So here is Chapter 5. I've wondered just how much of Elle's thoughts I should include, and it was something I totally slaved over for three days. It's quite hard to write about something you can't really relate to. I've never been in love with my best friend, so I had to imagine what it would be like. I'm still not sure if I got it right, though.
Quick note on the title change: Stupid, Stupid is this song I've been fangirling over for a few days. Essentially it's about this couple who has dumb fights all the time and they call each other 'stupid'... but they still love each other :-) I thought it summed up Marty and Elle's relationship in a nutshell. It's by Alex Day, if you're interested.
"Marty, are you sure you know what you're doing?" Elle smirked, watching Marty fiddle with the TV. He was trying to hook up the footage from the video camera to Doc's TV.
"Of course I'm sure. I'm a guy, guys know about these kind of things," Marty reassured her. "Just sit back and watch the master." A couple of sparks flew out of the back of the TV and Marty pulled his hand back. "Ow!"
"What's wrong?"
"Damn thing shocked me."
"...Do you need any help now?"
Marty looked at her and gave a resigned sigh. He nodded.
Elle leapt up from her perch on the couch. "Move," she elbowed him out of the way and took a look at the wires in the back. "So what don't you get?
"See, I'm not sure which wire goes where. If you put the wire here, the image is a little fuzzy..." Marty crossed a wire to another. Elle leaned over and looked at the screen.
"I see it," she said before ducking back behind it again.
"But if you put it here-" Marty crossed it again- "Everything-"
"-becomes clear," she finished with him. She looked at him. The brown eyes met with the blue with a startling clarity, a dawning realization- she just wasn't sure what. It was an odd feeling, a warm one, a fond one, a passionate one... her heart sped up beyond belief as he leaned in closer to her, his lips, the lips she found herself wanting on her own, only two inches away-
"Well? Have you set it up yet?" Doc asked, completely unaware of what was going on behind his television set.
They jumped back, startled. Elle hadn't realized that Doc had come in. "Eh, yeah. Here it is, Doc." She stood up and went around to the front, next to Doc. Marty stood on his other side.
"Never mind that, never mind that now. Not now," an older, black-and-white version of Doc said on the TV.
"Why, that's me!" Doc exclaimed gleefully. "I'm an old man!"
"Good evening. I am Doctor Emmet Brown, I'm standing in the parking lot of the Twin Pines-"
"Thank God I've still got all my hair!" Doc interrupted his future self. "What's that thing I'm wearing?"
"That's a radiation suit," Marty replied, hitting the fast-forward button on the video camera.
"Radiation suit?" Doc repeated. "Of course. Because of all the fallout from the atomic wars." Doc stood up and his attention shifted to the video camera on top of the TV. "This is truly amazing," he said, picking it up. "A portable television studio. No wonder your President's an actor. He's got to look good on television."
"Hey, wait, this is it, Doc," Marty said, gently pushing the camera back to the TV again. He hit the play button.
"-this sucker's electrical," Future Doc was saying. "But I need a nuclear reaction to generate the 1.21 gigawatts-"
"What did I just say?" Doc asked. Marty rewound the tape.
"-electrical. But I need a nuclear reaction to generate the 1.21 gigawatts-"
"1.21 gigawatts!" Doc exploded in disbelief, running both of his hands through his white-blond hair. He wandered away by the DeLorean. "1.21 gigawatts! Great Scott!" He disappeared through a door.
Elle was afraid he might have a stroke. "Doc-!"
"What the hell is a gigawatt?!" Marty demanded before running through the door after them.
"How could I have been so careless?" Doc was saying. "1.21 gigawatts! How am I going to generate that kind of power?" he grabbed his framed picture of Thomas Edison. "It can't be done!"
"Come on, Doc, drink some water..." she coaxed him, handing him a Dixie cup. She took the picture and but it back on the mantlepiece.
"Doc, all we need is a little plutonium," Marty told him.
"I'm sure that in 1985, plutonium is available in every corner drugstore, but in 1955 it's a little hard to come by. Guys, I'm sorry, but I'm afraid you're stuck here!" Doc held his head in his hand, looking like a child who had just gotten spanked.
"Whoa. Whoa. I can't be stuck here! We can't be stuck here, we've got a life in 1985! I- I got a girl!" Marty said, his voice cracking.
Doc sat up. "Is she pretty?"
