Emilie in the 80s: 6 & 7 (Patreon)

Chapter 6

Pete just shook his head and headed back inside. He went up to his room and sat, running his hands through his hair. He’d never realized how annoying long hair was. Girls seemed to love it, to live with it with ease, but it was heavy, and it kept getting in his eyes, his mouth. He would need to get to cut. In the meantime, alone with time to think, he once again started thinking about time travel and what he was supposed to do to get out of this mess. He had no internet, so if he wanted to do research he would have to go find a library, and even then, what would they have on time travel?

Sighing, he lay back on his bed, pulling his pillow over his face and drifting off to sleep.

The “Mom” person woke him for dinner. He went down, bleary, managed to eat. “First day back at school tomorrow,” Mom said. “You have your outfit picked out?”

“No, I… wait. First day?” Pete said, coming alert.

“Yes. Tomorrow is the first day of the fall. Did you forget?”

School? I’m a middle-aged man! Pete wanted to say, but instead he just shook his head and shrugged. “I guess I did.”

“Such a spaz,” Lexy said.

“Shut up!” Pete snapped.

After dinner, he wandered into the living room and sat down on the couch, ready to watch the news. It was so odd to see the big, clunky tube television, he struggled not to laugh. That had been the top of the line TV back then, when people had taken pride in how BIG there TVs were instead of how thin- and the picture looked terrible, all fuzz and static.

Dad glanced over. “You know I’m watching the news, right?”

“Yeah,” Pete said, nodding. He was curious to see what was going on— not to be reminded of what had happened, but what might jump out as changed from the history he’d remembered.

“Okay,” Dad said. “Will wonders never cease.”

From the hallway, Lexi watched, eyes slit. What was going on with her sister?

The news ended, Pete went up to his room, sitting down, huffing, blowing at his bangs. What the hell did a kid do for fun before the Internet? What was a girl supposed to do for fun? This kid, this Emilie, did have a CD player and a rack full of CDs. Pete popped a Bryan Adams CD into the Magnavox, grabbed Emilie’s yearbooks, and started paging through, trying to remember everyone and everything about his own school. As he looked through the books remembering the kids, the teachers, he started to get butterflied in his stomach, his heart started to race.

The first day jitters? He thought. I’m a 50 year old man, and I have been through this before. There is nothing for me to worry about. Besides, maybe, somehow, there would be some clue at his school as to why this had happened and how to get home. Yeah, he thought, as he got ready for bed. There was nothing to worry about. Nothing at all. He was a man, and he was NOT scared to go back to high-school. No way. As if?

Chapter Seven

“I feel like I might throw up,” Pete said, covers pulled to his chin, putting on a scratchy, “sick voice.”

Mom put the back of her hand to his forehead. “You don’t have a fever,” she said with a twisted “Mommy grin” on her face.

Hag, Pete thought. “I better stay home,” he said, letting his voice grow more feint. “Could be contagious.”

“Oh, you can’t miss the first day of your senior year! These are the best years of your life!”

“No….”

“Up,” she said. “Get ready. I won’t hear another word!” And with that she pulled the covers off Pete, threw open his curtains and flooded his room with light before fluttering off to torture Lexi.

Pete hissed and shielded his eyes from the light, cursing his evil fake mom and wondering why he was acting like such a teen-ager. No problem, he decided. He would pretend he was going to school, ditch, and go see what he could find out about getting back to his own time.

The phone rattled. Dad shouted from downstairs. “Kitty!”

Pete picked up the receiver, pushed his hair back and answered. “Yeah?”

“AAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHH!!!” Fiona screamed. “Senior year!!!!! I’ll pick you up at 7:30!!!!”

She hung up before Pete could say no. He looked at his closet and sighed once more— did I use to sigh so much? He wondered. It’s the first day of school, he thought, and I have nothing to wear. Bogus!

After taking a shower, and feeling totally creepy as he washed his body, Pete went through dozens of outfit choices. Nothing to wear, of course, meant nothing he wanted to wear, but he he looked through some of Emilie’s fashion magazines, got some ideas and was soon 80s out, once more sporting acid washed jeans, a sparkly blouse, a kerchief in his hair. He’d even sat down and managed some eyeliner, lip gloss. He’d struggled over whether to wear make-up at all. He wasn’t a girl, and what did he care what anyone thought of him?

And yet, some part of him had longed to do his face. After Fiona had given him her makeover the previous day, he’d looked— cute? And now, some part of him really did want to look cute. Besides, he was trying to fit in. He’d noticed Lexi giving him odd looks, and Fiona had as well. He needed to wear make-up, he’d finally told himself, so people wouldn’t get suspicious!

