AN: Thanks to my reviewers, Hottietom and Jarcielle36. Also, note to everyone: I'll be compressing the chapters tomorrow. So it may seem like the chapters are less, but they're still the way they originally went, only there will be less. Am I making any sense? ;P

Hottietom:D Yeah, another Lucas lover! wipes away a tear I'm just so happy, lol. Okay, for your number one thingy: Just a little filler chapter revealing a little bit about things. By now I'm sure we all know the trio somehow knows the Science Club. So some insight as to their evil plots (I just love that statement) is worth a small chapter. As for number two: Ha Ha. Sorry it's dragging so much. I've gotten so used to making myself drag things out as if it were a real story, that I'm having trouble jumping quickly to the fun stuff. But I'm gonna compress some chapters so they don't seem too drawling, lol

Jarcielle36: Aren't Marshall and Corrine cute, though? I mean, I wish they seemed to have more of a thing in the show. There's just not enough Marshall and Corriness! I'm flattered that you'd take time out like that to read my fic! I know I used to do that for a bunch of fics I read a while back before vacation, lol. Keep up the reviews, lol!

CHAPTER THREE

"Hang out?" Finley repeated uncertainly. "I don't know."

"It should be fun. We'd love to hear more about your old school and stuff. Plus I could catch you up on the news here," Marshall said with a grin.

"What do you say?" Corrine inquired. Please say yes.

You sound anxious.

The sooner we get an answer to all this, the better.

Finley looked between the two. "I don't know," He repeated. He seemed suspicious of the two friendly faces before him, even guarded. "Where are the others?"

"Vaughn's at football practice and Lucas is upstairs. Josie's in her room," Corrine replied. Reading that book. Her and Lucas both interested in the same story?

Maybe it's just that good, Marshall suggested.

"Don't you guys have science club or something?"

"No, not today," Corrine said. "So you up for it?"

"You're not trying to con me, are you?" Finley inquired.

This kid is good.

And blunt. "Why would we want to con you?" Marshall asked.

Finley shrugged. He moved along the corridor, rubbing his chin thoughtfully. It seemed to both Corrine and Marshall that he was running over their proposal, but in actuality his mind was running through the fight he'd had with Jovee earlier that day. He stopped, turning back to the duo. Why not try to get to know the famous two when he had the chance. See how they went from the teens they were today to the people they'll become later on. If Douglas could take advantage of this trip, and Jovee was getting as much out of it as she could, why couldn't he.

Finley grinned. "Alright. What did you have in mind?"

Corrine pulled out a sheet of paper. "Alright, I figure if we get started right now, we'd have an hour to study and do our homework for tomorrow. Then after that we can have another hour for free activities. When that's finished we could -."

Finley groaned. "You cannot be serious."

Is she crazy? Nobody schedules their life like that.

Corrine shot Marshall a dirty look. "I do."

"You do what?" Finley asked, looking at her with amusement.

Now who's messing up?

I wasn't the one who screamed out to the entire math class that you weren't breathing down my back about the right answers, Corrine thought back.

I thought we agreed to let that one go. Fine, we're tied.

"I do … schedule my days, that is. Sometimes. I'm just a little nervous. We could do what you want, though. Any suggestions?" She asked.

Finley leaned against the wall, watching as several kids moved quickly around the halls in a hurry to get to their destinations. Bees – that's what they reminded him of. The school itself was one crazy beehive of activity – constant activity. Now he wished he could actually have been there when Madison took over the school with pheromones. No doubt it would have been amazing.

"Let's just talk," He said.

"Talk? That's … it?" Marshall said.

Funny, he sort of hits the mind as the quiet type.

Finley shrugged. "Nobody just talks anymore. If we're going to hang out, we should get to know each other a little. Hi, I'm Finley Grant, and I'll be your new friend, today."

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"…Stand there!"

It was the only thing that really got Vaughn's attention at the ball hurtling towards him at such an intense speed. He ducked out of the way, falling to the ground in surprise before glancing down at himself. Hadn't he just been heading out to the football field? How did he manage to get from the back door to the football field – wearing his uniform and apparently in the middle of practice?

"Pearson! What do you call that?" His coach demanded angrily, stomping over to the blond haired boy.

