BACK TO THE PAST
Chapter Eight
After being debriefed on what pep rallies
were, learning some new slang, and listening to the tales of the previous
adventures with the DeLorean, Jack and Rose arrived at the courthouse around
eight o’clock. Christine and Gary were there, along with three of their
friends, a tall, Mediterranean looking kid named Ricky di Rossi, a blonde
freshman named Joey Baines, and the Dawsons twelve-year-old cousin Lizzy
Calvert.
"Sorry we couldn’t get much a
crowd." Gary shrugged.
"Wanna get high, man?" Joey asked
Gary.
"No. My little cousin’s here anyway.
Jesus Christ, man! And with you, even the Goddamn cat burglar could get
caught."
"Dude, you’re so gonna end up in
juvie," Ricky teased Joey.
"You’ll have to excuse little freshman
here. He’s not really a bad kid. He just strays a bit and always gets
caught."
"Shut up, Chris. And don’t call me
freshman!" sneered the freshman.
"Okay, freshman," said Lizzy.
"Now you’ve got the sixth grader calling
me freshman!"
Everyone else just laughed.
"Well," said Gary, "it’s
either that or Jailbird Joey."
"Let’s go already," sighed
Christine.
"And where are we going?" asked
Rose.
"Peabody’s lot. It’s abandoned now.
Crazy old man used to breed pine trees. Went all the way crazy after he claimed
a UFO drove through his barn."
Peabody’s Lot
The group walked through the entrance, past a
lone pine tree.
"All right, kids," said Gary.
"We got marshmallows, hot dogs, the works. Who wants what? Joe, you
brought the matches, right?"
"What matches?"
"Dammit, Jailbird!" Ricky huffed.
"Sorry."
"Now what?" Lizzy raised an
eyebrow.
"Guess we could just eat the
marshmallows." Joey sighed.
"You guess," sneered Christine.
"That’s what happens when you hang out
with freshmen," Lizzy commented.
"SIXTH-GRAD-ER," Joey enunciated
for her.
"Well, comparatively, Lizzy’s a lot
cooler than you are." Gary smiled.
"But everybody knows I’m the
coolest," said a new voice. Butch Tannen.
Rose and Jack exchanged glances. Perfect.
"Screw off, Tannen," Gary snapped.
"Nobody wants you here."
"So why aren’t you rejects at the pep
rally?"
"Why aren’t you, asshole?" Ricky
retorted.
"It’s my job to drive around and make
sure everybody goes."
"Make sure everybody goes? It’s not
required, Neanderthal," said Christine.
"I’ve got a message for your brother,"
Jack declared.
Everyone turned to him. Neither Jack nor Rose
had opened their mouths since the courthouse.
"Did you say something to me, new
kid?" Tannen seemed almost offended.
"I said, I’ve got a message for your
brother." Jack glowered. He had a low tolerance for bullies.
"What message?"
"Tell him we know Calvin Klein, and we
know what he has."
"Huh?" said Tannen.
"We know Calvin Klein. Yeah, we
do."
"Are you deaf?" Rose elaborated.
"He said we know Calvin Klein. And we know what he stole from Dr. Brown.
Please tell Biff that if it is not returned immediately, there will be serious
consequences." Butch laughed. "Do you want me to write it down,
darlin'?"
A perfect impression of Margaret Brown, Jack thought. He wondered if she'd ever considered acting
as a career.
Everyone looked at the two of them in shock.
After a silence, Gary spoke.
"Piss off, Tannen, or we’ll have Ricky
put a pine tree through your skull."
"Fine, but I’ll be back in an hour. I
better not see you when I get back…oh, wait. I forgot I’ve got a message from
Biff." They all raised their eyebrows. "Baines, he says say hi to
your sister for me."
"Shoo, Tannen!" Christine yelled.
"Call me, Dawson! You know you want
me!" He winked at Christine.
That was enough to get rid of him. He stomped
off.
"Was he talking to you or me?" Gary
asked Christine. They all broke out in laughter.
"Where was his usual band of
goons?" asked Joey.
"Who knows," said Ricky. "And
how do you guys know his brother?" He looked at Jack and Rose.
"We don’t, really, but we know he broke
into Doc Brown’s house this morning," said Rose.
"We’ve got to follow him," Jack
whispered to Rose. "If—"
"I know where he lives!" Joey
interrupted. He’d overheard them. "He still lives at home with his
grandma."
"Loser." Christine laughed.
"Actually, all those guys he used to
hang with, too," Gary added. "What were they’re names?"
"Skinhead, 3-D, and Match," said
Joey. "The four of them still try and bother my sister and brother-in-law.
But they don’t do much good. My brother-in-law’s a pretty cool guy now.
Apparently he was some huge dork in high school. But they’re all dorks."
"Jesus, don’t any of these guys have
normal names?" Jack asked.
"Hey, why don’t we go bust Tannen?"
asked Christine. "Now that our anti-pep rally’s essentially ruined."
"Hey, I wouldn’t say ruined," Joey
defended.
"Listen, guys, I don’t know if that’s
such a good idea," Rose said uneasily. "I mean, all of us just going
in there."
"We’re professionals, McCoy. Don’t
worry." Gary smiled.
Rose looked at Jack. He shrugged. There
wasn’t much else they could do. Besides, how much could a little help hurt?
*****
The seven of them sneaked through town toward
the Tannen house.
"That was really cool, how you guys
stood up to Butch like that," Lizzy said to Rose. "You didn’t just
tell him off. Gare and Chris do it all the time, but you guys really scared
him. I don’t know how you did it, but you did."
"Well, thanks."
"You guys are the coolest. Can I come
live with you?"