Back To The Future || Part Zero

Chapter Seven

Late the next morning, Marty stirred and opened his eyes. It was another bright, sunny day outside. He smiled slowly, thinking of his audition a few days away, and crawled out of bed. The house was quiet, with the Professor at work.

Marty went downstairs and into the kitchen. Professor Brown had left the coffee pot on and he cheerfully poured himself a cup, then opened the refrigerator and pulled out the new bottle of milk. He got the stopper out in a matter of seconds, without breaking it, too. As Marty added the milk to the black coffee, he started to sing.

"So you wanna be a rock 'n roll star..." he began. The doorbell rang before he could get any further with the song. Marty rolled his eyes and set the milk down. He was going to have to go through this again? Marty left the kitchen and headed for the front door. He shook his head as he reached for the knob.

"Look, Professor," he started to say, opening the door, "I'm not -- oh."

The words died in his throat. Marty stared at Eileen, standing on the doorstep, hugging books to her chest. She smiled at him and Marty smiled back, weakly.

"Hi, Marty," she said.

"Uh, hi...."

"Eileen," his mother jumped in.

Marty gave another weak smile. It was hard for him to say her name. "Right. Eileen."What is she doing here?

The smile faded from Eileen's face. "You remember me...?" she asked, an uncertain tone to her voice.

How could I forget? "Oh, sure, I remember you."

"Well, I was on my way to school, and I just wanted to stop by and see if you were feeling okay," she explained. "You seemed like you were in pretty bad shape the other night."

"Oh, I'm feeling much better now," Marty said.

The smile returned to Eileen's face. "How long are you planning on staying?"

Marty shrugged. "Actually, it looks like I'm gonna be stuck here for awhile," he admitted.

Eileen's smile grew wider. "Then you'll be going to school here....?"

"School?" Marty repeated, mostly to himself. "I never thought of school! If I went to school I could blend in with everybody else, couldn't I?"

Eileen blinked, puzzled. "What time does school start around here?" Marty asked her.

"Nine o' clock," she said, glancing at her watch. Her eyes grew wide. "Oh, I'm late! Maybe I'll see you later."

"Yeah," Marty said thoughtfully "Maybe so."

Eileen flashed another smile at him, then turned and hurried down the walk. Marty shut the door and headed for the upstairs.

* * *

Not much later, Marty walked up the steps of his future high school, amazed at the change. The grafitti was gone from the building, as were the broken windows and overall run-down worn-in look the place had held before -- or would later. All the tall trees on campus were much smaller, maybe half the size they were in 1982. The bell rang as he reached the door, a notebook in hand, and students streamed into the hallways.

Marty stared openly at his classmates. They all looked like people from an old movie, with the hair and clothes, the way they acted.... He walked through the hall and passed an open door. The classroom looked familiar and he stopped, looking inside.

After a moment of hesitation, Marty walked inside. Yeah, he had been in it before! But everything looked a lot different -- newer. And the chalkboards were black, not green. He went over to the desk that would be his in thirty years and ran a hand across the smooth, shiny surface, devoid of any marks or carvings.