Getting it Right
G. Younger
Getting it Right
A Wrinkle in Time Story
Advanced Reader Copy Edition: December 15, 2024
Copyright ©2024 G. Younger
ISBN-13: 978-1-955699-20-4
Author: Greg Younger
Editing Staff: Bud Ugly, Old Rotorhead, Pixel the Cat, Rusty, TheMikeBomb, and Zom
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, including photocopying, recording, or other electronic or mechanical methods, without the prior written permission of the author, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical reviews and certain other noncommercial uses permitted by copyright law.
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All characters depicted in this work are fictitious. Any resemblance to real persons, living or dead, is purely coincidental. Names, characters, places, brands, media, and incidents are either the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. The author acknowledges the trademarked status and trademark owners of various products referenced in this work of fiction, which have been used without permission. The publication/use of these trademarks is not authorized, associated with, or sponsored by the trademark owners.
Table of Contents:
Prologue
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Chapter 21
Chapter 22
Chapter 23
Chapter 24
Chapter 25
Chapter 26
Chapter 27
Chapter 28
Chapter 29
Chapter 30
Chapter 31
Chapter 32
Chapter 33
Chapter 34
Chapter 35
Chapter 36
Chapter 37
Chapter 38
Chapter 39
Chapter 40
Chapter 41
Chapter 42
Chapter 43
Chapter 44
Chapter 45
Chapter 46
Chapter 47
Chapter 48
Chapter 49
Chapter 50
Chapter 51
Chapter 52
Chapter 53
Chapter 54
Epilogue
Notes from the Author
Prologue
“The worst enemy you can ever meet will always be yourself.”
F. W. Nietzsche – Thus Spoke Zarathustra
When I first saw this quote, I didn’t understand it. Then I got old and sick.
It’s incredible how a stay in the hospital makes you realize that most of what you worry about is stupid. One of my biggest fears—taking my shirt off if anyone might see me—certainly qualified. Over time, I’d gained too much weight and decided no one should see that. Then, I suddenly found myself in a hospital, with nurses and doctors exposed to it all as they cared for me. At some point, something shifted, and it no longer mattered.
That made me reflect on everything else that held me back, stuff like what others thought and whether I was really good enough. But changing that was out of reach because …
It all came down to a lack of confidence and the fear of failure, which had plagued me all my life. When I looked back, I realized I might’ve been so much more, done so much more, gained so much more if only I’d faced my fears.
I didn’t find gaining confidence to be easy; it required diving into the stuff I feared most. I didn’t gain confidence by doing what made me feel good or taking the easy way out. In the end, it was overcoming the fear that gave me confidence.
As they say, it was easier said than done. Fortunately, I had a cheat: life experience. I’d become the old man who no longer gave a fuck about others’ opinions.
That didn’t mean the fear had disappeared. It meant I had to be honest with myself and recognize it for what it was. What held me back? If someone asked me something, I gave them my honest opinion, not what they wanted to hear. I didn’t have to hide parts of myself for others to accept me.
That didn’t mean going around dropping truth bombs or unloading on people. I didn’t force myself on others. But over time, I became someone you could ask a question of and get my honest answer.
It also gave me the strength to do what I wanted.
Full stop.
I could do what I wanted.
Not in some vigilante way where I would buy a gun and start meting out justice. But if I wanted to do something, I did it. I took the vacation I’d always wanted to go on. If I didn’t feel like doing something I would rather not, I stayed home. Peeling back the layers, it came down to the point that I no longer let others control what I did.
My final self-discovery came from something I’d read: three generations after I passed, everyone who knew me would be dead, too. Suddenly, all those people’s opinions that stopped me from doing what I wanted to do all along no longer mattered. Why did I care what they thought?
◊◊◊
On Tuesday, May 28, 2080, Xander Thornwood sat at a poker table at the venerable Diamond Casino in Las Vegas. He’d always dreamed of playing in the World Series of Poker, so he’d booked the flight and paid the entry fee.
He’d come in the night before and checked into his room in the Rapsodia. It had years before replaced the old Bellagio, and the reviews all said it was more luxurious than either the Diamond (which had replaced the Horseshoe) or the Bellagio. Xander had also read that the Diamond was notorious for the long lines for elevators to get to your room during breaks. Some bloggers said the break would be over by the time you reached your room. So, he’d decided the short walk between venues would be a better solution.
This year, they actually held the tournament at two venues. The other one was the Capri, next door to and attached to the Diamond. The brochure said the combined spaces comprised 150,000 square feet. His room was packed, so he could only imagine the number of people playing. They estimated first place would win over ninety million dollars this year.
“Shuffle up and deal,” came over the PA system.
Unlike in his card room back home, the blinds increased once an hour instead of every fifteen minutes like he’d become accustomed to. That meant he was in no hurry to risk his chips. He would be patient and only play when he had a decent starting hand.
Xander settled in for a long day.
◊◊◊
By the end of the second day of the tournament, Xander was exhausted. The stress of all those hours of intense concentration finally got to him; his vision narrowed, and he faltered.
“Mr. Thornwood! Are you okay?” a voice in the distance asked.
His final thought was, ‘I wish I could do my life over again.’
A voice in the back of his head said, “Wish granted.” Then darkness.
◊◊◊
Chapter 1
“Xander! Izzy! It’s time to wake up!”
He was having the weirdest dream. He’d heard his mother’s voice, but she’d been dead for thirteen years. Xander rolled over, only to discover his bed was much smaller than he remembered, and he crashed onto the floor.
Mentally, he quickly checked to see how badly he was injured. At his age, Xander wouldn’t be surprised if he’d broken something. His eyes blinked open, and he gasped. Had falling out of bed fixed his eyesight? He’d needed to get glasses when he turned sixty and was nearly blind at this point.
But that no longer seemed true—he could see just fine.
Xander sat up and found that while the fall had jarred him, he was okay. He actually felt better than he had in years. All his aches and pains seemed to be gone. Then he glanced around, and the room seemed familiar.
“What the fu …?” Xander asked himself but caught himself before he swore.
This looked like the room he lived in as a teenager!
He glanced down at himself, and his arms and legs resembled a boy’s.
‘Did I really die and get sent back to do my life over?!’ Xander thought.
He jumped up and rushed to his dresser, which had a mirror above it, and saw his teenaged face staring back at him.
“I told you two to get up. It’s your first day of school, and you don’t want to miss the bus!”
Xander rushed to the bathroom because he knew he’d never get ready if Izzy got there first. He quickly did his business and brushed his teeth. Then he saw his hair and winced. That haircut meant he’d been sent back to middle school.
Before they moved, his mom had taken him to get a haircut. Little did he know when he got into the chair that the older man cutting his hair had just retired from a long-time position on a Marine base. His job had been to give each jarhead the same cut: high and tight. Because the barber only knew one way to cut hair, Xander became the beneficiary of a military special.
The haircut hadn’t at first registered because, before he died, Xander wore a flattop. He remembered slamming a baseball cap over the atrocity. When his mom pulled up to take him home, she demanded to see it.
“Only if you promise not to laugh,” Xander pleaded.
She’d looked at him impatiently.
“Just show me.”
Xander pulled his cap off, and his mom burst into hysterical laughter. That led him to tell everyone at his new school that he’d lost a bet to his dad and that he didn’t always look like a freak. It wasn’t the best impression a new kid could make on their first school day.
During his first life, he’d tried everything to get out of going. But his old soul within himself just shrugged. Xander knew he’d make friends, and the teasing would die down after a few weeks. Before, he’d been mortified, which caused him to be shy and lose confidence.
Speaking of the move, his dad, Wayne, was a contractor and had built them a new house in West Fork, Arkansas. They’d moved from Dallas, Texas, because his mom’s parents weren’t doing well. She’d convinced his dad to move there so she wouldn’t have to put them into a home.
Xander had always wondered about the ruse of his grandparents not being well because Grandma and Grandpa Davidson didn’t act sick when they arrived. The last time through, Xander never questioned it.
Later in life, he discovered the real reason for the move: his dad’s wandering eye. He’d had an affair with his office manager. But what caused Xander’s mom to force the move was his dad getting caught banging one of his clients’ daughters on a job site—the client’s seventeen-year-old daughter. When the client tossed around threats of a lawsuit and possible criminal charges, Xander’s parents decided it was time leave town.
His dad promised to be faithful. Needless to say, when Izzy left for college, his parents divorced.
Looking back, Xander wished they’d separated sooner because his dad was a mean SOB, the type who never lost an argument and made you look like scum for opposing him. Wayne also felt free to deliver a backhand if he thought you’d disrespected him.
Growing up, Xander had loved visiting his grandparents. They lived in West Fork, near Fayetteville on the north edge of the Ozark Mountains, in the middle of a forest on seventy-five acres of land with a cold spring.
