A.N. Well, those last few chapters have been what I’ve managed to get done all summer, but now that I’m on a stupid schedule for school, (), I should be writing much more often! (Or so I plan…) –Jill

Chapter Ten

Battle of Love, Round Two

I bet you like Brendan, you evil, boy-stealing witch! That'd why you gave him the cold shoulder today when he was talking to you! That's why you've never said a single word to him even when you were dating his brother! You would've told me the very same thing if I had said I liked Jason instead, dammit!

Ooh, it was war! The stakes were very personal now. I didn't care if she took Dominic away from me because he didn't mean a thing, but now she was on the hunt for Brendan and I'd never let her have him.

Scheming, little brat! I'd give you Dominic if he was mine, but he isn't! How dare you challenge me like that!

I clenched my teeth in anger. Why was she so intent in taking me out? What had happened between those two?

God, just act a little more, Cali. Don't loose your cool now. Don't blow it.

"You do?" I had to say that wounded, which I really was, just so she'd back off a little and just to see how she'd react, which was exactly how I thought she would.

"Oh God, Cali, I mean he's really cute, but I don't mean to take him away from you or anything." Oh, I bet you don't. "I can just definitely understand how you like him. He's a nice guy, truly. I didn't mean to challenge or anything." She put one hand on my arm while finishing: "I'm actually totally into another guy right now. Besides, I don't even know Brendan."

God, she was such a fake. She knew where to hit and make it count.

Then, as if I wasn't already pissed off enough, another seriously unfortunate event took place. The guy sitting at the table behind ours picked up his Border's Book Store sack, gathered up the trash left over from dinner, and stood to leave.

Aaron Einzach looked at me once, straight in the eye, while rising to his feet. That cold stare told me everything.

I'm so stupid! If I'd just been a little more aware of everything but Brittany and her two-faced nonsense, I'd have noticed the guy sitting in the Starbuck's table right behind us!

And now he knew what I was in California for; why I'd traveled to the past.

I let myself boil in that for a second, in complete disbelief, while Brittany coiled again for her next attack. God, I am sofa king we Todd Ed! How in the world did I totally miss that blond-haired little jerk?

"Speaking of which," She continued. I quickly turned back, face wiped clean of a snarl. Speaking of what? "The guy I'm into, Joey, he invited me on a date this Friday, or really, a double date." Please stop talking, Brittany. I need to go tackle that blond guy that just left the seat behind us!! "This is gonna sound weird, and I know you like Brendan, but he really wanted me to take a cute friend of mine with us so one of his friends could have a good time with a girl, you know? I guess his friend isn't ugly at all, he's just really shy. Would you mind if I took you-"

"Sure, Brittany." The words rushed out of my mouth as I jumped to my feet. I had no choice. I had to catch Aaron.

"You mean you'll come?" Her eyes swelled with artificial thankfulness.

"Yeah, whatever. Just please, let's talk about it tomorrow. I have to go."

I sprung from the table and started power walking.

"Aren't you going to need a ride?" She called, flustered by my sudden lack of interest.

"No. I'll find one. Thanks." I called back while trekking down the food court. Stupid, stupid Aaron. The last thing I needed was another person knowing my absolute obsession for Brendan, especially one who hated me so.

I left Brittany and wandered into the crowd and, without stopping my stride; I looked from side to side, trying to find him.

I looked everywhere; left , right, up, down. I think I went around the food court circle four times, glancing from the balconies a few times, before I tried the separate outlets. Before I knew it, I'd spent half an hour searching around the building before trying the parking lot.

Well, after scanning that, I finally came to the conclusion he was gone, and by now, so was my ride. Damn.

Stranded and anxious, I made my way back to the food court to get a drink. Might as well get hydrated, I figured, since I couldn't get a ride from Domonic because I didn't know is number, and it was going to be hard finding my house from the mall. Even if I did know the directions, which I was completely clueless of, it'd still take at least an hour to walk home.

Except, I remembered, I did know Jason's number, which meant I also knew a certain someone's number. My spirits rocketed and I took no time dialing up the love of my life on the telephone. Looks like I was going on that date today, after all. Brendan turned out being to one who answered, too.

"Boyer residence. This is Brendan." He said, very cheery. Aww.

"Hey Brendan, did you still want to take a ride tonight?" Okay, might as well pull something good out of another ill-fated day.

There was a lag pause, and my anticipation make it all the longer until finally:

"Cali? You want to go right now? Will your mom let you?"

"Actually," I hoped he wouldn't mind. "I'm sort of stranded at the mall. You know Greenwood?"

Brendan rolled down the window as he pulled up in the cute, little Honda Accord. It was unbelievable was good he looked in a turquoise car. Dominic, even in all his fiery, red, dangerous, sleek, expensive hotness, would've been shamed.

"Hey." He smiled coolly as he rolled down the window.

"Hey." I echoed and went around to the passenger’s side. "Thanks again." I said while getting in and sitting down.

