Chapter 78: Close Guesses

Tuesday, January 17, 1984

Tuesday pretty much dragged on. The best part of school for me was, surprisingly, Drama. We’d started getting into early work on ‘Bye Bye Birdie’ and things went well. I was having no trouble playing opposite Jess, even with her playing my primary antagonist. It felt entirely ‘professional’ and not personal, though I imagined it might look personal on stage. It should!

Admittedly, ‘antagonist’ is perhaps the wrong word, though it worked. Mae is Albert’s mother, after all, and she believes she’s doing what’s best for him. That said, she’s not, Albert knows it, and he’s got to deal with it. It was similar to Andrew’s purported reaction to me, or Connie’s parents’ initial reaction to Jimmy. Maybe (very charitably) even Ted’s reaction to Angie and Paige.

We’d have a lot of fun with this, I was pretty sure.

I snuck out of Debate just long enough to call Maxine Fletcher, the College Station realtor we’d been pointed to. She answered on the third ring, and sounded interested and eager to work with us. I asked her enough questions to ensure that we probably would get better results this time. I also made sure that she knew that we weren’t eighteen yet, and gave her Kyle’s number as a way of helping reassure her that we were legitimate and not wasting her time.

Hopefully, we’d get the results we hoped for. If not, we’d stop the whole thing early and try someone else. We had time, but there was no point wasting a trip and two nights’ hotel stay.

On the other hand, if Maxine was good (and I thought she would be), it would also be a waste of our time to cut things short with her just to talk to yet another realtor.

We would find out either way on Saturday. I’d set up a ten o’clock meeting with her.

Of course, most realtors worked Sundays, too, so that was also an option. We didn’t have to be back for Study Group, though it would be much better to get back if we could.

After talking to Maxine, I gave Kyle’s office a quick call, leaving a message with his secretary to expect Maxine’s call, and that it was fine for him to discuss me in general and to verify that I wasn’t lying about my finances.

We checked the PO Box between school and Study Group (much easier now that there were no secrets!) and found good news aplenty. The IRS had sent routine letters acknowledging the receipt of my returns, thus putting me in the ‘wait and see if there’s an audit’ state that’s common to every taxpayer.

In addition, the paperwork had come back for ‘MNM Investments’. I was regretting not creating ‘MNMS’ at the same time, but since Paige’s birthday was two days before mine, we had plenty of time to get that filed, too. Getting Jasmine listed as manager of an LLC, however, was of extreme importance, since that would let her buy the house and make investments.

Study Group was a bit more ‘all business’ than last time. We had our first round of exams next week and everyone wanted to be ready for them. We should be — this set of tests should be fairly easy, really. None of us were the sort of people to believe that ‘fairly easy’ was a good reason to slack off.

Along the way, I found out that we weren’t the only people to make the transition to the occasional social drink out and about while underaged. Mark, Morty, and Emily mentioned getting margaritas at a Mexican place, and Gene and Sue had apparently had a trip to the French Quarter that involved Hurricanes. We hadn’t had any, but then we hadn’t been there at night, either.

Mardi Gras would be two days after the UT Invitational, on a Tuesday night, and Gene and Sue were discussing the possibility of visiting for it. It’d mean at least one missed day of school, but that was manageable.

We were all growing up. Some of us had done that before, of course, but this time was better. Jasmine’s birthday was drawing ever closer, and with it a big change in how we could handle many things. Between her being eighteen, and the bulk of my gambling winnings being aboveboard and legal, we had a lot of money we could invest, and we definitely planned to do so.

I ditched Study Group for about fifteen minutes to give Candice a call, just to say ‘hi’ and check in. We’d hoped to get together, but that was looking increasingly unlikely in January. We tentatively planned to do something in early February instead.

Angie came by around nine and flopped on the bed. I was still at my desk working on a paper. No time like the present, right? Certainly better than my first-life procrastination, and not procrastinating is a habit procrastinators need to reinforce. It’s much too easy to slip back into bad habits.

Angie rolled onto her side and said, “Ready for tomorrow?”

“As ready as I’m going to be, I think. Still sure it should just be me and her? We can change plans.”

Angie smiled. “All of us think it should just be you and her. She can talk to Jas and Paige, and will undoubtedly want to, and to me, but she asked you and you’re the one who she trusts the most. I don’t mean playing on her love for you, just ... you have a connection. We’re all friends, now. You’re the reason we’re all friends.”

“Works for me. Thanks! I’m sure she’ll want to talk, but just to us.”

“If anyone can keep our secret, it’s Jess.”

“And if anyone can make trouble, it’s also Jess.”

Angie started to speak, but I waved her off, then continued, “I didn’t mean she will. I strongly doubt that she will. On the other hand, an unhappy and meddling Jess is a near worst-case scenario, and it’s worth considering.”

“Okay, fine. She won’t be. I want her in our corner. Us in hers, too! A full ‘all for one and one for all’ — all the way, not just partway. She’ll be good to talk to about things.”

“One thing that worries me more than with nearly anyone else is that we could break her in a lot of unusual ways. Not ‘old Jess’ — neither of us knew much about where she wound up. I wasn’t worried then. ‘New Jess’, the one that follows in Laura’s world’s footsteps, has something we can break.”

“Yeah,” Angie said. “That part worries me. It’s like Michael. I wouldn’t dare tell him until maybe ... um ... thirty years from now?”

“Most likely never. I don’t want to break stuff that he did in the 2010s, assuming it’s still relevant to our world.”

“Not asking! What I don’t know I can’t blab.”

I chuckled. “You’re about as likely to blab as Jess would be.”

“Fuck me gently...”

“One-time thing.”