His dad had built their house on Xander’s grandparents’ land. Wayne had picked a spot on a ridge that overlooked the town and built the home to fit the architecture of the area. It had a Victorian-era flair with a modern interior.
Xander’s sister banged on the bathroom door, breaking him out of his morning reverie. Isobel was two years younger, in sixth grade, her last year of grade school.
“Xander! Get out! I have to get ready,” Izzy pleaded.
Xander opened the door and smiled at his sister. She’d died young of lung cancer. Izzy had run with a wilder crowd in high school and took up smoking. She’d been 34 when she finally succumbed, leaving a daughter whom Xander had taken in when Izzy’s deadbeat husband disappeared. Three years later, the husband died in a car accident. He’d gotten behind the wheel drunk and killed a family of four.
Izzy had a sweet disposition but had never been a morning person. He hugged her.
“What the …!” Izzy complained.
“Can’t a brother love his sister?” Xander asked.
Izzy gave him the stink eye.
“A weird one, maybe,” she huffed, pushing him out of the way.
Xander chuckled as he strolled to his room to get dressed. He first stepped over to his closet to grab a casual button-up shirt and then stopped himself. Did he really want to get his ass kicked the first day? His haircut had put a big enough target on his back on top of being the ‘new’ kid. Xander wouldn’t stand a chance if he showed up looking like a seventy-year-old.
While his internal old man remained firm in his ‘I don’t give a fuck’ attitude, there were some things you just didn’t do. Instead, he opened his dresser drawer and pulled out a t-shirt with some anime characters on it, which he vaguely remembered. Xander put it back and found a plain red one instead. No need to be labeled a nerd, too. It would be best to try to fit in so he could make new friends. No one wanted to hang out with the new ‘special’ guy.
When he stopped to think about it, Xander found himself amused that he was trying to fit in. But life would have been easier the first time around if he’d done it, so that was what he would go with. His goal was to have a better life this time, and having friends would go a long way.
He caught Izzy coming out of the bathroom.
“How do I look?”
She blinked because he’d never asked her something like that before.
“No, seriously. It’s my first day at a new school, and I have this messed-up haircut. I don’t need to be the poster child for total losers,” Xander explained.
“You’ll probably survive your first day.”
He would take that from Izzy.
“Thanks.”
He tried to walk around her to go downstairs, but his sister put her hand on his chest to stop him.
“Why are you acting weird?”
The hug was probably a red flag. Xander said he loved her and … well … they didn’t do that, if he remembered correctly.
“I’ve decided that our moving will give me a chance to make some changes.”
She considered that for a moment and nodded.
“Just quit the hugging,” Izzy said and pushed him out of the way so she could go to her room.
As he walked downstairs, he figured everyone in his family would probably notice a difference in him. So his off-the-cuff remark about making changes should be the party line, which he shared with his mother as she served him breakfast.
“That’s probably a good idea,” his dad said, peering over the top of his newspaper. “When you get home, you can mow the yard. Doing something useful would be a welcome change.”
‘Yay, Dad! Way to benefit yourself with every utterance I make,’ Xander thought.
“I’d be happy to,” Xander said, shocking both his parents.
“Well, okay, then,” was his dad’s snappy comeback.
His dad, at all of five-seven and a hundred-forty pounds, walked around like a banty rooster, strutting around and bossing everyone in sight. He was also very fit because he wasn’t afraid of physical labor, unlike most of the other contractors Xander had met. Part of that was due to his dad being cheap. If it meant he didn’t have to hire someone extra, then he would pocket the profits.
His mom almost towered over his dad at five-eleven, which made them look funny when she wore heels. People could never understand how such an odd couple would be together. Thankfully, Xander had taken after his mother in the height department. Size-wise, Izzy took after their dad and looked like a little pixie when she grew up.
Luckily, Xander and Izzy got their looks from their mother. Not that their father was ugly, but anyone could see Xander’s mom was out of his dad’s league. They were both blond-haired and blue-eyed.
Izzy showed up with her hair pulled back in a ponytail, her everyday style. She’d also put on a red t-shirt. The little shit winked at him when he saw what she wore. It told him he’d gotten his look right.
◊◊◊
Xander had forgotten the hell that was the school bus. As the last ones to get on, he and Izzy would have to sit next to the kids no one else wanted to since the bus was almost completely full.
Another downside of being the last ones on was that they’d be the last ones off at night since the bus followed the same loop morning and evening. Xander would either have to endure this hell for the next three years or find someone to give him a ride. He could probably get into a fight, and then his mom would have to drive him. The problem with that would be his father would kick the shit out of him, so Xander saved that plan as a last resort.
He let Izzy get on first. When he climbed on, he saw three open seats. One was with a future neighbor, Brian Miller. Brian’s younger brother, Tim, had become one of Xander’s first friends in the past timeline.
Brian, three years older, had something wrong with him. He was a loner, but Xander vividly remembered a group of guys playing in the empty lot next to Tim and Brian’s house. Brian opened the back door and pulled out his dick.
“Ever see a real dick before? If you want, I’ll let you suck it.”
When Izzy moved to sit next to Brian, Xander grabbed her arm and pointed to a seat further back. There was no need to expose his sister to the perv. He would have a quiet word with her later.
Xander also skipped the empty seat next to Brian, leaving the seat next to Karen Merritt as his only choice. What was the most politically correct thing to say about Karen? ‘Fuck it.’ Karen embodied her stereotype name, the class snitch who would boldly point out people’s faults if she felt justified. God help you if she decided you’d broken a rule.
She was also rotund, to the point that when Xander sat down next to her, part of his butt hung over the edge of the bench.
All that meant that he’d just sat down next to undoubtedly the most hated person in school.
“Hey. I’m Xander.”
Karen appeared confused because she wasn’t used to anyone talking to her unless they had to.
“Karen,” she said, folding her arms over her chest.
Her body language screamed her discomfort at the attention. Xander’s old self would’ve caught the hint and stared straight ahead, realizing his mistake. Instead, Xander turned and smiled at Karen.
“Good to meet you. You’re officially the first person I’ve said hello to. I’m new.”
“If you hang out with me, I might be the last person you say hello to,” Karen said.
“Too bad for them, then. That is, unless you don’t need any new friends.”
“I don’t even know you. For all I know, you could be a survivalist living off the grid.”
“Nice one,” Xander chuckled.
Karen’s expression communicated her confusion.
“Would it be okay if I wait to get to know you before I decide if we can be friends?” Karen asked.
“Sure. Save me a seat tomorrow morning,” Xander said.
They were pulling up to the school.
“I’m sure that won’t be a problem,” Karen said.
When they stopped, Xander got up and stepped back in the aisle to allow Karen a chance to get up and get off the bus. He remembered that, in the future, acts of chivalry would be frowned upon, but he was too old to change. Plus, he figured all the other kids would push forward and make Karen get off the bus last. She gave him a tiny grin as she got up and waddled off the bus.
He’d done his good deed for the day, so it was time for karma to kick in and do him a turn.
◊◊◊
After Xander got off the bus, he turned and waved goodbye to Izzy; he would see her on the trip home. Xander then made his way to his homeroom. He’d not received his books, so he skipped going to his locker. They would be handed out in each class.
When he entered the class, he found Karen standing in front.
“Please come to the front and check in to get your seat assignments,” Karen announced.
The chart had everyone seated in alphabetical order, which put Xander toward the back of the class. Once Karen had everyone organized, their teacher made her appearance.
“Good morning. I’m Miss Howard. I’ll be your homeroom teacher this year. My job is to ensure you’re all here and provide you with any announcements. Once the announcements are made, you can use the time to study. If you need help, please raise your hand, and I’ll come to you.
“Once our time is done, you’ll go to your first-period class,” Miss Howard said.
Homeroom period lasted only fifteen minutes. The first time around, Xander had used it to do his homework, which he usually forgot. If he was honest, it had been because he easily got distracted, one reason his grades suffered. He would’ve done much better if he’d put in the work.
Xander knew middle school wouldn’t make or break him in the grand scheme, but it set a pattern that had taken him years to break. He vowed to make some changes this time through. He chuckled because that was why he’d gotten this do-over and didn’t want to squander the opportunity.
Today, since no one had any schoolwork to catch up on, given it was the first day, discussions of what they’d done over the summer broke out around him. As the new kid, the others ignored him, giving Xander a chance to contemplate his situation.
How did he want his life to change this time?
In the last go-around, Xander’s health issues made his final years a living hell, many of them caused by how he’d lived his life. He drank too much, smoked too much pot, and let himself go, to the point where, by the end of college, he was a good fifty pounds overweight. At the time of his death, Xander weighed well over 300 pounds and suffered from diabetes and high blood pressure, which he assumed had killed him.
