GETTING IT RIGHT: Wrinkle In Time Trilogy.

y! It's time

'd been dead for thirteen years. Xander rolled over only to discover his

ed if he'd broken something. His eyes blinked open, and he gasped. Had falling out of bed fixed

seemed true-he co

kay. He felt better than he had in years. All his aches and pains se

sked himself, but caught

he room he'd lived

self, and his arms and

t sent back to do my lif

, which had a mirror above it, and saw

your first day of school, and

t there first. He quickly did his business and brushed his teeth. Then he saw

cutting his hair had just retired from a long-time position on a Marine base. His job had been to give each jarhead the same

r wore a flattop. He remembered slamming a baseball cap over the atro

ise not to laugh,

ed at him

show

everyone at his new school that he'd lost a bet to his dad and that he didn't always look li

now just shrugged. Xander knew he'd make friends, and the teasing would die down after t

est Fork, Arkansas. They'd moved from Dallas, Texas, because his mom's parents weren't doi

being well because Grandma and Grandpa Davidson didn't act sick wh

Xander's mom to force the move was his dad getting caught banging one of his clients' daughters on a job site-the client's seventeen-year-old

Needless to say, when Izzy left f

, the type who never lost an argument and made you look like scum for opposing him

st Fork, near Fayetteville, on the north edge of the Ozark Mountains, in

a spot on a ridge that overlooked the town and designed the home to blend wit

him out of his morning reverie. Isobel was two years y

I have to get re

d took up smoking. She'd been 34 when she finally succumbed, leaving a daughter whom Xander had taken in when Izzy's deadbeat husban

on but had never been a mo

..!" Izzy

love his sister

him the

" she huffed, pushin

rt and then stopped himself. Did he really want to get his ass kicked the first day? His haircut would put a big enough targe

drawer and pulled out a t-shirt with some anime characters on it, which he vaguely remembered. Xander put it back and found a plain red one instead. No ne

would have been easier the first time around if he'd done it, so that was what he would go with. His

coming out of

do I

'd never asked her som

nd I have this messed-up haircut. I don't need to be

bly survive y

take that

ank

downstairs, but his sister put h

you actin

aid he loved her and ... well ... they di

ove will give me a chanc

that for a mo

aid and pushed him out of the w

ce a difference in him. So his off-the-cuff remark about making changes should

the top of his newspaper. "When you get home, you can mow

yourself with every uttera

Xander said, shocki

n," was his dad'

ryone in sight. He was also very fit because he wasn't afraid of physical labor, unlike most of the other contractors Xander h

le could never understand how such an odd couple would be together. Thankfully, Xander had taken after his mo

hat their father was ugly, but anyone could see Xander's mom was

style. She'd also put on a red t-shirt. The little shit winked at h

st ones to get on, he and Izzy would have to sit next to the kid

. Xander would either have to endure this hell for the next three years or find someone to give him a ride. He could probably get into a fight, and then

. One was with a future neighbor, Brian Miller. Brian's younger broth

Xander vividly remembered a group of guys playing in the empty lot next to

before? If you want,

d pointed to a seat further back. There was no need to expose h

the most politically correct thing to say about Karen? 'Fuck it.' Karen embodied her stereotypical name, the class sni

hen Xander sat down next to her, part of

down next to undoubtedly th

I'm Xa

e wasn't accustomed to anyone talk

, folding her arm

r's old self would've caught the hint and stared straight ahead,

fficially the first person

might be the last person y

That is, unless you don

ll I know, you could be a sur

," Xander

ion communicate

et to know you before I decide i

seat tomorrow mor

ulling up t

won't be a prob

ed that, in the future, acts of chivalry would be frowned upon, but he was too old to change his ways. Plus, he figured all the o

e day, so it was time for karm

r on the trip home. Xander then made his way to his homeroom. He'd not received hi

class, he found Kare

d check in to get your seat

ch put Xander toward the back of the class. Once Karen h

you're all here and to provide you with any announcements. Once the announcements are made, y

u'll go to your first-peri

is homework, which he usually forgot. If he were honest, it had been because he was easily dis

at had taken him years to break. He vowed to make some changes this time through. He chuckled to

ay, discussions of what they'd done over the summer broke out around him. As the n

his life to ch

too much, smoked too much pot, and let himself go, to the point where, by the end of college, he was a good fifty pounds overweight. At the

nd he was on the track, running. He was doing speed training where he would walk the curves and

r going to

he h

nage guy wanted. Then he went to college and started drinking and doing dr

ut he'd seen the hell his dad put them all through, and the image of that being a m

insisted on creating paperwork stating that if anything should happen to her, Xander would raise her daughter. Izzy didn't want her husband

ined he would have to become Nevis's father. Ultimat

arents' dramas to screw him up. When you've been beaten down by your father all your life, your self-image takes a pounding. Add to

ame from Norwegian stock, so he wasn't unfortunate in the looks department. With that in mi

nt kid, which he proved later in life when he was entrusted with managing large numbers

to graduate but struggled to find a decent job. So he'd made the one smart move of his young life and returned to

. Younger people jumped over him. If Xander were his superior, he could see the l

on the five-year plan. Up against a bunch of computer nerds, he was the only one who understood business-aka their clients. He became the one the sales

nd running large-scale computer conversions, where they

ant he quickly burned out. In addition, the responsibility of raisi

t nailed down what he planned to change, but he was now motivated.

self to get out of his head and live this life without constantly trying to place long-forgotten faces; he would have plenty of

d his sister sitting next to her new BFF, so Xander sat across the aisle and as

o-around. Xander had always wished that it had gone differently, mainly because Pam was stunnin

She'd looked at him like something that needed to be scraped from the sole of her shoe and stomped o

or year that Pam eve

," Pa

t catching up with my sister on her first day. It's no problem; I

o look embarrassed

ad day, and that is

person messes with my day. It's no problem; I'll make

ank

r seating mistake, where it woul

at him sa

end, Kelly, normally sits in that seat, but she isn'

king at him wide-eyed. He made a goofy f

the whole i

been speculati

t Xander b

e?

e girls have been wondering if yo

der asked as his

fferent in the big city. The rumor is that many go

girlfriend. Never have, if I'm being candid. Not too l

w?" Pam

what all the talk's about where girls

at?" Pa

ou ... what did you call it

lly smil

irls here will never know what hit th

use I only plan to flirt

flushed, and she turn

The 'I don't give a fuck' version sat quietly and waited. He'd either mess

. Her parents caught them having sex, which was followed by a pregnancy scare. After that, s

only thirteen. That didn't mean he was beyond wanting a middle-school girlfri

come into money at some point. It had something t

r, it made sense when you considered that Walmart and Tyson Chicken-Arkansas's number two and three

training had been that the first person to talk lost. His old self would'v

rned around and

ig-city line?" Pam

Xander said, smirking when Pam gasped. "Now, thatwas a big-city line. But I don't need to u

l be asking you to get o

nk you need to go home and cogitate on this before we do something like

u a seat, the

division, and the bus slowed

elly think?"

rked. "I'll se

back as she got off the bus to ensure he'd enjoyed the show. That would go right into th

back had bee