The very next day, life seemingly returned to normal. At least, my version of normal. I went straight back to my usual morning routine. I woke up early, went for my run, and then headed to school by driving Dad's truck with him.
I planned to spend the day quietly doing my own things during those boring freshman classes. But today, during one of the morning periods, something happened.
"Sheldon Cooper and Charlie Cooper. Please report to the principal's office immediately," a teacher announced as she leaned into the classroom.
We both gathered our things and walked down the empty hallway together.
Sheldon looked up at me as we walked. "Hey Charlie, I heard you talking in your sleep last night about some girl named Helen," he stated matter of factly.
"Why are you spying on me, Snitcheldon?" I snapped at him. He truly has a unique way of getting right on your nerves when you least expect it. I might have had a specific dream where Helen and I did some things.
"I simply heard you talking from outside the closed door. I have very keen ears, you know," Sheldon said, poorly attempting to justify his blatant breach of privacy.
"Well, let me just fix that for you," I replied. I quickly stepped right behind him and pulled both his ears upwards.
"Ouch, ouch. Let go of me," Sheldon whined, he was on his toes.
"Promise me you will never snitch and spy on me again," I demanded firmly, waiting for him to say the exact words. I simply had to fulfill my brotherly duties and teach him some basic common sense.
"I promise, I promise," he squeaked. I finally let go, mostly because I suddenly saw our father walking toward us from the other end of the hallway.
"Hey Charlie, do not bully your brother," Dad scolded loudly across the hall as he closed the distance between us. It seemed like he had also been called down to the main office for this meeting.
We all walked inside the office together. Principal Peterson was smiling widely from behind his desk, prompting Dad to let out a massive sigh of relief. He clearly thought that at least we were not dealing with bad news or disciplinary action today.
The principal proudly announced that both of us had passed our placement tests with absolute flying colors. He explained that we were officially eligible to opt for significantly more advanced classes. He clearly expected us to act like overexcited kids, but neither of us was surprised by the results. We just stared back at him blankly.
"Well, if you boys ever need any personal guidance from me, my door is always open," Principal Peterson offered warmly. He leaned forward and began explaining the logistical challenges we would inevitably face.
He warned us that we would have to sit alongside much older students in these advanced classes. Furthermore, those older kids were already ahead of us in the current syllabus by at least two full months.
He kindly assured us that we were completely free to seek out the faculty members if we ever needed any extra academic help catching up. Sheldon literally snorted out loud at that ridiculous comment, muttering something under his breath about incompetence of public school teachers.
I simply giggled quietly at the absurd thought. The idea that any regular high school teacher in this building could actually teach me something I could not instantly read and comprehend myself was highly amusing.
"You still remember my specific condition, right?" I asked him, directly referencing our previous deal about the non compulsion to attend every single class period.
"Yes, Charlie. You are completely free to manage your time however you want, just as long as you continue to score perfect grades in all your enrolled classes," he agreed with a confirming nod.
I reached into my bag and submitted the written list of new subjects I wanted to officially opt for. Sheldon quickly did the exact same thing, verbally rattling off his own highly demanding schedule.
We prepared to go our separate ways and head back to class. However, before we could leave the room, Sheldon turned back and asked the principal a burning question.
"Exactly who scored higher on the assessments?" he demanded.
"You both received absolutely perfect scores," the principal replied patiently.
"It seems the state tests were simply too easy," Sheldon told the principal dismissively. He was already entirely convinced in his own mind that he was the truly smart one in the family.
"It seems I need to fix your mouth as well," I threatened lightly, offering him a sharp smile.
"No, sir," Sheldon squeaked, instantly falling back in line.
________
Later that day, I was eating my lunch in the cafeteria, sitting comfortably at a table with Helen and Kevin. It seemed that my days of eating completely alone in silence were officially over.
I decided it was the right time to share the major administrative update. "Well, I actually have some good news and some bad news for you guys," I announced casually over my food.
"What is it?" Helen asked immediately, leaning closer to me on the cafeteria bench.
"I tested out of the standard curriculum and officially skipped this semester's classes today. We will not be attending the same freshman classes together anymore," I said, dropping the heavy bomb on them.
"Charlie, that is really great, man," Kevin said, offering a supportive nod. He sounded genuinely excited for my academic success, even though a hint of sadness crept into his voice at the thought of losing a friend in class.
"I honestly do not know how I should feel about that," Helen admitted quietly, looking down at her lunch tray.
We were not officially boyfriend and girlfriend yet, but I really liked her company and was actively planning to ask her out on a proper date soon.
I wanted to slowly show her my genius side to carefully check her reaction. I needed to see if she would be deeply intimidated by this highly unusual part of my identity before things got more serious.
"We will still see each other every single day during lunch, and definitely hang out outside of school. I will even continue helping you with your math studies," I told her softly, reassuring her that this change was not a bad thing for us.
