On top of the world

Paper Cranes and An Interesting Person

*large time skip*

This Thursday was the second to last day of camp. Our ballet teacher, Tatyana, surprised us by having us do ballroom dance instead of ballet today. 

"Let's start with a waltz, everyone!" she said, clapping her hands together. She demonstrated the feet first, and then with Javier, she demonstrated where we have to place our hands. Then, she put on the music: 

I chose to partner up with Javier first. I had done ballroom dance before as a unit in gym class, so I had limited experience. Still, the music was quite fast, so I had to keep my head down for a bit so my feet could catch up with my brain. I eventually got hang of the tempo and looked into Javi's eyes like I was supposed to. "Buen trabajo!" he told me.

"Gracias." I smiled. 

"Switch partners!" Taty yelled over the music.  

I switched to Yuzuru. I put my left hand on his shoulder, and he put his on my waist. We began the waltz again. "This is fun!" Yuzuru said with a delectable laugh. I would totally eat Yuzuru's laughs for breakfast, lunch and dinner.

This thought distracted me a little and caused us to collide into Nam and Alena. "Sorry!" 

"Yuzuru, usually the male leads in ballroom dancing," I informed him. "You could have guided us away."

"I follow you," he insisted. "Not strong at this."

"Ok." I took the wheel, and it clearly made a difference. Before, we were doing alright, but we were stiff. Now, everything felt fluid and natural, and there were no more collisions. And Yuzuru was sweating less. "See? You can dance on the ground," I said to Yuzuru with a wink.

"Because I follow you," he replied.

******************

It was finally time for Alena and I to go back to our respective homes and leave the Toronto Cricket Club. "Alena, good luck on the rest of your skating career! I know you are going to go places," Brian told the little Russian girl. That sounded so much like what Árni wrote in my yearbook before he left. Thinking about that made me feel even more emotional. I would be leaving so many friends behind on this day. 

"And Lyubov! We'll see each other again real soon. In the meantime, keep up your hard work, and don't forget what you've learned here!" Brian told me. 

"We'll save you a spot in our VIP locker room," Javi assured me as he squeezed me tight. "And keep working on your Spanish!"

"I will miss you," Yuzuru told me. He did not hug me like Javi did; rather, he just gave me an awkward pat on the back. There seemed to be something troubling his mind, but I chose not to ask him about it. "I be back," he said and left for a moment.

I went to Katya and we hugged for a long, long time. It was hard to let her go. The rink back at home would sure feel emptier without her in it. I also hugged Alena and reminded her to keep collecting skating pins.

Yuzuru came back with a 100 ct pack of origami paper and an instruction sheet. "Paper cranes!" he exclaimed. "Pretty. Good break from homework." He showed me how he could string multiple cranes on a string with a sewing needle.

The paper cranes looked graceful, like Yuzuru. "Thank you," I said softly. 

******************

I met someone interesting at school today.

Her name is Anna Shcherbakova. She was the first in her family born in the US. Her parents and grandparents were Russian immigrants. Anna was only 9, but she had started school a year earlier than usual and also skipped 2nd grade, so she was now in 6th grade. I was assigned to be her mentor as part of a school program that helped the incoming 6th graders adjust to middle school. Upon meeting her, I also found out that she could speak both English and Russian fluently, and she also knew a little Spanish as well! 

As her mentor, I helped Anna learn how to open a locker and get to classes quickly. She caught on rather quickly.

"You're really smart. Not just for your age, I mean in general," I told Anna. 

"Thanks," she replied. "Now, even though I may not need you as a mentor very often, I know I need a friend. Will you be mine?" 

"Of course!" I replied.

"Good," she said as she checked that item off of a list in her notebook. "That's done. Now, what do you do for fun?"

"Videogames, when I get the chance. My favorite ones on Wii are Just Dance and Mario Kart," I told her. "I also like watching videos on YouTube, and I like to watch movies as well."

"Interesting," she said, jotting things down in her notebook. Was she taking notes on me?!

"I have to prove to my mother that I've made a friend today," Anna said in an apathetic tone. "I expect that if I don't write what you say down, I might forget it, as I also have information from classes, everyday reminders, and my locker combination to retain in my head."

"I see," I said slowly. "I've never met anyone who took notes on the people they've met; that's all."

"Do you speak Russian?" Anna asked me out of nowhere.

"Da," I replied.

"Putin is an asshat," she stated nonchalantly.

"Whaaa..." I was shocked someone her age could swear without batting an eye.

"Well? Don't you have anything to say about him?"

"Uh...nyet."

"I see you're not politically inclined," Anna said, effortlessly switching back to English. "What do you think about cold cases? Mysteries? Murders?"

"I think their cool to investigate," I said. 

"The human body and psychology are so intriguing," she said. "I love how parts of the body give clues to forensic scientists, and how differently wired brains react in different situations. I got my first forensics kit for my 7th birthday."

"A toy one?"

"No silly, a real one of course! My mother told me of neighborhood rumors that some murders had taken place in our backyard maybe 2 or 3 decades before she bought the house. If I can find at least one bone, I could crack a cold case!" 

I became excited. "I'd love to come over one weekend to help you with it," I offered, more for my own pleasure's sake than for hers. 

"I have ballroom dance practice every Saturday morning, along with the practices I have during the week, but Saturday afternoon should work. I'll ask my mother to make sure. Let's share contact info, by the way."

"You ballroom dance?" I asked her. I thought back to the ballroom dancing lesson I had back in Toronto, which made me think of Yuzuru, which made me think of the paper cranes.

"Yes. Competitive," she answered. "Do you compete in anything?"

"Yes, actually. Figure skating," I told her.

"Wow," she said. "That's a difficult sport." I finally managed to impress her! I can check that off of my imaginary list of accomplishments.

"Well, it was nice talking to you. Thanks for being patient with me. I have slight Asperger's, and you've been the most patient person I've met in my whole entire lifetime, so I appreciate it. See you tomorrow." Anna waved and headed off to geometry class. I'll probably need to call her for help on my own geometry homework later tonight, so I was glad to get her phone number.

Despite it being a strange first encounter, I was looking forward to getting to know Anna more.

But first, I needed to make some paper cranes.

I hope you like (or at least appreciate) the changes I've made to Anna in the fanfic. Her character here is slightly based on her in real life, someone else I know in real life, and Sheldon Cooper. I'd say statistically, maybe 25% real Anna, 25% other person, and 50% Sheldon.

Also happy new year!