"Yeah, sure." He had sunglasses on, just like Dominic. "How'd you end up stranded, anyway?"

I opened my mouth with a perfectly plausible lie, but quickly clamped it.

"Long story." I replied instead.

"Yeah? Hm." He answered, aware that I wanted to leave it like that. Talk about good intuition. "Well, did you at least have fun?"

"Yeah, I did." Okay, that wasn't a total lie, I did have some good luck finding some cute clothes. And I would've told anyone I had a good time no matter what the circumstance.

I wasn't going to complain, especially since that'd just lead him to more questioning and more me having to lie.

"Good, good." He said, and thus started the horrendously awkward silence. After half a minute, I couldn't bear it.

"So- " We both said simultaneously and stopped. God, how embarrassing.

Another short pause.

"Go ahead." I tried again.

"No, you're fine. You go." He responded.

So we both just sort of stared at each other for a minute, then started laughing.

"God, that's so dumb." I giggled.

"Yeah, I hate that." He agreed.

Who'd ever think an awkward pause could turn into an icebreaker? Only with Brendan was it possible, I'm sure.

"So, what were you going to going to say, really?" I teased.

"Nothing." He answered honestly while turning onto another road.

"Me neither." I laughed again. "Do you want to listen to the radio, then?"

"Sure."

Luckily, Jason had shown all the good radio stations the day before at the tressel, and Brendan had one of them his first button, so I all but cranked it.

We headed on through Calahoosa with the windows down and the radio on, enjoying the warm breeze outside. That is, until I heard a faint, but familiar sound. I discreetly glance over to Brendan singing shyly.

I couldn't help but smile wide. What a songbird. He had the sweetest voice, even if I couldn't hear it very well.

I wanted him to sing louder, and I wanted him to know he shouldn't be embarrassed singing around me, in fact, more than anything I wanted him to someday sing just for me. I quietly joined in.

In the corner of my eye, I saw him look over at me and then back. I acted like I hadn't even noticed and sang a little louder. Gradually, we started singing together, and had a great time doing it, too.

It was so funny! We would sing to anything, even if we didn't know the lyrics. I burst out laughing when he started singing Coolio, amazed that he knew the song so well and that a rapper so old to me was so popular at the time, and he almost died when I started singing: 'Let's get it on...'

We finally cooled down, and I actually had to catch my breath. I'd never been so comfortable singing in front of someone in my life, and he had such a magnificent voice, I could hardly believe it. I turned down the radio commercials and just laughed.

"Go back to the oldies station." Brendan pleaded. "That's the best one."

Yeah, singing Purple People Eater together was pretty funny, but I just couldn't take it.

"I'm sorry Brendan," I couldn't slacken my face muscles for the life of me, and held the same smile I'd had for the past fifteen minutes. It was like a face-lift gone wrong. "I can't do it anymore. It's too funny."

He beamed back at me when I looked up, in all understanding, then glance outside the window.

I'd never laughed so hard in my life, and the whole thing wasn't really as funny as it was stupid. I still can't believe he was that good at rapping.

"Hey," Brendan was a little more collected then. "Do you want to go to the beach this Friday? Zuma's not too far away."

We were stopped at a light and he pointed out the window to a billboard with the most beautiful picture of the ocean, advertising:

LOOKING FOR SUN AND SURF? COME TO ZUMA BEACH! THIRTY MINUTES WEST OF L.A.

"It's a really nice spot for surfing, too, if you want to learn."

"I'd love to learn," Going to the beach would be fabulous! I just need my mom to talk to Brendan and see what a sweetheart he was, and-

Dammit, I forgot Brittany and the double date! I cringed.

"But, I might actually have other plans." I forced the words out, regretfully. What was I saying? I could just tell Brittany no tomorrow, and then go, right?

"Oh, seriously?" He asked. If I kept doing this to him, he'd think I didn't like him.

"Well, maybe. I don't know." Even if I did go with Brittany Friday, I could still go with Brendan Saturday or Sunday, if I could just get my mom to let me. "But I'll ask my mom anyway and see if I can. I haven't been to a beach since I got here. It'd be about time."

"Alright, well whatever you can get around to doing is fine. I'm going to be pretty busy the rest of the weekend, so if not this time, maybe next week."

Jesus, how convenient.

"Oh, what are you up to?" I asked, seemingly unscathed by the timing of our situation.

"My grandparents are coming down form Oregon for the week. My mom insists on having the house spotless for them. You know how that is."

Finally, something our mothers have in common: Housekeeping.

"Yeah, I do."

Well, I was definitely canceling plans with Brittany, and I felt no guilt about it either. Now I just had my mom to convince, and that was going to be more than difficult, but I think I could pull it off.

After the light turned green, we drove on until the neighborhoods finally started looking familiar again, and I knew where I was. We pulled down Boardwalk.

"Brendan, can you do me a favor?" I asked, a little frustrated with having to take the effort.

"What's that?"

