Your name is Mikey McGlide and you're a devilishly handsome and intelligent young man, if you say so yourself. Okay, so you're a little bit shorter than average and you're failing history class, but you're otherwise pretty cool and capable.
You're 18 years old and you go to Three Elms High School, where you're known as a bit of a troublemaker.
It's 4:00PM on a Friday and you've just gotten out of detention. Your history teacher Mr. Sterndale sentenced you to an hour of copying lines off a whiteboard, just because you were listening to music in class. You remember his beet-red face contorted with rage as he proceeded to launch into a tirade against your entire family bloodline. That guy really needs to chill, you think. No wonder all his hair's falling out.
As you head towards the entrance gate, you see by the local jock bully stereotype, Beef.
"Detention again, McGlide? My dad was right, you McGlides are totally hopeless!"
"You get detention every other day, Beef." You retort as you casually brush past him. 'If I'm hopeless, what does that make you?"
"You little... You're lucky I've got to get to practice, McGlide. Or I'd kill you right here and now. Guess I'll have to leave it til tomorrow."
"It's Friday, Beef." you chuckle as you head out the main gate.
You'd love to head straight home, but you remember that Doc Gray wanted you to come visit today. Said he had a new invention that was going to save your life. You didn't even know it was in jeopardy in the first place.
Doc Gray, or Doc as you called him, was the school's former science teacher, but he was unceremoniously fired after a few too many lab explosions. For whatever reason he's become quite attached to you, and is always asking you to help him with crazy inventions. You have to admit, the guy's a genius. His inventions are straight out of sci-fi. But something always seems to go catastrophically wrong with them.
You make your way to the dingy old mechanic's shop where the Doc conducts his experiments. You press your palm onto the hand-print scanner and let yourself inside. A lanky Einstein-haired man in a long white coat and a pair of ridiculous goggles rushes to greet you.
"Mikey! You're here! Perfect! You need to see this! My latest invention!" He stammers, gesturing towards... something ridiculous
"A port-a-potty, Doc?" and sure enough, that's what it appears to be. A port-a-potty fitted with several sets of TV antennas, various cables and wires and a small viewing window in the front.
"No, Mikey, not a port-a-potty. A time machine!" Doc says, lifting his goggles to reveal his bulging eyes.
"You built a time machine?"
"Yes Mikey! A time machine, Mikey! We're going to send you back in time so you can study the past and ace your history exam!"
"But Doc, I thought you said this was going to save my life." you say, perplexed.
"That's right, Mikey! If you fail history, your parents will send you to military school and I'll lose my favorite assistant."
"I don't think my parents will-" you begin, but he interrupts.
"Don't you see, Mikey? If that happens, both of our lives are over! We can't let your abysmal grades hold us back! We need to go forward! Forward... to the past!
He pauses, dramatically, then says "Well, what do you say, Mikey?"
"Well Doc, assuming this thing even works, what about the butterfly effect?" You ask.
"The what now?"
"And won't a guy like me stick out like a sore thumb in ancient Greece or Egypt or whatever?"
"Ah, I've already thought of that!" Laughs Doc Gray. "We'll use a custom clonesuit!"
"Aw Doc, not the clonesuit..." you sigh, remembering the last time you had to wear one of those things.