All characters from the Ice Age series are property of 20th Century Fox and Blue Sky Studios. All other characters belong to me.

To the Future in High School

All of the ice age group had the same lunch, including Scrat. Sid had forgotten his lunch money. They met outside the lunch line. No one had brought a packed lunch. They lined up but soon found a few problems. Manny said that they would discuss their first 4 periods after they sat down.

"All they're serving today is chicken pot pie, a hamburger, fries, and milk." Manny and Ellie eyed each other. The salad stand was closed and the no other line served fruit or vegetables.

"We can't eat meat can we?" Ellie asked Manny.

"I think you can eat it. We're humans now." Diego said.

"But you still won't eat anything but meat." Sid commented.

"So?"

"How can you tell the mammoths to eat meat if you don't eat your veggies?"

A curious boy turned to them out of curiosity in line of what Sid had just said.

Diego knocked him. "We can not mention things like that."

"Ok, sheesh." Sid answered.

Everyone got the same lunch and went to the cashier. Manny had brought coins, Ellie had brought a five dollar bill, and Diego had exactly $2.60 with him. Ellie was up first. She paid for her lunch but got extra change. She passed Sid the extra money she got back so he could still get lunch. He headed to the back of the lunch line while the rest of them paid. Manny was next. He didn't know what the coins meant exactly but it was all he could find in his bedroom drawer. He eyed the coins and handed some of them to the cashier.

"I'm sorry but can you give me 40 more cents." The cashier said. Manny looked at the coins, he didn't know how much to give. The cashier gave him a look. Luckily Diego was behind him.

"Give the money to her and let her sort it." He whispered.

Manny did as he was told. Diego handed in his money and had no problem.

They got to the table where Ellie was sitting alone. She was eating the hamburger bun and the vegetables in the chicken pot pie but nothing else. She used the utensils properly to eat her food but a few kids at another table were staring because of the meat from the hamburger and pieces of the chicken pot pie sitting messily on her lunch tray.

"Hi, how are you two?" she greeted. Manny gave her a look but didn't say anything about how weird her tray looked.

"Good… So how were your classes?"

"Pretty good, I researched electricity with Manny in science. We'll show you this lunch period." she said to Diego. "I also have a strange teacher who doesn't believe that possums were worshiped in Africa."

"Do possums live in Africa?" Manny asked.

"No, but they should be respected everywhere, you know?" Everyone went silent for a second. "I also got a social studies project on King George the Third and The Boston Tea Party. I think it's about how America became a country." They nodded.

"I have a lot of things I've found on genes and math equations in my classes. Maybe Manny and I could take a look at them after school."

"Anything else?"

"No, I just have a boring painting class and a class where you work with exercise equipment." Ellie glanced at him like it might be an idea for getting them back.

"I don't think we could things like that to get us back." Diego said. "What about you Manny?"

"I learned some math and I'm in a webpage design class I don't know much about. I also have Creative Writing but I don't think it has much to offer." Just then Sid came with is lunch. He had heard them and added his thoughts on his classes. He was already eating when he walked up to them.

"Mmm, I have three really mean teachers that make you watch boring videos, make you do extra work, and know nothing about sloths." Sid said eating.

"That's what school's about Sid. Why would you mention sloths to them?" Manny said, irritated and monotonously.

Manny tried to take a bite of his burger and spit it out. Then he tried a fry and swallowed but made a face.

"Humans are omnivores, sorry to say." Diego said lightly to Manny.

All of them sipped at their milk which they were all ok with. Diego was able to eat most of his lunch.

As they continued eating, they saw the person that knew as Scrat a few tables down with a tray full of nuts.

"How'd he get all that?" Sid asked.

"Looks like he went outside." Diego said, pointing to Scrat. Dirt and leaves covered his hair. His skin was red and irritated all over from climbing whatever tree he went up. Just then, Scrat pulled out a math textbook. He started doing some random pages in the book, getting some blood all over it as he flipped through. Many kids stared but said nothing.

Sid suddenly went green from what he was eating. "Gotta get to the bathroom." he said running in Scrat's direction which was the way to the restroom. Sid didn't make it and poor Scrat got covered in Sid's already eaten lunch. Scrat squeaked and still tried to eat a partly digested, food covered nut. The whole lunchroom laughed and Sid just stood there, embarrassed and wide eyed.

Diego snickered but Manny just stared.

"Maybe Scrat'll give Sid payback." Ellie suggested. She was right. When Scrat tasted his ruined nut dish and saw everyone make fun of him, he attacked Sid and they both looked equally bad after fighting. Weirdly no teachers had been watching. Sid ended up running out with Scrat chasing him, making a karate yell.

This time, everyone laughed including Manny was laughinh.

Then Ellie realized something and stopped. "You know, we've been so interested in getting out that we haven't mentioned our families yet."

Manny and Diego calmed themselves down and got ready to talk.

"I live in a house with hundred rabbits." Diego said lightheartedly. Then his tone got more serious. "My father is a western and hates predators. All I can eat is fish. There's stuffed lions and wolves all over the house. I don't think we're getting along too well either."

"I live in a house with a lot of trees. My brothers and I are not allowed to climb them but we can play video games. Our mom's pretty strict though." She seemed fairly happy with her situation. "I also heard from Sid last night that he has a little sister with a pet frog and a big brother. I don't think his brother and him get along very well though."

"What about you Manny?" Diego asked.

"You really wanna hear it?"

"Sure." Ellie said.

"Ok, I live in a house with 4 sisters. Um, they're into a lot of teen things."

"Like what?" Ellie interrupted.

"Uh, fashion, boys, nail polish. My parents are also on a cruise, I think so they have the run of the house."

"Oh." Ellie said, seeming interested.

Diego changed the subject. "Did any of you find anything on the ice age last night?" Diego asked.

"I looked up humans in the ice age and time machines. I didn't find much of anything that could help us. The web pages were also wrong about time machines. They said it was impossible to travel through time which we know is not true." Manny responded.

This sparked an idea for Diego. "Maybe it's a force that got us here, not a time machine."

"Well Manny and I looked up forces and stuff but we found nothing. Maybe the chapter on electromagnetic radiation would be good to look at though." Ellie said.

Diego looked at Ellie a little strangely. He didn't think that she was reading up on the kind of force he was talking about "I looked up explanations of scientific laws and stuff but didn't get any information either."

"What about you Ellie?" Manny asked.

"I got stuck babysitting my brothers but I can look for stuff like that tonight."

"Good." Diego said. "Um, maybe I can take a look at what you guys have from your classes now."

"The bell's about to ring." Manny reminded them.

"Ok, I'll talk to you after school then." Diego said. The three parted and headed to their next classes just as the bell rang.

What will happen after Scrat and Sid's fight? Find out in the next chapter.