"Drop me off here at the corner, so my mom doesn't see me in your car."

He smiled. "No problem."

Part Two

Brittany's eyes swelled.

"But you promised!"

I have to admit, as much as I didn't like the girl, she could put on a pout that'd shame any kitten. I almost felt bad.

"There's no one else I want to bring with me. You have to go!" She exploded in a fitful cry.

"Brittany..." I tried. People were starting to look over. "How about you invite another model. I mean, you said you wanted to bring a cute friend and I'm sure there are other girls-"

"Cali," She clenched her teeth and looked straight into my eyes. "I don't have any other friends." She said a little more quietly, but still just a mournful. My stomach drooped a little. "I don't know any other models because they're all older than me and are mean to me," Well, that could be true. "And none of the girls around here like me because- I don't know!"

I scratched my neck. Damn she could put on an act. Or was she truly upset-? Oh my god. I hated guessing games.

"What are you doing this Friday, anyway?" There was the inevitable question. I'd already decided not to lie to this girl if I wanted to gain her trust. I had a feeling it'd be easy for her to pick out any inconsistencies in a made up story, if she really felt the need to.

Thus, I admitted honestly:

"Actually, Brendan asked me to the beach this Friday, and it's the only free day he has this weekend." And I didn't say that like a boast, but I still saw the thinnest flicker of anger in her face.

The first bell rang. Great, I still had five more minutes to talk her out of taking me on the date. It was Thursday in the freshman hallway, by the way.

Brittany looked over my shoulder, suddenly.

"But you had plans with me first!" She raised her voice again, only this time it was louder. I looked behind me to see what had caught her attention.

"Is everything okay?" Brendan asked, startled. Must have been Brittany's theatrics and my expression when I saw him standing behind me. I opened my mouth.

"Brendan," Brittany instantly jumped to with heart-wrenching sobs. "I know you made plans with Cali this Friday, but she already promised she'd go on a double date with me tomorrow. It's really important and I really want to take Cali to meet this guy. Can you please re-schedule?"

Her sorrow-filled gaze, the uttering of his name when he thought she didn't even know he existed, her horribly tragic story, and the fact that he was an absolute sucker for cute girls was enough to make him say:

"Well, if she already made plans with you, then sure. I don't mind." He turned and looked at me.

...And enough to made me feel like a jerk. That's right Brendan; I'm the best-friend betrayer who's going on a date this Friday with a different guy instead of going surfing with you. And yes, I did make that cute girl over there cry because I'm so evil.

"Okay," I tried to sound in easy agreement. "Let's try for next Friday then."

He just smiled like he wasn't too sure about the whole situation. I tried to do the same, but I was far too mad to smile. Instead, I let the agitation slip into my voice when I said:

"So Brittany and I are going to class now. Sorry about the cancellation." I tugged at her hand to lead her away. When we reached the room, I'd cooled down momentarily, so I could answer calmly when she asked:

"Are you mad at me, Cali?"

I slapped on my peppy face and answered:

"Mad? No way. I'll just meet up with him next week."

"Jason, I'm pissed." I chewed angrily at my food. He rolled his eyes like was almost starting to find my predicament funny.

"So I've heard." He answered, then stuffed another yeast roll in his mouth.

"I can't believe she actually said that to him! I mean, she even turned on the waterworks and everything, like I'd solemnly sworn to her or something and it'd kill her if I didn't come, or something! I mean- ARG!" Okay, I was starting to ramble, but I was pissed. "Oh well," I suffocated the urge to growl. "I guess I did tell her I'd come."

Jason looked at me thoughtfully.

"Yeah, but you know, she did only start crying when she saw Brendan behind you."

"I know!" I started again. "And then she talked almost like I was the one who wanted to hook up with a guy-" I stopped when I saw the smirk on Jason's face. He was finding my predicament funny.

"Thanks a lot." I said sullenly. It was then Brendan reached the table. He sat down quietly.

Cold, awkward silence. Even Julio didn't go about with his usual chitter-chatter.

Why did it have to be like that? Was Brendan mad at me for some stupid reason?? Stupid, dumb-headed Brendan. Was he really that big of a pushover for a model? I hate guys sometimes.

Julio finally broke the ice with:

"Did any of you see Mr. Ritter today?"

"Oh, I did!" Jason exclaimed. And it continued on like that until I just couldn't bear it. I got up after not saying a single word for twenty minutes, put my tray away, and walked to the hallway.

After lunch, students were allowed to hang out in the hallway around the lunchroom but no one was allowed to go to their lockers or explore the other hallways. How did they enforce it?

Perpetually perched at her guard, Mrs. Zion and all of her enormity watched over every single one of the students through her wickedly beady eyes and sharply magnified glasses. She'd just sit at her poor, strained desk, licking her thin, wrinkly lips, watching. If one unfortunate hooligan made the mistake of stepping over the invisible borderline she'd created, she'd make a scene that'd chase off any gaggle of geese, no matter how large.

