Legend's Apprentice

Summer

It was my first experience with New York City in the summer. All the pavement and buildings made it even hotter, and it was crowded with tourists. I was glad to spend my days inside at work.

My birthday was July 8, and it was the first time I didn't go home for it. But Aunt Emma made me a cake; it was a marble cake baked in a pan that was a dragon and her eggs. It was the first time I saw her collection of bundt pans and cake pans that produced an image on the cake. She's a total hoarder. She put seventeen candles along the spine of the dragon, which made me laugh. Uncle Bucky made me dinner, my favorite: steaks on the grill, and we had sparkling cider with the cake. They'd gotten a hold of the equipment list for school and my present was the fee for the Lifetime Sports class plus the gear I'd need for it. Unsurprisingly, Mr Stark showed up, but he also had a present, a gift card for Barnes and Noble. My folks sent gift cards that I could use for school clothes; J sent me one for Sephora, and I went in when Rill was working. She couldn't do makeovers yet but she recommended one of the other specialists and we went out for a smoothie on her break. I bought some of the products from the woman who did the makeover, but went back another day and bought the rest from Rill. I had to admit I looked a lot better with the new stuff and the tips for applying it.

Dance was a lot of fun. It didn't take me long to realize that the other girls were better than me, and from the way the teacher corrected them, they might not be good enough for the next level either. I mean, I'd known that I wasn't good enough to make that transition myself, but to see it for myself every week forced me to really accept it. And once I did, I stopped obsessing over my weight and the competition and just really enjoyed the dance. Kind of a farewell, I guess. I worked hard on my technique and managed significant improvements, but I had to agree with my teacher that there just wasn't much point to continuing in the fall. And at least I'd gotten to dance with a partner once in my life. Chuck was tall, blond, and broad-shouldered and the best male dancer. He could make anybody look better, which is why he got stuck with me, but he was good-natured about it. For the recital, we were assigned different colors for leotards and the long, graceful tulle tutus. I got teal, which I liked a lot; it made my skin look more fair and my eyes more blue. We had little rings of flowers to go around our buns, and it all looked very nice. It went off without a hitch and I felt that I danced the best I'd ever done. Afterward, Emma and Bucky took me out for ice cream to celebrate.

I might be saying goodbye to dance, but Systema was my new interest. Having a coach like Uncle Bucky made a world of difference; he never got frustrated with me and he never took it easy on me. I collected my share of bruises, but I was doing well. One day I came down a little early. Uncle Bucky wasn't there yet, so I hopped on a treadmill to warm up. A guy strolled in, smirked at me, and got on the special treadmill. It was the one that Mr Stark had made for Quicksilver so he wouldn't destroy it with his speed. Pietro Maximoff hit it with full speed. It was impressive, I had to admit, as I strolled along on my treadmill. After ten minutes, I shut it off and got off and started to stretch. Quicksilver slowed and hopped off.

"And who are you? I didn't know we were getting anybody new," he asked. He'd been in the States awhile, but he still had his Sokovian accent. It was engaging.

I smiled. "I'm not up for Avengers membership. I'm Alex Barnes. Bucky's my uncle." He looked enlightened.

"The ballerina?" he asked, looking me over.

"Used to be," I corrected. "I'm not good enough to keep going."

"How hard can it be?" Pietro wondered. "You go up on your toes, wave your arms around, jump a little, be pretty." I snorted, then did my best jump, a grand jete, nice and flat. I didn't have the hang time I usually did since I wasn't all stretched and prepared, but it was still darned good.