Primrose went back and forth in her bed. She couldn't get M off her mind. She stared at the clock. 10:26. She turned around to face the wall. She kept turning back and forth. She looked at the clock again. 10:27. She gave up sleeping. She sat up in her bed and stared at the clock.

An idea struck Primrose’s mind.

Wait… if M’s neighbors say that something happens at her house every night at 11 o'clock. Maybe I can go to her house and see if I can get to her at 11.

Primrose didn't even think longer she got up and left her apartment to go to her best friend’s house.

…

Emerald smiled at the three children. “Nice to see you again,” she said. Ruth nodded seriously, and the group started walking back to Emerald's house.

As they walked, Emerald looked at Kasen out of the corner of her eye. His hands were in his pockets and he was staring at the ground. He looked disappointed.

“So,” Ruth said. “What have you two been up to lately?”

“We've been time traveling to the future,” Kasen said sarcastically, even though it was true. Ruth crossed her arms and harrumphed loudly. Kasen smirked at Emerald. They walked in silence for a few minutes. Then Velma moved to walk next to Emerald.

“What do you think of Kasen?” She asked in a low voice.

“What do you mean?” Emerald asked back.

“Do you think he's cute?” Velma asked seriously. Emerald choked. Kasen's face went red.

“Velma!!” he said loudly.

“Well?” Velma said, ignoring Kasen. “Do you?” Emerald stammered.

“That means yes,” Allen said gravely. Kasen smacked a hand to his face.

“Guys,” Ruth groaned. “You aren't being subtle at all!” Allen looked confused.

“What does subtle mean?” he asked.

“Ohhhhh,” Velma said. “I didn't know we were supposed to be subtle.” Kasen looked at Emerald. His face was still red.

“I bet you're glad you don't have any sisters,” Kasen said.

“I think your siblings are… very cute,” Emerald said defensively. Allen looked insulted.

“I am not cute,” Allen said under his breath

…

They soon reached Emerald's house. Kasen's siblings were distracted, staring at the fields of golden wheat, so Kasen was able to walk Emerald to her door.

“Thank you for walking me home,” Emerald said. Kasen smiled.

“Your welcome,” he responded. “Sorry about Ruth, Velma and Allen.”

“Why are you sorry?” Emerald asked. Kasen shrugged. Then he held out his hand. Emerald reached out to take it, but quickly stopped. “Um,”

“Oh, right. I forgot,” Kasen said.

“Did you really?” Emerald asked skeptically. She still remembered how he had purposely sent them forward in time.

“I did!”

Emerald took a step back. “See you tomorrow at school.” Kasen nodded, also taking a step back.

This tale has been unlawfully obtained from Royal Road. If you discover it on Amazon, kindly report it.

“Bye,” he said. They stared at each other for a few seconds.

“KASEN!” Ruth called. He turned around and walked back to his siblings. Emerald watched him go for a few seconds before going into her house.

…

Kasen was tired of his siblings, especially the way they acted about Emerald and him. I don't even like her like that. Kasen thought to himself. And of course, Ruth and Velma walk into his bedroom.

Kasen gave a loud groan.

“What do you want?” Kasen said as he flopped his back on his bed.

“Nothing much,” Ruth says, arms crossed.

“Then leave”

“No”

“Then what do you want?”

“Can you please tell me if you and Emerald have something going on?” Ruth clasped her hands together.

“We are just friends, nothing else. And stop interfering!” Kasen jumped out of his bed and shut the door.

Sometimes I really wish I didn't have siblings. Kasen thought to himself.

…

Emerald sat at the table with her chin in her arms. Her two brothers sat near her. James was humming and kicking his feet back and forth. Ruben was gazing off into the distance.

“I wouldn't mind having Ruth as a sister,” James suddenly announced. Ruben looked at him curiously. “I just thought you should know that,” he said to Emerald.

Ruben looked at Emerald. “Em, what is he talking about?” Emerald shrugged.

“I don't know,” she answered, but she could feel herself blushing. Ruben narrowed his eyes in suspicion.

“James,” he asked, “why would you say that?”

“Well, because Ruth told me Emerald and Kasen had a thing for each other,” James said matter-of-factly. Emerald buried her face into her hands. Hopefully Ruben wouldn't see her blush.

“Oh, really,” Ruben said. Even though Emerald couldn't see him, she could almost feel him wiggling her eyebrows at her.

“Shut up,” she growled.

“I don't hear a denial,” Ruben said in a singsong voice. Emerald groaned, and he cackled.

“I was a little hesitant at first,” James said, “because Kasen has two sisters, but-”

“Wait,” Ruben said, his eyes wide, “Kasen the stationmaster's son?! His sisters have a reputation.” He shuddered.

“I think they're cute,” Emerald said defensively. Ruben shook his head.

“Nuh uh. You should have seen what they did to my friend Bob…”

“Look, just stop talking about it,” Emerald said.

“What did they do to Bob?” James asked in a whisper.

“You don't wanna know,” Ruben said gravely. Emerald sighed.

