Small Problem -20-

Small Problem

Part 20

I looked around the conference room with former colleagues seated around the table. I picked up some of the papers in front of me and casually looked through them. “Has this reversing process been verified? Honestly, I could just as easily wind up as dog food.”

Dr. Wilson pointed at a couple of individuals that I’d never seen before. “This process has been through multiple simulations, am I not correct? The code appears bulletproof. Your own original coding prevents the nanites from converting any subjects into inanimate objects.

I played with the material of my cheerleader uniform for a moment and grunted a laugh. “Well, I was sure my original programming would prevent them from going this far.” I smirked as I pointed at myself.

Dr. Wilson shrugged. “I believe that was a coding error on your part. That’s been corrected. Am I right?” He glanced around the conference room, and there were a few nods.

I looked again through the papers I had been handed. “This is certainly very compelling. I’d be free of the constraints I currently face as a teen girl as parental authority would cease to be an issue. Not to mention having to deal with such mundane things like make-up or wasting time painting my nails. I could get back to doing serious research.”

Dr. Wilson stood up. “And that’s what we want, Stan! You’ve proved the technology works, and we’re six months ahead of our nearest competitor. Once you’ve been restored, you will be placed in charge of the Micro Machines Department. And then, once you’ve refactored and certified the code, we can submit it to the FDA for certification. Stop wasting your time with this cheerleader nonsense and rejoin our team!”

“It’d be nice to stop being chased by boys all the time.”

Cathy wrinkled up her face at me. “What are you talking about, Amanda? You love that. You flirt with anyone with a penis.”

Scowling at my so-called sister, I said, “What are you talking about? I don’t flirt with anyone!”

“Horse puckey! And what about Chad?”

Dr. Wilson looked at me and asked, “What’s a Chad?”

Cathy frowned at Dr. Wilson. “It’s more like a who. Chad is her boyfriend.”

Looking puzzled, Wilson asked, “You have a boyfriend?”

I took a deep breath and said, “It’s okay. I am a girl. We’d have to figure something out.”

Wilson heaved a sigh. “Let’s don’t add any more complications.” After a moment’s pause, he added. “Just sign the bottom form. That authorizes the nanite procedure and permits us to bring you back from being deceased and nullify your wife’s divorce.”

I studied the form. When I sign this, there’ll be no more cheerleading. Mom will return to being my wife unless she divorces me for he who owns the Porsche Mr. Carlton. I’ll have parental authority over Cathy again. Won’t that be a hoot? In just a few hours, I’ll be me again.

A sudden thought struck me. I set aside the form and started looking through the data and coding again. I quickly sifted through the reams of paper. Here it is. I pulled several pages out.

“Dr. Wilson. I have a question.”

Dr. Wilson paused his flirting with his assistant. “Sure, Stan. Shoot.”

Pointing at a few lines of code, I said, “The nanites can’t make me older. Just younger. I’ll be me, but still fourteen.”

Dr. Wilson chuckled. “We’ve already discussed that issue among the engineers here. The legal team has already worked out a solution. We’ll just declare you to be twenty-one. And we think your wife will certainly like the… ahem… improvements that have been factored in.

Charlotte raised her eyebrow at me. I just shrugged.

I picked up the form and turned it in my hand a few moments. No more being a silly girl. No more being fought over by bad boys. No more curfews. I looked over at Mom, or should I say Charlotte. I couldn’t read her expression. The money they were going to pay me was more than generous.  This should be a slam-dunk decision. So why is my stomach in knots?

Charlotte just stared into space. I looked over at Cathy and she was sulking, staring at her phone. What do I tell Chad? I do like the big lug.

I snapped the paper a few times and sighed heavily. I stared at it for over a minute.

“Cathy. You know what I think?” I broke the thick silence in the room.

Not looking over at me, she asked, “What Dad? What do you think?”

Grinning broadly, I said, “I think if we leave right now, we’ll get to the stadium before kick-off.”

A smile stretched across her face, as she said, “We need to go!” We started to stand up.

I picked up the agreement and tore it in about six pieces. Grinning, Mom stood up with us.

