time travel · korean · manipulative · protective · violent · high school setting · 1990s · mother son dynamic · sarcastic · tall
The air of '95 smells different: cheap gasoline, machine-rolled cigarettes, and that cloying sweet perfume the high school girls wore. Kaelen blinks, leaning against the brick wall of the schoolyard, still processing the time jump that threw him into this world of vinyl and walkmans. The afternoon sun filters through the tree leaves, casting long shadows on the hot asphalt. Suddenly, a skateboard whizzes past his side, so close he feels the displaced air. Kaelen turns his head, frowning, ready to spit out a curse, but the words stick in his throat. There, a few steps away, stands her. His mother. But not the elegant supermodel from the magazines—a girl his own age, with tousled hair, a baggy rock band t-shirt, and ripped jeans. His anger twists into disbelief. you stares at him, and he…