Geronimo

James had discovered another issue with the wishes, minor though it was. He remembered everything, of course. The problem had now become that he had already finished all of the lessons before. There were some ripple effects but nothing notable; if he finished homework, the classes pretty much rolled on as expected and he sat in the class bored out of his fucking mind. He found that even half-listening to the teachers, he seemed to subconsciously soak up the information. At the end of class, he’d wait until the teacher had finished and carry onto his next one. At home, James would sit down and run through the day. He’d complete his homework and go and log onto the internet.

When he got to the AP class, he stood at the door with some trepidation. This was something new, something different, and definitely something he had not done before. James had wasted his life the first time through, but the Genie and the Lamp had given him a second chance to improve himself and here it was - the first step towards that.

‘Baby steps,’ he thought with a wry smile. He walked in and stopped, quirking up an eyebrow as he took in the state of the class.

He was the only one wearing jeans and tennis shoes, everyone else in the class looked like they were at prep school. He thought to himself that he didn’t get the memo on the dress code. As he looked around for an open desk, the teacher, Mrs. Meyer, directed him to one in the last row by the wall. Once he sat, she announced, “Class, let’s welcome James Smith. Like everyone here, he’s planning on taking the AP Calc test in May.”

They all looked at him, mostly with disinterest; he smiled and nodded slightly in acknowledgment.

“The goal of the next four months is to get you ready to successfully take the AP Exam. To that end, we will have a drills and worksheet for the first four days of the week, with a sample test each Friday. Remember to bring your calculator to class and do your homework every night. If you stay on top of it, it should only take about 30 minutes a night. Previous classes have found that the drills have been a huge help to prepare for the test. Last year, 60% of the class got a 4 or 5 on the exam, which is higher than the national average.” She turned to James and smiled, “James, please see me after class. Emily, could you pass out the worksheets.”

Emily, dressed in a red cashmere sweater, stood, adjusted her striped knee length skirt, and took the worksheets from the corner of the teacher’s desk. She carefully placed the worksheet on each person’s desk. When she got to James, she just handed it to him.

He smiled as he took it. She paused briefly but found him lacking and returned to her desk. He’d been in work environments in his first life and was used to such things. In some ways, it was like his first days at Micro Center. Until he proved himself, he would be ignored.

James wasn’t a part of the group.

He turned to the sheet, reading over it, studying it. He’d had to learn to read things slowly. otherwise the teachers thought he wasn’t paying attention, not realizing that he could rescan it in his mind at a later date. It also prevented a lot of questions, which he wanted to avoid.

It was one of the study guides given to him by Mr. Williams. But as class proceeded, Mrs. Meyer taught it differently from what he had expected. She broke the first question into sections and showed the class how to approach each section to maintain speed while not sacrificing accuracy. He was fascinated; this was really a better way to learn the material. Instead of just using his memory palace, the techniques really helped improved his overall efficiency.

The class ended and he was ignored as the others left. He waited until they were gone and walked up to the teacher.

“You wanted to see me?”

“Yes, James. I have some information that was passed out at the beginning of the year that should help you,” she continued, “Here is a list of approved calculators, a list of tutors, and a list of study guides. But I understand that you already have the guides.”

“Yes. Mr. Williams helped me out there.”

She nodded her approval upon hearing this. He continued, “But this should help as well. I found the class very illuminating. You approached the study guides in a different manner than I did and I found it very helpful.”

“I’m pleased that you think that. I saw what happened in the class,” she replied. He nodded. “You may not click with your classmates. They’ve been together for years and may resist opening up to you.”

“Okay, but I didn’t think that there were group projects.”

She laughed, “No, but having someone help you drill may be of use. Let’s see how it goes. Worst case, you pay a tutor.”

“So if I wanted to take an AP Exam and couldn’t get into a class, would the tutor be a good fall back?”

“James, don’t get carried away. You can stretch yourself too thin and start failing the AP exams. But yes, if you can afford the $20 an hour for a tutor, then it could be an alternative to taking a class. But most people only use the tutor to help with rough spots, not as a replacement teacher.”

“I understand,” James nodded.

“And even if you thought you were ready, the facility advisor has to approve your exam slot. So if you decided to try to take any additional exams, you’d need to convince the advisor you were ready.”

James asked, “Who is the advisor?”

“That would be me,” she laughed.

“You are right. let’s see how the class goes before I consider anything else. I want to thank you for allowing me in to the class this late in the process.”

“Prove to me I was correct by following the rules and completing your homework on time and correctly.”

“Challenge accepted,” he grinned. She nodded and he left for the next class.

At lunch time, he found Robin and sat down.

“How was the first AP class?” was her opening gambit.

“Difficult.”

“How so?”

He sighed and sat back, running his hand through his hair, thinking for a moment and pondering the right choice of words. “That bad?” she asked.

“Huh?”

She smiled, “You need to work on your tells better. Just the fact that you paused was enough to tell me that you’re unhappy.”

“Slightly,” he shrugged. “I don’t know what I thought the classmates would be like; I did figure they’d be at least a little bit accepting. And I wasn’t expecting them to be dressed for prep school.”

“So it was weird, eh?”

“Someone who comes to that class is at the very least capable,” James mused. “But they all probably expect me to crash and burn. The chill in the reception made me want to go get checked for leprosy.”

