Re Do Re Don't...

Julie was sitting with Amanda and Beth while they looked through their old yearbooks. 

"Oh my god...do you remember Lizzie? She was such a little snitch." Beth pointed at the picture of the girl in their yearbook.

"She was! Like constantly ratting people out. What was her deal?" Amanda said flipping pages looking for other people she would recognize.

"Just a goody two shoes looking for approval."

"Or...she was a time traveller." 

"Wait, Julie, what? A time traveller?"

"Yeah, so you know how people are always talking about would you go back and redo things if you could? Like if I could start over knowing what I know now I could make my life so much better."

"Okay..." Amanda paused her page flipping.

"What if that Lizzie girl you knew got the chance. What if she happened to be asked by something that could actually do it? So she went back knowing what she knows."

"Why would that turn her into a little snitch? Like her wish was to go back in time and be a real bitch?" Beth wasn't buying it.

"That probably wasn't her wish, but it was the consequence."

"Not following. Explain."

Amanda started turning pages again, "Oh gosh, remember Thomas? I used to think he was so cute. Ugh."

"Okay, so, I run into a magic genie and they say if you could go back knowing what you know now would you? And I'm like, hell yeah, send me back to redo things. I will study harder, make some different friends, take the classes I was actually interested in, maybe invest in a few companies. Boom! I'm sent back to my freshman year of high school and I know everything I know now."

"So you are going back to become hugely wealthy and happy. See? You wouldn't go back to be a snitch."

"But wait...my freshman year. I'm sitting in my Health class with the instructor that I never liked. He always just gave off the creepy try hard vibe to me. But because I've lived through Yes All Women and the Me Too movement I know that he sexually abused a friend of mine. It wasn't just a creepy vibe, he really was a creep. What do I do with that? I can't turn him in to the administration, technically he hasn't done it yet and I don't think they are going to believe the 14 year old who says she's come back in time to fix her slacker tendencies."

"Wow."

"Yeah, wow. I mean I can try and convince her that she really doesn't want to be TA for him or be the trainer for baseball but...that might save her. Knowing what I know now, I would know that it wasn't just her. It's never just one girl with creeps like that. Probably the TA in my Health class is his current victim. But how would I convince her to turn on him? She probably thinks they are in love. And, again, I have no proof. But I'm going to be a pest about him. And I'm going to have to figure something out because I can't just let him continue to abuse girls can I?

And that's not all I know. I know my sophomore year I am going to have English with the absolute coolest girl in our class. I mean she was basically an adult while we were all 15 year old children. I can remember a few times a week seeing her boyfriend dropping her off before class. He had taken off from work to take her to lunch. He would cruise right up to the edge of the parking lot and she would hop out and saunter into class just so fucking cool.

He had taken off from work. 

Because he was a grown ass adult dating a 15 year old. 

At the time it just made her that much cooler. But knowing what I know now, what the fuck, my dude? You and I should have a discussion about legalities and statutory rape and what the fuck are you doing? But is he going to listen to me? You know she isn't. And everyone will just think I'm jealous of her, or it's none of my business. I mean, we didn't actually take good care of kids in the 80s. We might all be telling jokes about being feral, but it was true. We had very little adult supervision and nobody protected us."

"Okay, but still, Lizzie wasn't out there trying to keep girls from old creepy men. She was ratting out kids for stupid things. Like cheating on a test. Or smoking behind the gym. "

"But maybe those weren't stupid things if you knew what she knew. Like the cheater grows up to become a con artist because they always got away with shit. Or the smoker behind the gym dies at a young age from lung cancer. I mean if you went back knowing everything you know now you'd know who died from drug overdoses or alcoholism. Wouldn't you try to keep them from ever using? You'd know who died from suicide. You'd do what you could to get them help. You'd know everything you know now. Your dream of focusing more in class and investing in Google wouldn't be your priority at all. Or at least I wouldn't think so."

"Shit, that's dark."

"Yeah, so maybe Lizzie had bigger issues than being a goody two shoes?"

"I cannot believe you're trying to make me feel badly for Lizzie Rat You Out!"

"No, I mean, you're right, I'm sure she was just a pain in the ass. So, Amanda, back to Thomas."

"It's funny, I had the biggest crush on him all through middle school. He finally asked me out junior year."

"Nice. And was it everything you dreamed of?"

"No! We ended up not going out. Weird coincidence, but Lizzie ratted him out for something and he ended up grounded."

"Okay, that is crazy."

"But it ended up okay, I mean I heard later that he was not a good guy. Like a lot of stories."

"Yeah, did you know he got the shit kicked out of him by Jimmie Sanderson freshman year of college? I guess he had dated Jimmie's little sister and..."

Julie leaned back in her chair. "mmmhmm."

"Stop it. She was not a time traveller." 

"I'm sure. I mean how crazy of an idea is it that she was? But she did save Amanda from whatever Thomas might have tried. So at least maybe think of her in that light instead of as that little snitch."

Amanda shook her head, "You know, she really did. I hadn't ever thought of it like that, but it could have been bad. It was bad for a lot of girls. I should try and find her at the reunion and tell her thank you."

"You think she's going to go to your reunion? I mean, if you two are any indication school must have been miserable for her. Everyone always mad at her and calling her names."

"Yeah, probably. Which is too bad. I mean, I guess looking at it now she was just trying to help."

"Do you think if she did go back knowing everything, do you think she would do it again if given the chance? Like if she ran into the genie again do you think she'd ask to go back again, but without knowing anything?"

"Like she would just live the original life she was trying to fix the first time?"

"Man, that would be hard right? Like her life ended up being much worse because she went back to try and make it better, but she was able to make other people's lives better. So what do you do?"

"What do you do? If you could go back knowing everything you know now, would you?"

Amanda and Beth sat silently. Saying yes would mean knowing that you could help people. Like the other girls who had gone out with Thomas. But also nobody wants help like that so it would mean being miserable for four years or more, depending on how far they went back. 

Julie waited watching them think. Knowing that this was the crucial time. Would they? Would she reach her chaos quota for the year in one fell swoop? A triple dip in just one high school class. Lizzie had been one of her first, with her mentor telling her if she played it right she could pick fruit from that tree for years. 

Would they bite?