Community: The Next Generation Ch. 10 Lesson in Morale and Emotions
Title: Lesson in Morale and Emotions
Summary: Jenna gets help from Ella, while Madison tries to stop Eric and Leo from making a bad decision.
Disclaimer: I don't own Community and Dan Harmon can do whatever he wants to Next Generation.
Rating: G
Word Count: 36,04
Spoilers: All of Community up till the end of season 5.
A/N: Congrats on a sixth season. I wasn't sure if I should continue doing chapters of Next Gen, but I figured if Ella did time travel than I could set it in an AU. The backstory of Ella is explored and Madison gets to be annoying to Eric and Leo.
Who the characters are based on:
Elizabeth Gillies as Jenna King
Daniella Bobadilla as Madison Rivera
Ciara Bravo as Ella Rumpskin
Joe Jo (Justkiddingfilms) as Leonardo 'Leo' Monte Lee
Charlie Carver as Eric Peters
“Are we in agreement not to play with the submarine?” Jenna King asks the group.
She is sitting on her seat around the Study Table Mark II. Her arms are folded as she waits for the response of her study group. Ella Rumpskin, Madison Rivera, Eric Peters and Leo Lee look at Jenna timid.
“Jenna, there’s a decommission submarine right outside of the library. No matter what happens one of us is definitely going to play with it.” Leo said.
The rest of the study group nod in agreement.
“Guys, ever since we became a group all we’ve been doing is causing chaos here. Time travel, food fights, prank wars. All we’re missing is something involving the kitchen sink.” Jenna said.
The PA system turns on as the voice of Dean Pelton announces, “Attention all students, be on the lookout for a band of thieves with a white van. They have stolen all the kitchen sinks from our culinary classes.”
“Oh, come on!” Jenna yells at the PA system.
“This conversation feels weird. Are you on your monthly?” Eric asks.
“I’m not on my monthly!” Jenna said, getting irritated.
“Definitely on your monthly. Got it.” Eric said.
“She’s not. We’ve synched up and …” Madison said before she is cut off.
“Madison!” Jenna yells.
“Sorry.” Madison said.
“We’ve haven’t study for math for two weeks and this week is our first test.” Jenna said.
A crowd of “Ohhh” comes from the study group.
“Wait, why are we ohhhing?” Leo asks.
“Jenna isn’t really for the math test.” Ella said.
“Ohhh.” Leo said.
Jenna shakes her head in annoyance. “So I’ve been partying more often than I should be but I’m not the only one in this situation. Madison has been partying just as much as me.” Jenna said.
“Jenna, I actually take the time after the hangovers to study.” Madison said.
“And the test can’t be that hard. It’ll probably take me five minutes.” Ella said.
“Jeez, remind me again why you’re in our math class?” Jenna asks sarcastically.
“Well, due to the raising tuition of our country’s colleges …” Ella said as she starts explaining about the problem with college tuition.
Leo places two clamed hands by his mouth as he shouts, “Nerd!” to shut Ella up.
Madison sighs as she addresses Jenna. “If you want, I can help you study for the test?” Madison asks.
“Hold it!” Eric said catching everyone by surprise. “Has it become apparent that you two studying together won’t work.” He said.
“How so?” Madison asks.
“What do you two do when we’re not around?” Eric asks.
“Mostly drink, party and talk about all the bad choices of guys that Madison crushes over.” Jenna said.
“Hey! Chris Brown seemed like a good choice at the time.” Madison said.
“Exactly! You want to pass it not punch it.” Eric said.
“So you think that someone else should study with me?” Jenna asks.
“Yup.” Eric said.
The group focuses their attention to Ella. “Hey, unless she’s paying for it than forget it.” Ella said.
“Don’t worry, I got this.” Madison said. She takes out a check book and writes a check. She places the check face down on the Study Table Mark II as she slides the check to Ella.
Ella takes the check and looks at it. She smiles. “All right, grab your things Jenna. We’re going to have to stop at the bank first but after that we are going to study like rabbits at my place.” She said.
“Okay, bad analogy right there and why can’t we stay here?” Jenna asks.
“Have we’ve had a successful study session since we’ve been here?” Ella asks.
“Point taken.” Jenna said as she starts getting her stuff.
Jenna and Ella leave as the rest of the group stay at their seats. The room is silent for a few minutes.
“So, um what should we do today?” Madison asks.
Eric and Leo smile at each other.
xxxxxx
Eric and Leo look in admiration at the submarine parked outside of the library. The submarine is a yellow mini submarine that is taking up four parking stalls. Madison is behind them looking at them confused by what to do.
“Look at that beauty.” Leo said.
“I so want to live in it.” Eric said.
“And have a band play in there.” Leo said.
“Beatles references rocks.” Eric said as he high fives Leo.
