Chapter Eight: Springtime

The temperature was rising.  The walk to the library turned into a hazardous maze of slush and snowmelt.  One morning, while gathering fruits and vegetables from the community garden in an effort to save money and supplement my income, the sky darkened.

Then, a torrential downpour started.

I ran sprinting down the street, dodging growing puddles of mud, and took cover in the library.

The great outdoors and I were not going to be good friends.

Looking over my paper for the hundredth time, I wondered if it might be better if I scrapped a few paragraphs and added more quotes from my research.  Then I worried that I sounded as though I was meandering rather than making a good argument.  I rewrote.  I read back.  I deleted half of what I had written and started over again.

“How’s the paper coming?”  Mr. Peters asked when I came in that afternoon.

“Alright, I suppose.”  I grumbled.

I let him read over what I had worked on while I put a few new books out on the shelves.  When I came back to the register, Mr. Peters was clucking his tongue and shaking his head.

“The moment you doubt whether you can fly, you cease for ever to be able to do it.” he said, handing my notes back to me with a smile.

I scribbled new ideas in the margins and flipped the pages in my hands as I walked home, re-reading again.  The sun was out now, pricking the back of my neck with warmth.  I had almost reached my doorstep when someone leaped straight into my path.

“Hiya!”  Nirina squealed.

 “Ancients!”  I clasped my hand to my chest.  “Niri…?  Wha…?  It’s the middle of the week…”

“I cut class.”  Nirina said, smirking.  She held her arms out and closed her eyes.  “I don’t think I’ve seen the sun in moooonths!  Isn’t this wicked?”

"I suppose…”  I murmured.

“Do you want to go to the beach with me?”  Nirina asked.  “Pleeeaaase?  Daria doesn’t get it.  When all the other green things go dormant, she can curl up in her little pot and still feel comfy and cozy.  But I can’t keep lying in the bathtub all day… I need space to spread my fins!”

 “I need to work my essay…”  I muttered.

Nirina snatched the papers out of my hands and skimmed through my numerous notes.

“It’s brilliant.” she said, dismissively, shoving the papers into a large pocket of her backpack. “You can type it up on my laptop and then mail it when we get back, now come ooonn!” she whined, grabbing me by the hand and dragging me down the walkway.

I followed, cracking a smile.

Nirina navigated the roads as though she knew them by heart.  She ran ahead of me, and then stopped just short as an expensive car came speeding around the corner.  

 She jerked backwards.  The car’s wheels splashed through a puddle that had formed on the side of the street, sending water cascading over Nirina’s clothes.  Nirina squealed, putting her hands up and laughing.  

The car went racing by me.

 The handsome stranger from that odd day at Tome Traders was in the driver's seat.  He smiled at me, and lifted a hand in greeting as his car turned the corner.  I tentatively lifted my own hand.

 “You know him?”  Nirina asked, turning around with wide eyes.  Water dripped from her clothes, but she seemed not to mind.

“I met him once…  He stopped in to pick up a book on hold.”  I admitted, falling in step next to her.

“Reaper, that’s Thane Stenberg.”  Nirina said, her eyes widening even more.  “I didn’t think he stopped at bookstores.  I thought he had his slaves make them custom from his private paper mill.”

The buildings opened up to an endless view of clear, turquoise ocean.  The street beneath our feet gave way to glowing sands.  Nirina let out a whoop and dropped her bag in the sand, sprinting towards the tide as it rushed forward.

I smiled, breathing in the salty air and leaning down to pick Nirina’s bag up.  I picked a nice smooth place where the tide did not yet reach and pulled her laptop and my notes from the main pocket.

Nirina lounged in the waves, her scaled legs merging into one dark black and burgundy tail.  She stayed there for a moment, drinking in the sun and letting the water rush over her face over and over again before she turned around and rested her elbows in the wet sand.

“Hey, when’s your scholarship-thingy deadline?”  she asked.

“A week and a half.”  I said, biting my lip as I typed.

“Really?”  Nirina said, raising her eyebrows.  “That soon?  You’ll need at least that long to mail it.”

I grimaced.  “I know.”

“So mail it tonight!”  Nirina said, flipping her fin over her head.

“It’s not ready…”  I mumbled.

Nirina rolled her eyes and groaned.  She swiveled around and went leaping across the waves like a skipping stone.  I typed what I had written in my notes and then set to work revising again.  The sun dipped lower in the sky and Nirina went swimming from one end of the beach to the other.

When I lost all of my natural light, I closed the laptop with a sigh.  Nirina slipped her clothes back on and walked up the beach.

“Low tide.”  she said with a cross frown.  “I guess it’s time to get back.  So are you done?”

“I… I could have Daria read it again.”  I said, standing to my feet.

Nirina shook her head, snorting.  She steered us away from my little shack on the way back home and towards the library, where after some coaxing she got me to print out a clean new copy. 

Then, when we reached my home, I filled out the rest of the application.  Nirina opened the mailbox.  I took a deep breath, and sealed all of my documents into an addressed envelope.  I hesitated before laying them in.

“Perhaps… if I had Mr. Peters revise his letter of recommendation…”  I started, drawing my hand back.

“Sophia.”  Nirina said firmly, her eyes darkening.  “Mail the stupid application.”

I dropped the envelope in the mailbox and then shut it quickly.  Oddly enough, I felt even more nervous now that the application was in the mail.

The next few weeks I felt almost aimless.  Without my essay and application to preoccupy me, I fell back into a relaxed routine.  I would read in the mornings and work in the afternoons, all the while waiting with baited breath for my answer to arrive.

Then, one Friday morning, it came.  I opened the mailbox to get the bills and I saw it there, resting in the middle of them.  I held my breath as I tore it open.

Then I was flying, dancing across my meager front lawn with the widest smile on my face.  I clutched my acceptance letter close to my chest. 

I spent the whole day impatiently watching the minutes tick by until Reece would arrive.  Just an hour before sunset, I saw his ugly Jalopy turning the corner and I went bolting across the street to meet him.  

He slammed on the brakes when he saw me, his eyes bugging out of his sockets.  When he got out of the car, I waved the letter.

“I’m coming with you in the fall!”  I said, breathless.

“Really?”  Reece squealed.  He sounded so much like a child that it made me laugh.

“Really!”  I repeated.

He wrapped his arms around me, lifted me up and spun me in the circle, both of us laughing all the while.