Legend's Apprentice

Date

The next day, something amazing happened. I got asked out on a date. I know! Amazing! His name was Roger Hall, and he was a senior, and he asked me to go out with him to a movie Saturday afternoon. I was studying Saturday, but a couple of hours wouldn't leave a huge gap. Plus, a date!

Aslyn was so excited; by the end of lunch, Karen and Rill had texted me with congratulations and questions. Aslyn attached a pic she'd snapped of him, showing his broad smile, thick hair, and blue eyes.

"He's a ginger," Rill pointed out.

"Yeah, it's a gorgeous shade of auburn, don't you think?" I asked. The girls were a little less enthusiastic about red hair for some reason, but I didn't mind.

"Saw him playing basketball last summer. Sure, he's like vampire-pale, but great legs," Aslyn said in defense, and the girls settled down by the time school was over. I had a sunny mood that lasted until I got to work. Mr Stark had gone out Avenging and forgot to leave me instructions, so I finished up my work and decided to do some organizing in the current system. Nothing major, just things like grouping the hardware in one cabinet, organizing the sheet metal by type, size, and thickness, cleaning as I went. I didn't feel like I had the authority to make big changes, like putting up a pegboard to organize tools that were usually scattered all over the place, so instead I separated the wrenches and screwdrivers into types--crescent, Allen, slot, Philips, ect--put them into plastic bins, and spent the rest of the time figuring out how to get Dum-E to retrieve the right bin when requested. Then it was down to Uncle Bucky, who brought up a full-size , 3D projection of the fight. We watched it once and then he took me through it slower, pausing it here and there to point flaws with my form, hesitations, suggestions for other types of attack or defense. I was a little depressed at the end of it, but he tried to rally me by pointing out what I'd done well too, especially the kick to Thor's jaw. Then we practiced, going over some things I hadn't done correctly and drilling to make action more instinctive than hesitation. Still, I was really glad when it was time to go for cookies. And also glad that I had Wednesday off.

Finally Saturday was here, and it seemed to take forever for the day to pass, but I showed up at the theater right on time (after lurking in a store for twenty minutes because I was early) and found Roger waiting. We'd agreed to meet at the theater because it was about halfway between our homes, and got in the line for Rogue One; and I sighed happily. "This might just displace Star Wars as my favorite movie in this universe," I said when he asked.

"A New Hope," he corrected, and I shook my head.

"In the original theatrical release, it was simply titled 'Star Wars,'" I said. "There's no need to go back and change the name or add a bunch of stuff to it."

"So you're a purist," he said, and started to laugh.

"I also like to ignore most of the horrible prequel trilogy," I said.

"What don't you ignore?" he asked, teasing me a little, and I smiled.

"Maybe the last what, half hour of the third movie? Skywalker goes over to the dark side, and gets chopped into bits and left for dead on Mustafar. That's relevant and not actually a waste of time." We talked some more about the movie we were about to see--he'd seen it over the holidays too--and what we liked about it, and what we didn't like. I liked the CGI with Peter Cushing, he wasn't so fond of it. Both of us thought Carrie Fisher's image didn't fare as well, but I love how it tied in so tightly with Star Wars. He liked the battle at Scarif more than I did. "It's knowing that none of our rebels are going to get out of there alive that I don't like," I said consideringly.

"But they knew it was a long shot going in," Roger said.

"Yeah, and that's what redeems it for me," I agreed. "It's knowing what the right thing is and doing it, regardless of the personal cost. It makes me wonder if I could be that brave." We talked about that as we got popcorn and soda and found seats. Then we watched as the story unfolded before us on the screen. After, we chatted a little before he had to leave to ride herd on his younger siblings as his parents were going out that evening. Before I left, we set up a date for the next Saturday, and he kissed my cheek goodbye.