“Definitely.” Leo said.
Madison crosses her arms as she walks up in front of them. ‘Guys, please don’t tell me you want to play in the submarine.” She said.
“We’re going to play with the submarine.” Leo said.
“Yeah, give us a reason why we shouldn’t play with it.” Eric said.
“Because that submarine is for the submarine maintenance class and the last I’ve checked none of us are in it.” Madison said.
“You check our class schedules?” Eric said.
“I’ve might have gotten some access from someone’s uncle.” Madison said. “Besides, you guys shouldn’t be playing around with every new shiny toy that comes here.” She said.
“So, are you saying we should have another prank war or time travel adventure?” Leo asks.
“No! I want us to not cause any more trouble for the moment.” Madison said. Eric and Leo exchange glances at each other. “We can do other things. Like take a yoga class or grab some yogurt. Oh, I know. We should help the Dean find all those kitchen sinks!” Madison said happily. Eric and Leo groan at her.
“You think we want to look for kitchen appliances now?” Eric asks.
“Yeah, if we wanted to do that we would have gone to BAC appliance center.” Leo said.
“Well I’m not letting you guys play in that submarine.” Madison said.
Eric and Leo exchange glances. They walk around Madison separately as they pair up again as they continue walking to the submarine. Madison looks at them in shock. She quickly runs in front of them and takes out pepper spray from her dress pocket. She sprays the pepper spray at Eric and Leo’s eyes. They scream as they drop down in pain. They start rubbing their eyes.
“Pepper Spray!” Leo screams.
“Why the hell do you even have that?” Eric screams.
“In case a bad date takes a turn for the worst.” Madison said.
“The only time that will happen to you is if you had a date to begin with.” Leo screams.
Madison gasps at that remark. She grabs Leo and Eric by their shoulder and starts to drag them away from the submarine with all her strength. “That’s it. You guys are not allowed to play with that submarine at all!” She said.
Eric and Leo groans as Leo screams, “Why the hell do all the women here spray things at us!”
xxxxxx
Ella opens the side door of her gray Honda Accord as Jenna gets out.
“You know, I never knew you drive.” Jenna said as she closes the car door.
“Just because I’m a genius doesn’t make me useless on the road like all those out typical nerds on TV.” Ella said.
“Sorry.” Jenna said. She looks at the house that they have parked in front of. It is a small white house with a grey roof. “This is your place?” Jenna asks.
“It’s my parent’s really. I’m thinking of moving into an apartment soon.” Ella said.
They take off their shoes as they enter the house. Everything inside the house seems normal. The living room and kitchen are connected together. The living room has a screen door leading to the backyard. There is a stairway leading upstairs next to where they are. Ella motions Jenna to follow her upstairs.
“Come on. It’s better if you study in my room.” Ella said. They walk up the stairs as they enter the second floor. Jenna could see a bathroom and two rooms. In the hallway, there is a mini-stool on the side by the entrance of the room on the right. Above the stool is a hanging wire. “The one on the left is my parent’s and the right is the guest room.” Ella said.
“So where’s your room?” Jenna asks.
Ella steps on the stool and pull on the wire. Above her, the ceiling opens up as a ladder falls down in front of Jenna. “Up there.” Ella said smiling as she gets off the stool.
“Of course.” Jenna said sarcastically.
They enter Ella’s room in the attic. The walls are covered with posters of TV series and books. There is a small shelf that is filed with books of science and DVDs of various movies mixed together. On top of the shelf are speakers connected to a blue iPod. A futon bed is set up next to a window. Another shelf containing clothes is lined up next to a small TV. On the top of that shelf are some random things.
“Welcome to my room.” Ella said.
“Cool.” Jenna said impress by it.
Ella pulls the stairs back up as she closes the entrance of her room. “Now, shall we study?” Ella asks.
xxxxxx
Madison is in the Dean’s office with Eric and Leo. Madison is talking with Dean Pelton about the missing kitchen sinks. Eric and Leo both still have the effects of the pepper spray on their face.
“So how are we going to get away from Madison?” Eric whispers to Leo.
“Operation: Bye Girl.” Leo whispers.
Eric pauses to think. “We’re going to put her in a hot air balloon?” Eric whispers.
“No. That’s Operation: Air Girl.” Leo whispers.
“Oh. So what’s Operation: Bye Girl again?” Eric whispers.
“Watch.” Leo whispers. He taps on Madison’s shoulder.
“Yeah?” Madison asks as she turns her attention to Leo.
“We need to pee.” Leo said.
“Wait, why do both of you need to pee?” Madison asks.
“Because when someone drinks a lot of water …” Leo said.
“Don’t dodge the question. Why do both of you guys need to pee together?” Madison asks.
