After The Energists: Rebooted Teen YearsChapter 6: Right Now free porn video
Medway High School, Arva, Ontario
Thursday, February 15, 1979
My second day back in 1979 was a relatively normal day for any high schooler. First thing that morning, my brother and I got into it over who had first dibs on the bathroom. Trying to be nice, I gave in and let him use it first, seeing how I had taken a shower at school the night before and didn’t do much after that, except for some leisurely clothes shopping with my mom. Still, I didn’t take too kindly to Patt’s sorry ‘holier than thou’ attitude. I just had to make the best of my time with him and pray we didn’t get into any major scraps.
On the bus ride to school, Paul very excitedly told me about some of the new bass guitar riffs he was finally able to play last night after struggling with them for so long. I just smiled at hearing his vivid descriptions of his new playing level. Paul, just like Cathy yesterday after school, didn’t seem to have a clue about anything we talked about or what I did for him and his sister. I wondered how I could make Paul, Cathy and probably Brad understand and more importantly remember how they were helped with their new talents. I made a mental note to ask the Energists how to do this, if it was even possible.
After he described his exciting playing news, I had to explain to him the reason for the major cold shoulder I received from Gary Dander as we waited at our bus stop. While Paul isn’t a super basketball fan, he understood the magnitude of what happened when I told him how I jumped high enough to stuff Gary as he tried to dunk the basketball. Paul also remembered what I told him about Gary’s cheap shot move in the pool last summer and how I had always hoped to give him some type of payback for it. He then surprised me somewhat by turning around to where Gary was sitting and shouted, “I heard you didn’t like them apples last night, huh Dander!”
I wanted to throttle Paul for saying that in front of everybody on the bus as I knew I would either have to take on Gary myself or more than likely come to Paul’s defense against Gary at some future point, since Paul was basically all bark with very little bite. If I remembered right, Gary gave him a black eye for no good reason last November when we were playing some road hockey in a friend’s paved driveway. Paul threatened to bust him upside his head with his hockey stick, but everyone knew Paul wasn’t going to do that, even if Gary deserved it.
When I looked back at Gary after Paul’s ill-conceived announcement, he was once again fuming and his normal pasty white complexion had turned a nice shade of red. ‘Great, just F-ing great!‘ I thought to myself; ‘One more thing to watch for or take care of now on my new adventure.’
One of the good things that came from Paul’s big mouth was seeing a small smile creep across Cathy’s face as she semi-eavesdropped on our conversation. She was sitting in the seat behind me and Paul, so I caught this slight change in her demeanor as I checked Dander’s reaction. Cathy was constantly telling me to let go of what Gary did to me, to us and I promised I wouldn’t go out of my way to get back at him. She was smiling I’m sure because she knew I kept my word and got our payback in a socially acceptable manner in a very public setting.
I was about ready to turn back around when Cathy softly stated, “You really got that big douche bag, last night, huh?”
I grinned at her and gave a simple nod of my head. Then I replied, “The whole team exploded in amazement when little ole me hammered the ball against the backboard as he was about to dunk it. He was royally pissed right then, and in the locker room afterwards. And ... from the looks of things thanks to your shithead brother here, he’s majorly PO’ed on the bus, now, too.”
Cathy smiled her full winning smile at me for the first time this morning and said, “Serves that big asshole right. I couldn’t hold a drum stick in my left hand for 3, 4 days after I smacked it against the edge of the pool.” I kept on grinning back at her because I was somewhat relieved to have her talking and smiling back at me. As I said before, Cathy was pretty good about not holding grudges or getting involved in other people’s business.
Because she mentioned her drumming there, I wanted to know if she noticed any improvement in her playing, so I asked, “Did you play with Paul as he rocked his bass last night?”
“Sure did,” she said with a huge grin. “You know I don’t need a reason to play my babies. We uh, you KNOW we jammed a little bit last night.”
“How did it go?” I probed.
“Oh lordy!” she exclaimed. “We both nailed it, it was just incredible. We put the Eagles’ Hotel California in our sound system, and I thought I was Don Henley playing the drums. We both killed it on Life in the Fast Lane and New Kid in Town, didn’t we Paul?!” Cathy did a pretty mean air drum demonstration as she bubbled on with her drumming tale.
Paul once again moved around the bus seat like he had ants in his pants. I could tell he was super excited about what his twin sister was saying to me. When Cathy’s tale ended, Paul immediately jumped in with, “We sure did! We rocked those songs and a few others. I uh, even came up with a few little bass line variations on a song or two that sounded pretty cool. Right Cath?”