She'd spit and hiss and cry out obscenities until the unfortunate soul who crossed the line was rendered helpless by the awful screeching and forced back into the cafeteria room.

I even heard one time a kid crossed the line and continued up the stairs to the next wing, arrogantly ignoring all of her threats, then mysteriously disappeared that same night, never to be seen or heard from again. Julio told me that she'd killed, dismembered, and then eaten the guy.

Why the principal didn't fire her for threatening, cussing, and eating students? It got the job done.

I was thinking of just that when a hand brushed lightly on my shoulder. I jumped out of my thoughts and turned to the phantom hand.

Aaron looked at me puzzled. Like I could tell him that I was day-dreaming about the horrendously large woman crushing the desk up there and going on a cannibalistic rampage around school, and that's why I'd jumped.

I'd just let him think I was always this twitchy because that's probably what he thought by now anyway.

I stared at him warily for a moment, waiting for him to make the first move. He did.

"I saw you at the mall yesterday." He said blankly. Geez, however cute he was, he still had all the charm of a perverted stalker. I answered tartly:

"Hey, ditto." Just come out and say it, you flower-stomping love crusher!

He actually allowed his normally bored expression crack and leak in some irritation. Fabulous.

"I don't want to make enemies with you." Well, you're doing a fine job at that, buddy. "I just want to know how you did it."

I suppressed a smirk. He was really going to be irritated by what I said next.

"Did what?"

He chomped his lower lip, did not break his gaze, and slightly nodded. He'd expected me to say that.

He turned around and headed for the invisible line that separated the dead from the living. I watched, waited. I expected Mrs. Zion to leap up at any moment and hit him over the top of the head with a world history book or something, but she remained seated and content.

He passed where I figured the line would be and passed the next spot I imagined. Finally, he reached the stairs, exposed a hand that held a ring of keys, and continued up.

Was she dead?? I shot a look to Mrs. Zion and found her very much alive, (and in my personal opinion, very much capable to eat a teenager whole), then spun my head to some of the kids lounging in the hallway. Everyone seemed fine with what'd just happened.

How anti-climactic! I thought she'd leap up, throw the desk over, and crack a chair over his skull! At least that's what Julio said she'd do.

Not that I wanted to see her mortally wound anyone, but I was just sort of waiting for it, you know?

Then I heard a guy next to me say:

"Damn Einzach. He even has Zion tamed."

"Yeah," A girl said. "Maybe he's like slept with her before or something."

First, EEWWWW!!!! Second, I'd forgotten Aaron had hallway privileges and stuff like that. Oh well, I guess I'd have to wait for another kid to cross the line before I'd see Zion in action. Maybe it was a good thing.

By that time, Jason'd caught up with me and I told him what happened. I thought the whole incident was kind of funny because I'd fully expected Mrs. Zion to turn into an evil ogre or something. Surprisingly, he didn't think it was funny and brought an idea to attention I hadn't even thought of.

"If he knows you like Brendan and he knows you're from the future, then he'll probably thinks you'll have something incriminating in your locker."

Well, that sucked, but why did it matter?

"So?"

"You said he walked up the stairs and then flashed a ring of keys?"

Shit.

Well what did I have incriminating in my locker? I'm sure there couldn't be anything...

Double shit.

"We have to catch him." I blurted out. The picture. I had a picture of Brendan the rockstar, not the high school student, in my locker. That'd be enough for Aaron.

Jason didn't question, he understood.

We made our way to the humongous woman.

Her seemingly inattentive gaze broke, crack of a whip, when she looked up at us, beady eyes darting wildly.

She licked her dry lips.

I sucked in and forced out a big rush of jumbled words.

"May I please go up to the lockers to-"

"Sit down!" She had the voice of a bleating goat. She jutted one finger towards the cafeteria.

God, I hate mean, smelly old ladies.

"Look, it's important-"

She rose out of her seat, bumping it roughly on the way up. We started drawing some attention. A boy, one of Jason's friends I guess, called:

"What's a matter with you Jason, got a death wish?"

We both ignored him as I continued:

"I need to something really important really bad." I pleaded. Embarassing, but certainly obvious if I put it like that. She had to have sympathy for a fellow female.

"Do you want me to get the principle?" She threatened in a mewy voice.

Jason was getting anxious. He knew how desperate I was.

He looked at the stairs and back at Mrs. Zion and me. By then we'd started bickering. I was getting frantic, and she'd started huffing and puffing the way you do to chase an angry mother goose. Kids were crowding, just waiting for her to pick up the desk and send me crashing through the wall.

"Look I'm going to my locker. You're not going to stop me." I declared, though I hadn't dared move a step closer to the hallways since she'd stood up. And she knew that.

"Go ahead and try." She answered as if she didn't care.

The crowd went Ooooo.

In an instant, Jason grabbed my arm and started dragging me to the stairs.

"We don't have time for this." He grumbled.

