Rat Trapped

Chapter 2

Grace felt the floor underneath her as she woke, momentarily confused before remembering where she fall asleep. Her back was killing here. Why hadn't she chosen the couch?

She sat up, eye remaining closed. She pressed her hand to her temple in a feeble attempt to get rid of this headache, flinching slightly at the sound of a door opening. Strange, she's never had a headache that bad from floor sleeping. "Dude, I get the couch next time."

After hearing no reply, or even a soft snore, she opened her eyes. This wasn't her living room. This wasn't even her house. She saw 3 large tubes to her right and elevator door to her left. How did she know it was an elevator? Because she just binge watched the show it's in. Lab Rats. She didn't know whether she should be excited or freaked out.

"Riley?" Grace asked with no response still. Honestly, she should've expected that. She got up to explore the lab, mostly looking for clues as to which episode she ended up in. Obviously an older episode seeing as this was the old lab. "How the hay did I get here?"

Upon hearing the door, she turned quickly to the elevator, more interested in who was coming in rather than hiding. She saw a girl, presumably in her late teen- You know what? It's Bree. We all know it's Bree. No need to describe her. She took a defensive stance.

"How did you get in here?"

Grace, the little moron she is, replies, "Uh, magic?" Realizing how dumb that sounded, she added, "I'm not really sure. I just kinda...woke up?"

"What's your-"

"Grace!" Bree flinched at the volume, annoyed. "Sorry."

"You need to work on your introduction." Bree took a few cautious steps towards her. "I'm Bree. So you don't remember how you got here, right?" Grace nodded. "What's the last thing you can remember?"

"Binge watching a show and falling asleep."

"Anything before that?"

"Looking at a thing in the shed my friend made. It zapped me before we binged." Pieces started fitting together as Grace thought about the events like an oddly shaped puzzle. "Oh my dang, she did it," she added more to herself. Bree stared at her curiously.

"Who did what?"

"Okay, this might sound weird, but I'm from an alternate universe. And it was because of the machine my friend made"-Grace grabbed Bree's shoulders-"Sleeping somehow triggered it!" Bree took her hands off her shoulders and gently placed them back at her sides.

"You're right, that does sound weird, but I feel like I can believe you. At the same time, I'm not really sure I do. And why would you be sent here?"

"Well," Grace started pacing, thinking about how to say this. "The show I was watching afterwards was about you and your brothers. It's called Lab Rats."

"Okay, that makes it weirder. How much do you know about us?"

"You three have bionics. You with speed, Chase with smarts, and Adam with strength. Davenport is the father figure. Tasha is his wife. This is starting to sound creepy to me saying it out loud." An idea popped into her head and she signaled Bree to wait a minute with her finger. She pat her pajama pockets hoping she placed her phone in one of them. If she could find it she could try to show Bree some evidence. However, she left the phone on a charger at home. "Nope, no phone. But I'm telling the truth; I'm from an alternate universe!"

"I believe you. Just one question: How popular am I?" Bree asked excitedly. "Am I the most popular?"

"I don't actually know. Every character seemed equal in popularity to me except Marcus who is most popular. Though, I may be a bit biased since he was my favourite."

"Marcus the new kid? We just met him today."

"Ah, Concert in a Can." Bree gave her a confused look. "So, Concert in a Can is the episode of which Marcus was introduced. I was trying to figure out at what point in the timeline I arrived. I'm actually from 2018."

"It's 2012 here and not a TV show so we should try to get you home." Bree took her hand and pulled her towards the elevator. "Chase can probably find a way back."

"Wait." Grace took her hand back. "Can't we wait just a little bit before we tell anyone else? Being stuck in one of your favourite shows is an opportunity that happens less often than once in a lifetime." She summoned a pleading face from her face muscles. "Can't I just stay for a little bit?"

"Well..."

"I can tell you things that happen in the future." Bree thought about it for a moment. Grace stuck out an open hand. "Deal?"

"Deal." Bree shook her hand. "But we should come up with something so you can stay in the guest room since you have nowhere else to go. Let's go out the garage door Mr. Davenport installed"-She started towards the other side of the lab-"and pretend I'm bringing a new friend home."

"What about a story? Why do I need to stay here?"

"Nobody should be coming down to the lab for at least a little while. Let's brainstorm some ideas. And, Grace," she said pointedly, "only one week, then we tell them."

"Okay."

"Well, you tell them. I'll pretend to not know anything."

"Ah, to avoid getting in trouble and throw me under the bus. Not fair, but understandable. I would be the one leaving. Deal."

The two girls talked, trying to think up a story. Bree brought up the most ideas, while Grace pointed out possible flaws and how to fix them. These two dweebs kept at it for about 30 minutes before coming up with a decent story. Obviously, they took the better route to lie rather than to come clean and try to get her back home. It's not like Grace has friends and a job waiting for her to come back. Oh, wait, she does. But I guess we're suppose to just ignore that from here on out.