He remembered the pivotal moment in his senior year of high school. It was toward graduation, and he was on the track, running. He was doing speed training where he would walk the curves and sprint down the straightaway. He’d done three circuits around the track when a thought occurred.
‘I am never going to run again.’
And he hadn’t.
At the time, he was fit and had a girlfriend who embodied everything a teenage guy wanted. Then he went to college and started drinking and doing drugs, joined a fraternity, and never had a serious relationship with a woman.
The relationship part was all due to him. Not that he lacked interest from women. But he’d seen the hell his dad put them all through, and the image of that being a model for marriage soured him on the institution. So, he became a confirmed bachelor.
As he looked back, the lone bright spot was Nevis, Izzy’s daughter. She was only six when she came to live with him. When she was born, Izzy insisted on creating paperwork stating that if anything should happen to her, Xander would raise her daughter. Izzy didn’t want her husband or his family to get their hands on the girl, and for good reason. She also wanted to ensure neither of her parents would raise Nevis.
At the time, Xander had agreed because he never imagined he would actually have to become Nevis’s father. Ultimately, she became the bright spot in his life.
One change Xander hoped for was to not become a confirmed bachelor the second time through. He didn’t want the mental scars of his parents’ dramas to screw him up. When you’ve been beaten down by your father all your life, your self-image takes a pounding. Add to that being overweight and out of shape, and he’d convinced himself no woman would ever want him. It became a self-fulfilling prophecy.
When he got older, Xander realized it was his fault for never finding someone. His mother came from Norwegian stock, so he wasn’t unfortunate in the looks department. With that in mind, he vowed to turn that around, stay in shape, and not shut himself off from possibilities.
Something else he’d not done was apply himself academically, despite being an intelligent kid, which he proved later in life when he was entrusted with managing large numbers of people. The problem was that he could get by without studying because he was smart.
That bit Xander in the butt when he went to college. His typical A-B grades dropped to the C-D range. He managed to graduate but found it hard to find a decent job. So he made the one smart move of his young life and returned to college. Xander still struggled, but he picked up a computer science minor, landing him in a top company.
Even though he rose within the corporate ranks, he fell behind because of his age. Younger people jumped over him. If Xander were his superior, he could see the logic. Their careers would be longer than his, so they were the better investment.
What set him apart from the others was his first degree, a triple major: Finance, Marketing, and Management, with a minor in Economics. Yes, he’d been on the five-year plan. Up against a bunch of computer nerds, he was the only one who understood business—aka their clients. He became the one the sales team came to when they presented what their company could do. He at least didn’t talk over the heads or act put out at having to deal with a customer.
This eventually led him to branch off into consulting and running large computer conversions where they needed someone to speak to both sides of the business.
While that provided great benefits, prestige- and money-wise, it meant he quickly burned out. In addition, the responsibility of raising his niece meant Xander burned out by the age of fifty, so he quit.
The ringing bell brought him out of his inner musings. Xander hadn’t nailed down what he planned to change, but he was now motivated. He figured that was a good first step to getting it right this time through.
◊◊◊
The day was a confusing mess because his memory of the past, which had become his present, didn’t quite mesh. Xander forced himself to get out of his head and live this life without constantly trying to place long-forgotten faces. He would have plenty of time for that later because there were certain people he wanted to forget or avoid this time around.
Xander was relieved when the bus came at the end of the day. He got on and found his sister sitting next to her new BFF, so Xander sat across the aisle and asked Izzy about her day. From her excited response, it had been better than his.
Just then, he looked up and saw Pam Wilder. He’d forgotten their first encounter in the first go-around. Xander had always wished that had gone differently, the main reason being that Pam was stunning. No one could deny her features were carved by angels. Everywhere she went, eyes followed.
In his last time through, Pam had told him to ‘move.’ He’d slid in to allow her to sit next to him. She’d looked at him like something that needed to be scraped from the sole of her shoe and stomped off. He learned later that he’d sat in Pam’s and her best friend Kelly’s seat. They ALWAYS sat there.
It took until senior year for Pam to ever talk to him again.
“Move,” Pam said.
“I’m sorry; is this your seat?” Xander asked politely. “I was just catching up with my sister on her first day. It’s no problem; I can talk to her later when we get home,” Xander said and stood up.
Pam had the grace to look embarrassed at her mean-girl act.
“Sorry. I’ve had a bad day, and that is where I normally sit.”
“It’s okay, I understand. I hate it when some random person messes with my day. It’s no problem. I’ll make a note of it and not encroach next time,” Xander said.
“Thanks.”
“May I ask, before I make another seating mistake, where it would be safe to sit?” Xander asked.
Pam looked at him sardonically.
“For just today, you can sit next to me. My best friend, Kelly, normally sits in that seat, but she isn’t riding the bus today. Her mom picked her up.”
Once he sat down, Xander caught Izzy looking at him wide-eyed. He made a goofy face, which made her giggle and turn away.
Pam caught the whole interaction.
“Everyone has been speculating about you.”
That caught Xander by surprise.
“Me?!”
“Yes, you. You’re the new kid. The girls have been wondering if you have a boy or girlfriend.”
“Boy?” Xander asked as his eyebrows raised.
“The word is you’re from Dallas, and things are different in the big city. The rumor is many good-looking guys play for the other team,” Pam said.
“You can report that I prefer girls, and I don’t have a girlfriend. Never have, if I’m being candid. Not too long ago, I thought girls were something you avoided.”
“And now?” Pam asked.
“I think I might be ready to find out what all the talk’s about where girls are concerned,” Xander said. “And you?”
“Me? What?” Pam asked.
“Are you into guys, or do you … what did you call it? … play for the other team?”
Pam finally smiled at him.
“I can see that you’re trouble. The girls here will never know what hit them when you start flirting,” Pam said.
“They’ll never know because I only plan to flirt with you,” Xander said.
Pam’s face instantly flushed, and she turned toward the window.
His old self would’ve quickly apologized and probably found another seat. The ‘I don’t give a fuck’ version sat quietly and waited. He’d either messed this up or made Pam think of him as someone she might be interested in.
He remembered the last time, Pam had dated a senior boy when she was a freshman. Her parents caught them having sex, which was followed by a pregnancy scare. After that, she’d never dated anyone in high school because her parents locked her down, which was a shame.
Xander never considered trying to get into Pam’s pants yet because they were only thirteen. That didn’t mean he was beyond wanting a middle-school girlfriend, and if he snagged Pam Wilder, his stock would go through the roof when they broke up.
Another thing Xander remembered was Pam would come into money at some point. It had something to do with her grandparents leaving her a trust fund.
Until he’d moved to this area of Arkansas, Xander had no idea that so many people had money. But it made sense when you considered Walmart and Tyson Chicken— Arkansas’s number two and three employers, sandwiched between the state and federal government—were headquartered near West Fork.
The silence dragged on for what seemed like forever. Part of Xander’s sales training had been that the first person to talk lost. His old self would’ve already blown this. Even so, he had to keep stopping himself and hold firm.
Finally, Pam turned around and looked at him.
“Was that just a big-city line?” Pam hesitantly asked.
“Even a big-city guy like me knows when he’s met an angel. No mere human will ever compare,” Xander said, smirking when Pam gasped. “Now, that was a big-city line. But I don’t need to use them because I think we like each other, and I don’t need to try to convince you of that.”
“If I’m not careful, I’ll be asking you to get off at my stop,” Pam said.
“I’d love to ‘get off’ at your stop,” Xander said and smiled. “But I think you need to go home and ruminate on this before we do something like that. Maybe we should take it slow, and I eat lunch with you tomorrow.”
“I’ll save you a seat, then,” Pam said.
They’d pulled into a nice subdivision, and the bus slowed down in front of a large home.
“What will Kelly think?” Xander asked.
“Who?” Pam smirked. “I’ll see you tomorrow.”
Xander got up to let her out, then stood and watched her walk down the aisle. Pam glanced back as she got off the bus to ensure he’d enjoyed the show. That would go right into the spank bank. Being thirteen, it was a given that would happen shortly after he got home.
His first day back had been a good one.
◊◊◊
Chapter 2
When he got home, the first thing Xander did was mow the lawn. He cut the grass, used the weed whacker to clean things up and edged, and then got out the leaf blower and cleaned up all the hard surfaces. He made sure to be finished before his dad got home.
By the time he wrapped up and put the equipment away, Xander was worn out, a sweaty mess, and a little worried about being in such poor shape. He showered, changed, and headed downstairs for dinner.
His parents asked him and his sister about their first day. Izzy excitedly spent three-quarters of the meal regaling them with everything that had happened to her. Finally, his mom put a stop to the stories.
“Let’s give your brother a chance. What about your day?”
She’d caught Xander with his mouth full, so he quickly finished chewing before filling them in.