That did it. The kids cheered and Mrs. Zion leaped from behind the desk and started screeching. I looked over my shoulder on the way up and watched the most violent fit from a senior citizen I'd ever seen in my life. It scared me a bit, but at least she'd decided not to chase us. That would've probably made me pee my pants, drop into the fetal position, and beg for forgiveness.

We reached the net floor and made an all out sprint for the freshmen lockers.

"I hate mean, old women." Jason muttered. Had I not just thought the very same while I'd clenched my teeth in frustration and had held back the urge to push her down?

I know it's mean because she was probably someone's grandma. That's why I didn't do it.

By the time we got to locker 5604, my locker, Aaron was slouching with his back against wall, examining the expiration date on an old granola bar wrapper from the bottom of my backpack. In his other hand, he held the picture of Brendan.

So everyone knows, that was my prized possession in this world, (Not the granola wrappers, the picture of Brendan). That was the one item you'd pry from my cold, dead, rigamortisy hands before I'd give it up. I'd gotten it from a magazine contest when Marquise's third album was coming out. They were giving away five of the new CDs six months before the release date, and they came with a tour shirt and an autographed picture of Brendan Boyer.

I swear to God, I sent in a million-and-one post cards. I swear to God.

Not only did I get my hands on the new CD, but also the photo was actually hand signed by Brendan with a personalized note:

Cali, hope you like the new CD. Thanks for listening and keep rocking!!

Brendan :)

I always had it on me. It was framed in the notebook I took with me to school. It was like an appendage or something in that you never thought about it being there. It's just a part of you. That's why I never took it out of my stuff.

Well, I was shocked when I saw him with the photo, and he was pretty shocked to see me and Jason up the stairs and not in pieces. (I was kind of shocked about that one, too). So we stood for a tick in disbelief and anticipation.

That is, until I blew:

"Damn it Aaron, stay out of my stuff!"

He turned, crossed his arms, and leaned one shoulder against the lockers; face neutral as always.

He handed me the wrapper and I quickly read the date. Yeah, AUG 07 was a long shelf life for a granola bar born in the 90s. He had me there.

Then he held and the photo.

He didn't have his dreadlocks, but it was obviously Brendan holding a microphone. Marquise's motif was printed in the corner.

I snatched the picture and glared right into his baby-blue eyes.

Suddenly, they appeared significantly softer and I knew he wasn't challenging me anymore. My stomach sank. He had a way of doing that, I'd noticed; stopping a train dead in it's tracks.

"Don't play stupid." He requested quietly.

It was the same voice he'd used the time in the garden. I remembered how gently he could seem when he honestly didn't want to fight.

He squeezed a little out of me. His faced was completely innocent. Almost desperate.

"I can't tell you." I grinded my teeth.

He kept the baby-deer eyes locked. The strategy was working. "Why?"

Because I don't even know how I did it!!

"Because-" I started to say. What was I thinking? Chronia would zip me back to my time period without a second thought if I told him anything. I closed my eyes and breathed: "Because I don't know what you're asking."

A pattern was forming. He'd asked me how I'd traveled through time because he had all the evidence in the world, --thanks to me--, then I'd end up pissing him off so he'd go and find another way to prove I was lying.

Now he was at the pissed off/ about to storm off stage, and I felt like a jerk. I dropped my head and waited.

"If you think you're actually in love with him, you're not." Aaron then said. It caught my full attention. "He's a rock star, I guess. An idol, right? You have no idea about who he is, yet you think you're in love with him. That's idiotic." That made me flinch. "If you really went back in time to meet some celebrity, not only is it pointless, it's wrong and obsessive. You're like a stalker."

My pride cracked and blew away; dust in the wind. A stalker-? Who did he think he was to make such a call??

"I am NOT a stalker!" I exclaimed angrily. "I love Brendan. I-" I didn't know what to say against such an accusation. I stopped.

Aaron didn't raise his voice like me. Instead, he said very calmly, and with deep contempt:

"You don't know the first thing about love."

It hit me; a fist of ice right to the gut, and I couldn't believe it'd never dawned on me before.

The car crash.

It'd never connected- Never occurred to me. And I'd been wholly stupid. Stupid, insensitive, forgetful, and cruel.

Aaron had lost two of his best friends and the girl he was dating in crash a year ago.. I'd left my friends back in 2006 for a man I'd never even met.

He had every reason to hate me. He had even more reason to hound me for answers as to how I'd gotten all the way back to 1993 for an obsessed fangirl's fantasy, nothing else.

I would've told him everything had he not turned his back and walked away after delivering that fatal blow. I would've gladly spilled it all.

Part Three

Macy Cerado, Louisa Ashland, and Michael King. All three killed when their car broke the railing lining a ravine and plummeted 86feet straight down to the ocean. One survivor: Aaron Einzach.

He'd managed to climb out of the driver's side window and swim to shore. The others never surfaced.

