Perfection becomes mystical

James looked up at the knock at the door and yelled out “enter”. The door opened and his mother looked in, still standing in the hall.

“James, can I come in?”

“Sure...”

“Listen, I’m sorry about what happened at dinner.”

He shrugged and sat back, “They were right. I have not been a good brother to them and they are hurt.”

“True, and every time your father and I have talked to you, we received the same disdain. You just never cared about anyone, including yourself.”

“Oh, I realize that now. I’ve already reached that conclusion and decided to change. But I knew that standing up and announcing that I’ve changed would be met skeptically, if not with derision and dismissal. So I decided to just make the change and let everyone realize that I’m not the same slacker that I was last year.”

Mom thought for a second and responded, “Well, the only thing I’ve seen is you keeping up with your exercise. You haven’t helped around the house or volunteered to run errands. I haven’t seen you talk to anyone in the house. So, no, I have not seen the new James.”

James looked at her and carefully considered his words. “Mom, I have a plan. And I knew that it would take time. If I rushed it, I would come across as pretentious and a boaster. So please bear with me and I’ll make a point of checking in with you. For example, I just finished my homework for tomorrow. Would I have done that last year? Or if I had bothered to actually do the work, I’d be telling everyone and then acting hurt when they doubted my motives.”

“Really? Show it to me. It’s not that I don’t believe you, but you have a track record.”

“Sure, here it is. If you’d like, I’ll bring it to you every night. I’ve decided to be the best I can this year and let the grades and teacher reports show you the new James.”

Mom took a few minutes looking through his work and with real enthusiasm acknowledged, “Amazing! I am shocked!”

“See? Last year if I had told you the work was done, all you would have done was roll your eyes. Now that there is proof, it means a lot more.”

Mom stood by the door and said, “Let me talk to your father.” She closed the door and he heard her walk away.

He wasn’t disturbed for the rest of the evening. He did bump into Rachael as he went to piss. She stopped, studied him and nodded, letting him by. He stopped beside her, took her arm and gave it a gentle squeeze.

James got a smile, small though it was. He couldn’t help but think that maybe it was a step in the right direction. He slid his hand off her and carried on to the toilet. When he went to bed, it was with a satisfied smile on his face.

The next day he was itching to get school over with. At each classroom that day, James handed in his homework as he walked in and found his seat.

“This is early,” his history teacher said curiously. “The first assignment wasn’t due until tomorrow.”

James shrugged, “I had time, so I did it last night.”

“Interesting,” she said and sat down to grade it later. It went that way most of the day: he’d get a puzzled look from his teacher, he’d sit down, and then go through the motions.

When the bell rang for lunch, James stuffed his gear into his locker and sought out the cafeteria. After buying his lunch, he espied Robin and walked over.

“Mind if I join you?”

“Sure,” she waved a hand.

“So, how is school treating you so far?”

“It’s what I expected. It’s a lot of busy work preventing me from learning,” Robin replied.

James laughed and said, “Go ahead and tell them that. I know they’re eager to learn that. They will change the curriculum just for you.”

Robin rolled her eyes and frowned at him. “Asshole, I’m just venting, I know they are set in their ways and think it helps us learn. It’s just so much bull.”

“Well, besides History, who else gave you busy work? We don’t have any other classes together so I’m interested if the teachers are different or just following the same plan.”

“Well, math assignments actually make sense, since they build upon each lesson and if you fall behind you’re lost. But English is a bore. I don’t care about the books; so it’s going to be a chore to read them. I dread parroting back the expected responses in class and writing the stupid book reports. Chemistry looks like fun, especially since there’s so little homework, just lab time.”

He smiled and said, “Just consider it paying your dues. When you start working, there will be a lot of boring things that come with the job. And you have less busy work than me, I have the same English assignments but I also have introduction to computers. That class comes with a lot of daily programming exercises.”

“That’s a surprisingly mature way of thinking it.”