“Fine.”
“Nothing out of the ordinary?” Mom prodded.
“Nope, just your typical first day. I got my books, and we sat around and did a bunch of nothing,” Xander said, vastly expanding on his day’s details.
“What about the girl you sat with on the bus?” Izzy asked, sticking her nose in and stirring things up.
“I sat next to Karen. I think I surprised her with that.”
‘She might be an actual Karen,’ he thought, but left unsaid.
“Not her, your new girlfriend.”
Xander realized the error of his ways. He should’ve offed his little sister much sooner because her questions piqued his parents’ interest.
“Do we need to have the talk?” his dad asked.
“Anything but that,” Xander mumbled.
“What was that?” his dad asked, suddenly getting pissed.
“Izzy misspoke; I’m not dating anyone. I’m much too young and unsure how a talk would help me. For that matter, I’m not even sure why I would want a girlfriend,” Xander rambled.
His dad looked at his mom, who shrugged.
“Who was your new friend on the bus?” Xander asked Izzy to distract his little sister.
“Oh, that was …” Izzy said and took off on another tangent.
His dad glared at Xander. Xander suspected that wasn’t the last he would hear about ‘the talk.’
◊◊◊
Safely in his room, Xander began to get organized. In his previous life, he’d run large projects, and that mode kicked in. He needed to take stock of what he had to work with, but before that, he needed to clean his room.
In his younger years, Xander had thrived on chaos, but he’d realized he’d let it go too far. The question was whether, if asked, he could find anything in this mess. Was it fair to call it organized chaos? Maybe not.
They’d only lived there for a few weeks, and he already had piles of clothes on the floor and stuff strewn everywhere. Xander’s old self was embarrassed by the mess he faced. For once, Xander thought his older self was completely correct: he couldn’t live in a pigsty of a room.
Their mom kept a laundry basket in the bathroom, and if Izzy or Xander wanted her to do their laundry, it had to go there. When he filled it, he’d put the clothes he’d worn to mow the lawn on top, and they stank. He couldn’t stand the stench, so he hauled the basket downstairs and put a load in the washing machine.
Then he ran back upstairs and filled the basket again. When he came down, he found his mom in the laundry room with the washer lid open, looking confused.
“What’s wrong?” Xander asked.
“Did your father put his load in?”
That made Xander realize that the first time around, he’d never done a load of laundry until he went to college. He’d learned a valuable lesson when all his whites turned pink.
“No, I did it,” Xander said.
She quickly shut off the washing machine.
“Did you sort the clothes?” Mom asked.
“I read the instructions on the bottle,” Xander said, pointing at the detergent.
She grabbed it, and thankfully, it gave basic instructions. He’d told a little white lie, hoping it would get him off the hook because he was supposed to have no idea how to do his laundry.
His mom didn’t believe he knew what he was doing, so she pulled out his first load and dumped it into the laundry sink. She made about a buck and a quarter by emptying his pockets, something he automatically did as an adult. She also found candy wrappers and a pack of gum.
It made him realize that was how his mom had figured out he’d had sex his junior year; it had to have been the condom wrapper he’d stuffed into his jeans. He’d been a complete dumbass his first time through.
“Sorry, Mom. I should have come and got you, but I didn’t want to burden you with doing all this,” Xander said.
His mom gave him a curious look but didn’t say anything about that.
“Just bring it all down, and I’ll do it,” Mom said.
“If you show me, I can help,” Xander said.
His mom showed him the basics but made him promise to come get her when he started the next load so she could supervise.
Once he’d picked up all the junk from his bedroom floor, Xander swept and mopped. He was a bit grossed out when he found a bunch of crusty tissues stuffed between the wall and his bed. Mother Nature had worked her magic, and Xander had learned the joys of self-pleasure.
Seeing that made him strip his bed because he was sure it needed it.
After he remade his bed with fresh sheets, Xander wiped down all the surfaces. Once he finished, he doubted this bedroom had ever been that clean from the time they moved in until he left for college.
He then pulled out a pad of paper to start a list. First, he had no money to speak of that he could call his own except for the change in his piggy bank. That limited his possibilities. A good project manager always secures the funds needed before almost anything else. He wrote on his list: ‘Earn Money.’
Then Xander stripped down and stood naked in front of his bedroom mirror so he could make an honest assessment of his body. He saw there a scrawny, thirteen-year-old boy, five-four and 108 pounds.
Xander remembered he’d grown six inches during the last year of middle school, making him five-ten when he started his freshman year of high school. But he was disappointed that he still only weighed about 110 pounds then. He’d been the definition of a string bean.
Xander looked down and observed a couple of stray wisps of hair coming in; apparently, he hadn’t yet fully developed down there. He realized his equipment would mature along with his growth spurt, so he didn’t worry about its current state. Besides, based on the tissues, everything seemed to be in working order.
During high school, Xander played football and started on the varsity squad in his junior year—one of only four juniors to do that. So he expected he would quickly add muscle to his frame during his freshman and sophomore years.
During high school, he enjoyed working out. Still, if his performance mowing the lawn was any indication, Xander should start some kind of exercise program. If for no other reason than to not be a skinny freshman who might get blown over in a strong wind. He added ‘Work Out’ to his list.
Xander dressed, pulled out all his textbooks, and skimmed through them, confirming the old saying that you wouldn’t use most of the stuff. His old self had to scratch his head at the majority of it. He’d obviously learned it well enough to pass, but sixty years into the future, much of it made no sense. At least now Xander recognized what it would take to survive in college. He needed to establish good habits before he wasted all those years, as he’d done in his past life. He added ‘Study’ to his list.
The last item on the list was the most obvious. It was why Xander wished to relive his life, be more confident, and not be his own worst enemy. He wrote ‘Face My Fears’ on his list.
For now, that seemed like enough to keep him busy. Xander realized his list was only a starting point, and he would add to it over time.
He trotted downstairs to put the next load in and saw his mom had already done it. Xander made another pile consisting of his sheets and stray towels he’d found. He then walked into the den to watch TV with his parents. Xander wanted to be sure he would be the one to put the sheets into the washing machine. His mom probably recognized the mystery stains, but no one else should have to deal with that.
◊◊◊
Once his laundry was done, his mom helped him bring it all upstairs. When she walked into his room, she stopped.
“What happened in here?”
Xander expected she was probably shocked to be able to see the floor.
“Like I said, I’m making changes. I hope it’s okay.”
“Yes, it’s okay. I just stopped fighting with you about cleaning your room. I never imagined I’d see the day it looked like this.”
“It won’t always be this clean, but I’m tired of living in a mess,” Xander said.
“I’m not going to make a big deal out of this,” Mom said, sounding more like she was talking to herself than to Xander. “I’ll only say I approve.”
“Thanks. And thanks for your help with my laundry. Next, I might even make dinner.”
His mom was funny. She clutched her chest like someone having a heart attack.
“When I see it, I’ll believe it,” she said with a wink.
He knew she’d never allow him to cook without her supervision. Something he admired about his mom was that she was a hard worker. Her father was also a contractor, and she came from a family of four kids, including an older sister, a younger one, and a brother, the youngest. As a girl, Mom was the family’s tomboy and her daddy’s little helper.
His mom had actually painted the inside of their house, another example of his dad being cheap.
The only problem was Mom didn’t respect boundaries. During high school, a rumor started that a girl Xander had recently broken up with was pregnant. She’d dumped Xander to date her ex, who was a couple of years older. Ultimately, she had the baby, and the two of them got married.
Xander’s mother showed up at the girl’s family’s front door and wanted to discuss Xander’s responsibilities in the matter. Thankfully, he hadn’t been a part of the conversation. However, he still shuddered at the audacity of his mother doing that.
They said their goodnights.
Xander put away his laundry. It took longer than expected because his teen self had simply shoved stuff into the dresser. He pulled everything out and put it back into drawers that made sense: e.g., socks together and t-shirts in their own drawer.
While at it, he sorted out all the stuff he would never wear, had outgrown, or worn out. Xander would give it all to his mom to donate. He imagined his poor sister would be a recipient of some of his castoffs. His mom had to be careful what she spent money on because she didn’t want to face his father’s wrath.
◊◊◊
The next day, on the school bus, Brian, the perv, made a little leer and patted the empty seat next to him when Izzy got on. Xander nudged her past him and took the seat.
“Why’d you do that?” Brian complained.
“I know you get hard for little girls, but she’s my sister. If you do anything, and I mean anything to her, I’ll chop your dick off and feed it to you,” Xander said calmly.
“I have no idea what you’re talking about. I was just trying to be friendly,” Brian whined.
“Can it. Everyone has warned me about what a weird fuck you are. Just remember what I said,” Xander said, then got up and walked back to sit next to Karen.
