Yippee Ki Yay

When the alarm went off, James groaned, mashed the button to silence it, and rolled out of bed onto the floor. His hands went flat as he started doing his push ups, counting twenty, then switched and did twenty sit ups before standing and stretching.

When he was ready, he pulled on some sweatpants and headed down to the front yard where Amanda and Carrie were already waiting.

“What took you?” Amanda grinned. “Let’s go.” And with that comment, they took off running.

He barely kept pace with Carrie; she was fast when she wanted to be. Not that he minded the view from behind. Amanda fell into place a little behind them, but she never had to drop out. Without the last six months of training, Carrie would have left them blocks behind. They got back to the house and she went on to her home without any comment. He smiled and headed into the kitchen as Amanda went upstairs for her morning ablutions. When she returned, it was his turn.

Once the water was hot enough, he stepped under it, closing his eyes as the thousands of droplets seared his skin, washing away the sweat and relaxing his muscles. He closed his eyes as he sighed and started to sing, smiling as the words filtered through his mind, having seen them on a lyrics list and having heard them at one point in time.

This is the end
Hold your breath and count to ten
Feel the Earth move and then
Hear my heart burst again
For this is the end
I’ve drowned and dreamt this moment
So overdue, I owe them
Swept away, I’m stolen
He moved under the water, hearing the tune in his head as he sang the song he remembered from long ago; well, in his mind long ago but actually soon to come in the future. While the time line was confusing, his mind kept everything in order.

Let the sky fall
When it crumbles
We will stand tall
Face it all together
Let the sky fall
When it crumbles
We will stand tall
Face it all together
He smiled, finished the shower and dried off. He put on his school clothes and started gathering his homework when he saw his dad.

“Morning James...”

“Uh, hi.”

“Singing,” his father grinned.

“Yes.”

“Hm, you consider a career as a singer?”

James shook his head briefly, then nodded it a bit, “I’ll think about it. But for the moment I’ll stick with school”

Dad nodded appreciation for school then headed to the stairs, throwing a question over his shoulder, “Did you put the coffee on?”

“Yes,” he laughed and continued to get ready. He checked through his homework one more time, ensuring it was all correct and stuffed everything he needed for the day into his bag. He went down to the kitchen and gratefully took the steaming cup of coffee his father poured for him.

The bus arrived and James followed Amanda onto it, saw Carrie and smiled at her. She nodded back as he slid into his seat.

At lunch he couldn’t wait to tell Robin the good news, “I got the results of my practice AP Calc test and passed. Mrs. Faun told me that with practice I might be able to get a ‘5’. So she’s going to enrol me in the AP Calc class next semester.”

“Congratulations! You must be so happy,” she replied.

“I am pumped! Never thought I could get this far. I didn’t want to lose hope, but there were times I wasn’t sure that I was really getting the information.”

“So now you know. What’s next?”

“My first AP class is this year and then nothing but AP Classes for next two years. I need to decide which ones make sense for me. But it will be great foundation for college. And guess what, today I jogged with Carrie Sandman”

“The one on the Cross Country team?” Robin asked.

“That’s right, she ran me into the ground.”

Robin laughed, “Must be love.”

“No, if it was love, she would have talked to me. She was all tease.”

Just then he noticed that lunch was over so both of them quickly cleaned up and headed for the door.

When he reached the math classroom, he went up to Mr. Williams and said, “Thank you for having Mrs. Faun give me my score. I would have gone crazy waiting.”

“Don’t worry about it. I didn’t plan on missing yesterday, but I knew you’d be anxious.”

Unlike yesterday, James paid attention to the class and also made a list of questions he had for Mrs. Faun.

That afternoon James went to work ... it turned out that he was needed. December was always a busy month for the store and everyone wanted their computer to be ready the second it was unpacked. Mr. Addison offered a special setup charge to take the worry from the purchaser. He liked it for the extra money, but even more because it eliminated a lot of the initial problems a new user would encounter. And it helped differentiate his store from the competition.

Addison pulled James into his office and described the program. “This is the first year we are trying this, so I need everything to go smoothly. I want you to make checklists so that nothing is missed. Get with the other techs and incorporate their suggestions.”

“Okay, I will start today. Do you know how many systems I will be working on each day?”

“James, we are projecting that we will sell four systems a day and three will have this package. Accurate recordkeeping will be vital.”

The next morning was the same as the previous day. Carrie was waiting for him and took off running as soon as he walked out of the kitchen. It was obvious that she and Amanda had everything planned out. Now all he had to do is figure out the plan. Did he want to date Carrie or just chase her for the next few months?

When the run was over, Carrie gave him a little wave and went on her way. James turned to Amanda and asked, “What is the deal here? Does she want to date or just bust my balls every day?”

Amanda laughed and said, “Maybe both? You need to call her and get to know her. She can’t give you a better signal that she’s interested. Now you have to fish or cut bait.”

“What does she like besides running?”

“James, ask her. I have done as much as I can. Now you have to take the initiative.”

“Damn! I don’t know if I have time. You should see the project dumped on me at work. I will be tied up on it for the rest of the month.”

“So tell her you are swamped and will talk to her in January. Don’t be a jerk. I put her phone number on your desk. Now use it!”

“Yes ma’am,” he laughed as they headed inside.

