Different and Cool (2017)

Tuesday

D&C

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*****
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TUESDAY

The exhaust beat steadily on the boy's legs as the Joltswagon left carpool for the open road. He watched the car flash behind a wall of trees before it disappeared altogether.

Andy stood before Starlight Jr. High with considerable trepidation, gripping the strap of his backpack tightly. He was still contemplating Aunt Mary's peppermint riddle, but had made no headway, and still had no clue on what he was supposed to do for Mr. Clark's assignment. Worst still, he was back in school, where Justin and Slick were sure to deride him for his failure. Academicians they were not, but they always let him know when he was behind in some way.

And yet he knew he had to give it a shot. The peppermint wasn't going to eat itself, and Andy wanted to get moving in some sort of direction. Creating and rejecting ideas for the entire morning, Andy resolved that he would just have to come up with something on the fly. Hopefully something that wouldn't get him in too much trouble with his friends.

Stalling for a moment at the driveway, he took the building in like a mouse takes in a lion. Then he grit his teeth, gathered up his book bag, and made for the school.

Which, today, was quite a different place.

Andy edged off to the side to make way for a classmate coming up from behind, who was currently wearing a large fedora on his head. Tromping over to the side of the schoolyards, the boy leaned against a tree and folded his arms, scanning the terrain for prey. After spying a rabbit, he took off after it, brandishing his belt like a whip. "Why does it have to be rabbits!?" he cried out as he ran off onto the baseball field, his pants loosening around his waist.

It was like this everywhere he looked. All around him were students doing strange and unusual things, like throwing cards at people and jump-roping right into the school. Two boys were even caught in a wrestling match with a teacher, trying to take down the man with a series of headlocks and full nelsons. It was clear they were losing; the teacher happened to know a few things about wrestling, judo, and a whole bunch of stuff in between.

Andy stumbled haphazardly through the crowd before spying Justin and Slick, sizing up the crazy situations, too cool for school. "What's going on here?" he asked the two, running over to them as a means of seeking shelter against the storming students.

"Mr. Clark's little pet project made a splash," Slick commented, lightly combing the hair covering his eye so that resembled the swath of a spookhouse curtain. "Everybody's getting into it and goin' wild."

"Everybody's acting like a dork, you mean," Justin grumbled, looking over his peers with extreme distaste. "This is so uncool."

A monster card (the type featuring names like Grand Silver Gigatex) went flying out of nowhere into the midst of their small group. Andy, Justin, and Slick made way for the group of seventh graders rushing up, who were laughing as they carried their monster summoning game to a whole new level.

"So uncool," Justin reaffirmed, shaking his head in disdain.

Andy looked over at the card players with confusion. Despite the silliness of their actions, they seemed to be having fun, so he had a hard time agreeing with Justin. Keeping his comments to himself, he instead opted to change the subject. "So...what are you guys doing for the free-will project?" he asked.

Justin blinked a bit, then glanced both ways to make sure no one was paying attention. Then, he leaned in close and gave Andy his first real smile, albeit a sneaky one. "We got a special thing in store for the girls in Gym," he whispered, looking like a wolf stalking a flock of sheep.

"Yeh." Slick sidled next to his friend and thrust his thumbs towards his chest. "Those cute chicky-boos are gonna see the full swingin' hipness of Slick C. Limestone."

Andy nodded like a broken bobble-head, reflexively backing away from the amorous duo. Maybe he was slow, but he never could understand their obsession with girls...

A swish of green hair caught the corner of his vision, turning the boy's mind away from his accession of his friends' fancies...and into a fancy all his own. As Andy whirled away from his group, a lovely girl perhaps a little older than himself filled his vision, popping into the center of his thoughts with a long, full mane of green hair and bright, gleaming eyes. A cap sat lightly on her head, with the words "TAB" printed on the front and two demon-bat wings sticking out from the sides. All of this led up to an image of a tomboyish, yet extremely vivacious babe, able to play carelessly with the boys' hearts while kicking their butts in every sport offered by the school.