Yep, it was a total fabrication, but Brian had no idea whether people talked about him. Xander knew most high school boys had confidence issues, and hearing that others thought you were a ‘weird fuck’ would be a tad unsettling.
Xander figured one of two things would happen soon. Brian would cave and leave Izzy alone, which Xander suspected would be the case. If Brian really was a pedophile, there were plenty of innocent girls who didn’t have a threatening older brother.
The second scenario would involve a confrontation. Brian assumed that because he was older and bigger, he could kick the shit out of Xander. While that might be true of his old self, Xander had ‘old man’ knowledge. Not that he claimed to be some kind of secret ninja; far from it. It was just that old men didn’t fight fair, and they fought for keeps.
Most high school fights between boys like Brian and Xander devolved into posturing, shoving, and the like. An old man knew he had zero stamina and, in a real fight, would get annihilated. An old man’s only option was to strike first and end it as soon as possible. Brian would learn his lesson, even if he outweighed Xander by at least fifty pounds and was two years older.
Brian must have glared at Xander as he walked back because Karen asked, “What’s Brian’s problem?”
Xander sighed. It looked like there would be a fight, so he decided to head that off.
“He was perving on my little sister, so I set him straight,” Xander said.
“He’s in high school, and your sister’s in grade school! You’re joking, right?!” Karen asked, getting indignant.
Xander was evil. A characteristic of ‘Karens’ is their hatred of injustice, to the point they act irrationally. If they perceived something as being wrong, even if they were batshit crazy and totally off base, they would launch into a fight for justice.
Karen all but pushed Xander out of his seat so she could waddle up to where Brian sat and give him a piece of her mind. And she did it in front of the entire bus, loud enough that no one had to strain to hear her rant about what a filthy scumbag Brian Miller was.
Xander innocently took his seat and bit his tongue to keep from laughing. When he saw the look of horror on Brian’s face, Xander almost felt bad for him. Almost. The entire bus sat in wide-eyed silence as Karen tore into his ass.
Her rant lasted until they reached the middle/high school drop-off point. The schools were next to each other, so the few high schoolers who rode the bus had to walk half a block to their school.
Brian bolted from his seat to get off first. Karen followed him off the bus, screaming at him the whole time. Once they were off, it took a beat for everybody to realize what had happened. Pandemonium erupted as everyone rushed off to spread the gossip.
Xander just sat and watched it happen. He was surprised when Izzy sat down next to him.
“Thank you. Now you need to get off, or you’ll have to walk back from the grade school.”
It was only ten blocks away, but he’d be late for homeroom if he didn’t get off.
“I have your back,” Xander said, then got up and rushed off before the bus left for its last stop.
◊◊◊
Tim, Brian’s younger brother, found Xander at his locker.
“What’s that all about?”
Xander’s grandfather had decided to build several houses around the lake the cold spring had created, and the first one in the planned subdivision would be theirs. Tim and his family would move in around the first of the year, and Tim would become a friend. So Xander didn’t want to alienate Tim because he didn’t trust his brother.
“I just told Karen what Brian did with my sister. I think she read more into it than necessary,” Xander said.
“That’s Karen, but I can’t say she was wrong. My dad put parental controls on our home PC. I heard my parents talking, and Brian’s browser history was a bit disturbing. Those were my mom’s words, not mine—I never got a chance to see what he was watching,” Tim said.
That made Xander feel a bit better, knowing his instincts about Brian were correct. If he’d not experienced Brian exposing himself in the last go-around, Xander might not have thought anything of Brian offering Izzy a seat. But the little leer and patting of the seat felt wrong.
“I might have put a bug in her ear,” Xander said to come clean.
He did feel guilty about provoking Karen because he knew exactly what she would do. It might have been cleaner to have the fight. That way, it stayed between the two of them. Now everyone would be talking about Brian.
Before he died, teenagers had been committing suicide at an alarming rate. He’d read somewhere that sixty percent of teen girls had suicidal thoughts at some point.
While Xander’s goal was to stop Brian from abusing his sister—and avoid getting his ass kicked—if Brian hurt himself, Xander would never get over it.
“You might want to talk to your parents and let them know. If Brian gets too upset, who knows what he might do? It might be best to get him someone to talk to,” Xander said.
“Fuck him,” Tim said with more venom than Xander expected.
Xander wanted to dig into that, but the bell rang. He and Tim gave each other a bro nod and headed off to class.
◊◊◊
Xander was one of the first at lunch, so he picked a prime table. Pam spotted him when she came into the lunchroom and got in line. Once she had her food, she joined him.
“I finally have you all to myself,” Xander said, waggling his eyebrows.
Kelly heard him as she sat down.
“Sorry to rain on your parade.”
Xander gave a dramatic sigh.
“What am I ever going to do with two women?”
“The same you would do with one … nothing,” Pam said haughtily.
“It’s okay, Xander,” Kelly said. “If you’re a good boy, I’ll let you carry my books to class as a reward.”
“At least it won’t be as bad as the poor guys that carry their girl’s purses at the mall,” Pam said to pile on.
It didn’t take long before the best-looking girls in their middle school came to take the remaining empty seats. They weren’t aware that Xander had invited Pam to lunch, so they gave him curious looks. Pam and Kelly were a bit taken aback when Xander didn’t squirm in his seat like an ordinary boy.
“Ladies,” Xander said with a smile. “You joining me for lunch is the new guy’s dream come true. Now, every girl at our school will wonder what I have that made you all join me.”
Barb Grimes, a tall, lanky brunette, looked him over.
“You’re not unfortunate looking. I guess I can be seen in your company.”
Peggy Wallace, who looked like a tomboy, rolled her eyes.
“No one is ever good enough for you,” she told Barb. “I think he’s cute. What’s your name, cutie?”
“Xander Thornwood.”
Stacy Vale, who had big brown eyes, smiled.
“Tell us all about yourself.”
Pam gave Stacy a predatory look.
“Back off. He asked me to lunch.”
“When did this happen?” Kelly asked.
“You skipped the bus, so I sat with him.”
All the girls looked back and forth at the two of them.
“Say what?” Kelly asked.
“I’ll speak slowly. I … asked … Pam … to … lunch,” Xander said. “Did you understand all the words?”
Barb burst out laughing, causing Kelly’s face to turn an interesting shade of pink.
“I leave you alone for one bus ride, and this happens. We even talked on the phone last night, and you didn’t mention this little development,” Kelly ranted.
“It was worth seeing your face right now,” Pam said. “It’s not like we’re dating or anything. We’re just getting to know each other.”
“I say we adopt him into our group. We need someone to tell us what guys are really thinking,” Stacy said.
“Slow your roll,” Xander said. “I’m not your innocent gay guy who you can take shopping.”
“I’d hope not. We want a real guy to talk to,” Peggy said.
All the girls turned to look at Peggy. Finally, Kelly asked, “Since when have you liked boys?”
“I’ve always liked boys. I just never met one who wasn’t intimidated by all of you. We’ve only had dumb jocks brave enough to try to sit with us. They all ran away with their tails between their legs. This one has some backbone.”
“Speaking of bones,” Barb said with an evil smirk.
“Back off, Barb. I get first shot,” Pam said.
“What are you doing after school? Is either of your parents home? I could get off at your stop,” Xander said with a big smile as he acted overexcited.
“You walked into that one,” Kelly said as the girls laughed.
◊◊◊
When he’d come back, Xander hadn’t expected he would become the center of attention. People he hadn’t even met yet said hello and smiled. Sitting with the Princesses, as Xander learned they were called, had suddenly pushed him into the limelight. He wasn’t sure that was a positive.
When he stepped up onto the bus, Brian was waiting for him. As Xander slowly walked toward him, Karen appeared and became a ‘Karen’ again and began berating Brian.
“Shut your mouth, you fat bitch!” Brian said as he backhanded her.
Xander was sure every person there secretly cheered Brian on because who hadn’t wanted to exact a similar form of justice on the ‘Karens’ of the world? But not on his watch!
In his previous go-around, Xander had doubled as a punter. Like riding a bike, the mechanics of punting a ball came back to him. He took two quick steps and figuratively kicked two balls forty yards down the field. Brian’s eyes rolled back, and he collapsed onto the sidewalk. The two bus monitors—aka teachers who drew the short straw that day—rushed to check on Karen and Brian.
In the ensuing chaos, Xander’s bus pulled up, and he got on. Everyone was out of their seats with their faces plastered against the window to see what had happened.
Karen was in full meltdown mode as she pointed to her red cheek as the bus pulled away from the curb.
‘Yep. You don’t mess with an old man,’ Xander thought as he settled into his seat.
◊◊◊
When he got home, Xander changed into gym shorts and an old t-shirt. After his hospital stay, he’d regained his strength by doing isometric exercises. His doctor had suggested that type of rehab because he wasn’t in good enough shape to do isotonic exercises. Those involve pushing, pulling, or lifting, such as bicep curls, squats, and pull-ups.
