Sister City

Chapter Eighteen

Chapter Eighteen

When the final bell rang the last day of class my junior year, I wasn’t sure I could even remember half of the school year. Between my AP classes, my hectic gymnastics schedule, and my crazy family I had hardly noticed the weeks slipping by.

My life was cluttered, but quite uncomplicated. Yes. Uncomplicated is the right word. I spent the year dreaming about Marcus. We had no classes together, which actually made my life somewhat easier. The only time I had to moon over him was cheerleading practice, which was at the same time as football practice. Truthfully, we were so busy with complicated routines and difficult stunts that the only time I had to sit on the grass and stare at the football players was when we were stretching. I couldn't stare in a satisfying way, though, because I could feel Laura's eyes on me and it caused the hairs on the back of my neck to stand straight up.

Even the football games were too busy to spend time staring. Don’t get me wrong. I stared. After every cheer, when we turned around to watch the game, I scanned the field for the number 47 jersey. Once I found Marcus, I would try to catch a glimpse of the small blue “C”, the patch signifying that he was the captain, on the front. Just as I was imagining tracing the shape with my fingers, and I was certain a small amount of drool would show any second, I would tear my eyes away and look for Luka’s number 6 jersey.

Marcus was just a small distraction. I saw him for a few hours a week and we had no alone time, which suited me fine. He and Luka would come crashing through the door, grab armfuls of snacks and then disappear into the bedroom. With James living in sin with Leena in a small apartment in Santa Rosa, Lex found himself banished to the living room frequently. Marcus and Luka conned him by playing to his sensitive side. He told me that they claimed Luka was going through some tough times and really needed some privacy. I would have believed it if Meg hadn't shown up every day after soccer practice and sequestered herself in the room too.

When senior year started, things were off more than usual in our house. It was weird starting school as the oldest and weirder not having James around to drive us to school. James, still reeling from his break up with Leena, had packed up his meager possessions and moved to Glendale, AZ early. He still had months before he needed to start spring training, but there were too many reminders of Leena at home. With Inara living in the Ukraine on an exchange program, dancing her heart out at the Tara Shevchenko National Academic Theatre of Opera and Ballet and Jack still stationed in Afghanistan, my little Acer laptop is running Skype full time. Though I have been feeling discombobulated and abandoned, sad even, senior year was passing in the same way junior did. My time was evenly split between gymnastics, cheerleading and school. In that order, this, unfortunately, led to many discussions with Mom and Dad about my priorities, or lack thereof. When I qualified for Nationals, Dad strong armed Mom into backing off and cutting me some slack. I mean, I'm a straight A student, involved in athletics and generally well rounded. What more does she want? She claims she wants me to be happy, but I can't take any more of her pep talks which always end with a pro Marcus mom-ism.

Despite being a bit off-kilter, my little world and I were doing just fine. I had stopped pining over Marcus about the same time Laura told me she and Marcus were dating. The news didn't bother me nearly as much as I thought it would. Truthfully, I had so many activities occupying my mind that the only time I could care was at bedtime. I had a few minutes, no more, to be weepy and feel sorry for myself before I passed out from sheer exhaustion. In early November, just a few short months into the funk that was my senior year, my time situation changed drastically. I went on independent study. I needed more time to practice before Nationals, and after several harsh phone calls from Coach Artemov, the school district reluctantly agreed. Luka would bring home my assignments weekly. I would be required to check in once a week, drop off my homework, and bring a signed note from my parents attesting to my dutiful studying. There would be studying, no doubt, or there would be no Nationals.