On The Passage of Time

(•ө•) 4

"Mm, we're doing fine."

Juniper adjusted the phone against her ear.

"Grandpa caught a cold, but he's getting better. Paul put his drum set in your empty room, so don't be too surprised when you get back."

Across the school courtyard, a girl wearing twin braids and a fluffy yellow sweatshirt waved excitedly at Juniper. She glanced up and waved the girl over, motioning to her phone to let her friend know she was on a call.

"Yup, Mom and Dad have been missing you..."

She listened for a second, then laughed.

"Of course I miss you too, silly,"

The girl in braids ran over and looked curiously at Juniper, who smiled at her.

"When are you coming back, again...?"

A beat later, she straightened up. "Ah, ok, go ahead! Take care."

Juniper hung up the phone, and gave her friend a hug in greeting. "Sorry about that, Sofie," she apologized.

Beaming brightly, Juniper's friend ruffled Juniper's bangs and asked, "Was that your sister?"

"Yup!"

Sofie sighed longingly. "Your sister is so nice...my older sister is in college too, but she never calls me except to tell me to study hard."

The two girls laughed, and then Juniper protested, "No, Ivy scolds me too! She's only being nice because she just moved out and is homesick. It'll wear off eventually."

She paused as a group of boys rushed by, yelling loudly. When their voices faded, she looked at her phone and groaned.

"Speaking of studying hard, I have a ton of homework. I'd better start heading home."

"Your parents aren't picking you up?"

Juniper shook her head, grinning. "No, they went shopping for antiques again and lost track of time. They texted me a few minutes ago to let me know that they're stuck in traffic."

"Oh," Sofie laughed. "More antiques? How are you going to fit them all in your house?"

In response, Juniper threw her hands up and dramatically sighed. "They'll probably put them in the attic, as usual. It looks like a whole museum in there."

She tucked a strand of hair over her ear. "Well, I guess I'll get going! See you, Sofie!"

"Ok!" Sofie threw her arms around Juniper with typical bubbly energy. "Take care, Juni!"

Juniper hugged her friend back, then waved goodbye.

A few minutes later, Juniper arrived in front of her home to see her grandpa sitting outside in a patch of sunlight, with all the air of a sunbathing lizard.

"Hi Grandpa!" she called, making her voice louder for her slightly deaf grandfather.

Grandpa Zhang opened one eye lazily, then closed it again.

"Why, hello there, Juniper. I was just reliving my glorious younger days..."

Juniper smothered a smile. "Again?"

"Eh? What's that?"

"Nothing, nothing." Juniper patted her grandpa on the back.

"Enjoy yourself, Grandpa."

The front door shut behind Juniper with a sound that was almost instantly replicated by the sound of her slamming into a young teenage boy holding a bag of trash gingerly.

The boy's eyes, which had been scrunched up in disgust as he stared grimly at the trash, lit up.

"Hey, Juniper! Perfect timing!"

He dumped the bag of trash on Juniper's feet. "Since you've already got your shoes on, you can take out the trash."

"Wait–"

Holding up his hand, the boy interrupted. "I know, I know. I'm a genius. Praise me later, take out the trash now."

"You..." Juniper threateningly waved a fist at her younger brother. "Just this once, Paul. But you owe me."

Paul quickly made his escape, pretending not to hear of his looming debt. A true businessman in the making. 

After sadly resigning herself to her fate, Juniper dumped her backpack down and picked up the bag of trash. She passed by her grandpa again on the way out, taking in his reminiscent smile with amusement as she walked to the alley behind her house.

She tossed the bag of trash into the large trash can, and was about to turn around and go back to her house when a glint of metal caught her eye.

No way! Juniper's jaw dropped. Could it be the limited edition Miju pen in the even more limited edition minty golden color!?

With the expression of a middle aged man from Ohio who'd taken the arduous journey to California in 49' in hopes of finding a fortune to support his seven children and poor wife Susanna, and who'd just found a pile of glistening gold after almost a year of no success, Juniper sprinted over towards the pen. With awestruck, trembling fingers, Juniper reached out to pick up the pen. To her dismay, however, a sudden gust of wind blew, and the pen rolled nimbly out of her reach and down the concrete alley.

"Oh no you don't," Juniper said out loud, jogging after the runaway pen. "I've waited years for you to come back in stock."

The wind paused for a second, as though contemplating Juniper's tragic story of patient perseverance. Evidently, however, it did not consider her plea worthy. It began to blow again, with renewed force, further into the darkening alley.

"Hmm," said Juniper, hesitating. "Isn't this how all protagonists get kidnapped...dark alleyways..."

In the next moment, the glint of the pen swept away all her fleeting worries. Before the wind could pick up, the girl was already darting off into the alley.

With Juniper in pursuit, the pen threatened to break the sound barrier as it rolled faster and faster, turning into a limited-edition-minty-golden blur. And then, all it once, it rolled into some knee-deep grass and came to a halt.

"Bless that grass," panted Juniper, catching up at last with a massive grin in hand. Sure, it may be a little humiliating to be outrun by a pen, but she had bigger things to think about. She reached for the pen excitedly, then froze as the grass brushed across her arm.

Grass.

Knee high, two foot grass.

Juniper's first thought was that she'd run into the overgrown lawn of a renegade neighbor who had no fear of the local HOA. Her second thought was that, as she looked around her, either her neighbor had a lawn the size of a city, or something had happened and she was no longer in her neighborhood. Perhaps...no longer in her world, even.

The girl's mind raced, screaming summaries of all the fictional books with magic portals and world-hopping and time traveling that she'd ever read. For a second she stood, jaw hanging slack, staring around herself.

Think, Juniper! Think! You didn't read all those trashy novels for nothing, right?

Juniper shook herself, and then looked towards the setting sun. Maybe she'd just gotten a little lost. The sun sets in the west, right? And...she was pretty sure the alley ran east away from her house.

Comforting herself with her logic, Juniper headed off, trying to ignore the shakiness in her knees and the way her fingers clutching the pen were slipping with sweat despite the cool breeze.

And yes, she'd taken the pen with her. Of course. 

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thanks for reading!

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