Marty sat back. "She's beautiful, Doc. She's crazy about me. And look-" he reached into his jacket pocket and pulled out a crumpled piece of blue paper. He flattened it on his knee and held it up for Doc. "Look at this. I mean, this says it all."
Elle looked at it. "'Save the Clock Tower'?" she read.
"No, no, the other side."
She took it and flipped it over. On the back, scrawled in Jennifer's distinct hand, was a phone number. I love you! was written beneath it. Elle felt a strange urge to kick something.
"Doc. You're our only hope," Marty was saying.
"I'm sorry, Marty, but the only power source capable of generating 1.21 gigawatts of electricity is a bolt of lightning!"
Elle turned the paper over. Save the clock tower! it proclaimed in big block letters. An idea was worming its way into her head. "Doc, what did you just say?"
"A bolt of lightning!" he repeated. "Unfortunately, you never know when or where it's going to strike!"
Hill Valley's historic clock tower has not properly worked since it had been struck by lightning on November 12, 1955, at 10:04 P.M...
"You guys..." Elle held up the paper. "This is it! This is the answer! Remember, Marty, the clock tower? It's going to be hit by lightning a week from now at-" she consulted the paper- "10:04 P.M.!"
"Great Scott," Doc muttered. "If we could somehow harness that power-"
"Channel it, so to speak-"
Marty could practically see the gears in both of their heads turning.
"-to the flux capacitor-"
"-it just might work." Elle stood there, staring at Doc, breathless. Doc regarded her skeptically.
"How is it that you managed to think of the same thing I did?"
"Doc, she's top of my class," Marty interjected. "She won the science fair last year, what do you expect?"
Elle felt a pink tinge blooming on her cheeks. "Marty, we both did, remember? We did the project together."
"Yeah, but I'm no good at science. You know I passed off the work to you."
"Yeah, but-"
"Enough of this hormonal distraction!" Doc declared. "Next Saturday, I'm sending you kids back to the future!"
"Alright, alright!" Marty jumped up. "Saturday's good, Saturday's good. We could spend a week in 1955! We can hang out, you can show us around-"
"Marty, that is completely out of the question," Doc cut in to his little monologue, looking gravely serious. "You must not leave this house. You must not see anybody or talk to anybody. Anything you do can have serious repercussions on future events. Do you understand?"
"Oh, yeah. Sure. Okay."
"Have you two interacted with anybody else today besides me?"
Marty hesitated.
"Well, I might've bumped into my parents..."
"And I kind of talked to my dad..." Elle stared at the floor guitily.
"Great Scott! Let me see that photograph again of your brother." Doc seemed to be getting very uneasy. Marty took the photo out of his pocket and handed it to him. "Just as I thought. This proves my theory. Look at your brother."
David's head was gone. There was no white or black spot to indicate that it had been there before; the garden backdrop just filled in the empty space, as though he had been headless to start with.
"His head's gone," Marty observed.
"Like it's been erased," Elle added.
Doc looked up from the picture, staring into space. "Erased from existence," he croaked.
Doc took them out for a mini shopping spree to get some fifties' clothes. They had to blend in, Doc had said. He looked extremely relieved when Elle had told him she had already done her shopping earlier that day. As Doc and Marty haphazardly threw some shirts onto their arms (boys have no idea how to shop) Elle wandered to the makeup counter, a small corner way in the back. Wanting to get the real look, she purchased black liquid eyeliner and a tube of red lipstick.
The next morning was awful. Marty had woken up earlier than Elle and beat her to the shower. Marty took ridiculously long showers- he always had- so Elle brushed her teeth and scarfed down some toast Doc had laid out for them; they switched roles the second he got out. And, since Doc only had one bathroom, they had to share the mirror.
"Marty, you're crowding my side," Elle huffed as she carefully applied a thin line of eyeliner on her top lid.
"Well, you're crowding my side!" He scooped a handful of Vitalis onto his hand and worked it into his hair. "God damn it, Elle, why did you have to tell them we were siblings? We don't even look alike."
"Well, I'm sorry, it was the first thing that came to my mind!" she hissed. "I seem to recall you were unconscious!"
"But really? Calvin and Anne Klein?"
"Well, wear different underwear next time!" She uncapped her new lipstick. "You talk in your sleep," she added in answer to Marty's incredulous look. He watched her apply her lipstick for a few seconds. She looked at him. "What?"
