Still Believe

Chapter 4: Sign Ups and Surprises

I still did the tutoring. But Alana took it slower. I didn't really get along with James and Wesley as much anymore. I'd basically given up trying with them. I'd kinda fallen back to where I was actually. I snapped at James and Wesley a lot, and I never listened in class. Alana saw it, and she talked to me about that one day.

"Leslie, you think you're better than this. But you're not as good as you think you are. If you ask me, you should take the time to do something that'll help you that you can put your energy into. I don't want you to have the stresses of a job, so I signed you up for ice skating."

"Ice skating?" I asked. "Like..?"

"It's a class to help you ice skate really well, and I thought that might be able to help you. It'll help you with trusting yourself in slippery situations."

"Alana, you don't have to do this! You don't have to waste your time!"

"But I want to do this. And I think it'll help you."

--

 The rest of the school year I had to practice ice skating Mondays and Wednesdays. I was in a class and they helped me get comfortable on the ice, but this wasn't working out for me.

"Just keep trying." Alana told me. She was sitting in the bleachers watching my trainer work with me. He was a senior also, his name was Matthew. He was holding my hand as we skated along the wall, but slowly I began to get a little more comfortable. The first days we were going to just get comfortable on the ice.

"So what grade are you in?" he asked.

"Sophomore."

"Cool. I started ice skating then too. It gets a lot easier. I promise." he smiled.

It helped hearing that. Over the next couple of weeks, we took it slow and he taught me how to go faster without falling and make sharp turns.

"The key is to not think about falling. And if you do, make a turn or a circle or something out of it."

Tutoring went well. Finals came upand I had a huge math test, so me, James, and Wesley, we all studied hard.

"I'm happy you came to study with us." James said as we got to his house.

"I've been really busy, but I really need to pass this test."

James got out his key and opened the door. We all went inside.

"Make yourselves at home." James said, throwing down the keys and his jacket.

"Your parents don't care?" Wesley asked.

"Ha, they don't really care about anything. I could be cursing like a sailor and they wouldn't care."

Wait.....James has it rough? "Ha, I used to curse like a sailor and my parents cared. Now they don't give a freak."

"Same here." James shrugged, plopping onto the couch.

"Let's do something fun tonight." I said. Wait, what? I, wanted to do something fun?

"We need to study." James laughed, but I could tell he was hesitant. He sat up. "Would we still past the test?"

"Um, hello? Am I the only one who wants to do homework here?" Wesley asked.

"Yes." me and James both said. We laughed.

"You two have fun. I'm gonna study."

"Awh, come on man. It's not like we're gonna break the law."

 "James, we shouldn't." Wesley tried to convince him.

"It's not a big deal, we'll have fun. You want to Leslie?"