Justin caught Andy's ogling and rolled his eyes. "She's out of your league, Champion," he said to the other boy, his tone touched with a not-so-subtle warning.

"It could happen," Andy insisted, never breaking his gaze for a second.

"Yeah, when my grandma wins the All Starlight Beauty Pageant." Slick snorted into the cold morning air. "And she was ugly at twenty."

Andy half-ignored his friend and continued to contemplate the distant girl, who was admiring the basketball twirling on her finger. An idea was coming quickly to mind, his eyes widening reflexively. "As a matter of fact," he began, his eyes now tweaked with determination. "For my free-will exercise, I'm going to talk to Maru Mari by the end of this week." He slowly put his hands on his hips with a short smile; shy but unrepentant.

The other two were less than impressed by this declaration. "Whatever," Justin moaned, waving him off and turning his back on him. "You'll never pull it off."

"Yeah," Slick agreed, though with a tad more softness than the cold boy. "You sure you don't wanna go tour the girls' changing room? Adventure of a lifetime, dude."

"I'm sure." Andy smiled, letting his bravado get even higher. He turned back towards the duo. "Don't you worry about a thing," he continued to reassure them. "You're going to see an all new me. No more wimpy waffling for Andy Champion..."

"Excuse me, guys," a soft soprano broke into his monologue, cutting him off. The boy looked up from his boasting at the source of this disruption, and as a consequence felt his heart leap into his throat. Mari was standing right there with her hands on her hips, smiling brightly at the trio. For the second time this day, Andy was awestruck, perplexed...and completely overwhelmed as far as his mental faculties were concerned.

Mari raised an eyebrow momentarily at the boy's inaction, a slightly bewildered expression on her face. After waving her hand to get his attention, she next pointed at an object rolling at the boy's feet. It was the basketball she was playing with earlier, which had somehow fallen inside the trio's inner circle...not that he had noticed. Justin and Slick, however, had gotten the idea, and quickly stepped aside, with Slick pulling the lovelorn Andy along with him.

Smoothly, the girl entered into the space the three boys had left for her. Bending over briefly, she scooped the ball up into her arm, tucking it against her side. "Thanks," she responded, straightening the bill of her cap with her free hand. And then, she was running back towards her girlfriends, her green hair tossing behind her like a flag of a victorious freedom fighter.

After Mari had departed, Slick slipped over to Andy's side, a twisting smirk on his face. "Some syrup to go with your waffle, Andy-boy?" he snickered, leaning lightly on the boy's shoulder.

Andy looked down at the pavement, feeling a hot flush flow to his face. "I still got...four days," he murmured to himself.

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*****
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The confines of the school were alive with the crackle of adolescent chatter, most of it frank and unabashed. In Starlight Jr. High, there was a fifteen minute break between second and third periods, where the students were free to wander the halls until the ring of the next bell. Many of the students used the time to talk to friends, complain about teachers, and perhaps discuss plans for pranks on said teachers.

Andrew Champion had better ideas.

The boy was waiting behind the corner of the wall, his expression a cross between a big-game hunter and a peeping tom. He was careful to keep from overextending himself into the hallway, and anyone who looked his way would only see a fluff of sea-green hair. Within his sights was, again, Maru Mari, posting a bulletin for soccer tryouts on a corkboard. Her eyes glowing with eagerness, she was completely unaware of the situation she was in, just like a deer in the sights of a shotgun...held by a one-year-old with no fine motor control.

"C'mon, Andy," he urged himself under his breath, gripping the corner of the wall tighter. "You can do this."

The girl was just about finished placing her notice, and Andy knew he had no more time left to procrastinate. Steeling his muscles, he prepped himself like an Olympic runner starting the 100 Meter Dash. The boy's gaze heated up, as if he was going to start shooting lasers from his eyes at any moment. Then, robot-like, he began to move into the heat of battle.

"Hi, Andrew!" A chirping soprano crashed in his eardrums. With his nerves twisting like licorice whips, he quickly turned around to find Tarah lurking behind him, her arms behind her back. "W-what are you doing?" he managed to get out, stiffening up as if braking a bicycle within three inches.