"I -." Vaughn stalled for a minute. Truth was he didn't know. He'd just blacked out – for the second time that day! The first time hadn't been too weird because it had only been for a few moments – taking the papers from Lucas and then he'd been looking at Corrine and Marshall. That could easily be passed off as daydreaming. At least, that's what he'd told himself. Now he wasn't so sure.

He glanced at his watch. Now there had been an hour amount of time lost! He turned to his coach uncertainly. "I guess I'm just having an off day," He said slowly.

"You aren't allowed off days, Pearson. You can't afford off days, do you understand?" His coach demanded.

"Yeah, I do," Vaughn said quickly. "I'll do better tomorrow, I promise."

"You'd better," The coach growled. He glanced down at his own watch, and then nodded. "Alright, boys. Let's head out!"

Vaughn stood from the ground hesitantly, his eyes searching the field. He half expected to see someone watching him. When he found nothing out of the ordinary, he just continued along. He considered the possibility of talking with Z about the blackouts, but then decided against it. He was certain it wouldn't happen again.

He turned into the school and started down the hall, lost in his thoughts. He didn't have any time to move out of the way when he crashed into a figure. Both stopped, looking at each other.

"Douglas?" Vaughn asked with confusion. The small boy narrowed his eyes.

"Move," He said simply. When Vaughn simply stood there, he turned to make around him. The taller boy grabbed his arm and pulled him back.

"Hey, where are you going?" He asked.

"Out," The short kid replied quickly.

"Any particular place?" Vaughn countered.

"None of your business. Now let me go," Douglas snapped.

Vaughn did as he was asked, turning around to watch as Douglas stomped off. He rubbed his back thoughtfully, wondering what had made the boy so upset. He shrugged it off before starting up to his room, once again pulled into his thoughts, Douglas forgotten.

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Finley glanced at his watch with a chuckle. "So – so then Douglas said, 'What? I didn't do it'."

Both Corrine and Marshall started laughing as well. They had been talking for the past two hours, and despite themselves they had forgotten they were trying to get information from him. To them, it seemed as if they had been friends forever.

"What did Jovee say?" Marshall asked, holding his breath for the reply.

"She didn't say anything. She sucked in her breath and didn't let it out till her face turned purple. When she finally let it out she started nagging him about responsibility," Finley said.

The two snickered. "Sounds like he deserved it, though," Corrine said.

"He did," Finley said with a grin. They all calmed down for a minute, just trying to relax.

Finally, Marshall said, "Sounds like you guys had a blast at your old school."

"Yeah, Blake Holsey's a blast," Finley said.

Both Corrine and Marshall frowned.

He did just say Blake Holsey, right? Corrine asked.

Guess they definitely came through the wormhole.

Finley frowned. "What's wrong? What did I just say?" He replayed the words in his mind, and then his face darkened.

"You said Blake Holsey," Corrine said.

Finley stood up quickly, looking like he was just going to walk away.

Do something! Corrine hissed.

Marshall looked at her, uncertainly, and then shot up, grabbing on to Finley's arm and tugging him back to sit with them. "Look, Finley, you don't need to hide it. We – me and Corrine – already knew you came through the -." At this Marshall lowered his voice just in case. "Wormhole."

"You do?" Finley asked. The others nodded. Finley's head slumped down. "It was Douglas, wasn't it?"

"Sort of," Corrine said. "It's okay, we know all about this sort of thing. I've been through the wormhole myself."

"Really?" Finley asked. Of course, he already knew that. He knew everything about the Science Club – had made it his business to know. But maybe he would get off easy if he pretended not to.

"Yeah! And you know, there's other things that happen here at Blake Holsey than just the wormhole," Corrine said.

"I know!" Finley exclaimed excitedly. "My friends and I are trying to solve the mystery of Blake Holsey High."

"Us too!" Marshall said. Then his face fell. "Wait, what time period do you come from?"

Finley frowned. "A couple years in the future. Z's still our teacher. We were in the middle of a debate when the wormhole opened up and took me, Jovee, and Douglas," He explained.

"Z's still teaching?" Corrine asked. "Then it couldn't be too far in the future."

"So tell me, Finley, who wins the 2004 World Series?" Marshall asked.

"Nice try," Finley said with a grin. "Besides, I'm not into sports. That's more of a Katrina thing."

"So that's how you knew all those things about us, then. Z told you, right?" Corrine asked.

"Yeah. You guys do a lot of cool things," Finley said with admiration.