“You’d have totally freaked out in 1988 or 1989 or whenever that movie comes out,” she said, grinning.

“1988, I’m virtually certain. And, yes, I would have.”

“I’ll leave you to your typing. It’ll go well. I know it will!”

“Me, too. I’ll just be nervous until it does,” I said.

“Me, too, of course. So will Jas and Paige. But it’s the right thing to do, partly because anything but leveling with her is wrong, both ethically and practically.”

“Yeah. I’m in the same place on that one.”

I went over and gave her a hug and rubbed noses.

She headed for the door, saying, “Night! Love you!”

“Love you, too!”

Wednesday, January 18, 1984

I slept very well considering the evening’s plans. Maybe it was the sleep of the just? Who knows?

As always, jogging helped clear my mind and focus me. Who knew, right? Lazy Steve would have been so much better off if he’d gotten moving. Ah, well. He finally did, I suppose. He just had to die first, both literally and perhaps figuratively.

I was certainly not that person anymore. I’d changed so much from 1980 to 1984. There was no going back, and I was excited to be going forward.

School felt better than yesterday. Perhaps it was the transition from Jess being ‘a day away’ to being ‘a few hours away’. For whatever reason, I was much more able to concentrate and get things done today.

School Board announcements caused a stir during the morning announcements. They announced both the grade point changes (which were mostly met with a yawn, but then this was a class of seniors, none of whom would be affected) and the school closures (which was a much bigger piece of news, if also not a big deal for seniors).

That ended the suspense, at least as far as I was concerned. I’d have to read the formal announcements, but they sounded like what I’d expected. They were making room for one non-honors elective by capping honors credit, and might make further changes, all ‘to give our top students a chance to explore their passions without fear of damaging their class ranking’ (which was a good way to put it, in my opinion). For the school closures, there would be geographical preferences, but students would also have an opportunity to request their desired campus.

I was looking forward to seeing how this changed Memorial, and Spring Branch in general, over the coming years. Hopefully we didn’t just break something big!

I felt a hand on my shoulder as I was walking to the cafeteria. I turned around to find Mike staring at me, uncomfortably close.

“Who did it?” he said, leaning in.

“I don’t know,” I said.

“Bullshit! You’re all tuned in, and besides, now you’re the hero. Again! Plus you know people who are even more tuned in!”

“Mike,” I said, sighing, “Look. I don’t know! I don’t. As far as I know, no one I know had anything to do with it. I promise you that.”

“Your promises don’t mean a lot,” he said.

I just stared at him, hard. After a second, he looked down.

“Forget I said that,” he mumbled.

“I can’t, but I can let it go. This time. Look...” I said, then sighed. “Things are fucked up. I’m sorry for my part in that, honestly. I really hoped we’d always be friends, but ... stuff happens. You knew things couldn’t go on like they were.”

“Why not? Seriously, why not? Dad’s mad at me. Rita’s mad at me. Susan’s mad at me. We could’ve just finished out the fucking year!”

“No, we couldn’t, Mike, and you know why. You do. You tried to force Trish into Study Group when we had rules, rules you agreed to, rules you supported. No one trusted her. Why should they trust someone they’d known for only a few days? You know there’s a lot at stake.”

“I’m still pissed. And I’m pissed about this ... this bullshit locker thing! If I find out who did it, they’re in for a world of hurt!”

“You’re barking up the wrong tree, Mike. It wasn’t me, it wasn’t us, it wasn’t anyone I know of. I don’t know! Look ... how many people in your new circle have it in for Trish?”

He hesitated, then mumbled, “A few.”

“How many?”

“Too fucking many!” he said. “I’m sorry. I’m just pissed off and frustrated. Look ... I’m sorry I said what I said. I mean it, I’m sorry. I’m just so damn frustrated.”

“Word of advice?”

“I’ll probably want to punch you, but...” he said, then sighed and added, “Go ahead.”

“It’s high school. We have one more semester. Figure out who you want to keep in your life, and who you can keep in your life, and worry about them. Everyone else doesn’t matter all that much unless they’re screwing with you here and now.”

“I hoped we’d stay close. I really did.”

“Me, too. Maybe we’ll be close again one day. Stranger things have happened. But it can’t happen now, not the way things are.”

“I know,” he said. “Sorry. Go get lunch.”

“Take care, Mike.”

“You, too.”

As I was walking away, he called out, “If you hear anything, tell me. Please? Okay?”

I looked back, and said, “I will if I can, and that’s all I can promise. If someone tells me something confidentially...”

“Yeah. I know,” he said.

I picked up the pace, heading to lunch.

Over a slightly rushed lunch, I told everyone the gist of the conversation, and reminded them to go easy on Mike. He’d fucked up, and he’d done a really good job of it, but he wasn’t evil. He was just dumb, in the way so many high school boys are dumb around pretty girls. And, as both Angie and Jess would attest, as many high school girls are dumb about cute guys.

Jess and I met at the benches. She took my hand, smiled, and we walked to the parking lot. As before, Angie was taking Paige and Jas out to dinner, then to her house.

“Chinese buffet again?” I said.

“Nah. I like that place more than I expected to, but I had a different idea. How about Rico’s as a picnic in the park? The little one by the library. No one goes there this time of day. We finally have warm days again, and it feels nice.”

“It might get dark,” I said.

“Long story?”

“It could be.”

“I’ll have you there to protect me against the monsters. You’ve already proven you’re good that that. I’m safe,” she said, grinning.

“Rico’s it is!”

It took us only about twenty minutes before we were sitting in the park with tacos and diet sodas.

“So...” she said.

“So,” I said, nodding.

“I have a guess. I already know it’s wrong, but I think it’s a good starting point.”

“Let me have it,” I said.