Chapter Text
When Jennifer got to the bowling alley, she stood outside nervous, not because of seeing new people or bowling in general. She was worried people would recognize her. So she planned to try and hide herself til she got to Lorraine and blend in from there.
She got a reputation after humiliating Biff twice and worried that if she kept this up, she may leave a bigger impact on the timeline, and more Doc yelling at her for ruining the timeline.
She redid her hair and styled it so it would cover one of her eyes along with putting it in a ponytail. She dressed in a dark blue Blouse, a moderate blue cardigan, and she then had a beige skirt.
She entered the bowling alley looking around, not seeing Lorraine anywhere, but on the bright side nobody recognized her, her disguise was paying off. She released a breath she had been holding.
‘So far so good, nobody has no-.’
“IS THAT THE CHICK WHO HUMILIATED TANNEN?!” A voice shouted over the alley as people began to turn to her.
From average bowlers to even the people working everyone began to stare at her, like a Hollywood star just graced their presence. As Jennifer tensed up nervous.
‘Oh god da-.’
The teens at the alley began to cheer at her and whistled in support of her. “Let's go, lady!” “You did something nobody here had the guts to do, thank you!.” “You’re Amazing!!!”
Jennifer noticed Lorraine come out from the group of people cheering at her as Lorraine ran over with a smile. “Jennifer! You made it!”
Jennifer nervously chuckled. “Yea…I did hey cou-.”
“Hey Lorraine, what’s her name, we're all dying to know!” Some guy called out to her.
Jennifer’s face froze in worry as she turned to Lorraine to try to stop her. “Hey now, can you no-.”
Lorraine grabbed Jennifer’s arm and threw it up. “THIS HERE IS GLORIA VANDERBILT, THE ONE WHO GAVE TANNEN A TASTE OF HIS OWN MEDICINE!”
The alley cheered loudly at that news.
“Gloria! Gloria! Gloria!” Filled the alleyway as Jennifer felt herself embarrassed.
‘If Doc ever finds out about this, I’m dead.’
“C’mon Jennifer! Me and my friends are about to start a round. You in?” Lorraine offered.
“Yeah sure I’ll play, don’t think I’m that good at it.” Jennifer accepted as they walked over to where Lorraine’s friends were.
If Jennifer had to describe her experience bowling right now, poor would be an understatement.
She was failing badly.
She got a gutter ball for three frames in a row, which is bad as it is, despite some encouragement by Lorraine’s friends it didn’t change much. She got lucky by the 4th frame she started to get some progress hitting over four pins, which might as well be the best part of the night. As she slowly and gradually got better
Jennifer, despite having fun and being terrible at bowling, still needed to ask Lorraine to go with George to the dance. Luckily, she had a chance. Babs was so focused on trying to get a spare on the 8th frame she could.
“Hey Lorraine can we speak in private for a bit?”
“Oh sure, but be quick when Babs is done Cindy is up.” The two walked over to a secluded area. “So what’s going on Gl- Jennifer.”
“Listen, Lorraine, I need you to go to the dance with my friend George McFly.”
“Oh him? I don’t know, sure he is cute and kind but he lacks the ability to stand up for himself, which is something I see in a man.” Lorraine sighed at the last part.
“Oh come on Lorraine. He said that sweet thing to you at Lou’s he wants to go out with you.” Jennifer said, trying to grasp straws to make Lorraine say yes.
“I don’t know, again he will do whatever Biff says and gives up to authority easily, unlike you.”
“Lorraine look, you can never truly judge someone based on looks, if you do that, you turn away potential friends and allies!” Jennifer said with a strong voice. “Even if you don’t like him, Lorraine please! If not for him, do it for me!” Jennifer pleaded desperately to her.
Lorraine looked at her friend’s pleading expression, she sighed. “Alright Gloria, I’ll do it, I will go to the dance with George.”
“Thank you Lorraine!”
“On one condition.”
Jennifer paused her celebration and looked at Lorraine worried. “W-What condition?” Asking confused.