"Why do you have to wear that stuff, Elle? It's not like you need it."
She turned the color of her lipstick. "So I blend in," was all she said.
They split to different areas of the house to change clothes. When they came back, they hardly recognized one another.
"Nice shirt," Elle smirked. It was a scarlet red with rings patterned on it. He had it tucked in and everything.
"Nice dress," he imitated her. Elle looked down at her dress. It had was a lovely lilac color, with a Peter Pan collar in the front. Several buttons led down to the waist. She gave him a dirty look before heading out to Doc's Packard, where he was waiting for them.
Doc enrolled them at Hill Valley High School as their uncle, keeping true to the story that Elle and Marty were supposed to be siblings. Elle kept shifting in her seat uncomfortably; everything was so new, so different. There were different posters on the walls, different books, even different pencils, for God's sake. They were released into the hall- they were supposed to go to first period- but Doc held them back.
"Now remember." Doc said. "According to my theory, you interfered with your parents' first meeting. If they don't meet, they don't fall in love, they won't get married, and they won't have kids. That's why your older brother's disappearing from that photograph. Your sister will follow, and unless you repair the damage, you'll be next."
"Um, Doc?" Elle said in a tiny voice. He looked at her. "My future relies on this too."
He blinked. "How so?"
"My parents met because Marty's parents introduced them at some dance. So- so if Marty's parents don't go-"
"-Then your parents will never meet," Doc finished in a whisper. "Great Scott. This is worse than I thought." He turned to the two of them. "Which one of you is older?"
Marty raised his hand.
"By how much?"
"Two months."
"You two are born so close together that you will both start disappearing at the same time if your parents don't meet," Doc told them, his eyes wide. "Marty will start first, naturally, but Elle will start only moments after."
"Oh my God," Elle said, her face pale.
"Sounds heavy," Marty agreed.
"Weight has nothing to do with it," Doc said, confused. The bell rang, and immediately the halls filled with young bobbysoxers laughing and chatting, without a care in the world. Elle had almost forgotten what that had felt like.
Doc bent down next to them. "Do any of you see your parents?"
It was Marty's turn to pale as he pointed at a boy getting getting kicked and bullied down the hallway. "That's him."
"...and my dad," Elle muttered.
George Mcfly and Daniel Phelan were walking down the corridor carrying what looked like their entire libraries in their arms. It didn't help that a couple of jerks kept on kicking and hitting them from behind. Elle felt a rush of overprotection for her father and she damn near interfered, but Doc's admonition rang through her mind. She stood by and watched helplessly as their fathers were walked on like they were doormats.
"Okay. Okay, you guys," George said. He got kicked again and laughed sarcastically. "Very funny." He turned around and Elle saw he had a "KICK ME" sign on his back with an arrow pointing at his butt. "You guys are being real mature."
Daniel also turned around. He, too, had a "KICK ME" sign, but it was accompanied with an "I'M WITH STUPID" with an arrow pointing left- to George. "Really, you guys, this is getting old, we don't like it anymore-"
"Maybe you were adopted," Doc said.
"Mcfly, Phelan!" someone barked. A bald man with heavy forehead lines walked up to the two boys. With a jolt, Elle realized it was-
"Strickland," Marty said. "Jesus, didn't that guy ever have hair?"
"Shape up, boys," Strickland said, ripping the papers off of their backs. "You are slackers. Do you want to be slackers for the rest of your lives?" Both boys murmured some kind of response, but Strickland was already walking away.
"What did your mother ever see in that kid?" Doc questioned Marty.
"I don't know, Doc," Marty replied. "I don't know. I guess she felt sorry for him because her dad hit him with the ca... hit me with the car," he finished quietly.
"That's the Florence Nightingale effect. It happens in hospitals when nurses fall in love with their patients," Doc explained. George and Daniel suddenly dropped their stuff, their books and papers flying out everywhere. "Get to it, kids." He gave them a little push.
"Hey, Daniel!" Elle said brightly, plastering a smile to her face before getting on her knees to help.
"Hey, George, buddy," Marty greeted his future father.
"Let us just help you with these books here-"
"I'm sorry, but do I know you?" Daniel asked her.
"Oh, I'm Brie-" she coughed into her fist. "Anne. Anne Klein. That's my brother Calvin."
