Hidden Valley (D. SWING)

XXXI. Leave Her Behind

Cynthia jumps out of the passenger's seat of Tasha's car, Dalvin remains in the backseat as he and Tasha engage in a heated debate of whether or not Michael Jackson has been getting as much plastic surgery as the tabloids all say. She jogs down the pathway made of dirt down to Don. He stands at the edge of the shore, the soles of his boots seeping into the damp soil, carefully tossing rocks at the perfect angle to watch them skip across the very top layer of the lake. The furthest of the stones makes it to seven skips by the time Cynthia is able to approach Don with her paper in her hand.

"Don," she calls out. His head snaps around to face her. His movements are abrupt as he snatched out of his own dream state. "Don, we've been looking for you everywhere! Look, look at this!" She hands him in the paper in a frenzy.

Based on the state of her excitement, he has not a single idea of what could possibly be written on the paper that Cynthia carries in her hand. She can barely stay still as he examines the sheet that was clearly once in an envelope. Don reads aloud as an attempt to immediately find some way to understand Cynthia's boisterous delight. "Donald DeGrate Jr., we..." He trails off as he scans through the document in search of the true news. He's quickly realizing that the note is meant for only him. He shakes off the idea of being annoyed at the fact that someone opened his mail without his permission. "We would like to once again extend our offer of the Arthur Curry Marine Scholarship despite our past retraction of the offer. We truly believe that you have the potential to be a great addition the Trojan family... Sincerely, Steven Sample...President of the University of Southern California." Don shakes his head as he hands the paper back to Cynthia.

"What? Why aren't you exicted?"

Don scoffs, skipping another rock that was already in his hand."You think I'm going to accept that? They dropped me like a bad habit the moment they found out I was back in the hospital... and you know what, they had a reason to. I can't do anything for them and I ain't gone sit here and sign myself up to fail."

"But... but you're a swimmer, Don! You're the best! You broke school records, city records, county records, and state records. What do you mean? Are you telling me that you're going to just stop breaking records to fucking spin records, Don? Is this it? That's a gig you got because you needed some cash, Don. This isn't who you are... Don't do this to yourself. This is the opportunity of a lifetime. "

It becomes clear to him that Cynthia no longer knows who he is.

Tasha and Dalvin tried to warn her when they found the opened mail on Dalvin's backpack, realizing that he accidentally picked it up when he slid all of the papers on the table into the bag with the belief that they were all apart of his history notes. Cynthia insisted that they tell Don immediately. Every piece of her was ecstatic as she imagined him being ready to pack his bags and sprint off to California in an instant. Tasha and Dalvin genuinely attempted to warn her that Don no longer speaks on his past swim career but, they are still apart of the select few of people who cannot help but say yes whenever Cynthia suggests something or asks for a favor. The moment she proposed they go find Don and give him the letter to brighten his day, the trio was in the car, driving around Hidden Valley in search of Don.

Don says, "I appreciate the excitement and the speech and the ... the support, Cyn, but... I'm not going and that's all there is to it." Cynthia's lips part as she prepares her objection. "I'll see you Thursday so we can study for your midterm, okay?"

After blatantly being dismissed, Cynthis turns around to retreat back to Tasha's car. Hurt feelings cause her demeanor to teeter the line of having a bad attitude.

Tasha starts up the car as she eyes Cynthia from her peripheral view of her right eye. Though Tasha remians silent, Dalvins shakes his head and verbalizes his lack of shock. "We told you he wouldn't care," reminds Dalvin. "Lil' Don is dead. That's Swing over there, and we ain't talking baseball."