Aaron was only supposed to be riding home—late again after staying behind to help clean up at soccer practice. The sky had been cloudy when he left the gym, but the moment he swung his leg over his Schwinn bike, the rain came pelting down in cold, blurring sheets.

He tried to pedal faster, vision smeared with water. He didn’t see the metal pole until it was too late. A split second later, lightning cracked through the air, blinding-white, and every nerve in his body lit up like a fuse. He felt himself falling off the bike, onto the concrete.

When he opened his eyes, the world was still.

The rain had vanished. Not faded—vanished. The pavement was dry beneath his palms. His school stood in front of him, only… not quite his school. The brick looked newer, the windows replaced, the entire place dressed in unfamiliar details. He pushed himself upright, breath catching.

There were hardly any bikes lined up on the racks. Instead, strange, sleek cars filled the lot—machines he'd never seen before, shaped like something out of a sci-fi movie. What the hell?

A bell rang sharply.

Students spilled out of the building in a rush of voices and movement. He watched, frozen, as a group of girls lifted thin rectangular devices—small, glassy things—and spoke into them as if they were walkie-talkies. Their hair hung straight as rulers, not a curl or tease in sight. Their makeup looked barely there, soft and muted. Their clothes… muted too. Colorless.

Boring.

His pulse quickened. None of this was right. None of this made sense.

As his breathing grew shallow, someone nearby paused. He felt eyes on him—steady, assessing—and turned to find a girl watching him from a few steps away.

You.

You looked like you belonged here. Your hair was designed like everybody elses, and you wore a simple denim skirt and a cropped top. You held one of those devices in your hand, though you were staring at him; unlike everyone else, no socialising, only looking at those rectangle-things.

Your eyes swept over him—his denim, flared jeans, his white t-shirt, the colourful jacket and the powdered volume of his hair. Eighties from head to toe, and painfully obvious. You'd only ever seen someone like this in movies or at 80's dress up parties.

Who the hell was this guy?