Chapter Text
She began packing her bags. Not a lot of stuff. A few changes of clothes, books, her laptop and some pictures. If she packed anything else, it might raise suspicion.
Her mom walked into her bedroom and looked at the few bags on her bed. “I think you’ve got the right amount.”
“You don’t think I should pack another set of clothes, do you?”
“No, you’ll go shopping when you get there, plus you don’t want to take any of the fashion from nowadays. You’ll look out of place.”
“Thank god Kourtney still had some late 2010s to early 2020s clothes.”
Her mom smiled. “Yes, that was lucky.”
She moved her bags onto the floor so her mom and she could sit down on her bed. “Mom, are you sure you are happy with me going?”
“Sweetie, I’m not, but I know you want to do this. You need to go, get to know him. It’s the only way you can. There is no other choice”
“But this isn’t like I’m going on a trip to camp. This is time travel.”
“Which I know you are going to handle well. Do you know what you’re going to say when you get there?”
The teenager rolled her eyes one more time. “I have a mom who’s a drama teacher, and I did a tiny stint on Broadway. I think I can handle some improvisation.”
“That’s my baby.” The older woman lent forward and kissed her daughter on the forehead. Before brushing the hair out of her daughter’s eyes. She wanted to see them one more time. The dark eyes reminding her of someone she still loved deeply. They’d had been gone for so many years.
“I know.” The teen smiled at her. “I have dad’s eyes.”
Her mother just nodded, knowing she could never find the words to reply. It was still a tough subject for the family to talk about.
“I love you, Paige.”
“I love you too, mom. Just need to make sure I don’t slip up and call you that when I’m at school.”
The teen slowly began picking up the bags, placing a backpack on her, then a side bag over her shoulder.
“Here, don’t forget this.” Her mom picked up the last bag.
“Thanks, mom,” Paige said, taking the smallest and most important bag of them all. “I need this. It has all the paperwork and pills.
“Still can’t believe you invented time travel into a tiny pill.” her mother beamed with pride.
“I had to do something with my summer.”
Her mom hugged her again. “Have fun and try not to mess with the past too much.”
“Where’s the fun in that?” Paige opened her bag and took out a pill bottle. Carefully opening it, she shook one pill into her hand. “If I can, I’ll try to come back and see you. Love you, mom. I might need to come back for more bottles.”
Her mom nodded again before giving her one last hug. “Love you forever,” she sang as she let go.
“Love you forever,” Paige replied, singing as well. Bye Mom”
She swallowed the pill and disappeared. She felt like she was falling over, but in slow motion. First, her feet and legs faded quickly, then the rest of her body followed, and before her head could touch the floor, she’d disappeared into thin air. The place she had once stood was empty.
Paige blinked. It had worked. She was standing in front of Principal Gutierrez's office. Now sixteen years in the past.