When my friends asked me what was going on I didn't tell them. I was afraid merely speaking it aloud would cause fate to remember such things weren't supposed to happen and my good fortune would unravel. As the week progressed, elation turned to doubt. Had I imagined her flirting? Of course, I had. She had just flirted to get my attention. She had no interest in me. Likely as not I was going to end up doing her work for her.
Then doubt turned to fear. Maybe this was a trap. I was going to show up at her place and her very large and scary boyfriend and his goons were going to make fun of me. Fear then turned to resentment. Why did she do this to me? Didn't the popular, good-looking kids have enough good things going for them without having to step on us lower social order?
Three weeks after the last day of school, I had pretty much forgotten all about the fact the hottest girl in school had asked for my help. So when my phone rang, I was caught unprepared without the elaborate speech I'd thought up to disarm her and make her feel horrible for trying to trick me.
"Hello, Holmes residence," I said. My parents were sticklers for phone respectability.
"Hey Jake, it's Chloe," a lathery female voice said on the other end.
"Chloe who?"
A light chuckle. It was the chuckle that brought it all back.
"Chloe Wood, you said you'd help tutor me over the summer in algebra."
"Forget it, Chloe, there's no way," I said. It was easy to be serious when I wasn't staring at her. Ha, her aura of afflicting gibbering stupid couldn't reach me over the phone!
"I'm not stupid, if you and your friends want to upset me, they'll just have to wait until school starts again like everyone else," I continued. Somehow, my voice had become shrill. Not angry. Shrill.
Overly defensive, irrationally confused, fearful of self-denial, and stupidly disturbed. Shrill.
"Forget it, Chloe," I said again, "There is no way."
I hung up with enough force to bang the end table our phone sat on.
And that would have been it. That was the crossroad of my life. Had it ended there, I have no idea the direction it would have gone. Perhaps I would have continued as I was, shy and studious.
Life is funny. The simplest things are crossroads. Choosing to meet someone for coffee, asking the girl in front of you if she's busy later, having the courage to smile back at the boy in English. Helping someone with their algebra homework. Every moment is followed by another, and with every passing moment, we can choose to change the next. Our lives are such an impossible twist of quantum chance, you simply cannot predict what your life will be like in twenty years if you pick up the phone.
My advice. Pick up the phone. Take a chance. Even if she says no, even if he stands you up, you never know where the new road will take you.
Frost said it better than anyone when he wrote:- "I took the one less traveled by, and that has made all the difference."
Thank God Chloe called back. Thank God I answered.
Just, thank God. It changed my life forever.
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The phone rang again as I was walking away. I stopped. I didn't want to answer. I didn't want her to yell at me for yelling at her. I didn't want it to be Chloe.
But I answered anyway.
"Hello?" I said. I forgot to say the rest.
"Hey..." said the same female voice as before. "Look, I think there's been a mistake," she continued before I could open my mouth again.
"I'm not trying to trick you, Jake, I really do need help." She sighed softly. It was an honest sigh. It caught me off guard.
"Look, I can pay you, okay? I need help with this stuff. The first class was today and I didn't understand any of it. I don't think I'm stupid but... I dunno, maybe I am. Either way, I need your help. I need to pass this class or I won't be eligible for tryouts in August. I'll pay you," she said again.
I paused. She sounded sincere. Moreover, she sounded desperate. Earnest and honest; and as far as she could see, I was her only chance at continuing cheerleading. Which, I guess was a big deal or something. She was a girl in distress, and I had the opportunity to be her knight in shining mathematical armor.
Who can say no to that?
"Alright," I sighed. "Alright. I'll help you out, how many weeks is the course?"
"Five. It's five weeks, four days a week," she said.
"Alright. Fifty bucks, five sessions, ten bucks a session and I'll tutor you at the end of each week for a couple of hours. I'm not going to do your homework for you, or your tests or whatever," I said, doing my best to sound authoritative and teacher-like.
"No, that's fantastic! Thank you so much, Jake," she gushed.
I blushed again. Over the phone. I didn't know why.
"Alright," I said, "How is this Friday?"
"Mhhm," she rustled around, looking at a calendar maybe. "Friday is fine, maybe two in the afternoon?"
"That's fine," I replied
"So, Mhhm, your house or mine?" She asked coyly.
Dammit, I blushed again. Then it occurred to me she probably didn't want to be seen in public with me, and the resentment flooded in again.
"Mine is fine." I gave her my address and brief directions.
"Great, see you Friday!" she said again, the bubbly voice in place. The voice that knows no straight male could refuse her.
