You Must Remember This

Chapter 18: There Is Nothing Like The Brain

"So what does Beth plan on doing now?"

"It's not for me to say. There are bad people out there in the world, John, who despite being handsome conceal hearts of darkness. And there are also good people too, who possess hearts of light while still being handsome. Beth has wasted a perfectly good year of her life with the former. If I were her, I'd want a break from it all. That reminds me: are you coming with us to the lake this year?"

"Yes, a break from it all does sound quite nice. Who is coming?"

"Well, Beth is, I obviously am, and Juliet's family is only going to Singapore the week after, so she's going to come as well. We'll have a full house, but lots of fun!"

"And Alan?"

"Tom said Alan was occupied with something, but he wouldn't tell me what. I'm sure he just wants to play video games at home or do something introverted like that. We're too mature for that. Just fun, games, and relaxation for us." John, his mind still crackling with uncharted possibilities, said yes without hesitation. They waited there, trying to meditate with varying degrees of success, until Tom suddenly crept behind them and made Regina nearly fall off the bench with astonishment. Tom insisted they leave to get a drink, John said he didn't need anything, Regina tried to persuade Tom of the natural beauty he was missing, Tom insisted once again that Regina come with him, and they left, Regina looking back to wave John a goodbye laden with imaginings of what could be.

Behrooz was too preoccupied with his recent success to think much of Beth's latest failure besides considering it inevitable. His DJ business had blossomed, and after growing tired of always playing for such high-energy events as "Senior Zumba," Behrooz asked Ms. Foster very sweetly if the school could be allowed to save money by letting him take over at school events. She said no—it simply wasn't done, there was no precedent! It was much easier, she said, to have students from the music production club volunteer countless hours so their names could flash by misspelled in the credits of official school videos. Behrooz did not see how this was a counter-argument, and eventually teased out a promise from Ms. Foster that if he could get himself 100 signatures, she'd hand over the reins. Behrooz spent one day furiously begging everyone he remotely knew to sign and give him a chance, including Frank, who suggested he try to convince everyone at that day's club meeting to help out.

"You aren't underdressed, I promise," Frank smiled, and took a moment to readjust his tie. Behrooz stammered and asked if he could leave a signing sheet with him instead of daring to enter the club's sacred space.

"That won't be any issue at all. Good luck. It's a shame that you've somehow never been able to attend the physical meetings. It's just a casual melding of minds, I promise. There's nothing else to it."

"I'm really not in the mood for seeing Beth. Or Ted." Frank chuckled knowingly.

"I don't think we'll be seeing much of Ted anymore." Ted had sent Frank an email shortly after his breakup explaining that for "personal reasons," he would no longer attend the meetings. Frank immediately went to show Mr. T, who grimaced and shook his head. "I don't mind a parasite. I object to a cut-rate one." Ted took little from his latest failure, not even that his reputation as womanizer was beginning to seep into his daily interactions with others, who even if they did not view Beth with much esteem certainly thought more of her than him. Ted considered himself a self-made man: he succeeded through elbow grease and failed through applying it too parsimoniously. He was a self-made man who owed his lack of success to nobody, least of all himself. Some had tried to explain to him exactly what he had done wrong, that Beth was a "good girl" who ought not to be censured for her occasional pangs of conscience. Even Tom criticized Ted for slapping her, thinking it too forceful a gesture for such little reward. All these factors combined drove Ted to find the common courtesy to email Frank, assuring him he was no less of a good person now and that he'd keep up with the lectures. Frank had outsmarted him by merely refusing to play the game, and in the process had stolen three of his possessions that by birthright should have been his. That sneaky bastard.