Chapter Three

Sugar's eyes flew open. She had a terrible, terrible nightmare that she had a fight with her moms and then somehow found herself lost in the past. She could have almost laughed at the ridiculousness of such a dream, until the realization hit her.

All she could do was cry.

What would her mother's think? Were they missing her right now? Had they woken up to find a pillow stuffed into her blankets and then called the police? Was there a search party happening now, where photos of her face would be stuck on poles, titled 'Beloved daughter missing; $1 billion dollar reward'? Or was the total opposite happening? Were her parents finally glad to rid of a daughter like her and opening champagne bottles to celebrate?

No, stop it, Sugar thought, don't think like this. You will fix the time machine, and be home just in time for breakfast. No one will suspect anything.

Sugar got out a piece of paper and a pen from the bedside drawer. She wrote right at the top of the piece of paper 'Plans for the Past'. Her mami would be proud; being the organized one in the family, she was always making lists. After writing the heading, she paused. Well, firstly she needed to go shopping. She had decided that last night when she realized she had no pajamas, other clothes, or any essentials with her. She wrote 'shopping spree' on the paper. She also needed to figure out what time fuel was. Perhaps Al Motta knew something about cars, and could help her. She didn't need to mention anything about time travelling engines, but getting a general overview on car mechanics could possibly help. After writing 'FIX THE DAMN CAR' on her list, she paused again. Once she had fixed the time machine, there was no need for anything else. She'd zip back to the correct era and forget that any of this had ever happened.

Alas, Sugar knew that this wasn't going to be easy. As much as she hated to admit it, she had to be prepared for the worst. How could she live out the rest of her life stuck in the past? She wanted to meet her teenage parents, that much was certain. She could spend a bit more time with her grandparents, since she didn't see them that often in the future. She could write a letter to her parents, explaining that she had travelled to the past, but only allow them to open it in the future. At least they'd know what had happened to their only daughter. No, that didn't make sense. She'd just grow old, alongside her parents. They'd just have a 43 year old daughter when they were 44. Would that mean she could be there to witness her own birth, and exist with her child-form? All this time-space continuum stuff was too confusing.

She left her list on top of the bedside drawer and decided to fulfill her first task.

If she thought all this time travelling was confusing, it was almost nothing compared to navigating the Lima Mall. The mall was reasonably crowded with some people casually window shopping, whilst others ran from store to store, obviously on some sort of mission. She held onto to the strap of her handbag tighter and ventured into the unknown.

The first store she stopped at was a clothing boutique. Racks and racks of tops, pants and everything in between lined the store. Sugar eyed the nearest item; black, skinny leg pants. No one wore things like this in the future. These were just so outdated. Still, Sugar doubted they sold fashion from 2038, and Sugar did need to fit in. She was in the process of grabbing a few items from the racks when the store attendant approached her.

"Hi! Did you need any help there?"

Sugar shook her head, suddenly shy. Was she doing something wrong? Did she already stand out as someone who didn't originate from here?

"If you need to try anything on, we have fitting rooms at the back," the assistant pointed to a small room at the rear of the store.

"Oh, that sounds good," Sugar walked off into one of the cubicles and immediately tried on a pair of pants. The fabric itched and scratched at her skin; it was incredibly uncomfortable. She took off the pants immediately, unable to bare it any longer and looked at the tag. '98% Cotton' it read. Cotton? Had they not heard of aerodown? Sugar figured aerodown had not been invented yet and sighed. This would have to do, she had no other choice.

She walked over to the cash register, and was greeted again by the same sales assistant.

"How did they go?" she asked

"They were hella uncomfortable, and quite possibly the worst experience ever. Consider using aerodown in the future. Or at least a lot of fabric softener," Sugar spat. The assistant looked at Sugar in surprise.

"Oh, right, sorry, Asperger's," Sugar explained, as if that was enough to clear the assistant's confusion.

"So...did you still want to buy them?"

"I don't really have much of a choice, do I?"