Paul’s sister rapidly nodded her head in agreement. “We both did a few cool little improvs as we played along with those Eagles’ and a couple of Joe Walsh’s songs,” she added. There was a brief lull in their excited description as they appeared to be processing their memories of that scene. Cathy snapped out of her own little world first, looked at me a little suspiciously, and then said, “Thanks for giving that little gift to me, to us.”
Her words seemed to trigger Paul’s ability to access his subconscious memories and he calmly put his hand on my shoulder and said, “Damn Mike, that is one cool ability you have there and I’m, we’re glad you gave us a little piece of it.”
“You two remember that, now?” I stupidly queried them.
“I do,” Cathy said, to which Paul quickly agreed. “I know I felt different yesterday in music class, and I put that Greg Smybutt jerk to shame with both my xylophone and drum playing for like the first time, ever. Mr. Ballows praised both Paul’s trumpeting and my percussion playing. He’s never ever done that before either! Thanks for sharing the Ener-gish, uh, Ener... ?”
“Energists, they are called Energists,” I helped her with the name of my alternate universe friends.
“Yeah, thanks for sharing their gift with us,” Paul softly said. Cathy and Paul both were smiling big time at me as we bonded a little more over that incredible afternoon experience.
Paul then semi-surprised me by saying, “If we only had someone who could really sing and play guitar, and uh, maybe someone to play piano or keyboards, then uh, we might have the makings of a decent little high school band.”
Cathy excitedly added, “I love the sound of saxophones in rock songs, too. Dang, if we could find a singer and a lead guitarist, a keyboard player and someone who could play multiple instruments, I think I might pee my pants, I’m so stoked now.”
All three of us were getting a little too animated and loud it seemed as we heard our bus driver, Mr. Jefferies say, “Hey Paulie and crew, tone it down a notch or two, please and thanks.”
I quickly turned to look at his face in the rearview mirror. I put my hands together and bowed at him with a smile, which caused Mr. J to smile back and slightly nodded his head in reply. After one more quick check in his mirror, he returned his focus back to his morning bus driving tasks.
As Paul and Cathy chatted about the requirements for starting a high school band, I had a quick internal debate over whether I wanted to jump on their little musical bandwagon or not. I remembered thinking at the end of Mr. Ballows’ class yesterday that I wanted to be more than a decent musician. In class, I actually wanted to be an ELITE musical talent. Now, after a good night’s sleep, I tried to figure out if that was just a spur of the moment thing or if it was what I truly wanted to focus on this time through my high school life. Decisions, decisions!
Why couldn’t I do both sports and music I asked myself? With my adult memories, completing all the academic requirements this time in high school shouldn’t be too taxing. However, finding time for all my sports and this new musical desire might be tough to manage. I already knew I was a pretty good all-round athlete and an elite track runner. My experiences teaching and coaching should only aid my present sports’ performances. Also, if things progressed similarly, I knew I would stop playing top level hockey next spring. Maybe I should speed up that process and rethink my overall priorities for this new high school go round.
After I quickly worked out a plausible sport and musical schedule in my head, I came to a sad and unfortunate conclusion that I wouldn’t be able to assist my Uncle Eddie on his farm as much as before or as much as he really needed. Having that quality time and work experience with him played a major role in my previous life. However, if I wanted to make the most of this new musical experience with my best friends here, I knew I’d have to give up something else since this new endeavor would eat up a good chunk of my time.
“Dang it,” I barely said out loud. I just couldn’t see any other way to make this work without eliminating or seriously reducing my time working with my uncle. In a far corner of my consciousness, I faintly heard, “Mike, Mike, hello earth to Mike,” as Paul tried to capture my attention once more. It took Cathy’s cold hands on my cheeks to snap me out of my introspection.
“Where were you Mike? What is wrong?” I finally heard Cathy ask.
“I uh, I was trying to decide what I really wanted to do as I, uh, as I ... relive my life again,” I whispered to my friends. “The Energists told me I had to maintain some uh, semblance of my past life, but they also encouraged me to branch out and experience new things. I’m, uh, I was just trying to analyze the pros and cons of a possible new course of action there. And I’m afraid I might hurt Uncle Eddie’s feelings with what I think I want to do.”
“So ... you’ve come to some sort of tough decision have you?” Cathy quietly asked as she leaned over the back of the seat. “I hate that for Uncle Eddie. I know how much you like being with him. We both enjoyed our week or two weeks up on his farm these past few summers, didn’t we Paul?”
(Note: Both Paul and Cathy called my uncle that name when they were around him or referring to him with me and my family members.)
“Oh yeah,” he replied. “We both got to drive tractors and his pickup a few times. I could have done without the early morning chores but yeah, it’s fun working on your uncle’s farm. So uh, what are you thinking about doing differently this time?” Paul said a little too loudly.