The isometrics had helped him rehab. He did five exercises: planks, dead hangs, isometric bicep curls, glute bridges, and wall squats.
When you’re old, those could be challenging. Xander was just starting to get into shape, and he thought this would be a good way to begin.
Xander got down on his hands and knees on the floor for the plank. He extended both legs straight out behind him so his body was straight. The goal was to hold that position for 30 seconds or more. When he felt the strain, Xander would rest for a moment and do it again.
Next, he did the dead hang. He didn’t have a pull-up bar, so he reached up, grasped the top of his bedroom door, and hung there.
The isometric bicep curls required dumbbells. Instead, Xander grabbed his two largest books and curled them toward his shoulders. The goal was to stop halfway with his elbows bent at a 90-degree angle and hold there.
The glute bridge had him lie on his back with his feet on the floor. He then lifted his pelvis off the ground and held it.
The wall squats required him to lean against the wall for support. He slid down until he was in what looked like a seated position with his knees bent at a 90-degree angle, then held that position.
All that didn’t sound too challenging, but Xander could feel it when he finished. Once he could easily do those, he would be ready to do ‘real’ exercises.
◊◊◊
After dinner, Xander helped his mom put the dishes in the dishwasher. He glanced around to make sure his dad was nowhere to be seen.
“Hey, Mom, I need to make money.”
His mom looked around, too. Knowing his dad, if he found out Xander had any extra cash, Wayne would confiscate it.
What confused Xander was his dad was an absolute miser when it came to money, but if he decided to buy something, he would do it without consulting Xander’s mom. His most recent acquisition was a pop-up camper.
Xander cringed when he saw it because he knew what came next: they would be spending their weekends out in the great wild. Xander loved the outdoors, but camping with his dad was always stressful. Once he went to college, Xander firmly believed that the Holiday Inn Express was the closest thing to camping he ever planned to do again. He dreaded what was to come.
“What do you need money for?” Mom asked.
“I haven’t decided yet. I would start by just saving some money. Maybe you can open a savings account for me where I can deposit it.”
“Give me some examples,” Mom pressed.
“Someday, I’ll want to buy a car. I might also want to take a young lady out on a date. Another example is I need cash if I plan to buy drugs.”
His mom was used to his quips and ignored that last one. She knew his dad would never pay for a car even though, after his parents divorced, his dad promised to buy him a car when Xander graduated from college.
The kicker was that at his graduation party, a new pickup truck with a bow on it was parked in the drive. It was for his cousin, and there wasn’t one for him. He had to smile and act like he had a good time while vowing never to believe his dad again.
“Girls, huh?”
“I know. It’s supposed to be that everything is equal, but I’ve read some blogs, and it seems that girls believe the guy should pay for a date.”
“Someday, you’ll understand why they have that power,” Mom said.
Xander understood full well why a guy would pay.
“Let me talk to my dad,” she continued. “He might have some stuff you can do for him. He can also open the account for you. That way, your dad won’t be able to get his hands on it.”
His mom was a genius. His grandfather had broken ground on three houses, so there might be something Xander could do after school and on weekends at the job sites. Having them within walking distance was a bonus.
◊◊◊
Chapter 3
Xander got up and did his exercises first thing in the morning. It gave him time to think. Yesterday had a lot packed into it. The Brian situation could become a problem, and Xander needed to get out in front of it. At the very least, he needed to tell his mom about what happened. No way he would share that with his dad because his dad would fly off the handle and probably blame Xander for the mess.
Yes, he had initiated the confrontation because, if Xander hadn’t, the creeper might have done untold damage to not only his sister but other kids. Xander didn’t regret any of that. Sending Karen after Brian might not have been the best option, but it got the issue out in the open.
He did feel a bit bad that Karen had gotten hit, but she needed to learn that running her mouth had consequences—something too many people ignored. With the Internet, they could drop their ‘truth bombs’ with little or no repercussions because they didn’t have to say them to someone’s face.
In many places, even if you were facing someone who broke into your home, you might end up in jail if they got hurt. That, and the fear that you might get canceled, meant people were afraid to stand up for themselves, which just emboldened the bullies.
Xander had a strong suspicion he’d get called onto the carpet for kicking Brian in the nuts. So it was better that he tell his mom ASAP instead of letting her be blindsided by a call from the school.
He next thought about Pam and her friends. Xander had used his past life’s experience to ease himself into that group. But he worried he might be trying to run before he could walk, so to speak. After all, he was only thirteen, and even he had to admit he was too young to be in a physical relationship. Not that thirteen-year-olds weren’t capable, but they weren’t emotionally equipped to deal with what all that entailed.
While he wanted to get to know the girls better, it was probably best for them to just be friends. That would all change when they went to high school.
With that in mind, Xander decided to limit eating lunch with their group. He wanted to make other friends. Maybe even guy friends, even though he considered most of them immature dumbasses; most twelve- and thirteen-year-old boys were.
He’d begun to remember some of the people he’d been friends with. There were some he wanted to avoid—primarily Donnie Wilson, who’d be transferring in soon. They’d first bonded because they were the ‘new’ kids.
At first, Xander really liked Donnie because he was outgoing and helped Xander make new friends. Later, in high school, Donnie became his source of condoms. Donnie’s parents owned a mom-and-pop pharmacy, and the two of them would go in and shoplift whatever they needed. That was a bonus for a high schooler who didn’t have a lot of cash on hand.
They’d also decided to be roommates when they went to the University of Arkansas, and their time at U of A opened Xander’s eyes to what Donnie really was. Quite simply, Donnie only cared about Donnie and what he could use you for.
One night in college, Donnie brought a girl back to their room, shocking Xander because he’d told Donnie he planned to ask her out. She and Xander seemed to have a genuine connection, and Xander thought she might be the girlfriend he was looking for. Donnie had even given him advice on how to win her over, so Donnie was well aware of what the girl meant to his roommate.
In Xander’s opinion, this completely violated the bro code. When Donnie saw Xander’s eyes cloud over, he pulled his supposed ‘best friend’ out into the hall.
“I know you like her. I told her that you were going to ask her out. After we talked briefly, I decided I had to have a piece, too. She says she’s up to doing both of us, so I’ll get her warmed up, and then you can have a turn. It’s a win-win, man,” Donnie said.
Xander took a moment to take that in. Donnie made it sound like no big deal, but Xander crumbled inside.
“I don’t know,” Xander said as he tried to get his mind around what he’d just heard.
Xander was stunned that Donnie would do this to him.
“Your loss, then. She’s a hot piece of ass, and you’ll regret not tapping it,” Donnie said.
When he saw Xander was going to bail, Donnie said, “Just come in and watch. If you don’t want to when I’m done, I’ll just do her again.”
Xander regretted letting Donnie talk him into going back into the room. College was all about hookups, and Donnie could sweet-talk almost any girl into coming home with him. Donnie fancied himself a cocksman, so of course, after he bedded them, he was off to the next conquest. Rarely did Donnie bring back a girl more than once.
Xander watched as Donnie undressed the girl and made her blow him.
As he got ready to fuck her, Donnie said, “Get your dick out, and she can suck it while I do her from behind.”
Donnie tried to give Xander a fist bump, but the girl looked at Xander and didn’t look happy, so he bailed, leaving Donnie hanging.
When he returned a couple of hours later, Donnie grinned as if proud of what he’d done.
“She couldn’t get enough. You should have stayed because she did me three times and got pissed off when I couldn’t get it back up. She would’ve done you for sure.”
“Are you two going out now?” Xander asked.
“Hell, no. I might hook up with her, but she’s too much of a skank for me to date. If you want a quick fuck, you should call her.”
Xander did see the girl the next day. She tried to talk to him, but he walked past her like he didn’t see her. Thankfully, she got the message that he wasn’t up for sloppy seconds.
Donnie was perplexed when Xander backed out on getting an apartment with him the following year. But that incident had been the last straw. Xander was the one with money, and who would’ve had to put down the deposit. Without his help, Donnie was stuck in the dorms the next year while Xander got a place off campus.
After that, Xander and Donnie drifted apart until thirty years later. Donnie called him out of the blue because he needed money. Xander had a momentary weakness and lent it to him. At the time, he was doing a big consulting gig and raking it in, so it wasn’t a big deal. He figured he’d probably never see the cash again.
As it happened, Xander found himself in a jam a couple of years later and needed a couple grand. He had the funds, but it would mean pulling them out of an investment, which meant penalties. Just to see what Donnie would do, Xander called him to see if he would pay back a small portion of what Xander had lent. Donnie said he’d see what he could do and then blocked Xander’s number.