James shrugged, “I’m getting that a lot these days. Of course, proving that I’m mature is slightly more difficult.”

She nodded her head, “Makes sense, seeing and believing are two different beasts altogether.”

“Agreed.”

The warning bell rang and he looked up to the wall clock, “Well, our time is cut short. I will see you tomorrow, perhaps?”

“Yes,” she nodded.

“I find I’m looking forward to it.”

He was rewarded with a smile, “Me, too.”

The rest of the day was a tired blur of lessons; he had to re-tread with the same boredom as the first time through. It was, in a way, funny. Before, he was bored because he didn’t care and now he was bored because he already knew the stuff.

When he got home, he hopped onto his bed and dozed for a while. His mother knocked on the door and James looked up.

“Ma?”

“Do you want to go out shopping now?”

He nodded, “Sure.”

“You look tired.”

“It felt like a long day.”

“Well we can hold off until the weekend and do the shopping then. At least on Saturday we won’t have to rush.”

“That’s true,” he nodded. “And I won’t be quite so blind tired.”

“Exactly. Okay, we’ll go Saturday.”

He thanked her and closed his eyes.

James woke with a tired yawn and went to piss. When he was done, he washed his hands and walked out into the hallway. There he met Rachael once again. His older sister studied him for a moment.

“There is something different about you that I can’t put my finger on.”

“My personality has gotten more charming?”

She snorted and rubbed her chin, “No, that’s not it.”

“Ouch,” he flinched and got a smile.

“You seem older somehow, slightly wiser or maybe less of a jerk. I don’t know about more intelligent. But ... something.”

“Well, I listened to you.”

“And that’s a first,” she shrugged, lifting her impressive bust. “I must admit that this week has been a rollercoaster of emotions.”

He nodded in agreement, “On that I agree.”

“What made you think something was wrong before our epic showdown?”

“I don’t know,” he paused, “Just something seemed off. Like I said before, my existence has never pissed you off that much.”

“True. I has really just been a shit week. The boyfriend is being a dick and you were making yourself an easy target.”

“Time for a new boyfriend, methinks. Maybe one that appreciates you rather than expects you to drop everything any time he calls.”

“Yes,” she nodded. “Perhaps.”

He went to his room, leaving her to ponder her uncertain future. James went in, grabbed a book and slumped down to read it.

In the evening there was a knock on the door. He bade them enter and his mother stepped in and closed the door. She walked over and sat on his desk chair.

“Uh oh.”

She laughed, “Nothing like that, James.”

“Okay, that’s a relief. What’s up?”

“James, I am proud of you for reaching out and trying to reconcile with Rachael. I know that it was hard for you to hear all of her complaints about your behaviour. She came to me and suggested that if you’ve really changed, then you should show the world by dressing like an adult rather than a child. So she wants to take you clothes shopping.”

“When I was a child, I thought like a child.”

She nodded, “When you became a man, you put away childish things.”

“Not all of them,” he winked. “But you do realize that I’m only 14?”

“Yes,” she nodded. “But if you want to be treated like an adult, then it’s time to start acting like one. You are in my eyes at least; mature enough to take responsibility for your actions, which is a big difference from last year. I’m sure you’ll like the freedom of adulthood. First you have to show that you will be responsible like an adult.”

“Okay”, James replied, “When does she want to take me?”

“As we discussed, we’ll go on Saturday, Rachael is coming along for the day out. The stores open at 10 so you will still have time for your run in the morning,” Mom noted as she stood to leave.

The week dragged by as he completed each of his homework assignments. Each time he handed in a finished piece, he was greeted by the same surprised look.

Of course, James didn’t tell them that he had already completed the work weeks before.

He just offered a cheeky grin at the blink and realization that yes, indeed, he was paying attention.

Saturday finally arrived and when he got up in the morning, changed into some sweats and a t-shirt, headed out into the corridor and looked at his watch. He tapped on Amanda’s door and peered in.

“Am?”

“I’m going to have a break today,” she yawned.