“And you’re taking notes, so you can refer to them when you’re not working with Alex?”
“Tons of notes.” Since Miss Lydia left, I’ve been less distracted. Tips from Alex fill my notebook. Diagrams line the margins with proper jump takeoff and landing edges. “If I keep working hard, Alex said we can maybe add it to my program in the fall.”
He actually said by Regionals in October, but I leave that part out. If everything goes according to plan, I can debut my triple flip in November at Sectionals instead.
Mom nods. She places the cutting board in the sink, twisting the faucet knob to wash her hands.
Blrrriing!
My phone blinks brightly from the nook by my bed.
“How’s Tamar?” Mom asks as I head across the room.
“Good, I think.” I stand on my tiptoes and grab my phone. “We’ve both been busy, but we’re going to meet up this weekend.”
We haven’t hung out since our picnic in the park last weekend. Saturday can’t come soon enough.
I unlock my phone and scan the message.
6:02 p.m.: Hey A! It’s Hayden, how are u?
The corners of my lips twitch up. Part of me thought Hayden had forgotten to text when I didn’t hear from him right after skate-school.
I send back a quick reply.
6:03 p.m.: Hi, I’m good! How are you?
I spell all my words out. Mom’s nearby, and so are her expectations about proper English.
Hayden’s answer comes back fast.
6:03 p.m.: Not bad
“Dinner, Ana-Marie.”
I hunch my shoulders, eyes fixed on Hayden’s ellipsis. I set my phone down on Mom’s bedside table as slowly as possible, waiting for his response.
No luck.
“Do you want to say the blessing?” Mom asks when I return to the kitchen.
I shake my head. “You can do it this time.” It’s been hard to avoid thinking about my bat mitzvah ceremony ever since Tamar showed me that vintage dress. Mom lets me wear nice pants whenever we go to Shabbat services, but I’ll be in front of the entire temple for my bat mitzvah ceremony. I can’t help wondering if she’ll ask me to wear a dress for that.
My phone chimes again. I cringe.
Mom raises her eyebrows.
She recites the blessing same as always, but something feels off. Maybe it’s because we haven’t been to temple in a while. I dip the thin rice-paper wrap into a bowl filled with warm water. It softens on contact. After adding ingredients, I fold the wrap around them like a blanket.
Blrrriing!
“Sorry!” I hop up. “I’ll put it on silent.”
It chimes again before I reach it, then twice more in my hands.
I’d planned to silence it fast, but since I’m here, and since it’s Hayden, I stop to skim the texts.
6:15 p.m.: Sorry I didn’t msg sooner
6:15 p.m.: Lost track of time working on my cosplay
I don’t know what a cosplay is, and there’s no time to ask.
6:15 p.m.: But question for u
6:16 p.m.: Want to hang out this weekend?
Yes! One hundred percent.
“Ana-Marie.”
I flinch, then whirl around, phone still in hand. Mom taps the table.
“Sorry,” I say again. One swipe, two clicks. I silence my phone for real this time.
“What’s so important that Tamar can’t wait until after dinner?”
I plop back down, then dip my spring roll into peanut sauce.
“It wasn’t Tamar. I met a kid at skate-school who asked if I wanted to hang out this weekend.”
“Ah.” Mom’s jaw relaxes. “I’m glad you’re making new friends.”
“Yeah.” If I made friends with anyone in Oakland, I would’ve guessed it’d be Faith. I’m glad Mom hasn’t asked about her. I’d have to explain how Faith’s been nice and even invited me to lunch, but I didn’t go.
“Hayden just moved here with his family. He’s in the level one class.”
I take a big, crunchy bite of my spring roll.
Mom looks at me. “Your new friend is a boy?”
I swallow hard. “Yes. That’s okay, right?”
“Hmm.” Mom folds her arms. “He’s your age, Hayden?”
I actually don’t know. He didn’t look too much older than me, though.
“Pretty close.” I try to act cool while assembling another spring roll but can’t bring myself to look across the table. “I think.”
I chew slowly. Mom stays silent. Finally, I look up.
“All right.”
My legs bounce. This is going to be awesome.
“But I have a condition.”
I go still.
“I want to speak to his mom or dad first.”
“Mmmrilly?”
“You know how I feel about talking with food in your mouth, Ana-Marie.”
I take a big swig of water and chew furiously fast.
Mom can’t call Hayden’s house. If she does, he’ll know I was lying the second one of his parents gets off the phone and says my real name.
“Why do you have to talk to them?”
“Because not only do I want to ensure there’ll be a parent around to supervise, but I’m not about to leave my only child in the hands of strangers without learning more about them.”
I stare at Mom, silently begging her to reconsider.
She looks back with a slight shake of her head.
“Fine.” I give up. “I’ll ask him for their number.”
Mom gives me a quick nod, then reaches for a second rice-paper wrap. I stare at my plate as she chooses her vegetables.
I’m glad one of us is still hungry.
Chapter Fourteen
I should be skating a few clean run-throughs by now, but I’m not even close. It’s one thing to fall on a triple jump when I’m competing. As long as I rotate three times in the air before landing, I get credit for the jump, minus a deduction for falling.
But at practice this morning I popped more than half my jumps—meaning my timing was so off that I didn’t rotate enough. There’s no deduction, but in a competition, I’d earn next to nothing.
Alex keeps telling me to relax, that this is a new program with harder transitions between jumps and spins. Still, the real problem is my free-skate music. I’m not sure I hate it, just how it makes me feel when I skate to it.
I exit the ice and stop