“Shush, keep it down,” Cathy fussed and lightly swatted her brother on the back of his head.
I chuckled at her antics and then softly said, “Well, yesterday at the end of music, well, Mr. Ballows backhandedly praised my trombone playing. When he did that, I felt a huge surge in energy and I uh, really wanted to reply back at his biting words, but I stopped myself. Anyhow, right then, with that big rush of energy, I basically thought, ‘I’m going to the best damn musician he’s ever seen since he’s been teaching’.”
Both Paul and Cathy knew the Little-Man well enough and had plenty of experience hearing his somewhat mean-spirited words. “He can be a real jerk at times, can’t he?” Cathy snapped off.
“Yes indeed,” I said. “Anyhow, as I put away my trombone, I really contemplated the notion of becoming a great musician, you know, using my new gift to learn and play new things. Now, after hearing how excited you both were about your new musical skills, I, I’m seriously thinking about becoming a part of that new band you just mentioned, if you want me.”
Both of the McGregory twins sat and stared at me in silence for several moments. Paul’s eyes got progressively bigger as I watched him. Cathy quickly turned her head back and forth between her brother and me as her facial expression changed from astonishment to wonderment.
I was about to say something to fill this deafening silence when Cathy sharply and rapidly, but thankfully with a low volume asked, “What do you want to play? You want to play drums? I’ll learn to play something else. Will you sing? I’m sure you’ll be a good singer. You’d probably make a killer lead guitarist, too. Oh please tell us you’ll give this a shot!”
When I attempted to answer Cathy’s questions and concerns, Paul, who normally is never at a loss for words, simply said, “You gotta do this with us, Mike.” He grabbed my left shoulder and gave it a little squeeze to signify how much he wanted me to do this with him and Cathy.
“Ok, Ok,” I said.
“Ok what?” Cathy interjected before I could clarify those words. Paul glared at his sister and ‘shushed’ her.
“I’ll give it a shot. We’ll give it a shot I guess,” I said to them.
Paul responded to my announcement by rapidly but lightly hitting my left arm with his fists and said, “Yes, yes, yes...” each time he smacked my arm.
Cathy stood up just enough to lean over the high-backed seat and kissed my left cheek. When she dropped back down to her seat, she smiled at me and said, “Oops. You’ll have to clean your cheek, again.”
“Oh wonderful,” I replied back and smiled at her. “You can stop anytime now man,” I said to Paul as I lifted my punching bag arm up and wiped Cathy’s lipstick off my cheek with my jean jacket sleeve. With my ecstatic friends staring at me in silence now, I turned more to towards Cathy and gestured for Paul to lean in closer. “Just so you both know, right as I thought about becoming a skilled musician at the end of class yesterday, I felt an incredible sensation in my hands, arms and here in my throat.” I wiggled my fingers and then placed them along over my throat. “I bet ya, the Energists’ immediately made the needed changes to my body to make that wild, new desire an earthly reality for me.”
“Oh wow!” Cathy said and did a little air-drumming and continued, “I felt a funky body sensation, too yesterday, right after our little fist bumping action. God, Mike, this stuff you and we can do now is so cool, it’s almost scary.” When I looked at Paul, he too was nodding his head to signify he felt a similar body sensation to what I described.
“Alright then, I uh think we’ll have a little work cut out for us now if we want to put this little band plan in motion,” I said. “I doubt anything will happen overnight with it as the Energists told me I’d have to work really hard to make any enhancements permanent, just like I told you guys yesterday.”
“Uh, Mike,” Cathy softly said as Mr. Jefferies slowed the bus and turned onto the drive which led around the back of the high school. “What do you think you’ll want to do or play in our band?” She giggled a little there and added, “Our band, that is just, oooh yes!”
“Well, I’ve uh fooled around and strummed on your dad’s acoustic guitar a few times, but uh, I wouldn’t mind getting a good electric guitar and giving it a shot.” I laughed a little and added, “I know being an expert ‘air-guitar’ player means nothing in real life but I uh, I just have a feeling playing an electric guitar will work out fine.”
“Yeah Cath, this is going to be great, just you wait and see,” Paul enthusiastically said as the bus rolled to a stop behind the school. “Do you think that tingling in your throat means you’ll be able to sing as well as play guitar?”
“This is all new to me man, but that makes sense, doesn’t it?” I replied.
“You’ll rock it, Mike. You’ll rock it,” Cathy said giving my shoulder a shake as she stood up to exit the bus.
I grabbed my gym bag from the floor and watched Paul snag his trumpet case from the front storage area of the bus as we disembarked. Both Paul and Cathy were giddy after our little band pow-wow. I told my excited friends that I’d see them at lunch as they hurried inside the school to escape the cold.