“Come on James,” she said, standing up. “It's time to go to school.”

…

When Emerald arrived at the school, James ran ahead. He joined some of his friends and started playing a game involving rocks, a ball, and goose feathers.

Emerald was about to go into her classroom when she saw Kasen standing right outside the school door.

“Oh, hey,” he said when he saw Emerald.

“Hello,” Emerald said. Kasen looked around.

“There's still fifteen minutes until school starts,” he said. “... Do you want to go to the future?” Emerald snorted

“That sounds so ridiculous.” Kasen smiled.

“So, do you want to?”

“I don't know…” what if we go into some weird trance or something? Then again, we might get answers to why we can TIME TRAVEL INTO THE FUTURE EVERYTIME WE TOUCH. Emerald looked around and saw that no one was paying any attention to them. She saw Roselle at her desk, probably waiting for her. “Roselle is waiting for me.” She turned to the school and started walking over.

“Please, Emerald.” Kasen reached his hand out and grabbed Emerald’s hand. He pulled her in harder than he wanted to and the next thing he knew Emerald was right in front of his face(maybe a little too close). Emerald didn't even process what happened.

Flash

Emerald heard conversations all around her before she could see. Then her vision faded back to her, and she could see again.

Emerald and Kasen were still in the same position. Emerald looked slightly up and saw Kasen’s face right in front of her and that he was holding her hand. Emerald’s face immediately went red and sweaty. She broke away from him. Her face looked like a tomato. She looked at Kasen. Kasen still couldn't see anything he was frozen. She looked around to distract herself.

She was in a big room, with people all around. A delicious smell surrounded her.

“Mmm, popcorn,” Kasen said. It seems Kasen can see now. Emerald glanced at him before looking around some more. The carpet beneath them was bright red, and a few feet in front of them was some sort of ticket booth. Emerald recognized the two teenagers at the ticket booth as Melanie and the boy. They looked around Reuben's age.

“What do you want to watch?” The boy asked Melanie.

“Hmm, I'm not sure.”

“Star Wars is considered the greatest movie of 1999,” the ticket man said.

“I already saw it,” Melanie and the boy said at the same time. They glanced at each other and giggled.

“What about Inspector Gadget,” the boy suggested.

“That sounds great,” Melanie said. The ticket man handed them two tickets.

“The movie is in theater two in 20 minutes,” he said.

Kasen looked at Emerald, a confused expression on his face. Emerald shrugged. They followed Melanie and the boy, closer to the popcorn smell. “Thank you, Oliver,” Melanie said. Oliver smiled.

“Anything for you, Melanie,” he said. Melanie blushed and looked down. “Do you want popcorn?” he asked.

“Sure,” Melanie said. Oliver took her hand, and they walked closer to the smell of popcorn. Kasen and Emerald followed them. They walked to a stand, where a man wearing a red hat and red vest stood.

“I'll have a large popcorn,” Oliver said.

“And two cokes,” Melanie said. The man nodded and scooped something yellow and fluffy looking into a container. That must be popcorn, Emerald thought.

The man gave the popcorn to Oliver, who handed him some money. Then the popcorn man turned around and opened some sort of cupboard. He pulled out two bottles of Coca-Cola.

He put them on the counter and this time Melanie handed him money. Then she took one of the bottles and gave it to Oliver. He took it, and she grabbed the other one. “Come on,” he said. “Let's go to theater two.”

Holding hands, they walked down the red carpeted hall and stopped at a set of double doors. A sign on them read ‘Theatre Two’. Oliver and Melanie opened them and walked through. It was dark inside the doors.

Emerald looked at Kasen. “What do you thinks in there?” she whispered. Kasen looked back at her.

“I don't know. Let's go see.” Together they walked inside the theater.

They made their way down an aisle, stopping when they reached Oliver and Melanie, who were sitting in some red chairs. Melanie ate a piece of popcorn and grinned. Suddenly part of the far wall lit up, lighting the dark room. Music blasted loudly all around Kasen and Emerald. “What's going on?” she asked no one.

Then the light on the wall formed an image of a castle. As Emerald watched with wide eyes a series of strange images moved across the screen. Music played louder, singing about someone named ‘Inspector Gadget’. At one point Emerald thought she saw a frog flying across the scene.

Then, all at once the music ended and the screen stopped moving around. Melanie leaned against Oliver with a sigh.

Flash

They were in front of the school house, back in their own time.

…

Primrose arrives at M’s house. Her eyes grew wide. Three police cars were in front of the house. Primrose hopped out of her car. Running to a policewoman.

“Wha-what is happening?!” The policewoman turns around shocked at Primrose. Tears were already running down Primrose's face.

“Something happened in that house. We know that someone is or was in there, but there are no signs of a person being in there. They might be dead.”

“No! M!” Primrose runs to the house but the policewoman stops her.

“I can't let you go in there, it's too dangerous.” Primrose stops fighting her and stands still. Tears running down her cheeks.

“What are you doing M?” Primrose says under her breath.