That night, James picked up the number and looked at it. He honestly did not know how to begin the conversation, much less what to do on a date. The last date he remember being on was twenty years ago. And adult dating was completely different, with neither party under any illusion on what would happen.

Sighing, he picked up the phone, only to hear Rachael and her boyfriend talking. “Is this an omen?” he thought.

At intervals over the next two hours, he tried to get a chance to call. But every time he picked up the phone, one of his sisters was talking. Frustrated, he walked over to Amanda’s room and knocked on the door. She called out, “Come back later, I am on the phone.”

James threw up his hands and stomped back to his room. That night he made a decision to match Carrie step for step and talk to her.

The next morning he rolled out of bed and quickly got ready. Beating Amanda out the door, he looked for Carrie. When Amanda came out, he asked her, “Where’s Carrie?”

“Oh, forgot to tell you. She left for a short trip with her family right after lunch yesterday. She will be back on Monday.”

James looked at her, turned and without a word, started running. For the entire hour, he did not say anything or look at Amanda. All that build up for nothing.

When they got back home, Amanda grabbed him and said, “What is your problem?”

“You pushed me to call Carrie but you knew she was already gone. And the phone line was tied up all night. So I came up with a plan to run next to her to talk and you never bothered telling me she was gone.”

“That’s not my problem. You wouldn’t call her so I arranged for her to come here to run and you never said a word. So how was I to know you finally decided to call? Don’t blame me because you are clueless.”

James stomped into the kitchen to start the coffee. It was cool between them for the next couple of days.

James decided to try and get as many of the new educational opportunities nailed down while it was still fresh in everyone’s mind. So he wangled an early ride to school with Rachael.

“Thank you for seeing me so soon, Mrs. Faun,” James said.

“That is not a problem. These are the kinds of meetings I enjoy,” she replied.

“I wanted to talk to you about next semester and classes for next two years. I know that I haven’t built a long track record of quality work, but as I explained to Mr. Williams, I decided to turn over a new leaf this year.”

“Yes, he has told me and showed me the work you’ve done in his class. Otherwise, I would never have approved him giving you the study guides.”

“I appreciate everything you’ve done. It has made a big difference in my life. For next semester I would like to enrol in the AP Calc class and start knocking out all of the required classes. Ideally I would like to take as many AP Classes as possible for my Junior and Senior years.”

“James, that maybe too ambitious and you could end of failing all of the exams.”

“I understand, but while I am in the class, the teacher can track my progress. I would also like to meet with you on a regular basis so you can also monitor me,” James replied.

“The only way you could take that many classes and still graduate on time would be to take the required classes in summer school. Aren’t you working? I know that your work-study was approved.”

“Yes I am, but until I am eighteen I am limited in the number of hours I can work per week. So there would be time for school, homework, and the computer store.”

Mrs. Faun thought for a moment and pulled out some papers from her desk. After scanning them, she said, “All right, here is what I suggest. Next semester you will take AP Calc, 11th grade Computer Science, work study, American History II, English Advanced Grammar, Typing and Driver’s Ed. These last two classes should be easy for you because they do not have homework.”

“Okay, that sounds doable.”

“And in April we will sit down and look at your grades and teacher’s reports. If you are still doing well, then you can take your required classes in the summer before junior year and senior year. A challenging course schedule is four AP classes per year. While five or six classes are technically possible, you may find that you are overwhelmed. But what is your goal? Is it AP classes or college credit?

Sheepishly, James commented, “It is the college credit. I want to finish college as quickly as possible and the AP exams seemed like a cost-effective approach. It is like I mentioned before, money is tight and I am trying to do my part.”

“James, AP classes are not the only option. Many of the entry level classes can be taken at the local community college while you are in high school. Classes like English, foreign languages, and some initial science classes can give you the same credit as the AP exams. Plus you may find that they are easier. If you take a smaller number of AP classes, then you could take the required classes during the year and start on the Community College classes between your junior and senior year. This is something we can discuss in April after we check your progress. But either approach will require a major commitment from you, so I’ll be monitoring your results carefully.”

“Excellent, I know you won’t be disappointed. Thank you so much.”

On Saturday he sat down with Mr. Addison and showed him the checklist he developed for the project. After reviewing each of the points, he was given permission to start immediately.

So for the rest of the month, all James did was prep new computers. It was always the same: apply patches and updates, install drivers, remove bloatware and test the system.

It was necessary, but, good god, was it boring.

He went for weeks without talking to a customer, working on the systems at a table in the back storeroom. Once school let out for winter break, he was able to work every day - good thing, too, because it was hard to keep up with the demand. When the boredom hit, he would remind himself, ‘This is great. I want to buy Amanda her own computer and the money from this project will pay for it.’

At dinner on Sunday, James asked for some time with his family. Once everyone was settled in the living room, James stood and started his planned speech. It amazed him how in his last life he would’ve been terrified of standing in front of everyone like this but now it all seemed to flow naturally.

“Over the last seven months I have made a concerted effort to be a better son and brother to everyone in the family. Thanks to your support, I think that I have succeeded in improving our relationships.” They all exchanged looks and his father waved his hand for James to continue. James nodded and carried on. “I wanted to let everyone know what I have planned. Starting next semester I will be in an AP Calc class and take the AP exam in May. If I pass, then the score from the exam can give me credit for the class in college, up to 4 credit hours.