Fast Forward to us

1- What's My Age Again?

Jeremy

"Hello, you reached the Good Hands Psychic Hotline. With us, your future is in good hands. To continue, please enter your credit card number. We charge only a dollar per minute."

A dollar per minute? Why did the price go up? Just last month it was only eighty cents per minute. I would have to worry about that later. After only a few seconds, the card number was entered.

"Thank you, Jeremy, for calling. Welcome back. We're glad you're here. If this call is regarding finances, press one."

Nope. This call had nothing to do with finances. Money was the least of my worries.

"If this call is regarding love, relationships, and marriage, press two."

Not that either. We needed to hurry this along before the bus arrived. If only this hotline was quicker. As if.

"If you're concerned about Y2K, please press three."

Sure, most people are concerned about Y2K, but I could care less. If technology was going to shut down on us, so be it. I'm sure we'd all be fine.

"If this call is regarding your education, please press four."

Yes! That was what this call was regarding. My fingers wasted no time in pressing four. The future of my education was at stake.

"Hello Jeremy, this is Madame Zoo. Education is my specialty. How can I help you today?"

Madame Zoo? Never had her on the line before. It's usually Madame Red or Madame Coco. Whatever, I'm sure she was no different than Red or Coco.

"Yes, hello Madame Zoo. I'm about to graduate high school and I was accepted to three different universities, but I can't make up my mind on where to go or what I should even be majoring in."

"I'm sorry to hear about that. Can you tell me which schools accepted you so I can help you better?"

Wait a minute! Shouldn't Madame Zoo already know which schools accepted me? Why did I need to tell her? What kind of psychic was she?

"Um yeah, the Manhattan School of Music, Columbia University, and the University of Virginia."

"Well, those sound like very excellent schools. Sounds like you've been working hard on your studies." She took a pause for about thirty seconds which felt like a terrible eternity. "Alright Jeremy, I just received an important revelation." This was the moment of truth that would change everything.

And without any warning, the phone line went dead. It sounded like someone was trying to connect to the internet or something. My heart sunk knowing that I wasn't going to get the answer I had been looking for. Things grew worse once I figured out that it was my old man that purposely cut the phone line again. In one hand was the wire. In the other, was a cup of coffee. How did he do it?

"Son, we've been through this. Hundreds of times in fact. Unless you want to pay a fortune for the next bill, you need to stop calling that hotline."

"But dad, graduation is like a month away and I can't figure out which school to attend. And I can't even figure out what I'm going to major in."

With a great sigh, he spoke. "Have you tried talking to your guidance counselor?" My head nodded with a no. "Have you tried praying about it?" My head nodded another no. "What about closing your eyes and picking one at random?"

"As if I would actually pick one at random. Dad, this is my future we're talking about here. This is the next four years of my life that will shape my entire life. This has to be taken seriously!"

"And I agree," the old man stated as a sip of his coffee was taken. "That's why calling that hotline is a stupid idea. You need to take a chill pill and realize that everything will be fine. Your future will be fine. But it's not going to be fine if you're costing me five hundred dollars a month on that hotline." Another sip of that coffee was taken. This man had every right to be angry. Somehow, he was surprisingly calm.

I couldn't help but laugh. "There's no way that it's costing you that much."

"Oh, you'd be pretty surprised. And if you expect to mooch off us in college, you better stop racking up a bill." In response, I took a seat at the kitchen table where a cold cup of coffee awaited me. "Perhaps you'd like to pay for future bills? Maybe get yourself a nice fancy-paying job?"

That sounded like a tempting offer. At first, it sounded cool, but I quickly remembered how little money I actually had in my bank account. And who couldn't forget those recent failed interviews? I'm sure my old man remembered. 

"No, I'm good. Sorry, dad. It won't happen again. I'll try to figure out my future like the normal human that I am."

"Your darn right it won't happen again." He sat down with me and picked up the paper to read as he drunk his caffeinated beverage while ignoring his son. "By any chance did you leave your bike at school again?"

Son of a cracker. I forgot about that. "Yeah, my bike has been having problems again."

"Well FYI, I hope you're ready for school. Looks like the bus is less than a minute away."

Crap, if only I could be in his seat. If I had been, I could've noticed the bus as well. There was no way I could afford to miss the bus today.

"Crap, where's my backpack?" I asked in a panicked tone without receiving a response from my father. My ears could hear the intense ticking of the clock.

With that, I found myself rushing through the kitchen as if the world were about to end in search of my backpack. Turns out, it was right next to the phone. Was it me, or was the minute hand getting faster? Digging through the pocket of my jeans, my fingers made sure that I had everything that was needed. Tick tock! No! Where was the cash? Oh crap! My heart sunk again knowing that it was potentially lost. Sure enough, it was in my backpack. Alright, we were good to go with about less than ten seconds to spare.

"Alright, bye dad. I'm bouncing out of here. See you after school," I announced making my way out the door.

"Have a wonderful day at school son. Make great memories and please act your age. What's your age again?"

"Very funny dad, I'm eighteen."

"Well act like the mature eighteen-year-old that you are."

Hope you enjoyed this first chapter. Don't forget to comment and vote. The future is in your hands!

Were you alive in 1999?

What should Jeremy do about the future?

Which school do you think he'll attend?