Marco explained to me about the bread.
The woman-Mrs. Campbell, she said-took me up stairs to sleep with her daughters. Marco got the couch.
The girls were more then a little curious.
"Is it true there's a young man down there?" a girl about my age with long brown hair and flushed cheeks asked.
"No." I said. "Just a dog."
They didn't get it.
Rebecca, the girl with brown hair, gave me along white nightgown and some kind of white hat. I put it on, just to humor them.
All the other Campbell girls were younger. One little one with blonde curls looked about 5, a taller brunette maybe 11, and another blonde that might have been 8 or 9.
When I was done changing, I headed for the door. "I need to go talk to Marco," I said slowly.
"Your dog?" Rebecca asked.
I sighed. "No, my--" I tried not to choke on the word. "Friend."
"Not your beau?" She said with a smug little smile.
"My what?"
"You know, beau. Your admirer."
"You mean BOYFRIEND?" I gasped. "Marco? No, no, no! And NO!"
Rebecca jumped back from me. The little five-year-old hid behind one of her sisters and whimpered.
"Oh, uh, sorry, I didn't mean to-I'll be right back."
Marco may not have been my first choice, but I needed someone-anyone!- that knew what a supermarket was.
He was asleep already. "Marco!" I hissed, poking him. He turned over, but didn't wake up. "Marco!" I grabbed a hunk of his hair and pulled.
"Aaah! Hey! Rachel, what are you doing down here? I don't think there's room for both of us on this couch--"
"Oh, shut up," I muttered, kicking the couch for good measure. "You are such a dick."
"Me? I'm hurt."
"You're lucky I'm not in the mood to hurt more then your feelings."
Marco raised his eyebrows. "Is that why you're down here? To verbally bash me? Or. . ." he smiled knowingly.
I glared at him. I seemed to be doing that a lot lately. Why not freak him out a bit? "I think you know why I'm here." I whispered, leaning towards him.
Marco rolled his eyes. "Don't tempt me."
I jerked back in surprise. What was that supposed to mean?
Seeing the look that must have been on my face, Marco, looking exasperated, said "I was kidding, Rachel."
I relaxed. I should have known it was another of his stupid jokes.
"Are you going to let me go back to sleep now?"
"That's what you want? To go back to sleep?" I exclaimed, feeling a little hysterical. "What are we supposed to do, stay here living on stale bread and catching LICE from these people?" I waved the white cap in my hand for emphasis.
"One, coming here was your idea. Two, if you have an idea on how to get back to our time, I'd be happy to hear it."
I stayed quiet. How annoying of him to cancel out my complaining with logic.
"Of course, if you prefer, we can go live on the streets. These war guys must be pretty lonely, I'm sure you could probably make a few dollars. . ."
"You bastard!" I yelled. "How can you say something like that? You stupid, annoying, son of a--"
"OK! You're right!"
My jaw dropped. "Uh, what?"
"You're right, ok?" Marco said. "I'm an insignificant, annoying little runt, and nobody likes me. It's an absolute nightmare that you could have gotten paired with me for a stupid class project, and then sent back in time with me. Now can you please go away?"
"Marco, I-"
"Go!"
I left, probably the first time I ever listened to Marco. But even though I knew that his one little remark had probably been the worst insult he had ever said to me, I still felt bad about everything I had said to him in the past day.