"But we obviously don't solve the mystery of Blake Holsey," Marshall said, his voice soft and slightly depressed. Corrine felt a little depressed at this too.

"Well… no. I don't think anyone will ever truly understand everything that goes on at Blake Holsey," Finley said slowly. "There's just so much that we'll never know. But you guys did get pretty close!"

"So … have you ever met us?" Marshall asked.

"A couple of times," Finley said with a shrug.

"So what do we do? What's in our futures?" Corrine asked.

He's not going to tell us.

Finley started laughing. "I don't think so. If I tell you your future, you could change everything, and I happen to like things the way they are, thank you. And you will too – when you get there. Just trust me on it."

"Fine," Marshall said, a little dejected. I bet Corrine and I aren't even together. Corrine glanced at him, but acted as if she hadn't heard the thought.

"So …" Finley started. "Do the others know? About us coming through the wormhole?"

"Yeah. Lucas sort of told everyone," Marshall said.

"Busted. I don't think I like this," Finley murmured.

"We won't tell the others, though," Corrine said softly.

"We won't?"

Corrine looked at Marshall, hitting his foot under the table. "We won't. In the meantime we can try and help you get your way back through the wormhole."

"Not yet," Finley said quickly. Then added, after Corrine and Marshall's strange looks, "We may have come here unwillingly, but Jovee's sort of … working on something here. Nothing bad, just speeding things up a little bit. I can't say much; just that it won't be too long until we can finally go back through the wormhole."

"Okay," Marshall said slowly. "But how do you think you'll get through the wormhole?"

"I hope it will open. I don't mind being here too much – getting to know you guys and everything – but I want to go home. No doubt Katrina and Nathaniel are worried about us."

"Who?" Corrine asked, unable to help her curiosity.

"The other members of the Science Club. Yea, you guys sort of start something with this Science Club thing," Finley said.

"Wow," Marshall said, looking at Corrine with a small smile.

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Everyone was a little shocked when they saw Marshall, Finley, and Corrine walked down to breakfast, laughing. Lucas seemed slightly concerned, Vaughn seemed uncertain, Josie's jaw had fallen open, Jovee seemed angry, and Douglas was grinning happily.

"What are they doing?" Josie asked.

"Looks like they're having a conversation," Vaughn pointed out.

"Weren't we all worried that they came through the wormhole? I'm confused."

"We were. Now? I'm not too sure," Lucas replied.

They watched as the group separated, Finley approaching Jovee and Douglas, while Marshall and Corrine walked up to the rest of the science club.

"Okay, spill," Josie said as soon as they sat down.

"What?" Corrine asked, confused.

You know very well what she meant.

Maybe I did. But we told Finley we'd keep his secret.

Exactly how do you expect to keep his secret?

I'm not sure.

Alright, I have an idea. Marshall took a spoonful of food, swallowed it down, and then looked around the room. "Guys, we don't have to worry. They didn't come through the wormhole at all."

"You asked him?" Lucas asked with surprise.

"No, it's just that everything checks out," Marshall lied quickly. "I checked out their records – and trust me on this, getting into the permanent records are hard. It turns out that the group transferred here from H.E. Molton boarding school in Michigan. It's a part of some temporary transfer program – just like they said. Then when we asked Finley some stuff about what Lucas was asked, and it all checked out. Nothing out of the ordinary about them." He threw in an innocent grin before wolfing down some more of his food.

If they find out about that little lie they're going to be really mad, Corrine thought to him.

Maybe, Marshall relented. But we can't just betray Finley's trust like that, could we?

No.

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Later that day, after all their classes, Corrine and Josie were walking down the hall with Vaughn. Josie had talked Corrine into just hanging out for a little bit, and Vaughn, with nothing else to do at the moment, had chosen to tag along. They were all discussing grades – Corrine was excited about getting another one hundred on her Math test. Josie was congratulating her friend when something came shooting out of the science lab. Everyone exchanged uncertain looks, before peering into the room, having to quickly duck out of the way when another book was thrown out at them.

"What is going on?" Josie demanded.

"Please don't tell me there's some sort of gravitational pull in Z's office that's throwing things around," Josie mumbled.

Vaughn peered back around the corner. "No. Just Jovee."

"What?" Josie demanded, peering back into the room to see Jovee throwing books angrily – mostly at Douglas but some missed. "Hey! What's going on in here?" She stomped into the room, followed by Corrine and Vaughn.