Leo gives Eric a wink. “Well cause… Bye!” Leo said before he runs out of the office. Eric quickly runs out also.
“Hey! Come back here!” Madison yells as they run out of her line of sight. She stays there frustrated by what they’ve done.
“Hmm, those guys are strange.” Dean Pelton said behind Madison.
“Don’t worry. I’ve dealt with strange before.” Madison said.
“Really? Where?” Dean Pelton asks.
Madison groans as she shakes her head in frustration.
xxxxxx
Jenna and Ella are studying in Ella’s room as the speakers play out “I’m Sprung” by T-Pain. Ella is lying on her futon bed and Jenna is sitting on the ground next to it. Both of them have their math textbooks out. Jenna is easily distracted by the music.
“Ella?” Jenna asks.
“Yeah.” Ella replies.
“Why are we listening to this?” Jenna asks.
Ella groans as she adjusts her pink glasses. “Fine, if you don’t enjoy the beauty of auto-tune then you go pick a song to listen to.” Ella said. She goes back to her textbook.
Jenna stands up as she walks to the shelf with the speakers on top of it. As she goes and starts looking at the playlist on the iPod, her attention changes as she looks at a small case containing a hospital red band behind the speakers. Jenna grabs the case looking at it.
“Ella, were you in a hospital?” Jenna asks.
Ella takes her attention away from her textbook as she sees Jenna with the case. Her expression turns into complete anger. “Put that down now!” Ella demands.
“Sorry.” Jenna said as she puts the case back where it was. She walks back to where Ella, who is still mad at Jenna. Jenna sits back down on the ground. She slowly gives Ella the best pout face she has.
Ella groans. “You want to know about the red band?” Ella asks.
“Yeah, cause that would really explain some things about you.” Jenna said.
“It’s not mind. It’s my grandpa’s. He was allergic to chocolate.” Ella said as she calms down. “He would always say weird things to me. Like, that isn’t a pineapple. A pineapple would be an apple that looks like a pine.” She said in a cranky old accent.
Jenna giggles at this as Ella smiles. Ella gets up as she walks to the shelf where the case is. She takes the case as she walks back to her bed. She sits down as she begins telling Jenna about the red band. “My grandpa was pretty kind to me when I was young. He understood how different I was and understood me more than my parents. It’s strange really. The one person that understood me was the one that everyone in my family thought was crazy.” Ella said.
“So he was the one you time traveled for?” Jenna asks.
Ella sighs. “That is never going away is it?” She asks.
“Nope.” Jenna said as she smiles.
“It wasn’t that big of a deal. My grandfather originally died when he ate a chocolate bar from a vending machine when he wasn’t supposed to at the hospital. So out of grief, I made a time machine out of a broken flash drive at Riverdale High’s college center and went back to prevent his death.” Ella said.
“Hold on. Originally?” Jenna asks. Ella sighs.
“When I time traveled the first time, I went to the hospital that day and bought all the chocolate from that vending machine before my grandpa went to buy some. When my grandpa went to get chocolate from the vending machine and saw that it was out, he started attacking the vending machine. It fell on him.” Ella said. She puts the case down next to her on her bed. “That’s what everyone now knew his death by when I came back to the original time. The flash drive that allowed me to travel broke on the way back and I couldn’t fix it the same way as I built it. It just won’t work. I realized that I created a different timeline, so I gave up high school because I didn’t want to deal with the grief people at school gave me again. My parents didn’t like that I left school and made me take classes at Greendale. I never thought giving up on my future makes them perceive me as a child. They ignore me now after realizing they just sent me to a college bounce house.” She said.
Ella is silent as she takes her textbook and starts studying again. Jenna thinks for a moment as she walks back to the speakers. She takes out the iPod and takes out her own from her pocket. She connects her iPod to the speakers as she picks a song to play. The speakers start playing “Hurt” by Johnny Cash. Jenna walks back and grabs her textbook.
“Ella, you’re not a child. You’re the smartest person I know and you care about the people you love. You make the impossible possible. Even if you don’t want to do it again, you at least got the chance to do something about it.” Jenna said.
Ella removes her focus from the textbook as she examines Jenna’s posture. “Unlike you?” Ella asks emotionlessly.
Jenna’s face deepens into sadness. “Yeah, unlike me.” Jenna replies.
Ella looks at the case with the red band and then back at Jenna. “Jenna.” Ella said, getting Jenna’s attention. “We as humans have scars that nobody else can see but time is the perfect medicine for letting it heal.” Ella said.
“Thanks Ella.” Jenna said.
Ella nods as she goes back to studying. She lay down on her bed as she places the case besides her.
xxxxxx
Eric and Leo enter the decommission submarine. The inside of the submarine has various control panels spread out around the walls and a periscope right in front of them.
