
"You're Aunt's coming? Now?" Mack nodded, grabbing Brady's hand tightly. Aunt Antoinette had a way of making everything more complicated than it needed to be. She had left the day they had returned from Wet Side Story after Mack had told her she didn't want to go a school thousands of miles away. Antoinette had agreed to let Mack stay, but reluctantly, and Mack wasn't sure that Antoinette wouldn't use her Grandpa's illness as a way to get her to leave.
"What's wrong with your Aunt?" asked Seacat, sensing there was something wrong by the way Mack and Brady were acting.
"Nothing," replied Mack quickly. Even though she was terrified for her Grandpa, and completely unsure what to do with her friends now that her Aunt was coming, she didn't want to worry them. She had enough on her plate to worry about without a group of panicking teenagers from 1962 to worry about as well.
"We'll get through this," said Brady looking around at his friends. "All of us. Together. Just like before." The group began to talk amongst themselves about how they had defeated Les Camembert and destroyed his weather machine. Brady looked at Mack whose eyes were filling with tears. "Come here," he said and pulled her into his embrace as the tears began flowing.