Dark Night

Summer session

The week went by too fast. I wasn't going to be around for the skater's showcase this year, so Mikhal let the family into the rink after hours and Stan performed his new programs for us. Still really rough and there were places where I could see he needed to add difficulty--this would be the run-up year to his second and final Olympics and he still could benefit from solidifying  his reputation as the world's premiere male single skater. Arthur's music was dynamic and interesting, full of texture that worked well with the program, and I could hear where he was getting better too. Stan said that he was working on the music for his Olympic programs already. He also had his post skating plans firmly in place. He was continuing to take classes at the community college and his counselor thought that he would be ready go to a four-year school in the fall following his final skating season. He was interested in sports psychology.

I was at the store, running an errand for Grandpa, when I ran into my old teacher, Mr Tiller, and was able to thank him for all his work with me, which had allowed me to feel much more confident when I got to college. His extra effort had meant a lot to me. He was glad to hear that I was doing so well and was really encouraging about my future plans.

Otherwise, I did a couple more things with my friends, but I primarily spent the time with Grandpa. I missed him a lot at school. I reluctantly went back to school, but I was interested in seeing what summer school would be like. Very calm and quiet, it turned out. Most students were off campus, so it felt positively empty. It felt like everybody had migrated to the beaches, though. I did a lot of campus tours for larger groups of student because there were so few of us tour guides still around. The classes were awesome. I'd been issued a roommate, but Donna was there for the shortest session and I had the room to myself for five whole weeks. It was really nice. I formed new friendships and we summer students explored LA every weekend. Some of them were also surfers and we quickly formed a group where we went to the beach for dawn surfing every Monday and Thursday, so we could actually park and surf without hordes of people around. I had classes and was determined to get As, of course, but I could not remember having a more relaxing and fun school term.

I missed Will a lot, especially since I had no roommate, but we talked a lot and texted a lot. He was helping out at his dad's accounting firm and while it was interesting, he said he'd rather be on campus. But he reported back for football practice in early August, and we were able to take full advantage of my lack of roommate. Well, as fully as we could--practice started early in the morning and lasted most of the day, but we still had most of the evenings. There was some socializing to be done with his friends, of course,  and when Keshondra and Zayna arrived for the beginnings of their semesters, he came to dinner with us. Zayna also really liked him, which was a relief. I wanted my friends to like him too. We got together a few times before my summer quarter ended and I went back to Duke's Crossing for a couple of weeks. They took me out for an early birthday dinner and we took one of those Hollywood bus tours, which neither Keshondra or I had done to that point. It was fun, our tour guide was hilarious.

My return followed a now-set pattern; dinner with Grandpa and Stan the first night, the parents showing up for the second. Two days later, we had my birthday party, and Stan made the cake. With seven minute icing. I felt so affectionate toward him for the effort that I didn't even mention that the icing was grainy. Other than that, it was casual; Stan had gotten ahead of me in Grandpa's cooking classes, but he'd had much more to learn than I had. I hung out with Cass and  Carol and went up to the rink at night sometimes; Paul had gone back to school and that was when he worked. I skateboarded and relaxed, and I went out to eat with Krista and Marc, who were adorable together. It seemed that this relationship had staying power. They both deserved it.

I only saw John once over the two weeks; Cass and I went up to the rink to skate and goof off one afternoon and he rented us the skates and took our admission fee. Cass refused to speak to him, putting the money on the counter and picking up her change. We spoke just what was necessary, and Cass asked me how Will was doing as we laced up our skates. She meant for him to hear; we'd been talking about a club she was in at school beforehand, nothing at all to do with my boyfriend. "How's he feeling about the new season?" She asked.