“So getting away from Madison was easy.” Eric said as Leo checks out the periscope.
“Sure it was.” Madison said behind them. Eric and Leo turn around and scream in surprise. Madison looks at them, annoy by their stupidity. “Seriously, you guys ran around campus just to get away from me when I already know where you guys are going.” She said.
“Well nice deduction, Emma Watson.” Leo said.
Madison groans at them. “I can’t believe this is what we’ve spent our day doing when we could have stop thieves from taking kitchen sinks.” She said.
“Okay, Madison. I don’t think any of us wanted to go after sink thieves. I mean if you think about it, being on a submarine is way more awesome than chasing bad guys.” Eric said.
The expression on Madison’s face slowly turns into anger. She starts stomping in anger with her right foot, repeatedly. Eric and Leo look at Madison strangely. “Has she ever done that before?” Leo asks Eric.
“I don’t know. Usually she bites her lower lip.” Eric said.
“Madison, calm down.” Leo asks politely.
“Calm down! Now you guys are telling me what to do! You guys are so immature! What the hell is wrong with you two! You guys are the oldest out of us and you still act like kids. It gets so damn frustrating to be the only responsible one out of all of us! I mean come on! If I wasn’t the one to focus Jenna to talk to your mom Leo, you wouldn’t have Eric at all as a roommate! Eric! If I didn’t have a crush on your brother, you wouldn’t have met Leo!” Madison yells. She continues ranting.
“Dude, she’s ranting!” Leo said.
“That’s it. I’m calling Jenna.” Eric said as he takes out his cell and dials up Jenna’s number. He only gets Jenna’s voicemail. “Okay. We’re in trouble.” He said to Leo.
“And another thing! What is so awesome about a damn submarine?” Madison yells. She slams one of the control panels with her fist.
A voice in the submarine’s PA system announces to them, “Firing missile.”
Madison quickly calms down as she looks confuse. “Wait, missile?” She asks.
xxxxxx
Outside the submarine, a missile fires to the surprise of students walking by. A white van in the parking lot gets hit with the missile. The van explodes as kitchen sinks start raining from the van’s remains. Madison, Leo, and Eric get out of the submarine. They check out the damage that Madison caused as they look at the kitchen sinks lying around.
“Okay, that was pretty awesome.” Madison said.
“Told you!” Eric and Leo said together.
Dean Pelton comes running up to them. He is in complete shock. “Oh my god, did you see that! I thought that submarine was decommissioned! Now who am I going to blame this for?” He yells.
“Oh, my god, our car!” A man’s voice yells behind them.
The Dean, Madison, Eric and Leo turn to see a band of men dress as burglars.
“Wait! You guys were the ones that stole these?” Madison asks pointing to a kitchen sink. The burglars quickly run off. Madison turns around to address Eric and Leo. “Okay. Sorry for pepper spraying and ranting on you guys but you got to play in your damn submarine, now can you go after those guys.” She said.
Dean Pelton is behind Madison as he motions to Eric and Leo to go after the burglars. Eric and Leo groan together. “Apology accepted.” Leo said as the two run off to catch the burglars.
xxxxxx
Later that week, in the math class Jenna gets the results of her first test back. She looks at it and sees the C+ on it. She smiles at it as Ella, who is sitting a few desks in front, turns her body around to check on Jenna. Jenna holds out the grade for Ella to see. Ella smiles as she turns back into position as she taps her technical pen on her desk. The row behind Ella, Eric and Leo are annoyed by Madison, sitting behind Eric, whispering to them.
“So the Dean got rid of the submarine and he won’t suspend us because we caught the thieves. Now I was thinking, depending on whether Jenna passed the test, we should have a little party. We would need a lot of vegan food and scotch, yes definitely a lot of scotch …” Madison whispers on as Eric and Leo silently groan.
“We need to take a yoga class or something.” Leo whispers to Eric.
“Agreed.” Eric whispers back as they high five.
xxxxxx
End Tag
Jenna wakes up from sleeping at her seat on the study table. She hears the laughter of Eric and Leo coming from behind her. She turns around to see them holding an open bottle of hair dye. She notices her hair has been dyed back to her original dark brown hair.
“Check it out. We dyed your hair.” Leo said as he snickers.
“Okay, why the hell did you do that?” Jenna asks as she feels a strand of her hair. “And why did you dye it in my original hair color?” She asks.
“Original hair color?” Leo asks.
“Wait! You’re not originally blond?” Eric asks in shock.
“Have you met my uncle?” Jenna asks sarcastically as she gets up and leaves.
Eric and Leo look at each other confuse at what happened. “Well that sucks.” Eric said.
“I thought that this would freak Madison out.” Leo said.
“Wait! You’re not originally blond?” Madison shouts as Eric and Leo hears her from the study room.