Wilson shouted, “Where are you going? You haven’t signed the agreement yet! Why are you tearing it? Mrs. Moore. Please talk some sense into your husband!”

Putting her purse strap over her shoulder, Mom said, “I believe my daughter has made her intentions quite clear. Come on, girls.”

Panicking, Wilson said, “Stan! Wait! Is it the money? We can go higher!”

Not looking back, we exited the conference room.

                    *

Cathy let me ride up front while she took the back seat. Grinning, she said, “Don’t get used to that.”

I looked down at my fingers. “Hmmm. Maybe I was too hasty in not signing. I’m sure they have another copy.”

Looking worried, Cathy said, “Amanda, you can ride shotgun all you want.” I just smirked at her.

Mom gave me a glance. “So, Amanda. What was the deal breaker? I really thought you wanted to return to your work.”

Sighing heavily, I paused and looked down at my feet. “Honestly? I was very tempted. I wanted back in the game. I knew I could push the technology even further. Reading through the code I was already thinking of improvements and enhancements.”

Stopping at a red light, Mom asked, “So why didn’t you sign it?”

I grunted a laugh.”Probably because I’m a girl. I started thinking… despite Cathy being a huge butt, I couldn’t remember any time when I’ve been happier. Just a minute ago, I did text Dr. Wilson saying I wouldn’t mind doing consulting work.”

Mom raised her eyebrow. “Oh? What did he say to that?”

I laughed. “He didn’t think he could sell the board on a fourteen-year-old Nanite consultant, but he’d keep that in mind.”

Mom drove into the school parking lot after making the wise decision to check the school first to drop us off. As soon as we got out of the car, she drove off. She still had to get ready to be picked up by her… it still chaps my butt to say this… boyfriend Porsche owner.

Standing partway in the doorway for one of the buses, Coach shouted, “Guys! Hurry! I didn’t think you were going to make it. Quick. Get in the bus. We have to go!”

As we hurried onto the bus, Cathy said, “Sorry we’re late. Amanda was trying to figure out if she wanted to be a man or not.” I glared at her.

Coach shook her head. “Where do you come up with this nonsense? Get on the bus.”

The bus was filled with cheerleaders and the dance team. They didn’t want to mix us with the football players.

We found seats and sat down just as the bus lurched forward. Marcia leaned over and asked, “Where did you guys go? There was a rumor you’d been taken out of school.”

Cathy shook her head. “One of us might have been removed from school. Amanda had to face her moment of truth.”

Scowling, I said, “Will you please shut up, Cat? Don’t make me regret my decision!”

Sarah asked, “Moment of truth about what? You’re not leaving us, are you?”

I shook my head. “It’s nothing. Really.”

The bus rolled to a stop in the stadium’s parking lot. Coach Renwick raised her voice and said, “Okay, girls. Get to our spot in the stands and wait for me. If you’re not sure where to go, ask a senior.”

We all quickly filed out of the bus. I followed Cathy, though I had an idea where we were going. We had a spot in the stands between the free student area and the band. We were actually on the “vistor’s” side of the stadium.

Marcia elbowed me in the ribs. “Are you excited? First game and all?”

“I can’t lie. I am worried.”

She nodded knowingly. “You’ll do fine. Just do what we practiced.”

I looked around trying to spot Chad. “Where’s the team?”

Marcia grinned at me. “Don’t worry. Chad’s here. There’s a room under the stands where the teams meet to get their butts chewed by the coach. And to go over plays and stuff.

Despite it being late August, I felt a chill. “I’m nervous.”

“You did great at the pep rally. Just have fun,” Marcia elbowed me again.

The band was already set up next to us. A quick glance at them showed me Cathy having an animated chat with Darryl. She wasn’t wasting any time, that’s for sure.

The stands were filling up. At least on the home side. The visitor side, not so much. They didn’t even have their band with them. I didn’t want to sound mean, but honestly, they had little hope to win. I heard one of the band members gleefully tell his friend that the visitor team, The Clarksville Fighting Roosters had never made state after seventy-five years. Their mascot is Colonel Sanders with a guy actually wearing a white suit. I’d heard they wanted the mascot to be Dr. Pecker, but the school didn’t allow it despite the school name practically screaming “cock fight.”