As a side note, at their ten-year high school reunion, which Donnie didn’t attend, Xander overheard some of the girls talking about Donnie and how much they loathed the guy. It seemed Donnie was all hands, and it sounded like he forced himself on more than one of them. Afterward, he would dump them, which would’ve been fine if he hadn’t told them they were terrible in bed, so he had moved on.
Then the knife slid into Xander’s back when Kelly asked Pam, “Why didn’t you ever go out with Xander?”
“Because he was friends with Donnie. I just assumed he was the same way.”
This time around, Xander would avoid getting sucked into Donnie’s vortex. He might even take the time to warn a few people to help them avoid Donnie’s charm.
◊◊◊
Once he finished exercising, Xander took a shower and headed downstairs to find his dad had gone to work, but his sister hadn’t come down yet.
“I need to tell you something,” Xander told his mom.
He shared what had happened with Brian yesterday.
“I fully expect to be called into the principal’s office today.”
“While I’m glad you looked out for your sister, I’m not too happy with the way you did it.”
“Looking back, I agree, but it is what it is,” Xander said.
“We’ll have to deal with that later. I’m going to go to your grandpa’s this morning. I’m considering getting a job with him.”
Last time around, his mom started working in the office and eventually took over her dad’s company after he retired. That almost made Xander’s dad lose his mind—especially when he consistently lost jobs to her after their divorce. His mom never said anything, but Xander knew she loved it.
His dad wouldn’t be happy that she didn’t want to work for him. Xander was sure that his dad wouldn’t have paid her. Or if he had, she would’ve had to put her paycheck into their joint account, where he would control the money. She’d been smart enough to open her own account, but his dad made her pay all the bills until their divorce.
“Good for you.”
“You do realize your father will get involved if the school calls, don’t you?”
Xander sighed.
“I figured as much.”
Whenever something like this happened, it meant Xander was in for a beating. His dad lived by the ‘spare the rod—spoil the child’ philosophy. Xander might not allow that to continue in this timeline.
◊◊◊
When he got onto the bus, Karen and Brian were both missing. The rumor mill said they’d both been suspended for three days.
When he arrived at school … nothing. Somehow, his part in what happened hadn’t reached the powers that be.
‘Yay, Xander,’ he thought.
That didn’t mean Brian wouldn’t look for revenge when he returned. For now, Xander could relax.
◊◊◊
During PE, Xander waited until Coach Carlton divided up teams to play softball. Coach Carlton was one of the high school football assistants.
“Coach, I want to get ready for football freshman year,” Xander said between innings.
“You need to put on some muscle and get into shape if you don’t want to get hurt.”
Xander explained what he was doing to get started down that path.
“Easing into it is a good plan. I would recommend that you either start running or biking. The hills around here can be challenging. When you start, go uphill and work your way back down. That way, you don’t get stuck at the bottom,” Coach Carlton said.
“When I start lifting weights, what should I do?”
“For a beginner, I suggest lifting heavy weights at high speeds for low reps. That will add a manageable but not extreme amount of muscle. It’ll help with athleticism way more than any other method. The goal is to explosively handle eighty to ninety percent of your max,” Coach Carlton said.
“Why not do a traditional workout where I do more reps?” Xander asked.
“Because at the lower volume of reps, your body doesn’t get as sore, but it quickly improves your strength. This way, you can run without being in pain from lifting. I call this ‘lifting with intention.’
“Once you can handle the low rep/high weight approach, we can add higher rep work. This is needed for overall muscular balance and joint/tendon health. High rep is excellent for building muscle. It’s been my experience that once you can handle the high reps, you should split your workouts 80/20. If you do a Monday through Friday workout schedule, do high reps on Wednesday and low reps on the other days.
“When you feel ready, I’ll help you get started,” Coach Carlton said.
“Thanks,” Xander said.
“Oh, and something else: If you want to start lifting, you’ll need a partner. It might be best to find a few guys to work out with because you’ll need a spotter for safety.”
“I’ll ask around. I’m sure some other guys want to play football, too,” Xander said.
“Your team is back on the field. We can talk later,” Coach Carlton said, attempting to draw Xander’s attention back to the game.
Xander trotted out to the outfield.
◊◊◊
Xander managed to talk to Tim about his brother. Tim’s mom and dad had to come to school to pick up Brian. When they learned what Karen had accused Brian of, everything blew up. Tim’s older brother would no longer be allowed to ride the bus. His mom would take him to and from school until he got his driver’s license in the spring.
“He’s also been told that if he gets into any more trouble, there will be dire consequences,” Tim said.
Xander winced.
“It’s the unspoken punishments that are the worst. I would almost rather take a beating; at least then, it would be over.”
“The good news is Karen also got suspended. She’s been told that if she keeps up her verbal attacks, she might get expelled,” Tim shared.
When he got home, Xander told his mother.
“I’m glad he won’t be anywhere near Izzy,” his mom said.
Xander’s knowledge of the future told him Brian’s family would be among the first to buy one of the three houses his grandfather was building. While he didn’t remember Brian doing anything to Izzy, his mom wouldn’t be happy about that.
“Did you talk to Grandpa about a job?”
“I didn’t get a chance. Grab your sister, and we’ll pay him a visit,” his mom said.
“Izzy!” Xander yelled.
“Don’t yell, go get your sister.”
Xander couldn’t help it … he rolled his eyes. It seemed that particular teen response was ingrained in him. He shrugged, grinned at his mom, and ran upstairs to find Izzy.
◊◊◊
Grandpa Davidson had a work trailer that served as an onsite office. He was a Vietnam War veteran who’d hung pictures of his old unit on the walls and an American flag behind his desk. Izzy rushed in and yelled, “Grandpa!” as she leaped onto his lap.
“This is a pleasant surprise. What brings you all here?”
“Xander and I are looking for work,” Xander’s mom said.
“Wouldn’t you rather be with Wayne?” Grandpa Davidson asked.
“Being around your significant other 24/7 isn’t the best idea,” his mom said.
Grandpa Davidson just nodded.
“What about you?” he asked Xander.
“You’re building in our backyard. This would make it easier than trying to get to one of Dad’s job sites,” Xander said.
“What are your skills?” he asked Xander, acting like this was a serious interview.
“I can do basic stuff like being a gofer or cleaning up. I’ve also helped my mom paint.”
“Is he any good at painting?” Grandpa Davidson asked Xander’s mom.
“He’s not an expert at cutting in yet, but he can handle a spray gun and roller for the big surfaces,” his mom said.
“How about we do this? We’re nowhere near ready for paint on these homes, and your grandmother has been after me to paint the exterior of our house. Why don’t you two do that after school and on Saturdays?”
“When can we start?” Xander asked.
His grandfather smiled at his eagerness.
“How about Saturday? That way, I can help. Plus, it’ll give you an excuse to come over for dinner.”
He knew his grandfather wanted to verify that Xander wasn’t a menace before he let him loose painting one of his spec homes. It would also allow his grandfather to talk to his mom about what she wanted to do.
The dinner comment made Xander cringe because his grandmother was a terrible cook. Her go-to meal was meatloaf. She ground all her leftover vegetables in the loaf and topped it with crushed stewed tomatoes with almost zero seasoning. It was never good, in his opinion.
◊◊◊
After the first week of school, Xander settled into a routine. He would get up, do his exercises, and run, something he’d just started. He found it humbling to learn how out of shape he was, probably due to too much time spent playing video games and not enough going outside and doing stuff.
After a shower and breakfast, he caught the bus to school, where he was making friends. The Princesses were even friendly, leaving most other guys in awe because the girls thought most boys their age were useless. To be honest, most of them were, but that was just middle-school boy stuff. They were all halfway between thinking girls were icky and hormones kicking in. The changes had most of them confused.
Then, he would come home and help his mom paint his grandparents’ house. His grandfather taught him some tricks with the spray gun, so he became good at using it. His mom still didn’t trust him with cutting in, so he had someone to talk to while they painted.
While his mom returned home to cook dinner, Xander cleaned up and walked over to the new home job sites. His grandfather had him go around and pick up after the workers left. If he had time, he would tackle the giant pile of trees that had been removed from the building sites. Xander turned them into wood chips, which his grandfather planned to use for landscaping. The big stuff was turned into firewood.
Then he would go home and take a shower before dinner.
Something new for this time was he would do his homework and read ahead to be prepared for the next day’s classes. His mom had him study in the dining room with his sister. Xander would spend some time helping her, but his sister consumed most of that time telling him about her day.
He cherished the time with Izzy more because, during his first time around, he hadn’t appreciated having a sister, especially one who always had his back when he was older. When she died, Xander had felt the loss. This time, he planned to be more involved and maybe steer her away from some of her poor choices, in particular taking up smoking. He wanted to keep her in his life for a long time.