“Okay. Mission accomplished.” Leo said as they high five each other.
Summary: Jenna gets help from Ella, while Madison tries to stop Eric and Leo from making a bad decision.
Disclaimer: I don't own Community and Dan Harmon can do whatever he wants to Next Generation.
Rating: G
Word Count: 36,04
Spoilers: All of Community up till the end of season 5.
A/N: Congrats on a sixth season. I wasn't sure if I should continue doing chapters of Next Gen, but I figured if Ella did time travel than I could set it in an AU. The backstory of Ella is explored and Madison gets to be annoying to Eric and Leo.
Who the characters are based on:
Elizabeth Gillies as Jenna King
Daniella Bobadilla as Madison Rivera
Ciara Bravo as Ella Rumpskin
Joe Jo (Justkiddingfilms) as Leonardo 'Leo' Monte Lee
Charlie Carver as Eric Peters
“Are we in agreement not to play with the submarine?” Jenna King asks the group.
She is sitting on her seat around the Study Table Mark II. Her arms are folded as she waits for the response of her study group. Ella Rumpskin, Madison Rivera, Eric Peters and Leo Lee look at Jenna timid.
“Jenna, there’s a decommission submarine right outside of the library. No matter what happens one of us is definitely going to play with it.” Leo said.
The rest of the study group nod in agreement.
“Guys, ever since we became a group all we’ve been doing is causing chaos here. Time travel, food fights, prank wars. All we’re missing is something involving the kitchen sink.” Jenna said.
The PA system turns on as the voice of Dean Pelton announces, “Attention all students, be on the lookout for a band of thieves with a white van. They have stolen all the kitchen sinks from our culinary classes.”
“Oh, come on!” Jenna yells at the PA system.
“This conversation feels weird. Are you on your monthly?” Eric asks.
“I’m not on my monthly!” Jenna said, getting irritated.
“Definitely on your monthly. Got it.” Eric said.
“She’s not. We’ve synched up and …” Madison said before she is cut off.
“Madison!” Jenna yells.
“Sorry.” Madison said.
“We’ve haven’t study for math for two weeks and this week is our first test.” Jenna said.
A crowd of “Ohhh” comes from the study group.
“Wait, why are we ohhhing?” Leo asks.
“Jenna isn’t really for the math test.” Ella said.
“Ohhh.” Leo said.
Jenna shakes her head in annoyance. “So I’ve been partying more often than I should be but I’m not the only one in this situation. Madison has been partying just as much as me.” Jenna said.
“Jenna, I actually take the time after the hangovers to study.” Madison said.
“And the test can’t be that hard. It’ll probably take me five minutes.” Ella said.
“Jeez, remind me again why you’re in our math class?” Jenna asks sarcastically.
“Well, due to the raising tuition of our country’s colleges …” Ella said as she starts explaining about the problem with college tuition.
Leo places two clamed hands by his mouth as he shouts, “Nerd!” to shut Ella up.
Madison sighs as she addresses Jenna. “If you want, I can help you study for the test?” Madison asks.
“Hold it!” Eric said catching everyone by surprise. “Has it become apparent that you two studying together won’t work.” He said.
“How so?” Madison asks.
“What do you two do when we’re not around?” Eric asks.
“Mostly drink, party and talk about all the bad choices of guys that Madison crushes over.” Jenna said.
“Hey! Chris Brown seemed like a good choice at the time.” Madison said.
“Exactly! You want to pass it not punch it.” Eric said.
“So you think that someone else should study with me?” Jenna asks.
“Yup.” Eric said.
The group focuses their attention to Ella. “Hey, unless she’s paying for it than forget it.” Ella said.
“Don’t worry, I got this.” Madison said. She takes out a check book and writes a check. She places the check face down on the Study Table Mark II as she slides the check to Ella.
Ella takes the check and looks at it. She smiles. “All right, grab your things Jenna. We’re going to have to stop at the bank first but after that we are going to study like rabbits at my place.” She said.
“Okay, bad analogy right there and why can’t we stay here?” Jenna asks.
“Have we’ve had a successful study session since we’ve been here?” Ella asks.
“Point taken.” Jenna said as she starts getting her stuff.
Jenna and Ella leave as the rest of the group stay at their seats. The room is silent for a few minutes.
“So, um what should we do today?” Madison asks.
Eric and Leo smile at each other.
xxxxxx
Eric and Leo look in admiration at the submarine parked outside of the library. The submarine is a yellow mini submarine that is taking up four parking stalls. Madison is behind them looking at them confused by what to do.
“Look at that beauty.” Leo said.
“I so want to live in it.” Eric said.
“And have a band play in there.” Leo said.
“Beatles references rocks.” Eric said as he high fives Leo.
“Definitely.” Leo said.