"I needed to talk to you about..." The girl halted her dialogue to look beyond him, where Mari was. "Are you peeping on her or something?" she inquired, lurching over his shoulder. "That's kind of a gross thing to do. Though I guess some girls might like that."

"Ah, um..." The boy was practically panicked by her insinuations. "That was..." He suddenly jerked away from her and retreated completely behind the corner, where Mari couldn't see him. "What did you say you wanted again?" he tried, rubbing the back of his head nervously.

"Professor Clark wants us to work together on this project, right?" Tarah began without preamble, her face glowing with earnestness. "Can I come over to your house tonight? We can get more work done that way."

"T-tonight?" Andy stammered out, scootching away from her as if she was a pit bull with rabies.

"Yeah!" She smiled. "My Dad's fumigating the house from the lizard infestation, so you can't come over right now. I told him lizard were our friends, and are only looking for food, but he doesn't like them much."

"W-well, tonight's not really a good night, y'see, I got a lot of work to do in Algebra and there's some chores to be done..." The boy's mind was racking itself for any excuse it could find. He really didn't want Justin and Slick knowing that the school nerd had gone over to his house.

At the end of Andy's babbling, Tarah's face had fallen until it practically hit the floor. "Oh," she murmured, bolstering a look of unhappy confusion. "I guess I'll ask you tomorrow, then." With her head lowered, the girl shuffled on down into the halls, her hands dangling loosely by her sides. Andy was crestfallen by the girl's aura of depression, his own face sporting a frown.

"...hey, how about Wednesday?" he suddenly piped up, saying the first thing that had come to mind.

Tarah halted mid-step and turned on her heel, her pigtails flaying outwards. "Really?" she said hopefully, a jubilant spark dancing behind her spectacles.

An embarrassed flush took over his face, as the situation was quickly becoming much more heated than he originally had in mind. "Well, I don't have homework on my hard classes that day..." Andy said, trying to put a damper on her excitement.

This did little to quell Tarah's good mood. "Okay, Andrew!" she cheered. "We'll have our study date on Wednesday!"

Her words brought on a renewed sweat in Andy, as he suddenly felt the presence of the rest of the students in the hallway. "Uh, could you not say 'date?'" he said, quickly looking back and forth for anyone watching them.

His nervousness somehow went over the girl's head. "Why?" she asked, putting her hands on her hips.

"He doesn't want anyone to know how much he loves you," a slippery voice squirmed in from behind the two. Andy jerked around to find Justin folding his arms in a 'well, well, well' sort of pose. His smirk was a razor edge carved into his face, preparing to cut the boy down to size. "Right, Champion?"

"It's a dorkapalooza!" Slick materialized from behind Justin, spreading his arms as if he were some showboat announcer. "Nerds in love! Your thoughts please?" He thrust his pencil in front of their faces like a microphone, waiting for insider comment.

Andy fidgeted like mad within the wrath of his fiends for friends, trying to figure out some quick means of escape. He had almost decided upon the appropriate path of retreat when he saw a figure that now filled him with dread instead of love. Mari had dropped her task at the bulletin board to move into the scene, an interested shine in her eye. "You two make a funny couple," she said, her bemused smile a sharp contrast to his own feeling of abject horror.

Andy's eyes darted back and forth between Mari, Justin, Slick, and Tarah. The boys looked like they were going to bust their guts all over the floor in peals of laughter. Mari was cocking her head like a puppy dog that had just heard a strange noise. Tarah was oddly pensive, leaning away from the guys and looking to Andy for help. With all things considered, he had decided on a single course of action, one that he knew he could not deter from.

"See ya, Tarah," he said quickly, mustering up a quick smile for her benefit. Then ZIP! he was off towards the other end of the school, leaving the four behind in a cloud of dust.

"Wait, hold up!" Slick called out after him, shaking a piece of paper he had plucked from the bulletin board. "Do her glasses smash your face when you make out? Inquiring minds want to know!"

"The press is waiting, Champion." Justin snickered, slowly following after Andy with the blond boy.