“I want to have a sleepover with you, Babs, and Betty, Friday night.”
Jennifer went silent, she felt unsure, Lorraine had been pushing this for a while, something she wanted to avoid out of fear of touching on certain subjects.
But dammit she needed her to go with George to the dance, she had no choice.
“I accept Lorraine, we can do it Friday, do you know whose house we would go to?” Jennifer said, holding back her annoyance at the sleepover idea.
“Really? Thank you Gloria!” Lorraine hugged her in surprise. “Trust me! This will be a great sleepover! As for the house, Betty’s parents will be out all night Friday so we will head there.”
“Hey Lorraine! You’re up!” Cindy shouted as the two looked over to see Cindy shouting to them.
“Well my turn, wish me luck.” Lorraine said as they walked over.
“Probably should be saying to me due to my luck earlier.” Jennifer responded as the two laughed.
The rest of the game went alright, while Jennifer did gradually get better she still was a while behind and not expected to win. She ended up with 4th place out of 6th. After getting lucky in the final frame.
Eventually all the other Hill Valley teens finished up for the night as the games reached their conclusion as everyone said their goodbyes and headed out. As Jennifer and Lorraine were walking out of the bowling alley.
“Honestly Lorraine, you did great, though losing to Babs on the final ball is certainly a surprise.” Jennifer commented as Lorraine did.
Lorraine nodded. “I know, I still can’t believe that somehow she managed to regain the lead by getting a spare, that is unbelievable.” Lorraine scoffed. Jennifer laughed a bit.
“Agreed but still impressive, anyways, remember to ask George tomorrow or if he asks you, say yes.” Jennifer reminded her.
“Right, of course, see you later Gloria!” Lorraine waved off as she headed home.
Jennifer headed to Doc’s car and drove back to the manor, she got back easily and found Doc in the living room reading.
“Hey Doc!” Jennifer greeted to him as Doc turned to see her.
“Jennifer! You’re back! How did it go?”
“Great, Lorraine will go with George to the dance.”
“Great! That's perfect! Now we need them to fall in love at the dance and that should hopefully restore the timeline!”
Jennifer then shifted uncomfortably as Doc took notice. “Jennifer? What’s wrong, did something happen?”
Jennifer sighed. “Sorry Doc but in order for her to say yes she wanted the sleepover badly so she said she would go with George in exchange for a sleepover and I accepted.” She said weakly as Doc’s eyes grew wide.
“JENNIFER! I SAID I DIDN'T WANT MORE TEENAGERS HERE.” Doc yelled at her.
“First of all Doc, it's not your place, calm down. Second of all it's at Betty’s and it's for Friday night so we should be fine.
Doc calmed himself. “Alright if that is what it takes to fix the timeline then yes you can go. Just make sure to be ready to leave around 10am, as we need to prepare your travel back to the future.”
Jennifer took out the photo of her and Marty, she looked at the photo of her and Marty, nearly his entire upper body is gone, only half of his stomach and legs remain. She grimaced, she wasn’t sure how to feel, cause if George and Lorraine are such polar opposites, to get them to fall in love at the dance will take a miracle, she needed a plan to make them fall at the dance.
“Alright got it Doc, I will try and get a plan to make sure those two will fall in love. I’ll come up with one tomorrow. Right now, I’m tired, good night Doc.” Jennifer said as she headed upstairs to the guest room.
Doc watched as she left, “sleep well Jennifer.” He said as he returned to reading.
Jennifer got to her bedroom as she prepared to go to bed, she brushed her teeth, showered, and got in pajamas ready for bed.
As she lied down she thought to herself. ‘Soon I’ll return to the future, back to 1985. Back to where girls can wear jeans, technology isn’t in black and white, and…and…’
Her thoughts trailed off as 1985 felt more in frame in her mind, returning to that night.
It still hurts, she watched him die in front of her eyes and now returning back he will still be dead in that parking lot. She still will have to watch as they lower his body, his grieving family, his friends, and her. This was a future she would be returning to, one of sorrow.