The three strangers looked at the group now entered into the room.

"You don't want to be here," Finley said softly.

"Why are you throwing books?" Vaughn asked.

"I -." Jovee looked at the book in her hand, and then let it fall to the floor. She glanced at Douglas uncertainly, before muttering an apology. Douglas turned to the trio.

"Jovee doesn't seem to understand the concept of having a good time," He said.

"Don't get started on that again," Jovee hissed.

"Well don't get me started. You and I both know this is all your fault. Just ask Finley," Douglas replied.

"Don't you bring Finley into this. It's just me, and you. Go ahead, then. Say what you wanted to say. How is this all my fault?" Jovee asked.

"If your stupid Grandfather hadn't -."

"This is about me," Jovee snapped. "Not my family. What did I do?"

"Exist, for one thing," Douglas retorted.

"Well I could say the same for you, elf."

"It's my height that you have problems with? Try this on for size. No one wants to be stuck with a ditzy cheerleader who doesn't even know what she's doing half the time," Douglas growled.

"And no one needs to be stuck with a know-it-all genius with an attitude problem!" Jovee exclaimed. "I'm sick of you not trusting me! Why can't you just accept that I know what I'm doing?"

"Because you don't! You're just a girl!"

"He better not be implying what I think he's implying," Josie said.

"Guys! Can't you just kiss and get it over with? Enough beating around the bush," Finley said softly, though everyone heard.

Jovee's head whipped around furiously. Douglas also glared at his friend. "How dare you imply that I would want anything to do with that ELF."

"Like I'd be interested in a stupid cheerleader."

"I am hardly stupid," Jovee snapped.

"And I'm hardly an elf! Just because of that one incident does not mean I -."

"Okay guys, maybe you should stop," Corrine said, stepping in.

"Let them go at it," Josie said. "I think they really need to get this out of their system."

"So just because I'm a cheerleader means that I'm stupid? Answer me, Douglas!"

"No, you're stupid because you're dyslexic!" Douglas snapped.

Jovee's head jerked back in surprise. She quickly regained her angry façade. "I am not dyslexic," She hissed.

Douglas smirked. "But you're Father is. Big Shot Dad, and he doesn't even know what he's doing."

Jovee drew in a sharp breath, and leaned forward, her eyes meeting Douglas' smug ones. There was only cruelty twisted on her face. She opened her mouth, quickly licked her lips, before letting out a soft snort. "Well your Dad's not … coming … back," She said slowly through clenched teeth. Douglas' eyes widened in pain and hatred. He breathed quickly through his nose, made a gargled cry in the back of his throat. Jovee grinned widely, having the exact effect she wanted.

The small boy's fists curled together. And then, "I'm going to kill you!" He cried, before lunging at Jovee. The two began trading hits.

"Oh no!" Josie exclaimed. She grabbed on to a ravage Douglas while Corrine and Finley pulled Jovee back. Douglas had the look of a wild animal. His eyes were frighteningly large, and he wouldn't stop squirming in Josie's arms, trying to get at Jovee, who simply stood still in Corrine and Finley's. Surprisingly, she seemed to look regretful.

"Douglas," Josie grunted.

With Jovee still, Corrine looked over to Josie and Douglas struggling. For a brief moment there was something there … something between the two that Corrine had never noticed before. But then it vanished as Douglas fell to the floor, looking away with tears glinting in his eyes. After a moment, he jerked up, glaring at Jovee.

"Enough fooling around," He snapped. "I'm going to fix it once and for all." He darted out of the room, Jovee following him to the door.

"You can't do this!" She called. Finley approached her from behind, putting his hand on her shoulder.

"You crossed the line, Jovee," He said quietly.

She swatted his hand away with no reply, simply staring at Douglas' furious retreating figure while Josie and Corrine exchanged confused looks.

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Douglas threw open the door to Marshall and Lucas' room, not bothering to knock. He caught a glimpse of Lucas on the bed, the book in his hand. Lucas looked up with surprise, but before any words could be exchanged, Lucas vanished in the usual Blake Holsey pink electricity.

Marshall, who had sat on his bed doing his homework before Douglas outburst jumped up, his mouth open. Downstairs the exact same thing happened to Josie.

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Lucas looked around the strange room before him with surprise. It seemed to be an old house which was obviously unoccupied. That was, until Josie materialized before him. The two exchanged confused looks. Strange Days strike again.