In the end, he hadn’t been able to resist, and he’d been bubbly with excitement when he’d finally sat down and picked up a tube of lipstick.

Going downstairs, his Dad had looked up and nodded. “Big day. Big year,” he’d said.

“You look adorable!” Mom had said. “Oh! I have to take a picture!”

“Don’t bother about me,” Lexi said sourly. “It’s only the first day of my sophomore year. No biggie.”

“Oh! You’ll both be in the picture!” Mom gushed, going and grabbing her Polaroid. “My two girls!” The flash popped, and the photo slide out of the front of the camera. Mom shook it, and then they all took a look. It still seemed impossible to Pete the the girl in that photo was him.

Being a school morning, the breakfast of the day was cereal— a bowl of Special K. As Pete ate, a news report on the television caught his attention: “Authorities now say the unusual glowing lights and vortex winds that surrounded the abandoned Ford plant in Dearborn were the result of a weather anomaly, and pose no public health threat…”

“What’s that?” Pete said.

Dad peered over his newspaper. “The thing. You know. From Sunday night.”

“Oh, it’s nothing, dear,” Mom said. “Don’t worry yourself over it.”

“As for the classic Edsel that some witnesses claimed appeared out of nowhere, a spokesman from Ford revealed that they had stored some old cars on the property.”

An Edsel appeared out of nowhere? Pete’s heart raced. On the screen, the camera showed a gleaming Edsel that looked like it had just rolled off the assembly line. Pete wondered if this could have something to do with his situation.

His thoughts were interrupted by a frantically honking horn outside the house. He got up and peeked out the front window. Fiona waved from her car and shouted, “Let’s go!”

“It’s Fiona,” he said. “Gotta go.”

“Have fun, Kitty,” Dad murmured.

Mom ran to the door and stood on the front steps, waving as they drove off. Pete waved back, fighting against the urge to grin. Maybe she wasn’t so bad, even thought she would never be his real Mom.

The Go Gos blasted from the radio as Fiona tore off down the street. Fiona sang along, and Pete couldn’t help but join her:

Vacation, all I ever wanted

Vacation, had to get away

Vacation, meant to be spent alone

Vacation, all I ever wanted

Vacation, had to get away

For a time, Pete’s anxiety lessened, but as soon as Fiona pulled into the parking lot and the bulk of Novi High-school rose into Pete’s sight, his felt like he might panic. It was all just as he remembered— and as Fiona pulled into the parking area reserved for the seniors, he saw groups of kids standing around, talking, laughing. The cars all looked so old. He knew they were not, at least not for these kids, but he couldn’t help but feel like he was in some kind of 80s movie, surrounded by vintage cars and kids dressed in throwback fashions.

Fiona parked. “Em! This is our year! It’s going to be so grody.”

Pete took a deep breath, feeling the weight of his breasts rise and fall. This is no big deal, he told himself. You’ve done it before. He remembered back to his high-school days. Really, it had been easy. He’d hung out with the Dungeons and Dragons crowd, but it hadn’t been like Revenge of the Nerds or one of those movies where the cool kids were always messing with him. In fact, no one ever noticed him at all, unless they wanted to copy his homework. It would be easy. He’d just go through the motions, keep his head down and then sneak off sometime after homeroom. Yeah. It would simple.

He got out of the car and followed along as Fiona charged off to a group of girls. They all yelled and hugged, a lot of high-pitch, excited chattering. Pete felt himself blushing. One of the girls was Laura Ervin. He’d crushed on her so bad back in the day. She was so hot, but he’d never had the courage to talk to her, and she had never even looked at him. Now, she threw her arms around Pete, and he felt his soft body press against hers, smelled the strawberry scent of her shampoo.

“You’re outfit is so cute!” Laura said.

“Thanks,” Pete said, looking down, feeling shy, but also a little proud that he’d done well picking out his clothes. Am I one of the cool girls? He wondered as he exchanged greetings and compliments.

As they talked, a group of guys wearing letterman jackets sauntered by, brazenly letting their eyes play across the girl’s bodies. Pete felt like his whole body was blushing. The girls drew closer together, giggling. The guys, all tall and broad shoulders, grinned. Pete, glancing out of the corner of his eyes, saw that one of them was Brad Culpepper, who’d been the quarterback for the football team and Big Man on campus. He’s so full of himself, Pete thought, his old jealousy returning. Pete fully expected for Bard to ignore him, walk by like he was too cool, but instead Brad met Pete’s eyes and said, “Looking fine,” Brad said, flashing the bright, dimpled smile that went perfectly with his all-American head of blonde hair.