“I think a few people are probably expecting you to bomb,” she nodded. “But consider this: you know Carrie, she’s a trained athlete and is planning on going to college on a track and field scholarship. She’s worked hard to do what she’s doing and you’ve just fallen into running and are not even taking it that seriously.”

“But...”

She held her hand up and he fell silent.

“For the AP classmates, it’s the same. You walk in, in jeans and a t-shirt and expect them to take you seriously?”

He mulled this over, rubbing his chin, longing for the days when he could have a beard again so he could do the Obi Wan rub. He thought aloud. “So, what was it you said to me before? The problem is not the problem?”

She nodded and continued, “The problem is your attitude towards the problem.”

She smiled as she could see the light dawning on his face. His head nodded slowly as the wheels started turning in his mind.

“I can foresee this being an issue. Are other AP classes like this?”

She shrugged, “I don’t know, but, probably.”

He nod stopped in mid-motion. “I need to formulate a plan to nip this problem in the bud.”

“Yes, you do,” she smiled and continued eating. “Thanks to your sisters, you have the clothes. But remember, in four months you’ll never have to see them again.”

“I wish! I will be taking as many AP classes as I can over the next couple of years. With four kids in the family we won’t be able to afford an expensive tuition. Actually, ANY tuition will be a struggle. So if I can cut down on the amount of time I spend in college, that’s better for me and the family.

“Cross that bridge next semester. For now, you’re only in one class for a short time. Just ignore them.”

“You’ve never steered me wrong before, so I will follow your suggestion.”

They continued to eat in silence as he pondered his future and the AP classes. The bell rang and they finished up and went to their next classes.

After school, he headed in to work. For the first time since he started the long grind in his previous life time, he had found that he actually enjoyed it. It was still challenging and he learned something new almost every day, which was a huge change from life the first go-round. Then, he seemed to repeat the same thing each day and the boredom was the main component of the job.

Now that the holiday rush was over, work had fallen back into a routine. Mr. Addison considered James an asset to Micro Center and made sure the other techs continued his education. The techs as a group decided that, if workload permitted, James would make the first attempt to fix every new repair. They thought that if he fixed it, then it wasn’t a big enough problem for them. And if he couldn’t, then it served as a training tool to show him what other things he could try.

James had to laugh at their approach. He got all of the problems, all of the documentation and none of the glory. Trevor told him that Addison thought that they diagnosed the system and only gave him the easy ones. He decided that it wasn’t worth making waves since this was only a part-time job and not a career; plus, he really took advantage of the employee discount. Now that he had his system, he was saving up to buy one for Amanda. There was definitely no upside to causing problems.

Every night when he went home, James updated his checklists and supporting documentation. Since the techs made sure he didn’t get credit, he stopped sharing the lists with them. He knew that Addison appreciated the lists, but he wasn’t being paid to create them. That decision didn’t feel right, but he wasn’t sure what to do about it. So he sought out his dad for advice.

After dinner he went to the garage where his dad was arranging his tools and asked for a minute. “Sure, what do you need?” His dad replied.

“I have a problem at work and don’t know the best way to handle it,” James started. “The techs are giving me all of the work and taking credit for my successes. If the repair is too much for my training, then they make sure the boss knows I am not ready. It is very frustrating, because I will never advance if Addison doesn’t know what I am capable of.”

“You have to be careful. You are only there a few hours a week, while this is their job. Are they really trying to undercut you or is this the normal approach for a new trainee? I know at Smith there is a definite learning path that every new hire has to follow. Maybe this is all it is and they never explained the training method clearly enough.”

“I do not know if you are right. It just seems like they are dumping all the scut work on me.”

“James, what did you expect? You are the low man on the totem pole. Of course you get all of the menial tasks. That’s the benefit of being a senior man. So what is the real problem?”

“I ... I ... am not sure. I just feel they are not appreciating my skills.”

“No James, that’s not the problem. You want to do things your way without laying the foundation. You are only 15 and if you come in there with all sorts of great ideas, no one will listen to you. The first thing you need to decide is your goal. And then come up with a plan to reach it. But you may find that the effort required is not worth it.”

“Thanks, Dad, you’ve given me a lot to think about. I need to step back and decide what is important.”

“You already know what is important – Family and school, not a part-time job. And if you concentrate on your investments you can make more there than as a junior tech at a computer store.”

That night, James stayed up trying to reconcile that, even with his new skills, he was still a teenager fumbling his way through life. Finally, he realized that, just like the AP class, not having experienced something actually put him at a disadvantage. His memory was of little help if the situation was new to him. He was forced to fall back on his native skills and personality. And the first time through, he never had the opportunity to experience an office environment or navigate through office politics. Living with minimum wage jobs taught him lessons that were of little use now.

Over the next few days, James spent his time at work looking at how Micro Center handled repairs and what procedures he would change. He realized that he did not know all of the things required to fix the systems since he was currently pigeonholed into the initial investigation. He slowly realized that the source of his unhappiness was he had not yet had the opportunity to try fixing a more challenging system.

On Monday, he went to Mr. Addison with a proposal. He started, “Mr. Addison, I really appreciate the opportunities you have given me here at Micro Center.”