Madison crosses her arms as she walks up in front of them. ‘Guys, please don’t tell me you want to play in the submarine.” She said.
“We’re going to play with the submarine.” Leo said.
“Yeah, give us a reason why we shouldn’t play with it.” Eric said.
“Because that submarine is for the submarine maintenance class and the last I’ve checked none of us are in it.” Madison said.
“You check our class schedules?” Eric said.
“I’ve might have gotten some access from someone’s uncle.” Madison said. “Besides, you guys shouldn’t be playing around with every new shiny toy that comes here.” She said.
“So, are you saying we should have another prank war or time travel adventure?” Leo asks.
“No! I want us to not cause any more trouble for the moment.” Madison said. Eric and Leo exchange glances at each other. “We can do other things. Like take a yoga class or grab some yogurt. Oh, I know. We should help the Dean find all those kitchen sinks!” Madison said happily. Eric and Leo groan at her.
“You think we want to look for kitchen appliances now?” Eric asks.
“Yeah, if we wanted to do that we would have gone to BAC appliance center.” Leo said.
“Well I’m not letting you guys play in that submarine.” Madison said.
Eric and Leo exchange glances. They walk around Madison separately as they pair up again as they continue walking to the submarine. Madison looks at them in shock. She quickly runs in front of them and takes out pepper spray from her dress pocket. She sprays the pepper spray at Eric and Leo’s eyes. They scream as they drop down in pain. They start rubbing their eyes.
“Pepper Spray!” Leo screams.
“Why the hell do you even have that?” Eric screams.
“In case a bad date takes a turn for the worst.” Madison said.
“The only time that will happen to you is if you had a date to begin with.” Leo screams.
Madison gasps at that remark. She grabs Leo and Eric by their shoulder and starts to drag them away from the submarine with all her strength. “That’s it. You guys are not allowed to play with that submarine at all!” She said.
Eric and Leo groans as Leo screams, “Why the hell do all the women here spray things at us!”
xxxxxx
Ella opens the side door of her gray Honda Accord as Jenna gets out.
“You know, I never knew you drive.” Jenna said as she closes the car door.
“Just because I’m a genius doesn’t make me useless on the road like all those out typical nerds on TV.” Ella said.
“Sorry.” Jenna said. She looks at the house that they have parked in front of. It is a small white house with a grey roof. “This is your place?” Jenna asks.
“It’s my parent’s really. I’m thinking of moving into an apartment soon.” Ella said.
They take off their shoes as they enter the house. Everything inside the house seems normal. The living room and kitchen are connected together. The living room has a screen door leading to the backyard. There is a stairway leading upstairs next to where they are. Ella motions Jenna to follow her upstairs.
“Come on. It’s better if you study in my room.” Ella said. They walk up the stairs as they enter the second floor. Jenna could see a bathroom and two rooms. In the hallway, there is a mini-stool on the side by the entrance of the room on the right. Above the stool is a hanging wire. “The one on the left is my parent’s and the right is the guest room.” Ella said.
“So where’s your room?” Jenna asks.
Ella steps on the stool and pull on the wire. Above her, the ceiling opens up as a ladder falls down in front of Jenna. “Up there.” Ella said smiling as she gets off the stool.
“Of course.” Jenna said sarcastically.
They enter Ella’s room in the attic. The walls are covered with posters of TV series and books. There is a small shelf that is filed with books of science and DVDs of various movies mixed together. On top of the shelf are speakers connected to a blue iPod. A futon bed is set up next to a window. Another shelf containing clothes is lined up next to a small TV. On the top of that shelf are some random things.
“Welcome to my room.” Ella said.
“Cool.” Jenna said impress by it.
Ella pulls the stairs back up as she closes the entrance of her room. “Now, shall we study?” Ella asks.
xxxxxx
Madison is in the Dean’s office with Eric and Leo. Madison is talking with Dean Pelton about the missing kitchen sinks. Eric and Leo both still have the effects of the pepper spray on their face.
“So how are we going to get away from Madison?” Eric whispers to Leo.
“Operation: Bye Girl.” Leo whispers.
Eric pauses to think. “We’re going to put her in a hot air balloon?” Eric whispers.
“No. That’s Operation: Air Girl.” Leo whispers.
“Oh. So what’s Operation: Bye Girl again?” Eric whispers.
“Watch.” Leo whispers. He taps on Madison’s shoulder.
“Yeah?” Madison asks as she turns her attention to Leo.
“We need to pee.” Leo said.
“Wait, why do both of you need to pee?” Madison asks.
“Because when someone drinks a lot of water …” Leo said.
“Don’t dodge the question. Why do both of you guys need to pee together?” Madison asks.
Leo gives Eric a wink. “Well cause… Bye!” Leo said before he runs out of the office. Eric quickly runs out also.