Marty did a little wave. "Hey."
"We're new here, we figured you could show us around, you know, that kind of thing."
As Elle tried to engage Daniel in a decent conversation, Marty was already laying out his plan with George. "Hey, George, do you remember me? The guy who saved your life the other day?"
"Er... yeah," George said blankly, clearly not remembering. By this point they were standing up, Marty's arm slung around his father's shoulders.
"Good, because I've got someone I want you to meet..."
"Lorraine?"
Lorraine turned at the sound of her name and flattened herself on the metal lockers behind her upon seeing Marty's face. "Calvin!" she exclaimed. Two other girls flanked her, both gazing at the newcomers with interest.
"I'd like you to meet my good friend, George Mcfly," Marty said. George walked up to her and leaned on the locker next to her in a futile attempt to look cool.
"Hi, it's really a pleasure to meet..." George began, but Lorraine ignored him and took a few steps towards Marty. She reached out to touch his head. "How's your head?" Before she made contact, Marty ducked away. "Oh, I've been so worried about you ever since you ran off the other night. Are you okay?" The bell rang as soon as the words left her mouth, and her friends tugged at her to get moving.
"Come on, Lorraine, we'll be late!"
She was practically swooning. "Oh, isn't he a dreamboat?" she simpered.
Elle turned to say something to Daniel but she found he was already gone. She walked back to Doc.
"She didn't even look at him," Marty reported hopelessly.
"This is more serious than I thought," Doc replied, his eyes wide again. "Apparently, your mother is amorously infatuated with you instead of your father!"
"Whoa, wait a minute, Doc. Are you trying to tell me that my mother... has got the hots for me?" he asked, his voice cracking.
"Precisely!" Doc answered.
"This is heavy."
Doc frowned. "There's that word again. Heavy. Why are things so heavy in the future? Is there something wrong with the Earth's gravitational pull?"
"Doc..."
He shook his head and they continued walking down the corridor. "The only way we're going to get those two to successfully mate is if they're alone together, so you've got to get your father and mother to interact in some sort of social..." he paused, trying to find the word to describe the situation.
"What, you mean like a date?" Elle asked.
"Right!" The late bell rang. A couple of kids still hanging out in the hallway scurried away to class.
"Well, what kind of date? What do kids do in the 50's?"
"They're your parents. You must know them. What are their common interests? What do they like to do together?" Doc became distracted by a poster on the wall. He walked to it, intrigued.
Marty stood there for a few seconds. "Nothing," he realized.
"Look!" Doc said excitedly, pointing at the poster. Saturday: Enchantment Under The Sea Dance, it read in bright blue paint. Be There or Be Square!
"Of course!" Elle exclaimed. "Marty, your parents are supposed to go to this, it's where they kiss for the first time! It's where George introduces Daniel to my mom!"
He looked at her. "How is it that you know more about this than me?"
"Don't you ever listen to your mom during dinner? It's all she talks about."
"Alright, kids," Doc interrupted, bringing them back to business. "You stick to George like glue and make sure he takes Lorraine to that dance!"
"Elle, come on, our futures are more important."
"But Marty! Food!" She pointed at the lunch line, which was growing longer the more they argued. Students shuffled past them as they stood there idly, trying to think of what to do next.
"Brielle Phelan." His stare was reminiscent of the one her mother used to give her when she wouldn't come out of her room.
"Marty Mcfly," she retorted. "Look at my watch. It is eleven forty-five." She flashed it at him. "If I don't eat something in the next fifteen minutes I am going to beat your ass harder than Lorraine ever will in the future, so help me God."
He sighed and pulled out his wallet. "How much do you need?"
"Fifty cents," she said brightly. He deposited the coins into her open palm, defeated. "Oh, I could kiss you right now, thanks a million." Her eyes widened at what she had just said. Marty's eyebrow hitched up. "I mean, hypothetically of course. Heh." She scurried away to the line to avoid further embarassment.
Her heart was hammering in her chest. There was that feeling again, the passionate one, the rush of affection. She didn't understand how at one moment she was sulking and the next she was feeling so wonderful just because a good friend had lent her fifty cents. It didn't make sense. None of her emotions did. It was like one side of her brain was telling her that she was being stupid and the other side was telling her to go for it. She was so confused, so worried, and the only person who could help her was the cause of her problems...