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*****
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"I just can't do it," Andy was complaining later, as he picked at his food with a fork. "I tried, but it's too much trouble."

"Oh, Andy, it can't be all that bad," Aunt Mary said, lowering her own fork and looking at the boy with a slight droop to her face.

"But it is," he insisted. "The day was a disaster. And I don't think it's going to get any easier."

"Hum." The woman sighed with a disappointed air, not so much with the boy as with the situation.

The family: Andy, Aunt Mary, Uncle Noah, and Grandpa Moses, was sitting around the table for their evening meal. It was Salisbury steak night, an all-time favorite in the small household. Everybody in the family was a hearty eater, so there were generous portions on all of the plates along with large helpings of mashed potatoes and beets. Rounding off the meal was a tall glass of milk, a fine addition to the balance of the meal, and the perfect drink to drown your school-time sorrows in.

Uncle Noah took a large swig from his glass, as if it was filled with bourbon instead of milk. "Maybe you're just shooting too high with this assignment," he offered up, wiping a milk mustache from his already impressive facial hair. "Starlight City wasn't built in a day, Andy."

"But the poor boy was so close last time," Mary persisted, furrowing her brow and shaking her head. "I'm sure with effort, Andy will be able to get out how he really feels." Like Justin and Slick, the family was well aware of Andy's feelings toward Maru Mari. Unlike with the two boys, however, he had seen fit to tell them up front, while Justin and Slick had to deduce it by themselves. Andy figured they were close-knit in that regard, even if unorthodox.

Andy sighed into the napkin on his lap, his head lowered in frustration. "It's not just that stuff with Tarah," he explained, making a small swirl in his mashed potatoes with his fork. "I choked two more times after that when I tried again. It's like something is telling me that I'm not supposed to exercise my free-will, that I'm just supposed to leave things be."

"Yet there are alternatives to free-will," a gravely voice spoke up from the other side of the table. Andy looked up in curiosity to find Grandpa Moses staring at him pointedly from his half- eaten meal. "What do you mean, Grandpa?" the boy asked.

"Dad, don't confuse him now," Noah chided, a hint of respectful warning to his voice.

"You have to do the assignment your teacher has given you, but he can't force a conclusion on," the old man continued, ignoring his son's protests. "For instance, you might simply explain that, according to the analysis of your actions, you do not believe in free-will."

"But that's not going to empower Andy!" Mary jumped in, looking up from her Salisbury steak. "We want him to believe he's strong enough to make his own choices."

"Is there any reason to make him believe he's stronger than he really is?" Moses said, putting down his fork. "Stronger than Fate? There's too many people living in quiet desperation for that, and far too few heroes. No Andy," he then looked back towards the youngest member of the family. "Life's one track, and the best thing you can do for yourself is to accept it and try to enjoy the ride, for what it's worth."

"That doesn't make any sense," Noah insisted, putting another bite of steak to his mouth. "You're claiming there's hardly any heroes? I see them everyday."

"That's just their own path," Moses responded. "Those 'heroes' are simply on a track that leads to more productive behavior. It's nothing they're doing outside of Fate."

Noah shook his head and swallowed his mouthful. "Look, I'm still going to say that any old joe can forge themselves into a doer of great things," he said, stabbing his fork into his meat and folding his arms, as if he had just slain a great beast.

"I say Andy already has that power now," Mary threw in with a self-satisfied sort of huff.

Andy regarded this exchange with a passive eye, drinking in all the knowledge without feeling the need to add anything in. It was all too obvious to them; Grandpa, with his belief in Fate, and Aunt Mary, with her peppermint metaphors for free-will choices. He had tried to take the peppermint, but it had slipped from his grasp, and he been handed a mint jujube instead. A mint jujube that was Tarah Reichardt.

Yet he held onto the jujube, even though he should've tossed it to the wayside. Why had he done that? Now he had to deal with her on Wednesday, with no chance on avoiding her and that awkward feeling that followed wherever she went. What kind of path was he on?

He looked down at his half-eaten Salisbury steak, still speared on his fork. "A heroic path..." he contemplated to himself, eyes half-closed. "Am I a hero?"