She finally smiled upon hearing that logical compromise. She reached over and gave me a tight hug, genuinely congratulating me on the massive achievement.
By the end of that very same day, the big news had completely spread through the entire high school, and I suddenly became quite famous for it.
The teenage rumor mill in this specific era was incredibly fast and undeniably strong. Since these kids did not have cell phones or the internet to distract them, they had absolutely nothing better to do than talk amongst themselves and spread gossip.
Sheldon was obviously already famous around campus for being a bizarre child genius. However, I was not obnoxious and condescending like my younger brother, so the older students actually seemed to like me.
Several completely unknown older girls even went out of their way to smile and say hi to me when the final school bell rang.
I politely waved back at them as I walked down the hall. I quickly decided that it was simply not worth staying late on campus today to study, as too many curious people would inevitably bother me with endless questions.
So, I decided to just go straight home with Mom when she picked up Sheldon and Missy from school.
"Mom, today Charlie and I got the results for our placement exams, and we both passed," Sheldon told Mom, desperately seeking the maternal compliments.
"That is my boys. I am so proud of both of you," she said, genuinely happy for our success. She then looked over at Missy in the backseat.
"I am incredibly proud of you too, my sweet angel," she added quickly, seeing her daughter looking a bit upset about being left out of the praise.
"Too late," Missy said flatly. She folded her arms across her chest in quiet anger, she turned to look out the window.
On the drive home, I casually asked Mom to pull her car over near the local print shop on Main Street. She navigated into the small parking lot, and I quickly ran inside the store.
I retrieved the cardboard box filled entirely with our freshly printed advertisement cards.
As I walked back out carrying the box. I conveniently spotted a brightly colored ice cream truck parked near the corner. I decided to use a little bit of my spare change to buy something for Sheldon and Missy, hoping to lift the heavy mood in the car.
I handed the ice cream cones through the open car windows. Missy had one extra scoop than Sheldon. She was gloating about that. I also got ice cream for mom and me.
Missy immediately took a massive bite of her ice cream, and her previously angry expression instantly melted away into a bright smile. That small gesture seemed to make her genuinely happy at least.
It was a sweet moment for all of us. Even Sheldon was acting like a kid.
_______
When Georgie got home with Dad after practice, I found him standing in the kitchen eating some junk food snacks.
"Hey, Georgie," I called out to him.
"Hey, Charlie. I heard about you officially skipping classes," Georgie replied, sounding incredibly unsure about exactly how to feel about the whole situation.
Sheldon was entirely different, but Georgie and I were stuck in the exact same grade since childhood. He always had my back during school and I had his.
Now I had suddenly leaped ahead of him. He knew it was coming, but today it actually became a reality. Georgie honestly looked a bit sad.
"Hurry up and get ready. We are distributing the advertisement cards today," I said smoothly. I knew it absolutely did not matter if we were together in the same classroom or not.
He was my buddy whenever I needed him, and he would get used to the new dynamic in some time. I just needed to make sure I spent quality time with him outside of school.
Within a few short minutes, Georgie and I were walking down the suburban streets, going from house to house. We diligently dropped our newly printed advertisement cards into every single mailbox. The cards featured very clear instructions explaining exactly how our curb painting service operated for the local homeowners.
If a resident actually wanted their faded curb numbers freshly repainted, the process was incredibly simple. They just had to write yes on the back of the card and hang it from their front doorknob the very next day. They could easily attach it using a piece of thread or a cheap rubber band.
I would then walk down the street after school, easily spot the hanging envelope, and properly note down the specific address in my ledger.
Afterward, I would go ring their doorbell just to verbally confirm the order. We firmly planned to complete the manual labor that exact same afternoon.
After finishing the painting job to their satisfaction, we would knock on the door one last time to collect our hard earned cash.
It was a highly efficient system that completely removed the awkwardness of door to door cold calling, allowing the customers to quietly opt into our services.
We dropped the advertisement cards at exactly thirty different houses just to see how many people would actually accept our service. We wanted to test the waters first.
We would complete the requested work and then accordingly increase our daily target houses the following day based on that initial response rate.
When we previously worked for the people in our immediate neighborhood, they already knew us personally. They trusted us with their lawns because we lived right down the street. However, this specific business venture was entirely different since the people living a few blocks over were not familiar with us at all.
In their eyes, we were just two random teenagers attempting to do something new. Because of this slight disadvantage, I definitely did not want to look like someone just messing around for pocket change. I firmly told Georgie that we absolutely needed to act professional at all times.
Despite my strict lecture regarding our customer service approach, I was honestly not too worried about Georgie messing up the sales pitch. He naturally seemed to possess an incredible sixth sense for reading adult customers.
He instinctively knew exactly when he needed to be strictly formal or charmingly casual according to the client.
Oh man, I was incredibly excited to see the actual results the very nex
t day. We both walked back home together, loudly talking and fantasizing about exactly how we were going to spend all the money we were about to earn.
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An: Time skip in next chapter.