Cathy walked back over to where we were standing as the band stood up and gathered their instruments.

Marcia shouted, “Okay, girls! Let’s go line up on the field.  Wendy, you and Ariel are holding the banner.”  We had two girls holding the poles that held the paper banner the team would run through. The rest of the cheerleaders would line up as a gauntlet for the team to run through after breaking the banner.

As we walked out onto the field to line up, I punched Cathy lightly in the shoulder. “Hey, Cat. What was the deal with announcing to all my former co-workers that I chase anything with a penis? You know that’s not true, and it makes me sound like a slut.”

Cat rubbed her arm where I’d barely hit her. “I thought it was funny. And don’t lie. You like boys.”

Frowning, I said, “Knock it off, girl. I like A boy.” I didn’t think I had to say ‘Chad.’

Cathy looked over at me. “You like Darryl.”

“Yeah, so?”

Cathy ticked off another finger as if she was counting. “You like Jason.”

I narrowed my brows at Cathy. “What of it?”

Ticking off another finger and with a wry grin, “You can’t deny you like Owen.”

We took our positions in the lineup. “I most certainly can deny that.”

Ticking off another finger, Cathy said, “And let’s don’t forget Douger.”

“Knock it off, Cat.”

Pointing at me, Cathy laughed, “Ah ha! No denial there.”

Before I could respond, Coach Renwick growled at us. “Girls! Pay attention. The boys are about to run through our lines.”

Moments later, the team burst through the banner and ran through our gauntlet. Chad winked at me as he ran by. Both teams lined up as the color guard marched onto the field while the band played the National Anthem. The two team captains and the referee then ran out to the fifty-yard line. Our team won the kickoff.

The cheerleaders removed the poles and pieces of the torn banner as we cleared the field.

We all cheered and yelled as our team ran down the field after the kickoff. As the teams lined up to face each other, I looked up into the stand. It took a few moments, but I finally saw Mom. She was sitting next to Mr. Carlton. She waved, and I waved back. Jason, sitting next to Mr. Carlton, stood up and waved when he saw me. I gave him an enthusiastic wave back.

I turned around and trotted over to where several other cheerleaders were gathered, trying unsuccessfully to lead the audience in a cheer. A lukewarm response was about all we could get from them. But we were certainly putting on a show. At least we were having fun.

After several minutes of trying to warm up the audience, the audience suddenly stood up and began cheering on their own. They were all looking at the field. I looked out onto the field and saw Chad running as fast as he could, only to get nailed on the ten-yard line. Just ten measly yards, and we could have got a score.  Ten seconds later Chad got his second chance, and this time, he scored.

                    *

All the girls on the bus were singing one of the new popular songs that I have to say I don’t care for. Thankfully, it was a short ride back to the school parking lot. Everyone was in a good mood after the game. Actually, I felt sorry for the Roosters. The game was a complete blowout, with the final score resembling a basketball score.

When they dropped us off, it was just us, the cheerleaders and dance team. The players hadn’t arrived yet, and neither had the band. The band was always the last to leave, as they had to play the alma mater at the very end. And of course, the football team would have to drop off their equipment before going to the after-game party at Rosa’s.

Instead of waiting, several of us piled into Marcia’s car. Chad can’t drive anyway, so no point in waiting for him. Cathy had elected to wait for Darryl to arrive with the rest of the band.

Marcia poked me in the shoulder. “So Amanda, how was your first time out as cheerleader?”

Grinning, I said, “I loved it. I had a blast, that’s for sure.”

“We were a bit worried when you didn’t come back from wherever it was you went.”

I looked down at my hands as we rode in Marcia’s car to Rosa’s. “Me too. I had a big decision to make.”

Marcia narrowed her eyes at me. “What kind of decision?”

I grunted a laugh. “Fame and glory or being a cheerleader.”

Marcia shook her head and laughed. Of course, she didn’t know.

                    *

Later after the party, my arms around Chad and him kissing me, I decided I made the correct choice…

End of Small Problem.