Chapter 4: Chaos Theory

August 12, 1981 (continued)

In mathematics, Chaos Theory concerns itself with the way apparently random systems have hidden patterns and interactions. ‘Sensitive Dependence On Initial Conditions’, which describes how tiny changes in initial conditions can lead to enormous differences in results. ‘Strange Attractors’, where some states are much more common than others, for no obvious reason.

The oft-discussed ‘Butterfly Effect’ is an example of a Chaos Theory observation. A butterfly in China flaps its wings. Or, it doesn’t. The resulting tiny shift in the air causes the tiniest little air currents, which cause minor changes, and more, and more, building on one another. Until something massive happens ten thousand miles away. Or, doesn’t happen.

The movie ‘Jurassic Park’ made a hash out of Chaos Theory by trying to use it to claim that complex systems are self-defeating, particularly man-made complex systems. That’s absolute nonsense. A 747 is a ridiculously complex system. So are phone networks. Or the internet, or satellite communications, or a zillion other things. Heck, freeway traffic is a man-made system with an enormous amount of hidden complexity.

But just because one prominent reference is junk doesn’t mean that the mathematics is wrong. Far from it.

And I was staring at a piece of chaos in the form of a quite pretty, if very young-looking, freshman who was chatting with another girl. Now that I knew what to look for, I recognized the slightly older Megan I’d known in this Megan. What the fuck, indeed, universe?

“Thanks, Meg,” I said, doing my best to hide the sudden turmoil inside. “I’ll go introduce myself.” I could never, in a million years, explain to Meg why I was having this reaction to a pretty girl. Meg knew I liked pretty girls. And, in fact, I liked this particular pretty girl. Not in an overwhelming way, mind you, but I liked her.

And, if Meg picked up on there even being something to explain, I might already be sunk. She was just too sharp to not realize I had a reason that I wasn’t owning up to. Hopefully, if she picked up on it, she just chalked it up to a normal ‘boy’ reaction to a pretty girl.

I paced myself. Amit first, just saying hi, welcoming him to Debate, telling him I’d be any help I could. Amit was short, thin, Indian. He also could eat more than Cal. No, I’m not exaggerating. Once, at the front of a line at Burger King on lunch break from a tournament, he ordered five Whoppers, two chicken sandwiches, three large fries, and a Coke. Not for the group; that was his lunch. Nice guy, with the potential to maybe be another Ted if he worked hard at it. He’d been close to that good my first go-round.

Gene, next. Not like we didn’t already know each other fairly well, but he deserved a welcome-to-Debate handshake.

Then I tracked down Ryan Baird. I knew nothing about him. I said hi, he said hi. He was doing Extemp, so I offered help if he wanted it. He might take me up on it, he might not. I’m sure Emmy and Larry would be helpful, too.

Doug Deberry was a mousy, nerdy guy who was planning on Extemp and LD. I didn’t know him either, so, first go-round, he presumably lasted only this year. Maybe that would change. I couldn’t write him off.

I couldn’t write off Cindy Baird or Bree McKenzie either. Cindy — Ryan’s little sister — was a cute, short blonde; Bree was a cute, short redhead. (I do have a weakness for redheads. Of course, I have a weakness for any girls interested in me. Very much including an adorable blond sister.) Neither Cindy or Bree were in Debate with me on my first go-round either. Both were very vague about their interests in class. I trying not to categorize them as ‘dilettantes’, but who knows? Ryan might get Cindy to do something; I wasn’t sure why she’d even sign up for a class with her brother just to do nothing, unless maybe her parents pushed her into it.

Anne Evans and Megan Early next. Anne, name notwithstanding, was, I’m pretty sure, at least half-Japanese. Long straight black hair, dark almond eyes, petite. Pretty. Shy. Very shy. She managed just a few words. I made sure she knew that Cammie, Lizzie, and Janet would all help, since she thought Extemp and CX were her thing. Maybe she wouldn’t be so shy around girls, even girls who might think she was hot.

Megan was, frankly, beautiful. Tall — quite tall, probably right at my height as long as she wasn’t wearing heels — and athletic, with wavy brown hair past her shoulders, and smallish boobs. I remembered the Megan from first go-round was on the basketball team too; this version? Probably the same.

She was also quite young, or just looked quite young. She was also charming, and seemed to be making an effort to be outgoing and assertive. She was doing Extemp and CX as well, and I think Anne had a CX partner whether or not she was ready for one. I offered my help and tried my absolute best to not stare or give any impression that I was after her. Because I wasn’t. I just couldn’t understand what she was doing here, now.