His girlfriend Macy had been going steady with him for over two years. Aaron and his girlfriend Louis were two of his closest friends. Childhood friends.

He'd been the driver and the sole survivor. It probably ate at him everyday.

I sat in my seventh period art class, dwelling in everything Jason'd told me, and looking over at Brendan from time to time.

Did I truly deserve to be here? With Brendan Boyer? Did I really love him?

I watched him with my cheek in my hand. He stared intently into the canvas, eyes wandering over the abstract, pulling and remolding reality. He was there, but he wasn't. A bird dreaming of the sky. Beautiful.

He studied the white and created color, his strong wrists stroking in perfect curves as he painted. He wasn't just an artist. He was art himself. And I more than just loved him.

I obsessed over him.

Obsessing over a celebrity is different than obsessing over a person you know. It suddenly became weird to know so much about a person I'd just gotten to know.

Aaron was right. It was wrong.

I decided that if I was going to do this, and I was going to take it slow. I would pretend I'd never even know Brendan Boyer the rockstar. Brendan was Brendan. I didn't want to be obsessive, easy, or blinded by all the media coverage and MTV specials on him.

But looking at Brendan and seeing him right before me made me realize I did love him and I wanted more than anything to be with him. Not because he was a famous, cool, and good-looking musician, but because he was sweet for picking me up from the mall, fun when we went to the trestle, and kind of cute when he sang Purple People Eater.

I wasn't sure ho many people in the history of forever had ever been given the privilege of time travel, but I certainly wasn't the most deserving. Aaron was much higher in the list than me. Aaron, Anne Frank, and the millions of people killed by the Black Death before a cure was invented. To name a few.

Yet here I was, and I wasn't going to do it wrong. I was going to erase all my knowledge of his stardom and get rid of my Marquise stuff. The posters, stickers, shirts, articles, even Brendan's photo. It was all going, except for the CDs. I'd be damned to screw up any more than I already had.

And somehow, I was going to save Aaron's friends. I promised myself that.

For the moment, however, I got back to my own canvas. Brendan was being distant for whatever reason, and I wasn't going to deal with it then. There was no reason for him to be mad at me, and I didn't think that was what it was, anyway, so I'd let him come around.

Her seemingly inattentive gaze broke, crack of a whip, when she looked up at us, beady eyes darting wildly.

She licked her dry lips.

I sucked in and forced out a big rush of jumbled words.

"May I please go up to the lockers to-"

"Sit down!" She had the voice of a bleating goat. She jutted one finger towards the cafeteria.

God, I hate mean, smelly old ladies.

"Look, it's important-"

She rose out of her seat, bumping it roughly on the way up. We started drawing some attention. A boy, one of Jason's friends I guess, called:

"What's a matter with you Jason, got a death wish?"

We both ignored him as I continued:

"I need to something really important really bad." I pleaded. Embarrassing, but certainly obvious if I put it like that. She had to have sympathy for a fellow female.

"Do you want me to get the principle?" She threatened in a mewy voice.

Jason was getting anxious. He knew how desperate I was.

He looked at the stairs and back at Mrs. Zion and me. By then we'd started bickering. I was getting frantic, and she'd started huffing and puffing the way you do to chase an angry mother goose. Kids were crowding, just waiting for her to pick up the desk and send me crashing through the wall.

"Look I'm going to my locker. You're not going to stop me." I declared, though I hadn't dared move a step closer to the hallways since she'd stood up. And she knew that.

"Go ahead and try." She answered as if she didn't care.

The crowd went Ooooo.

In an instant, Jason grabbed my arm and started dragging me to the stairs.

"We don't have time for this." He grumbled.

That did it. The kids cheered and Mrs. Zion leaped from behind the desk and started screeching. I looked over my shoulder on the way up and watched the most violent fit from a senior citizen I'd ever seen in my life. It scared me a bit, but at least she'd decided not to chase us. That would've probably made me pee my pants, drop into the fetal position, and beg for forgiveness.

We reached the net floor and made an all out sprint for the freshmen lockers.

"I hate mean, old women." Jason muttered. Had I not just thought the very same while I'd clenched my teeth in frustration and had held back the urge to push her down?

I know it's mean because she was probably someone's grandma. That's why I didn't do it.

By the time we got to locker 5604, my locker, Aaron was slouching with his back against wall, examining the expiration date on an old granola bar wrapper from the bottom of my backpack. In his other hand, he held the picture of Brendan.

So everyone knows, that was my prized possession in this world, (Not the granola wrappers, the picture of Brendan). That was the one item you'd pry from my cold, dead, rigamortisy hands before I'd give it up. I'd gotten it from a magazine contest when Marquise's third album was coming out. They were giving away five of the new CDs six months before the release date, and they came with a tour shirt and an autographed picture of Brendan Boyer.

I swear to God, I sent in a million-and-one post cards. I swear to God.

Not only did I get my hands on the new CD, but also the photo was actually hand signed by Brendan with a personalized note:

Cali, hope you like the new CD. Thanks for listening and keep rocking!!