‘Stay calm, one day at a time.’ She thought, though as she closed her eyes a lingering idea hit her.
She already changed the timeline so much already by altering his parents' first meeting and humiliating Biff.
If she changed so much. Well? Couldn’t she do just one little thing that won’t mean much?
When Jennifer arrived at the school, she found George alone in the library, she guided him to Lorraine and told him to ask her out. She watched nearby for it not to seem forced for Lorraine and just hoped Lorraine would say yes when George asked her. Luckily, Lorraine followed through on what she promised to her and she said. She saw George have a big smile, he seemed happy.
‘Can’t blame him, he’s never really been with a woman, now he takes one to the dance, I feel proud. I did this.’ She smiled to herself.
Alright, the hard part over, now for the equally hard part, getting them to actually fall in love.
Luckily while she was getting ready for school she had a good idea.
When school let out for the day, she went to George and walked to his home.
As they walked she told her plan to George. “Alright George so, I got a plan to make Lorraine swoon for you.”
“Really? I mean, it would be amazing if she fell in love with me, but just going to the dance with her is already a dream come true.” George got out.
“Trust me George, this will work, so here is my plan.” They got to his house, as they headed to his backyard. “Right the plan George, so at the dance, you and her will go out around 9:00 or so. Say you have to use the restroom. When that happens I’ll go to Lorraine and pretend to attack and hurt her.”
“R-right.” George stammered as he listened.
“Then you’ll come in and stop me, when that happens, Lorraine will fall in love with you.”
“Ok got it!” George said as he looked at her worriedly. “You won’t actually hurt her. Right?”
“Of course not! It's just pretend, look if you follow through, we will make sure, you two fall in love.”
“Got it…Glor-. Jenni-. Uhh is there a specific name you prefer? I heard others call you Jennifer.
“You can call me Jennifer, I think we're friendly enough you can call me Jennifer.” She said with a smile.
“Right, Jennifer. I have to ask, why are you so interested in me and Lorraine getting together?” George asked curiously.
‘Cause if you two fall in love, my future boyfriend will be born and I will be happy, but then get sad as I return to when he is killed. Along with the need to avoid a paradox and save reality.’ She thought panicking in her mind.
“I think you two look great together.” She said with a simple smile.
“Alright.” George stammered out.
“Here we can practice if you want. Say this to me when I threaten her. Since I doubt you will have any words to say” Jennifer cleared her throat. “Hey you, get your hands off her!” She said.
“O-ok.” George cleared his throat. “H-hey you-u-u, g-get y-you-r h-hand-s o-off-f h-her.” He stammered out heavily.
Jennifer stared and sighed. “Ok good start, needs some practice but I can work with this.”
“I feel nervous doing this.”
“Look George you can do this, remember if you put your mind to it you can accomplish anything.” Jennifer said.
“There that is again. That quote.” George mentioned pointing at her. “That is truly amazing Gloria, you should try coaching.”
Jennifer smiled. “Thanks but I don’t know if it's for me.”
“Do not flatter yourself Gloria, you got me.” George points to himself. “A guy who stutters and acts nervous, and is bullied. To go to the dance with Lorraine, I don’t know how!” George exclaimed with jubilation.
“Well George, I don’t know how to say that.” Jennifer felt honored, despite the fact she did make Lorraine go with him by pressuring her a bit but the idea still held.
George smiled before stopping and thinking a bit. “Gloria if it isn’t too much, you helped me a lot, can I show you something?”
Jennifer was confused. “Uh sure, want me to wait out here?”
“Please. I’ll…be right back.” George ran back inside as Jennifer waited in his backyard for a bit.
She spent a minute waiting idly by in the yard as George returned holding a notebook. “Here…This is one of the stories I wrote. The topic is Science Fiction,I thought you could take a look and give your thoughts on it.” He handed the book to her.