I couldn’t spend the entire class meeting new kids, even strangely confusing pretty girls. I had work to do. Most specifically, I wanted to do CX and I didn’t formally have a partner. And upon surveying the kids, I was pretty sure who I should partner with, and I was pretty confident she’d agree.

I sat down in my usual seat next to Cammie. With the shuffling, Angie and Gene had the other seats at our table. “So, did you all figure out CX partners without me?” The board had ‘Collins/Vinton’, ‘Camp/Camp’, and ‘Green/Tran’ in the CX column, so I figured the answer was no.

Angie smiled. “Gene and I think we’ll give it a shot.” No surprise there. I hoped it’d be ok if they didn’t last. If they did last, hey, Gene was a good guy.

Cammie shrugged. “No good offers.” She gave me a look. “Yet.”

“So...”

“Yes, I’ll be your partner, you big lummox. I know you’ve been hoping to secure my charms for yourself all summer.”

I laughed. “Your charms are already committed elsewhere. I’ll have to make do with your brains, beauty, and personality.”

“I think you just said that Mel only loves me for my ... you know.”

“Nah. I’m saying that you won’t share your... ‘you know’ ... with me. The rest you can share.”

“That’s better, Mister Marshall. Looking forward to it!”

I’d considered Sue, of course. But I didn’t get the right vibe from her, and Cammie and I were a good team at this point. Selfishly, I’d rather partner with someone I already knew worked well with me, and vice versa. “You want to do the honors?”

She went up, grabbed a marker, and wrote “Clarke / S. Marshall” in the CX session. Then she tossed the marker to Angie, who added “A. Marshall / Richardson” on the line below.

Cammie came back, winked. “Girls rule.”

“You thought you had to tell me that?”

She laughed. “You, no. Everyone else? Well, looking around the room, most of us know that, I think.” I counted noses. Twice. Nine boys, seventeen girls. Plus Meg. Yup, most of us knew that.

“Heck, even with you, Janet, and Lizzie, we should advertise to boys just on the gender ratio.”

“Pig!”

“Oink oink!”

Cammie leaned in. “Not just me and Janet and Lizzie.”

“Mmm?”

“Left as an exercise for the student, oh clueless boy.”

“Should Mel be worried?”

“Mel definitely shouldn’t worry.”

“Good!”

We kicked around ideas for what affirmative case we’d run. The topic for this year was “Resolved: That the federal government should establish minimum educational standards for elementary and secondary schools in the United States.” I had an idea around encouraging non-academic subjects (such as Debate, but also art, music, and all the rest) — establishing standards both for how much exposure to those areas students should have and also standards for how grade points were distributed so they weren’t shunned by the high achievers. Cammie liked it, so we decided to see if we could make a good affirmative out of it.

Angie and Gene seemed likely to settle on something pushing for standards on civics education to encourage better citizenship skills. Seemed good to me.

In the car, Angie proved she misses little. “Something upset you in class, big brother. Care to share?”

I shook my head. “Not yet, OK? I want to think on this a bit. Not that I can, well... ‘solve’ it myself, but I need to figure out what I think about it.”

“OK. I’ll give you until tonight to come clean. No longer.”

“You drive a hard bargain.”

“Nah, I’m soft and smooth. You’ve got the hard ... bargain.”

I laughed. “That’s stretching a point.”

“That thing stret...”

“Consider yourself whapped.”

“Done.”

9:15pm

Angie gave me a quick hug and we rubbed noses.

“Spill it!”

“One of the new freshmen is not like the others.”

“Well, that mousy Doug guy isn’t like the cute girls. So, yeah.”

“Not him,” I laughed. “He’s not atypical. And he’s fine.”

She bit her lip. “Both Cindy and Bree are going to sit in the classroom and do nothing unless someone lights a fire under their asses. I think I like them, but I’ll be pissed if they just sit there. But that’s two, not one.”

“I agree about them. Also, I’m glad you’re going to do stuff.”

“I know that, but why are you saying it now?”

“Because your ass is too cute to get near a fire.”

Whap. “Thanks, big brother. It is, isn’t it?”

“Definitely.”

“So ... it’s Anne or Megan. Anne is not like the others; she’s Japanese. So, you mean Megan.”

“Bingo.”

“So, what? You know her from before, right? I’m going to guess ... wrong year? She started next year?”

“Ummm ... not exactly.”

“I’m confused. Did she start as a junior, in your senior year, or something?”

“No, she started as a freshman.”

“I don’t ... wait. She ... started as a freshman? While you were on the team?”

“Got it.”

“But she’s a freshman now!”

“Duh. You see the problem.”