Brendan :)

I always had it on me. It was framed in the notebook I took with me to school. It was like an appendage or something in that you never thought about it being there. It's just a part of you. That's why I never took it out of my stuff.

Well, I was shocked when I saw him with the photo, and he was pretty shocked to see me and Jason up the stairs and not in pieces. (I was kind of shocked about that one, too). So we stood for a tick in disbelief and anticipation.

That is, until I blew:

"Damn it Aaron, stay out of my stuff!"

He turned, crossed his arms, and leaned one shoulder against the lockers; face neutral as always.

He handed me the wrapper and I quickly read the date. Yeah, AUG 07 was a long shelf life for a granola bar born in the 90s. He had me there.

Then he held and the photo.

He didn't have his dreadlocks, but it was obviously Brendan holding a microphone. Marquise's motif was printed in the corner.

I snatched the picture and glared right into his baby-blue eyes.

Suddenly, they appeared significantly softer and I knew he wasn't challenging me anymore. My stomach sank. He had a way of doing that, I'd noticed; stopping a train dead in it's tracks.

"Don't play stupid." He requested quietly.

It was the same voice he'd used the time in the garden. I remembered how gently he could seem when he honestly didn't want to fight.

He squeezed a little out of me. His faced was completely innocent. Almost desperate.

"I can't tell you." I grinded my teeth.

He kept the baby-deer eyes locked. The strategy was working. "Why?"

Because I don't even know how I did it!!

"Because-" I started to say. What was I thinking? Chronia would zip me back to my time period without a second thought if I told him anything. I closed my eyes and breathed: "Because I don't know what you're asking."

A pattern was forming. He'd asked me how I'd traveled through time because he had all the evidence in the world, --thanks to me--, then I'd end up pissing him off so he'd go and find another way to prove I was lying.

Now he was at the pissed off/ about to storm off stage, and I felt like a jerk. I dropped my head and waited.

"If you think you're actually in love with him, you're not." Aaron then said. It caught my full attention. "He's a rock star, I guess. An idol, right? You have no idea about who he is, yet you think you're in love with him. That's idiotic." That made me flinch. "If you really went back in time to meet some celebrity, not only is it pointless, it's wrong and obsessive. You're like a stalker."

My pride cracked and blew away; dust in the wind. A stalker-? Who did he think he was to make such a call??

"I am NOT a stalker!" I exclaimed angrily. "I love Brendan. I-" I didn't know what to say against such an accusation. I stopped.

Aaron didn't raise his voice like me. Instead, he said very calmly, and with deep contempt:

"You don't know the first thing about love."

It hit me; a fist of ice right to the gut, and I couldn't believe it'd never dawned on me before.

The car crash.

It'd never connected- Never occurred to me. And I'd been wholly stupid. Stupid, insensitive, forgetful, and cruel.

Aaron had lost two of his best friends and the girl he was dating in crash a year ago.. I'd left my friends back in 2006 for a man I'd never even met.

He had every reason to hate me. He had even more reason to hound me for answers as to how I'd gotten all the way back to 1993 for an obsessed fangirl's fantasy, nothing else.

I would've told him everything had he not turned his back and walked away after delivering that fatal blow. I would've gladly spilled it all.

Part Three

Macy Cerado, Louisa Ashland, and Michael King. All three killed when their car broke the railing lining a ravine and plummeted 86feet straight down to the ocean. One survivor: Aaron Einzach.

He'd managed to climb out of the driver's side window and swim to shore. The others never surfaced.

His girlfriend Macy had been going steady with him for over two years. Mike and his girlfriend Louis were two of his closest friends. Childhood friends.

He'd been the driver and the sole survivor. It probably ate at him everyday.

I sat in my seventh period art class, dwelling in everything Jason'd told me, and looking over at Brendan from time to time.

Did I truly deserve to be here? With Brendan Boyer? Did I really love him?

I watched him with my cheek in my hand. He stared intently into the canvas, eyes wandering over the abstract, pulling and remolding reality. He was there, but he wasn't. A bird dreaming of the sky. Beautiful.

He studied the white and created color, his strong wrists stroking in perfect curves as he painted. He wasn't just an artist. He was art himself. And I more than just loved him.

I obsessed over him.

Obsessing over a celebrity is different than obsessing over a person you know. It suddenly became weird to know so much about a person I'd just gotten to know.

Aaron was right. It was wrong.

I decided that if I was going to do this, and I was going to take it slow. I would pretend I'd never even know Brendan Boyer the rockstar. Brendan was Brendan. I didn't want to be obsessive, easy, or blinded by all the media coverage and MTV specials on him.

But looking at Brendan and seeing him right before me made me realize I did love him and I wanted more than anything to be with him. Not because he was a famous, cool, and good-looking musician, but because he was sweet for picking me up from the mall, fun when we went to the trestle, and kind of cute when he sang Purple People Eater.

