Junior Year Box Set

“Do NOT mark on your test after time is called. If you do, it will be collected and not scored,” Ms. Jaroslav said, and then paused. “Do you have any questions? If not, you may begin.”

The English portion started with several passages that you had to read. They would underline part of a passage and then give you four choices of how it should be written. The reading section was tricky. You sometimes had to go back and double-check the paragraph word by word. A lot of it was reading between the lines and understanding the underlying meaning.

When I’d finished the test, I was glad I was taking this class. While I felt I had done well, it had pointed out areas for me to work on.

◊◊◊

Brook and I were leaving the dojo to go do motocross again. Of course, it was only a matter of time before my mom found out about my skydiving classes and riding a motorcycle. She had always said that I couldn’t own one, so I figured I was on firm ground on that technicality. As far as skydiving was concerned, Dad had to sign off to get me into the class. It never came up in conversation at home, so I figured Dad must be just keeping it quiet. The truth, of course, was that my mom had her own set of rules, and my acting like a lawyer would never save me.

As we got into the Charger, my phone rang, and it was Angie.

“David, I need a babysitter right now. I have a group project and Greg’s working. Would you be able to come over for an hour?” she asked.

“Hang on,” I said and then turned to Brook. “Want to meet my niece and nephews?”

“Sure.”

“See you in fifteen minutes,” I said to Angie.

Mac and Kyle were peering out the window as we pulled up. They were worse than Duke. When Brook and I reached the door, we could hear the chaos on the other side. When it opened, I pushed Brook in front of me. Both Mac and Kyle took a step back and looked up at her, not sure who she was.

“Tell her what your names are,” I told them.

“Hi, I’m Brook,” she said as she got down on their level.

I was surprised when the two toddlers became shy. Normally they would meet anyone. Angie came out of the back with her book bag.

“No winding them up. I need them to go to bed tonight. Your mom’ll be here in about forty-five minutes. Thanks,” she said and kissed me on the cheek as she ran out.

I found Nate in his bouncy seat. It was like a small swing on bungee cords. It helped build his leg strength as he bounced up and down. I pulled Nate out of it so he could sit on my lap while Kyle and Mac sat on each side of me. Brook had her phone out and took our picture. Mac grabbed my sleeve to get my attention. She looked very serious, so I leaned down so to hear her.

“Unca David dance,” Mac whispered and pointed at the TV.

It took me a minute to figure out what she wanted. When I had filmed Star Academy, they had captured me learning dance moves from everyone. I also was tricked into doing lip-sync routines when we shot in northern Canada. They had sent me several DVDs, and I had given one to Greg. He said that Kyle and Mac loved to watch it, but it confused them because they wanted to know where I was. They were getting good at mimicking my dance moves, according to Greg. I’d yet to see it, and it amused me to think about how two little tots would do dancing.

“You guys want to dance?” I asked.

They both squirmed off the couch, and Kyle ran to the DVD collection and found my video. I put Nate into the bounce seat and then loaded the DVD.

“You do it!” Kyle yelled as he bounced up and down.

“Can you video this for me?” I asked Brook, who showed me she planned to.

Angie was going to kill me. As I danced around, imitating myself on the video, my two little mimics did a credible job for being almost two. I about fell down laughing when Mac did her imitation of Nicki Minaj in Bang Bang. She had the head twists down on the ‘oh, oh.’ Mac was going to be a little diva someday.

When my mom arrived, Brook had joined the fun. At first, I was worried that Mom was going to be mad that I had them wound up, but she took her jacket off and joined us. Luckily, Greg got home first and smiled when he saw we had our own little dance party going on. Nate was in my arms as we bounced around to the music.

The fun part about winding little ones up is watching them just fall over asleep. It’s almost as much fun as dealing with drunks. Brook and I helped Greg get the little ones down.

On the drive home, I caught the end of the Cubs–Pirates game. The winner would be in the playoffs.

“I take it you’re a Cubs fan,” Brook said.

“Did you ever see that movie Back to the Future?” I asked.

“Yeah, the one with Marty McFly in it.”

“In it, they predict that the Cubs’ll make the World Series this year. I think it’s finally our turn.”

“Your brother’s kids are cute,” Brook said to change the subject.

“I need to spend more time with them,” I said, and then remembered something. “Send me the video from tonight. I’ll get it posted so others can see what little stars they are.”