Well... fuck.

Okay, so after the H.A.A. thing, I got good news and bad news multiple times. The good news was that the first of my revenue from the online blitz hit, so... I'm kinda rich. I had dad sign on as my manager, and after sending half of it to the IRS, I insisted that the rest go to paying out the family debt... well, almost all. I did upgrade my computer, and did my own clothes shopping for school, and oh look, another inch taller. I'm almost as tall as my dad, and I feel like I'm gonna pass him, which feels... weird, in a way I can't describe. Also good, with the extra money, our Labor Day family weekend got significantly upgraded, and we got to go to Disneyland. I got a tourist hat and shades for while we were at the park, so I could just hang (Learned my lesson from the Jersey Mike's and a whole list of other places)

Here's where the bad news starts. My OPM workouts aren't really getting results anymore, and I'm pretty sure I know why. Essentially, my body has caught up with the workload, and my endurance and recuperation times have dropped enough that it just doesn't feel like working out anymore. Basically, same thing that happened with the bowling ball. I haven't gotten lighter, but because of repetition, it's no longer a challenge for my body.

But, good news, Mackenzie seems to have figured out a use for my abilities. Bad News, it's being her sparring partner. At first, when we went back to karate, she was a bit upset that I was advancing ahead of her, even though she's been religious at practicing. This lasted until we talked, and I mentioned that she shouldn't feel bad- It wasn't actually me, it was just my powers, and they would keep me ahead. I'd hoped that would just console her a bit, but instead, she has it in her head that I am now The Perfect Sparring Partner. I mean, she's not wrong, per se, but it doesn't make it feel any better.

We got going at the thing, and after a bit, I was responding to every attack, and I started to notice some holes in her form. Mackenzie is an insanely aggressive attacker, and every time you attack, you expose a weakness. As well, attacking so aggressively, she was burning herself out, so really all I had to do was maintain a minimal blocking effort to run out the clock and wait for her to slow down. Then 'pop' 'pop'. It was a bit of trouble explaining it, but with the help of Sensei Bill, I got better at the 'explain to people what they're doing wrong without destroying their sense of self' skillset.

Sticking to maintaining the technical workout, rather than building, I started broadening my horizons. I learned to skate and rollerblade, not Xtreme Olympics level, but I can use them now to get back and forth to school well enough. Mom enforced a carpet ban on filling up my Sundays, requiring that I take a self-care day each week. So I'd play Minecraft, a couple of other games, watching anime, but then, I happened across a show when I was bored: The Joy of Painting With Bob Ross. This bore investigating. I mean, I liked listening, but really, why not learn to make some happy little trees? The first couple were... more the idea of paintings, but with confidence in the power, I went ahead and got to work on some art. Mom approved of this, then apparently hit me with a full list of old... Public Broadcasting? shows. Dad thought it was silly, but y'know, it was kind of insane. Did you know that Mr. Rogers talked about the JFK Assassination to kids?! Oh my God! Where was our cheerful talk about the wonders of Covid back in 2020?

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Pretty much my whole week before school started turned into a blur. Some last-minute clothes and stationery shopping, got my textbooks for the new year and just read them ahead of time. With all the reading and typing I've been doing, trying to keep up with Twitch stream chats, I was slinging through the books like nothing. I still dread the book list for English: nothing is going to make yet another year of Ex-Patriate novels better, powers or not.

The coach was despondent to hear I wouldn't be joining any teams, but he got it. I mean, fundamentally, it would be cheating, and I didn't like the ethics of it. I'm supposed to be an example of some sort, so what would it say if I took some kid's spot who's been working his whole life to get there? Nah, but the coach did ask if I would consider being a team manager, maybe run drills and stuff, look over the playbooks, and that was more satisfactory, so I did agree.

I was all set. I was ready for school... and I fucking beefed it, repeatedly. It wasn't even the extra attention. I'd anticipated that, which was one of the reasons I didn't take the bus to school. And no, it wasn't really the classes either, those were mostly boring with some distractions. I did great with the boys basketball team... and then repeatedly fell on my ass at the girls' practice. How? Well, let's recap the thought I had before each time I ate court:

So pretty- WHAM!

She has the bluest ey- "FUCK!"

Wait, no can't touch- "SHIT!"

Aimee and I had been in school together for years, but apparently this year, she decided to go from the prettiest girl in our class to "Melt brain". And I actually got sent to the nurse's office cause Coach was worried I might have a concussion from hitting the ground so many times. And it isn't like I was like that around all of the girls, just... you know, the really gorgeous Italian one, with perfectly curly hair, and who smells awesome just all the time. I should know, my sense of smell got better the last couple of weeks.

She tried talking to me, and I tried to remember the English language I'd been speaking almost my entire life, but I'm gonna go learn like twenty-some odd new languages to sound like a jackass around her in. I couldn't concentrate for the rest of the day, and it was driving me nuts. But it's like Crimson said, I don't really have accomplishments. My powers have them, so even if someone that hot would go out with 'me', it wouldn't be... me. FUCK! I was smarter than this a couple of hours ago!