“Hey! Come back here!” Madison yells as they run out of her line of sight. She stays there frustrated by what they’ve done.
“Hmm, those guys are strange.” Dean Pelton said behind Madison.
“Don’t worry. I’ve dealt with strange before.” Madison said.
“Really? Where?” Dean Pelton asks.
Madison groans as she shakes her head in frustration.
xxxxxx
Jenna and Ella are studying in Ella’s room as the speakers play out “I’m Sprung” by T-Pain. Ella is lying on her futon bed and Jenna is sitting on the ground next to it. Both of them have their math textbooks out. Jenna is easily distracted by the music.
“Ella?” Jenna asks.
“Yeah.” Ella replies.
“Why are we listening to this?” Jenna asks.
Ella groans as she adjusts her pink glasses. “Fine, if you don’t enjoy the beauty of auto-tune then you go pick a song to listen to.” Ella said. She goes back to her textbook.
Jenna stands up as she walks to the shelf with the speakers on top of it. As she goes and starts looking at the playlist on the iPod, her attention changes as she looks at a small case containing a hospital red band behind the speakers. Jenna grabs the case looking at it.
“Ella, were you in a hospital?” Jenna asks.
Ella takes her attention away from her textbook as she sees Jenna with the case. Her expression turns into complete anger. “Put that down now!” Ella demands.
“Sorry.” Jenna said as she puts the case back where it was. She walks back to where Ella, who is still mad at Jenna. Jenna sits back down on the ground. She slowly gives Ella the best pout face she has.
Ella groans. “You want to know about the red band?” Ella asks.
“Yeah, cause that would really explain some things about you.” Jenna said.
“It’s not mind. It’s my grandpa’s. He was allergic to chocolate.” Ella said as she calms down. “He would always say weird things to me. Like, that isn’t a pineapple. A pineapple would be an apple that looks like a pine.” She said in a cranky old accent.
Jenna giggles at this as Ella smiles. Ella gets up as she walks to the shelf where the case is. She takes the case as she walks back to her bed. She sits down as she begins telling Jenna about the red band. “My grandpa was pretty kind to me when I was young. He understood how different I was and understood me more than my parents. It’s strange really. The one person that understood me was the one that everyone in my family thought was crazy.” Ella said.
“So he was the one you time traveled for?” Jenna asks.
Ella sighs. “That is never going away is it?” She asks.
“Nope.” Jenna said as she smiles.
“It wasn’t that big of a deal. My grandfather originally died when he ate a chocolate bar from a vending machine when he wasn’t supposed to at the hospital. So out of grief, I made a time machine out of a broken flash drive at Riverdale High’s college center and went back to prevent his death.” Ella said.
“Hold on. Originally?” Jenna asks. Ella sighs.
“When I time traveled the first time, I went to the hospital that day and bought all the chocolate from that vending machine before my grandpa went to buy some. When my grandpa went to get chocolate from the vending machine and saw that it was out, he started attacking the vending machine. It fell on him.” Ella said. She puts the case down next to her on her bed. “That’s what everyone now knew his death by when I came back to the original time. The flash drive that allowed me to travel broke on the way back and I couldn’t fix it the same way as I built it. It just won’t work. I realized that I created a different timeline, so I gave up high school because I didn’t want to deal with the grief people at school gave me again. My parents didn’t like that I left school and made me take classes at Greendale. I never thought giving up on my future makes them perceive me as a child. They ignore me now after realizing they just sent me to a college bounce house.” She said.
Ella is silent as she takes her textbook and starts studying again. Jenna thinks for a moment as she walks back to the speakers. She takes out the iPod and takes out her own from her pocket. She connects her iPod to the speakers as she picks a song to play. The speakers start playing “Hurt” by Johnny Cash. Jenna walks back and grabs her textbook.
“Ella, you’re not a child. You’re the smartest person I know and you care about the people you love. You make the impossible possible. Even if you don’t want to do it again, you at least got the chance to do something about it.” Jenna said.
Ella removes her focus from the textbook as she examines Jenna’s posture. “Unlike you?” Ella asks emotionlessly.
Jenna’s face deepens into sadness. “Yeah, unlike me.” Jenna replies.
Ella looks at the case with the red band and then back at Jenna. “Jenna.” Ella said, getting Jenna’s attention. “We as humans have scars that nobody else can see but time is the perfect medicine for letting it heal.” Ella said.
“Thanks Ella.” Jenna said.
Ella nods as she goes back to studying. She lay down on her bed as she places the case besides her.
xxxxxx
Eric and Leo enter the decommission submarine. The inside of the submarine has various control panels spread out around the walls and a periscope right in front of them.
“So getting away from Madison was easy.” Eric said as Leo checks out the periscope.