After his first week, his grandfather tried to hand Xander cash, but Xander convinced him to open a savings account so his dad couldn’t get his hands on his money. Thankfully, his dad thought Xander worked for his grandfather out of the goodness of his heart. Not wanting to pass up an opportunity, his dad left him a task list for the week.
Instead of being irritated at his dad, Xander thought of it as additional exercise, which would fulfill his goal of not turning into a pudge.
◊◊◊
A few weeks later, his mom started working for his grandfather in his office. If Xander hadn’t been prepared, what he found when he got home later that week would have shocked him. Sitting in their drive was an old Dodge Caravan parked next to the pop-up camper. His dad had traded in his mom’s car and used the money to buy his new acquisition.
Dinner that night was tense because his mother wasn’t on board with his dad’s vision of family camping trips. She also loved her old car, and being forced to drive a minivan gave her a soccer mom vibe that wasn’t her. Not to mention, his dad failed to discuss these purchases with her beforehand.
Xander kept his opinion to himself because the van would be his when he turned 16. It gave his mom an excuse to get something different for herself.
Knowing this, Xander planned to talk his dad into improvements that would benefit him. He went to his room to draw out what he had in mind.
◊◊◊
On Sunday, after church, his dad lounged in a lawn chair with a cold beer while Xander did the yard work. Once he had put all the equipment away in the shed, Xander sat beside his dad.
“I think your idea of camping is great,” Xander said to ease into his plan.
“Well, I’m glad someone does. I thought having some family time would be good.”
Or, as Xander remembered it, hell. It always ended in a near-death experience or tears—sometimes both.
“I was thinking. You should make some improvements to the van.”
His dad’s eyes narrowed, which was never a good sign.
“What do you mean?”
“What if you took the third row out and converted it to a foldout bed? That way, you could invite some friends to join us,” Xander said.
“What are you talking about?” his dad asked.
“Hang on. I drew up something that might work,” Xander said and ran into the house and grabbed the plans he’d sketched out.
He knew his dad’s need to be right would kick in if he said anything, and Xander would regret even bringing the subject up. That was why he handed the plans to his dad and said he needed a shower. When he left, his dad had his head down, looking at the sketches.
Xander’s dad had a couple of other characteristics Xander could exploit: he was a perfectionist, and it would be his idea if something ever came of it. That was why Xander hadn’t put a lot of work into his design. His dad would take it and make it his own, which would end up being kick-ass. He just needed a nudge to come up with the idea.
◊◊◊
Xander was having lunch with his friends: John Tyler, Steve Callahan, Mike Hendricks, Kevin Moore, Jake Dolton, and Kannon ‘KJ’ Johnston. From his past experience, he knew this was the group he should’ve hung out with.
John and Steve lived in the same subdivision as Pam and Kelly, so they rode his bus. That meant their parents were well off, and both were popular. Mike was the best athlete in the group, while Kevin was the biggest guy and the smartest. Jake lived on a farm, while KJ lived in town.
“There’s a dance next week. Are any of you guys going to ask anyone?” John asked.
“It’s a matter of logistics,” Kevin said.
KJ scowled at smarty-pants. “Explain that in English.”
“A proper date requires you to pick up and drop off your date. Who wants to be the guy that has their mommy drive them?” Kevin asked.
“Boys, let your Uncle Xander edumacate you,” Xander said in his best Texas drawl.
Kevin flipped him off, which made Xander’s day because his friend hated it when he launched into his good old Southern boy routine. The others knew it, too, and egged Xander on.
“Lay down your wisdom,” Mike said solemnly.
“Until we gain some form of transportation, traditional dating is probably out of the question,” Xander said.
“I wouldn’t even know what to say to get a date,” Steve said.
The funny part of that comment wasn’t that Steve looked clueless about girls, it was that he claimed he’d scored with a girl at church camp the previous summer. Of course, Steve wouldn’t reveal the girl’s name because that wasn’t something you should do. Xander thought that if you believed Steve, he had a bridge to sell you.
Xander ignored the interruption, more for Steve’s sake, because a couple of the guys were about to make smart comments that would embarrass the boy. He probably deserved it, but Xander was on a roll and didn’t want the conversation sidelined by bickering.
“That means you ask the girl to meet you there. It solves the entire issue of having your mommy drive you,” Xander said.
They all stared at him like a pack of puppies you told to sit and stay for the first time, with a lot of head tilting and vacant looks.
“First of all, Steve had a good point,” Kevin said. “How would we go about asking a girl out? Then the big question is, what would we do with them at the dance?”
Xander looked around the table and saw a lot of nodding. Somehow, Kevin got away with asking questions that admitted he was clueless about girls. Even with his experience, Xander wasn’t the smoothest operator in that regard.
“I’ll answer the second question first: you dance with them.”
“Say … say … what?” KJ asked.
“Just what I said. Instead of you guys hanging out in a group playing grab-ass all night, you wander over to the girls and ask them to dance,” Xander said.
“Is it me, or is he talking nonsense?” Jake asked.
Xander knew what they meant because every middle school dance he’d attended involved zero dancing. And if someone saw a guy dancing with a girl, that became everyone’s primary topic for the next month. It earned the guy in question rock star status until everyone figured the kid was full of it or his mother made him ask the girl to dance. It was a small town, so forget about trying to keep anything a secret.
“I’m not too sure about that,” Kevin agreed.
“Okay,” Xander said with a shrug. “I guess it’s up to me to show you boys how this is done.”
Xander stood up.
“What are you doing?” Mike asked.
“Watch and learn, boys,” Xander said as he approached the Princesses’ table.
Peggy spotted him coming and recognized something was up because everyone at his table was staring at Xander. She said something, and all the girls turned to look at him.
That caused all of Xander’s thirteen-year-old insecurities to come to the forefront. He was suddenly the center of attention, still a scrawny kid who was about to ask the best-looking girl in their school to the dance. It took all of Xander’s old self to calm himself down and remind him he didn’t give a fuck if he got turned down or not. Just asking would make him a legend, so Xander took a deep breath and smiled.
“Pam? Would you do me the honor and meet me at the dance next Friday?”
He held his breath for a beat until all the girls squealed, and Pam jumped up and gave him a bear hug followed by a kiss … on the lips.
“Yes! I would love to be your date to the dance!” Pam announced to the entire lunchroom.
“We’ll talk next week to hammer out the arrangements,” Xander said.
He wandered back to his table, where the guys sat stunned. Then KJ broke the tension.
“Someone popped a boner.”
Xander shrugged.
“First of all … Dude! People will start talking if they hear you’re checking out guys’ dicks,” Xander said, causing a round of snickers. “Second, I just had the best set of tits at West Fork Middle School pressed against my chest. You can bet I’ll be dancing with Pam if there’s even a chance for a repeat performance.”
That shut them up because they had nothing to come back with. Xander’s friends had thoughtful looks when the bell rang for their next class.
◊◊◊
Chapter 4
Saturday morning, he came down to breakfast and heard his mom mumbling about the ‘goddamned van.’ That was funny because his mother never cursed.
“What’s going on?” Xander asked innocently.
“Your father wants to redo the van. I have to make cushions for the back row.”
One of his mother’s talents was that she could sew. She’d made most of the drapes in their new home. Creating cushions wouldn’t be much of a challenge.
“Did Dad show you his plans?” Xander asked.
“They’re on the counter,” his mom said, pointing.
Xander quickly checked out the design. He was fine with most of it but wanted one addition: a lockable drawer under the seat. That way, Xander would have a place to store stuff he didn’t want anyone else to see. His little sister knew no boundaries, and the last time around, she made it her mission to find his condoms, which would suddenly be in his mother’s possession. That was fun … NOT!
“Go get your sister. Your grandparents are taking us to breakfast.”
He turned to yell for Izzy, which earned him the death glower. Xander actually felt the heat on the back of his neck.
“Be right back,” he said as he darted upstairs to get his sister.
He found her at the head of the stairs, all decked out in Western wear, right down to the cowboy hat.
“That’s an interesting look for Arkansas.”
“Go change,” Izzy ordered.
This might not be his day for interacting with the women in his household.
“Yes, ma’am,” Xander said solemnly.
He left and changed into his ‘cowboy’ clothes. Xander wasn’t proud of it, but he actually owned three cowboy hats. His favorite of them—a black leather one that had seen better days—he’d gotten for free at a garage sale. The older lady saw him looking at it and encouraged him to try it. When he put it on, it was too big, so she gave it to him.
“That was my husband’s first hat. I have some oil I can give you to make it look good as new,” she’d said.
It was still a touch too big, but he put it on anyway. If he tilted it back slightly, it wouldn’t fall down and cover his eyes.
He came downstairs to find his grandparents drinking coffee with his mom.
“Aren’t they both adorable?” Grandma Davidson asked.