Instead of following them inside, I turned and moved alongside the bus as I figured I would try to take care of some unpleasant business, and hopefully ‘nip it in the bud’ before it ignited into an ugly wildfire. When Gary Dander slowly walked down the steps of the bus, I made sure he saw me waiting there for him.
He took three giant strides towards me and angrily asked, “What are you waiting for?”
Even though he still had me by six or seven inches and tried to use his height as an intimidation factor, I slowly smiled up at him and calmly said, “If you so much as touch or move a single hair on Paul’s head or make one dumbass remark to Cathy, which causes her to shed just one tear; because of what just happened on the bus, or for any reason as a matter of fact, you’ll have to deal with me.”
“I’m sooo scared, you little piss-ant,” he fired off and fluttered his fingers in my face. “I’ll do whatever the hell I please, and if either of them, or you, happens to get stepped on, well, you get stepped on.” Gary let his dumbass grin creep across his face as he finished with his implied threat.
I wasn’t fazed by his bravado and remained calm. “If I recall correctly, Gary, last spring we went at it pretty good and you received as much punishment, if not more than you gave out. Now, I’m a little taller and a good bit stronger ... so use what few stupid brain cells you have working between your ears and come to the RIGHT conclusion about this little situation. As far as I’m concerned, it’s done now. I’d love it if you thought it was done, too.”
I stopped to let Gary ponder both my ‘peace treaty’ and my promise of an all-out rumble for a moment. When I kept seeing and sensing rage and distain within my big neighbor, I softly added these final words, “Again, as of right now, it’s done ... However, just one hair or one tear ... I won’t let Cathy’s pleadings stop me from coming after you like her words did last summer. And when I do come at you, I won’t stop til either you and/or me needs an ambulance.”
I stared straight up into his steel blue eyes and didn’t flinch or move an inch as he leaned down towards me some. There could have been a grenade explosion right beside me and I wouldn’t have known it as I kept my focus on him and stood my ground. Gary finally looked and stepped off to the side after our 15 to 20 second stare-down. He gave me his textbook Dander grunt and hand fling motion as he turned and shuffled off towards the school entrance.
After he was almost at the school entrance, I let out a long slow sigh and gently rolled my neck around a time or two in order to let all that built-up tension escape out of me. I carefully shuffled my feet around, as I just realized I was standing on an icy patch of pavement. I was somewhat lucky Gary didn’t decide to do something right there because I would have been at a major disadvantage right from the start, being on that slippery surface.
As I started to walk towards the school with my gym bag, Mr. Jefferies called out my name. When I turned back towards the bus, Mr. J said from his driver’s seat, “That was pretty impressive. Pretty damn stupid but impressive none the less. I see you’ve learned the best way to stop a bully like Gary is to call him out. Now, your next step should be to tell your friend to zip his mouth shut from now on, though.”
I smiled up at our bus driver as he let me know I did a good, a good but crazy thing there. “Yeah Mr. J., I wasn’t too pleased with what Paul did there. I’ll talk with him. Thanks.”
“Have a good day, son,” he said before he closed the bus doors and drove off.
I was about twenty feet from the school entrance, when I heard a familiar voice shout, “Hey Mike, did you miss me, last night?” I turned to see Lynette running at me from the rear student parking lot in her red and white Medway basketball jacket, with her small flute case and gym bag flailing about in her hands.
“I did, I did,” I replied with a smile. As I watched her run towards me, I added, “Be careful, there are some pretty slick spots out...” Before I finished my warning, she darn near went ‘ass over tea kettle’, as my uncle would say. Good thing she was athletic and coordinated or I doubt she would have been able to save herself from a serious tumble.
“Good Lord, Lynette. Are you alright?” I called out. She was too far away for me to help her, so words were all I could offer her right then.
“Hoh, dang! That was a close one. Uh yeah, I’m good,” she said with a slightly frazzled smile on her face. “Damn, I didn’t see that icy patch there. Goodness.”
“I’m glad you’re still in one piece,” I offered as she cozied up to me. When she gave me a wicked hip-bump, I chuckled and asked, “Do you want to head into the gym for a few minutes, or head upstairs to homeroom and talk?”
“Let’s head to homeroom and sit down, if you don’t mind.”
After we both put our jackets and other stuff into our lockers and got our first two periods’ books, we walked hand in hand into Mr. Connors’ history room. I followed Lynette to her seat and sat down beside her. We briefly talked about what had happened in both of our practices last night. Lynette was super excited when I told her I was going to start my first high school basketball game against Glencoe on Friday.
Dani
- 30.11.2021
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