As the sales assistant went about her business, Sugar looked around the store. Hanging on a rack, she noticed a shirt she hadn't noticed before. In bold print, 'FUTURE IS HERE' was printed across the chest. Should she get it? It'd be funny. No one would suspect a thing, it was just a shirt. She grabbed a few, in different colours of course, and threw them with the other clothes she had bought.

She sat down on a bench in the middle of the mall, bags full of her purchases surrounding her feet. She now understood why humanity had made the transition to online shopping. Manually buying your own things was not only tiring, but incredibly stressful; there were like twenty types of toothbrushes to choose from. How would she know if she wanted a toothbrush with added polisher, or a toothbrush with extra long bristles?

She looked across from where she was sitting and spotted a small coffee shop. That's what she needed, a good strong coffee. She picked up her bags clumsily and headed towards the inviting store, the aroma of ground coffee beans exciting her senses. After ordering her coffee, she sat at a table near the back of the shop and took a sip of her drink, cringing as it burnt her tongue, but savoring the familiar taste anyway. It seemed that coffee had not changed too much from the future, and for that she was grateful.

Two boys, possibly around her age came and sat at the table next to her, one of them carrying their drinks, whilst the other held onto a plate with a slice of cake. Sugar couldn't help but notice that they looked somewhat familiar, but she didn't know where from.

"So you really aren't going to consider transferring to McKinley?"

"But they need me at Dalton and I need them. I don't see why you can't come back to Dalton. Don't you still have the uniform?"

"Come on, it's my senior year. As much as I enjoyed Dalton, my heart is at McKinley. I just want my senior year to be perfect. Oh, and I guess you could be there too," he tucked into the cake and pulled what Sugar assumed to be puppy-dog eyes at the other boy.

"Hey, hey, don't go around doing that. You know how that makes me feel. And leave us some cake will you?"

"Look, you could even join our glee club at McKinley. I'm sure everyone will love to have you with us. We need a few new members, with Sam having to move away. You're already on good terms with most of the club already anyway. You're friends with Finn, Mercedes and Santana. Oh, and I guess there was that momentary lapse of homosexuality where you decided kissing Rachel Berry would be a good idea..."

Sugar missed the other boy's response. Did she just hear what she thought she heard? Santana, Mercedes? She didn't know who Finn was, but she definitely recognized the name 'Rachel Berry'. Surely they weren't talking about her mami, Santana and her Aunt Mercedes. She knew that her moms and Aunt Mercedes were a part of the glee club at high school. That was how they met. Aunt Mercedes used to tell Sugar that if it wasn't for glee club, her moms would probably have given her a slushee facial every day. Sugar never understood what that meant; it was probably some old-person metaphor.

It suddenly hit her. She would enroll at William McKinley High School. That was the way to befriend her teenage parents. Perhaps even, she could coerce her mom to tell her how to travel back to the future. Even if she didn't have a time machine now, she probably had some ideas in that brilliant mind. Her mami had always said that her mom had been a genius since the moment they met.

She turned back to the conversation happening at the other table, hoping to grab any other information which could be possibly helpful.

"...coffee's gone cold. I can't believe school starts up again tomorrow. I'm going to miss seeing your face every day," the taller boy pouted.

"We did have a good summer, didn't we?"

"The best."

The boys both sighed and proceeded to stare at each other lovingly. Sugar knew that was the end of any meaningful conversation; when her parents gazed into each other's eyes, Sugar would always roll her own and stomp back to her room. She picked up all her bags with great difficulty and headed back to the car.

So school started up again tomorrow. She'd have to go enroll herself first thing tomorrow morning. But surely schools didn't just accept anyone off the street. She needed more credibility. The answer came to her as she turned into the drive way of the motel. Al Motta. He could pretend to be her dad. He seemed nice enough to do something like that for her. He didn't ask too many questions, and Sugar hoped he'd continue not to do so. If worst came to worst, she'd bribe him with some of her left over money from today's shopping spree.

The person she was just thinking about greeted her at the reception.

"Early morning shopping? Get anything good?" he said in his friendly manner.

"Just a few things. Actually, I wanted to talk to you Mr. Motta,"

"Please, just call me Al,"

"Right. Al. Would you accompany me to William McKinley High School tomorrow?"

