Break My Bones.

Graveyard Shift.

Night fell upon the park, and everyone was in shock with the situation. There was nothing to do to take off their minds because their phones were all replaced by generic, retro calculators.

Izzy Abney took the group's attention to show the phenomenon. She made a tiny incision on her palm, and it glowed before sealing back up like nothing happened.

Mya Peters took the blade and with a shaking hand, accidentally sliced deep into her hand. To the surprise of everyone, it healed anyways and was gone in a blink.

Everyone was even more shocked now, thinking they were immortal.

"Careful," Kennedy warned.

"We don't fully know what's going on yet, and how much of a wound we can heal, so don't go around trying to get rammed by a bus." Kennedy continued, sparking mutiny in the little group.

They memorized their rotary phone numbers and gave it out to each other. After this, they headed on home past the scenic views of Blueford Lakes before most of the modernization.

After getting home, they went to sleep for the day ahead. More understanding of the situation was needed to conclude if anything was even real and if it was real, how?

They all got to school once again and gathered around a table at breakfast in the cafeteria to discuss.

Note that it was 1974, and not a lot of appreciation had been implemented into the current world for LGBT+ and POC members. When they got into the table and settled in, a short, stubby seventh grader walked up to the table and started heckling at Kennedy and his friends.

"You like boys, fag? Haha what a loser!" The child started off.

"We don't accept your kind in here, and neither do we accept your friends. You all should scram." He continued, taunting Jacks Brown into a heated altercation, which landed the whole table into the principal's office.

At the office, there was an odd bunch of kids, Kennedy's friends, and on the other side of the room sat the heckler and his buddies, who hissed and taunted Kennedy and the others.

One of the kids had the audacity to shoot a spitball at Nina Harris, to this she reacted by hurling a paper ball as hard as she can at the kid's face. He started crying, then the principal started the intervention.

When the principal turned around, it surprised Kennedy and his friends. It was one of the principal's they'd seen in one of the old yearbooks of the school, for the year 1974. There he sat, alive and well as it proved so unreal, it was principal of Blueford Middle: Moody Fisher.

"You children are driving me crazy. What is it this time, Henry? Another act of hate?" He began, and by the tone of his voice Henry was the heckler and this wasn't his first time.

"You kids go head on to your classes. As for you, Henry, and your little gang here, three days suspension starting today." He said sternly.

The group was off the hook, and before going out the office Nina stepped on Henry's toe and gave him an evil smile.

Afterwards, it was third period. One of the four periods everyone in the coup had together, and it was language arts.

The teacher for that class was not Ms. Polly, but a woman who presented herself as a Ms. Chang. Suzie Chang, to be precise.

Given she was a whole different person from Ms. Polly, she had the same maternal energy that Ms. Polly had, rarely ever calling anyone's parents, and always cracking jokes.

It felt like all the people from 2018 had a counterpart in this timeline.

The class went on like everything was okay, with Kennedy's coup silently being judged and slandered by the children in the classes. They further theorized ways they got back in time and if it was a dream or not.

By lunchtime, Izzy was short a dollar for her food, so she pulled out a dollar but before she handed it to the lunch lady, Jacks snagged it out of her hand.

"What the hell d'ya think you're doing there? That's a 2018 dollar. You can't use any of our money around here."

Izzy said nevermind to pay for the food, and shared some with Nina instead.

In science class shortly after, it was a discussion hour. Mr. Weebly, who acted similar to Ms. Gaddy from 2018, asked for topics, and Kennedy raised his hand.

"Mr. Weebly, how possible is time travel? Also, if someone gets sent back in time, how would they get back to the present?"

"It hasn't been confirmed, but many theorists believe that certain wormholes can allow for that to happen." He said, confused.

"Why are you particularly interested in this topic, Kennedy?" He continued, with a more fascinated tone.

"Say you woke up from your sleep and suddenly you're back 44 years in time. Would that be possible?" Kennedy asked, with explicit detail.

"Kennedy, son, are you mentally stable?" The teacher said, now believing that Kennedy was crazy.

Kennedy sat in silence, and the rest of the group in the class didn't know what to do.

"Well.. say it does happen. Say, you do wake up 44 years from now in the past. What I can tell you is you're breaking many laws and living in about five different paradoxes that haven't yet been fully explained."
Mr. Weebly took a seat, before continuing his explanation.

"The rules you have to go by would be strict, assuming you are going back in time intact would mean assuming the rest of your family goes back with you. You haven't yet been born 44 years from now, but if your family sees themselves in this timeline, many bad things can happen."
He finished with that, and let the class to themselves for the last 20 minutes of class.

"Did any of you hear that?" Mya inquired, looking at the small chattering group that was her friends.

"That's pretty fucked. I don't even know if this is real anymore, it's confusing." Kennedy replied to her.

"Like he said, we have to be careful. Our parents and other people who got preserved in time can't meet their past selves, because we don't know what would happen." Izzy said, through loud chewing gum noises.

When the bell rang, it was time to go transition. Mya and Kennedy had the same class next, which was Gym.

On their way, a small bunch of kids were working on a painting in a semi-secluded area of the school. It looked like a mural of the school logo.

Kennedy and Mya froze when they looked around the group and saw a young girl that looked like she didn't belong. She painted, and accidentally swerved her brush to the left and messed up a tiny sliver of paint.

There she was, living and breathing, not having been spotted for almost a week in the 70's, their friend Ciarra Crown.

When Ciarra turned around to grab more paint and cover her mistake, she was shocked too.

"Kennedy, Mya? Is that you guys?" Ciarra dropped her brush.

"Oh my god, it's actually her-"
Kennedy was half squealing.

They finally ran at each other and shared a warm embrace. Mya explained the situation and the confusion with what they heard in Mr. Weebly's class.

Ciarra explained that unlike the rest, she woke up in 1974 a day after everyone did. She figured out the same things they did like how the person she stole the identity of had the same initials and was absent.

"If Ciarra is here, who knows how many other people are out there?" Mya looked at Kennedy.

"We'll find them on our way. We'll survive and gather everyone before getting back home safely somehow."
He said, in a hopeful tone.