Pete felt his knees go weak, his mouth dry. The guys walked by and the girls all giggled, one of them said, “Look at those cute butts!”

Pete reflexively glanced. He’d never been very much interested in guy’s butts, but now his eyes dropped to Brad’s and his knees went even weaker as he felt himself flushing, something inside him clench. Brad glanced back, caught Pete checking him out and smirked. Pete gasped and turned away, hiding under the curtain of his hair.

“I think he likes you!” Fiona said.

“Me? Like, barf!” Pete said.

“Oh, sure,” Fiona said. “Because you would never be interested in the hottest guy on campus.”

“I don’t like him!” Pete squealed, horrified as he found his eyes drawn magnetically back to Brad.

Just then, the bell rang, saving Pete from further humiliation. The group started to disperse. Pete froze. He suddenly realized he had no idea where his homeroom was. He hadn’t even thought to look for a schedule.

“You coming?” Fiona said.

“Oh. Yeah,” Pete said, deciding to gamble that they had the same home room. He walked along with Fiona, and after 10 seconds he started to realize his plan of staying invisible was not going to happen. Everyone was looking at him— girls were checking him out, judging his body and his sense of fashion, and the guys were all ogling him, many of them locking in on his breasts, their heads bobbing up and down as his breasts jiggled with each and every step.

Pete felt like a he was a goldfish in a fishbowl, and his sense of anxiety grew, his heart fluttered. “Do I have something on my face?” He whispered to Fiona was they made their way down the crowded halls. “Everyone is looking at me.”

“Duh,” Fiona said. “You only have the biggest boobs of any girl in school.”

“I do?” Pete said, feeling both humiliated and a little proud at the thought.

“Dork,” Fiona said. “Like you don’t know.”

The halls were crowded. A big banner with the Novi Wildcats logo hung from the ceiling. As they were about to walk into homeroom, they passed a couple scrawny, late blooming freshman who looked like they belonged in 5th grade, he heard one of them, who was staring wide eyed at Pete’s chest, say, “I’d do her.”

Pete turned. “What?” He spat, clenching his fists as his sides.

The boys turned and ran down the hall.

“Excellent,” Fiona said, laughing.

They went into the classroom just as the final bell rang. The kids were all sitting at desks, talking excitedly. Pete and Fiona found seats. Mr. Kelly got up from his desk and went to the podium, carrying a sheaf of green and white print outs. “Welcome back,” he said. “You know the drill.” He read through all the names on his homeroom roster. As each name was called, the kid got up and got their schedule. Pete, who’d started idly twirling his hair around his fingers, couldn’t believe how primitive everything had been. His kids got their schedules over the Internet and never even printed them, instead accessing them through an APP on their phones.

When Mr. Kelly finished, Pete realized two things: One, Mr. Kelly had not called his name. Two, Mr. Kelly was now looking at him with a ‘what gives’ attitude. “This isn’t your home room,” Mr. Kelly said.

Pete, sensing all the kids were watching, on a nervous impulse just blurted out, “Can’t I be in this one?”

He fully expected Mr. Kelly to tell him to leave, but instead Mr. Kelly had seemed to be thinking about it. Pete smiled and shrugged. “Please?” Mr. Kelly’s eyes bobbed up and down with the tremors that went through Pete’s chest. Then, he just nodded and said, “Okay. I’ll make the change with the office.”

Pete glanced at Fiona, who just smiled and shook her head.

“You better run to the guidance counselor and get your schedule, though.”

“Thanks,” Pete said, crossing the room and heading down the hall. So weird, he thought. Did that just happen? It kind of made Mr. Kelly seem like an old perv that he was letting a teen-age girl manipulate him like that, but at the same time Pete felt a strange sense of— power? Yes, he decided. Power. He started wondering what else he could do now. Just as he was about to go into the office, he noticed the word “Daba” had been written on one of the old lockers. Under it was an image of a winged woman, wearing a horned crown. Daba, again, he thought. What is it? He felt drawn to the image, took a step toward it…

“There some reason you’re in the hall when you’re supposed to be in homeroom?”

Pete turned. It was Vice Principal Haggerty. He was old and fat, with a gleaming bald head, and he was reaching for his famous “Pad of Doom.” He always walked around with a pad of detention slips on his belt. Pete did not want to be sent to detention. He smiled and hooked his hair behind his ear, pushing his shoulders back. “Um, Mr. Kelly sent me to guidance to get my schedule.”

Haggerty smiled, actually licked his lips. “Oh, that’s fine, then. You go on ahead Emilie.”

Pete smiled and walked into the office, feeling Haggerty’s eyes on his behind as he entered.