Time And Again

Chapter 6

He got up early and sat in bed waiting. Waiting for the dreaded wake-up call of the WKJB radio host. In fact, he almost worried himself sick with waiting, so much so that he threw up in the toilet. He's found that no matter what time he gets up, the radio will turn on, and he'll hear those soul defeating words—

"Good morning Los Angeles and metro area, all of you WKJB-FM listeners! I'm Shelly filling in for MegaWatt this morning. Happy first day of school to you wild and crazy kids out there. This song's for you to get you up and moving this Wednesday. I hope you're all Walkin' Like an Egyptian to class cause I know The Bangles are."

"All the old paintings on the tombs. They do the sand dance, don't you know? If they move too quick (oh whey oh). They're falling down like a domino..."

Still, as a statue, staring at his wall, he couldn't move. Was the radio right? Is this a new day? As if to answer his questions, his mom yelled, "Johnny! You're going to be late. Get a move on!" Unbelieving, he shook his head and covered his mouth with his left hand. Then quick as lightning, he jumped out of bed and headed to brush his teeth. This is the first day that he hasn't heard that guy MegaWatt or that ridiculous pop song Back In Time. Today is different. Today is real, and it's also the first day of school.

It's totally weird because he's already lived this day once before too. But how many chances in life does a person get to do it all over again, to get it right? He's unsure why he was chosen for this, but one thing's for sure. This time he's going to make different choices. After spitting out the toothpaste, he spoke out loud. "As that great wise man, Yoda once said, Do or do not. There is no try."

He grabbed a pair of khaki pants, a white T-shirt, and a khaki windbreaker from his closet. Yes. He realizes he wore this exact outfit the first time he lived this day, but it's a good outfit. There's no harm in wearing it on the first day of school this time around too. He threw it on, combed his hair, sprayed cologne, took up his binder, and headed downstairs.

Greeting his mother with a kiss on the cheek, he took up a plate of pancakes. This is one of his favorite things. She always makes chocolate chip pancakes for the start of a new school year, and just like he ate them back in the first August, they're always in the shape of a smiley face. "Are you ready to start a new year?" Laura asked.

Interesting question because the first time she asked that question, on this same day, he was not. He was in a bad mood and in a bad place after the breakup. He had also loathed that Ali was interested in Daniel. He can also admit now, that he had felt jealous because of it. However, after last night he's feeling pretty good about things. So, "Yeah, I kinda am. I think good things are on the horizon, maybe." 

He had to throw that maybe in there because he can't predict the future. Plus, he's unsure if he'll have to repeat any days to come. Something tells him he will. Mainly because you just don't get thrown back into the past only to repeat the same day five times, and come out fresh as a daisy. The question is, what day moving forward will he have to repeat.

Besides, he's still technically stuck in the past. Only now the difference is he's surrounded by opportunity— the opportunity to make himself better. Everything about this is pointing him in the direction of doing what he set out to do in the first place, making it all work. He's going to start with not dropping honors French and honors calculus. 

His scores on both placement tests were high enough for him to be part of it. So he needs to stay true to that path. The only reason he dropped the classes in the first place was that Ali was in them. The odd thing about that is even though he wanted to win her back, he didn't want to see her in those classes. He feels dumb compared to her. She's one of the top Seniors.