“I-I usually don’t let people read my work, cause I don’t know if they would like it.” He stammered out. “But you, you have given me some confidence, great advice, and a date to the dance. You got me to go to the dance with Lorraine Baines! A dream come true!” He exclaimed. “So, maybe I could let you read this and you can tell me your thoughts?” He said nervously.
Jennifer took it and opened it, she walked over to a nearby chair and slowly began to read it going through the pages. George stood by worried as he watched Jennifer’s face go stoic.
‘O-oh god…This is it, if she hates it, I’m done…Oh she’s going to hate it…’ He thought frantically.
He watched for about 15 minutes as he walked to distract himself. Then when the notebook closed Jennifer turned to him.
“George…” She said with a slight edge in her voice.
‘OH GOD SHE HATES IT.’
“This is amazing!”
‘H-huh?’
“I mean reading these Sci-Fi stories, god George you are amazing! Heck the storytelling you wrote down is incredible. I feel as if I am seeing it happen in front of me!” Jennifer gushed to him.
George stared at her, she complimented him, she said something positive, she liked his stories.
“R-really?”
“Yeah George this stuff is great, heck the only thing I’m mad about is that you didn’t show me this earlier!” She said, amazed.
“Wo-wow I guess…I never really thought my work could be that good. Maybe I could be a writer.” George said, astounded.
“Yeah, George! You should be a writer! I think you got it in you!” Jennifer said with a wide smile.
“M-maybe I’ll consider it.” He said giddy with happiness, he shared one of his stories with someone, and they loved it! Maybe he does have a future in writing. His dreams aren't just going to remain dreams, maybe he could achieve what he wanted to do.
Jennifer finally made her leave from George’s after a while she did enjoy being there, she started to feel she overstayed her welcome. After telling him about how great his stories are, the guy bursted in excitement and asked if she could read them, and give feedback.
Jennifer hesitated a bit as she should go home and see Doc, but George offered dinner for her if she stayed, and she was getting a bit sick of going out a lot with Doc so the offer got her and she accepted.
They went inside as she read some of his stories, and they were really good. She did offer some criticisms, which made George nervous, as when she said a mistake he froze instantly and sweated, though he calmed down as she said it was a minor one.
When dinner called and she came down with George to eat, it was an interesting dinner, to say the least.
Mainly due to the fact that George’s parents looked at Jennifer in surprise and shock to say the least. Apparently they were surprised George had brought a girl over, while she did see his mom a few days ago when she lied about tutoring, now coming here on her own was a whole different story.
Apparently they thought they were dating, which made Jennifer gag loudly at the table (by accident). She shut it down saying she was being a moral support for his date.
Now that set them off
The two asked and probed George and her (to some extent) questions about his date. She mainly focused on her meal as she was hungry, and deflected to George, who was struggling to answer his parents.
Eventually after dinner she made her leave and headed out as she would walk home.
‘Alright so far, productive today, George seems to be growing a backbone and may actually try and seduce Lorraine…This may work out!’
She made her walk home, she got down a few houses, until she saw in the distance what made her blood freeze.
Biff
He seemed to be alone, walking around the streets clearly annoyed, probably still from crashing into the manure truck yesterday.
She quickly ducked behind a nearby car as she internally panicked.
‘Calm down ok…He didn’t see you, you are probably fine, as long as he doesn’t see you, you can make it out of this in one piece.’
She steadied her breath, worried as hell, Biff is just one look away from, deciding he wants round three with her.
She heard footsteps get closer to her and began to sweat in fear, she got lucky twice against Biff, no way she could get away with it three times.
She held firm hiding behind the car as she silently prayed for Biff to leave, she adjusted herself carefully to shield herself from Biff’s vision.
The footsteps got closer as they walked past her.
Then suddenly they stopped.
Jennifer froze
‘No… He couldn’t have, he di-.’
Biff turned his head from part of the car and saw her, as their eyes locked.
Biff’s wicked grin began to show
Jennifer audibly gulped.