I wasn't sure ho many people in the history of forever had ever been given the privilege of time travel, but I certainly wasn't the most deserving. Aaron was much higher in the list than me. Aaron, Anne Frank, and the millions of people killed by the Black Death before a cure was invented. To name a few.

Yet here I was, and I wasn't going to do it wrong. I was going to erase all my knowledge of his stardom and get rid of my Marquise stuff. The posters, stickers, shirts, articles, even Brendan's photo. It was all going, except for the CDs. I'd be damned to screw up any more than I already had.

And somehow, I was going to save Aaron's friends. I promised myself that.

For the moment, however, I got back to my own canvas. Brendan was being distant for whatever reason, and I wasn't going to deal with it then. There was no reason for him to be mad at me, and I didn't think that was what it was, anyway, so I'd let him come around.

Which he didn’t do by the time Brittany’s and my double date rolled around.

He’d talked to me a little in class and at lunch the next day, yeah, but he certainly didn’t go out of his way, and he hadn’t met me at my locker again, either.

I had no idea what I’d done, but it was stressing me out.

Then I took a deep breath and reminded myself:

He was just Brendan. We weren’t dating.

But coping with it proved near impossible.

And the Aaron thing was biting at me, too.

So I wasn’t in a good mood when I popped open the door of Daniel’s mustang convertible. (1969 mustang convertible, as I may add). He was half an hour late and I wasn’t at the beach with Brendan. Plus, I’d be spending the rest of a perfectly good Friday in Brittany’s evil clutches as she made out with her probably drop-dead gorgeous boyfriend while his probably less good-looking friend tried getting fresh with me.

I wasn’t in such a sunny disposition, okay?

I took a quick, scowling look at him. Well, he was decent, but had this almost jock look about him. At least he had a good taste when it came to vehicles. I climbed in.

If you hadn’t already guessed it, my mom had completely okayed the Brittany date. She would’ve been completely thrilled, I’m sure, to have seen hunky Daniel holding me in his strong, muscular arms.

But Brendan? No way.

“Hi.” Daniel said dumbly. He scanned me over indiscreetly.

“Hi.” I forced a smile, trying to be civil.

“Where do you want to go?” He asked. Uh…duh? Brittany told me he’d take me to The Flamingo where we’d meet up with her.

Maybe he’d been hit a few too many times in the head with a football.

“The Flamingo.” I shrugged it off and smiled, figuring he’d remember it was a double date and then feel stupid.

“Oh,” He said but didn’t seem to finish the thought. “Fine with me.” He grinned crookedly.

Ugh. At least it’d be a nice restaurant. I figured any restaurant a Cosmo model had to make reservations to get into had to be a pretty nice restaurant.

He turned down the street Jason and I had taken the night we’d been kidnapped, which had really only been seven days ago. That preoccupied my thoughts for about ten minutes as we headed into the darker side of town.

It was a bump in the road that caught me in the middle of reminiscing and threw to attention where exactly we were heading. Daniel turned onto a highway.

I stared outside the window for a moment and asked:

“How far away is The Flamingo?” I saw the numerous truck stop signs in the distance begin to glow as the evening grew more and more shadowy. He waited an instant to answer, then asked, confused:

“You’ve never been?”

Obviously. “I’m new to the area.”

Another silent second. “Is this your first date?”

Okay, so don’t even answer the question. Whatever. “Yeah,” I answered a little annoyed. “What gave it away?”

“You look innocent like that.”

Gulp. That was a just tad creepy. I chose to stop talking to him and look out the window again to look for the restaurant. The faster this date was over, the better.

It was black. There was absolutely no moon and if it weren’t for all the hotel and restaurant signs outside, I wouldn’t be able to see a thing. This didn’t seem like a good place for a fancy restaurant, just fast food places for truck drivers, like Arby’s or McDonalds. Not for a place Brittany ad described with fountains and free stuff like hand lotion in the bathrooms.

Finally, though, and much to my release, I spotted the pink, neon sign for THE FLAMINGO and was reassured. I noiselessly heaved a sigh of relief.

I turned to look at Daniel who’s shadow was the only thing visible in the darkness.

“Cool, we’re almost there.” I said, almost a whisper. He didn’t respond. He kept his hands tight on the steering wheel.

I really wanted to go in, eat, and leave. I hoped Brittany didn’t have any after dinner plans, especially if they included dark places like the movies theater and holding hands with the opposite gender. Daniel sort of made my skin crawl.

He took the exit in and I saw the brightly lit building in full frame.

“Oh,” My eyes widened when we pulled into the parking lot, because I could finally see the entire building. “Oh, my God.”

As it turned out, I think I would’ve much preferred the movies to where we were actually going, because The Flamingo wasn’t actually a restaurant.

It was a hotel.

A.N. I hope you like that little cliffy! cackles evilly I also have a new story that I’m in the process of writing. The teaser has been posted. It is called Pretty Boys. (A yaoi story.)