“Sure it was.” Madison said behind them. Eric and Leo turn around and scream in surprise. Madison looks at them, annoy by their stupidity. “Seriously, you guys ran around campus just to get away from me when I already know where you guys are going.” She said.
“Well nice deduction, Emma Watson.” Leo said.
Madison groans at them. “I can’t believe this is what we’ve spent our day doing when we could have stop thieves from taking kitchen sinks.” She said.
“Okay, Madison. I don’t think any of us wanted to go after sink thieves. I mean if you think about it, being on a submarine is way more awesome than chasing bad guys.” Eric said.
The expression on Madison’s face slowly turns into anger. She starts stomping in anger with her right foot, repeatedly. Eric and Leo look at Madison strangely. “Has she ever done that before?” Leo asks Eric.
“I don’t know. Usually she bites her lower lip.” Eric said.
“Madison, calm down.” Leo asks politely.
“Calm down! Now you guys are telling me what to do! You guys are so immature! What the hell is wrong with you two! You guys are the oldest out of us and you still act like kids. It gets so damn frustrating to be the only responsible one out of all of us! I mean come on! If I wasn’t the one to focus Jenna to talk to your mom Leo, you wouldn’t have Eric at all as a roommate! Eric! If I didn’t have a crush on your brother, you wouldn’t have met Leo!” Madison yells. She continues ranting.
“Dude, she’s ranting!” Leo said.
“That’s it. I’m calling Jenna.” Eric said as he takes out his cell and dials up Jenna’s number. He only gets Jenna’s voicemail. “Okay. We’re in trouble.” He said to Leo.
“And another thing! What is so awesome about a damn submarine?” Madison yells. She slams one of the control panels with her fist.
A voice in the submarine’s PA system announces to them, “Firing missile.”
Madison quickly calms down as she looks confuse. “Wait, missile?” She asks.
xxxxxx
Outside the submarine, a missile fires to the surprise of students walking by. A white van in the parking lot gets hit with the missile. The van explodes as kitchen sinks start raining from the van’s remains. Madison, Leo, and Eric get out of the submarine. They check out the damage that Madison caused as they look at the kitchen sinks lying around.
“Okay, that was pretty awesome.” Madison said.
“Told you!” Eric and Leo said together.
Dean Pelton comes running up to them. He is in complete shock. “Oh my god, did you see that! I thought that submarine was decommissioned! Now who am I going to blame this for?” He yells.
“Oh, my god, our car!” A man’s voice yells behind them.
The Dean, Madison, Eric and Leo turn to see a band of men dress as burglars.
“Wait! You guys were the ones that stole these?” Madison asks pointing to a kitchen sink. The burglars quickly run off. Madison turns around to address Eric and Leo. “Okay. Sorry for pepper spraying and ranting on you guys but you got to play in your damn submarine, now can you go after those guys.” She said.
Dean Pelton is behind Madison as he motions to Eric and Leo to go after the burglars. Eric and Leo groan together. “Apology accepted.” Leo said as the two run off to catch the burglars.
xxxxxx
Later that week, in the math class Jenna gets the results of her first test back. She looks at it and sees the C+ on it. She smiles at it as Ella, who is sitting a few desks in front, turns her body around to check on Jenna. Jenna holds out the grade for Ella to see. Ella smiles as she turns back into position as she taps her technical pen on her desk. The row behind Ella, Eric and Leo are annoyed by Madison, sitting behind Eric, whispering to them.
“So the Dean got rid of the submarine and he won’t suspend us because we caught the thieves. Now I was thinking, depending on whether Jenna passed the test, we should have a little party. We would need a lot of vegan food and scotch, yes definitely a lot of scotch …” Madison whispers on as Eric and Leo silently groan.
“We need to take a yoga class or something.” Leo whispers to Eric.
“Agreed.” Eric whispers back as they high five.
xxxxxx
End Tag
Jenna wakes up from sleeping at her seat on the study table. She hears the laughter of Eric and Leo coming from behind her. She turns around to see them holding an open bottle of hair dye. She notices her hair has been dyed back to her original dark brown hair.
“Check it out. We dyed your hair.” Leo said as he snickers.
“Okay, why the hell did you do that?” Jenna asks as she feels a strand of her hair. “And why did you dye it in my original hair color?” She asks.
“Original hair color?” Leo asks.
“Wait! You’re not originally blond?” Eric asks in shock.
“Have you met my uncle?” Jenna asks sarcastically as she gets up and leaves.
Eric and Leo look at each other confuse at what happened. “Well that sucks.” Eric said.
“I thought that this would freak Madison out.” Leo said.
“Wait! You’re not originally blond?” Madison shouts as Eric and Leo hears her from the study room.
“Okay. Mission accomplished.” Leo said as they high five each other.