"Ah...I guess I could? Do you know someone there?"

Sugar squirmed. The right answer was yes. She knew her moms, and her Aunt Mercedes. "Well, no. I was actually thinking about enrolling there. I want to attend William McKinley High School,"

"Oh. Ok," Al looked slightly uncomfortable, "look, I don't normally pry into the lives of my customers but I really do have to ask, what's your deal?"

Sugar was starting to feel frustrated. What was her deal? Sugar was prepared to insult the man standing in front of him, but she held her tongue. She needed him, and couldn't afford to get into his bad books. "I'm starting a new life here in Lima," she lied, "I had a misunderstanding with my family, and I'm here for a fresh new start," At least the misunderstanding part was somewhat true.

"You know what, I fully understand. I was in a similar position when I was around your age," Al empathized, "if you need someone to talk to, feel free to talk to me,"

"Thanks Al. So is it alright? Can you take me to McKinley tomorrow?"

"Sure kiddo,"

Sugar beamed. Everything was going to plan, for now.

After packing away everything she had bought, Sugar decided to take a look at the time machine's engine. She figured that she might be able to make a better observation now that she had calmed down from time traveling. She opened up hood of the truck and peered in. All she could see were an assortment of wires, tubes and different car components, none of them looking familiar. Come on! You're Brittany Lopez-Pierce's daughter, this should be in your blood. She used to fix motocross bikes at the age of 14. Sugar assumed the largest contraption in the center was the engine. It looked old and possibly rusted, as did everything else in the hood. However, to the left, there was one little part which did seem somewhat newer than everything else. Whilst everything seemed brown, and the car itself was an off-white, this little box was silver. She bent over to take a closer look. It was a small box, probably around the size of her jewelry box at home. She unscrewed the cap, and peered inside. It was empty, though the walls of the box were stained red. A sweet and almost familiar odor hit her nose. She couldn't place why the odor smelt familiar, but she almost wanted to taste the remnants of the box to get a clearer picture.

"Watcha doing there kiddo?"

The voice surprised Sugar, and as a consequence she hit her head on the hood of the car in fright. Whilst rubbing the back of her head, she turned to the source of the voice.

"Oh, Al, it's just you. You scared me,"

"Sorry! Having car problems?"

"Ah, sorta. Know anything about cars?"

"Well, I don't mean to brag, but I do consider myself a bit of a skilled mechanic. Don't tell anyone, but I have a hidden stash of blueprints for a couple of ideas that I have, which will revolutionize the future."

Sugar smiled. He wasn't wrong.

"Anyway, what can I do for you?"

Sugar didn't know what to say. She couldn't tell him this was a time machine; that could most definitely prove dangerous.

"Um...well...what do you think went in here?" She pointed to the small box in the left hand corner. Al Motta stood closer and took a glance at the silver box. He frowned and scratched his head. Sugar could have laughed at how comical it looked, except for the fact that he was just as stumped as she was, and she knew she wasn't going to like what he was about to say.

"Well, I doubt that's your fuel tank, but it smells sweet, as if someone's tried to put sugar in your tank. Though some believe that sugar will react with the gasoline, it's all a myth. Sugar doesn't dissolve in petrol. However, it might still clog up the filter, so I'd probably get that checked. If your car is still working however, perhaps it's not so much a problem. I don't know what that box is for though. I've never seen that in a car,"

Sugar's shoulders slumped. Though she knew he wouldn't be able to fix her problem, she was hoping he'd figure something out.

"Doesn't that smell remind you of something?"

"Hmm...you know what, it smells sorta fruity, doesn't it?"

He was right, it did smell fruity. That did narrow her options ever so slightly, yet at the same time made everything so much more confusing. Knowing her mom, she could have used anything as time fuel. That worried Sugar to no end.

"Thanks Al,"

"No problem. You should probably get an early sleep. The first day of school, and a new one at that, is never easy,"

Sugar nodded. She suddenly felt very nervous about tomorrow. All her worst nightmares could become a reality. She couldn't do anything about it, but be prepared for the worst.