[Sig – 13 years]

"Thanks for picking me up," I say as I get into Mr. Thompson's car.

Since Conner's not here, I get into the front seat rather than the back and I tuck my backpack onto the floor. Xander mentioned swimming so I have swim trunks, a towel, and sunscreen in there.

Hopefully my outfit is fine for the classes, since he kind of implied he's in a wealthy family now. I put on khaki shorts and a pastel green polo because they're the best clothes I have for anything not too casual, though I'm still in sneakers. This makes me a little bit anxious because I don't know much about Xander or his new home beyond just what I've learned at bowling. I didn't even know his new family has enough money to afford a driver… and I'm pretty sure he mentioned that Ms. Katie was Mr. Caldwell's chef.

"You look anxious," Mr. Thompson says as I buckle up.

"There's a lot of things that could go wrong here," I tell him as he pulls out of the driveway. "I want to be Xander's friend but I'm thinking there's a big difference between us that might make that bad. Plus, he's got a lot of confidence issues. I didn't tell you in the texts, but he kept calling himself stupid."

"He did that when we were talking, too," Mr. Thompson says. "Why do you think that'll make it bad to be friends with him?"

"I don't know," I tell him. "I'm still sleepy and my brain doesn't want to organize its thoughts properly. It was something he said last week and last night. I don't remember them clearly, but I think he's worried that we won't like him if we know. That's why… uh… well, I think it was a big leap for him to admit he's scared and wants someone around when he's learning how to swim. I'm happy it's me, though. I don't know why but I am."

It makes me feel all fluffy inside to know that Xander came to me to ask for this rather than someone from the orphanage. Though I did almost tell Mr. Thompson that Xander's not just taking swimming lessons but classes to catch up on stuff he's behind on. I'm still waking up for sure.

"Good luck," Mr. Thompson tells me. "I know you boys have been wanting to talk to him for awhile now and invite him to play with you. Now that you have, here's hoping that a friendship works out for you guys. He seems a nice kid."

"He does," I nod, then giggle. "Though he keeps mixing up Connor's name and calls him Donner instead."

"That explains the reindeer thing," Mr. Thompson mutters.

I giggle again, then think about Xander more on the way to his house. We never talked to him because it seemed like he was there just to practice bowling and didn't want to be disturbed. The way he reacted when people got too close to him made us think he just didn't want to talk to people.

Now that we know it's because he was scared, I wish we'd talked to him sooner. It makes me feel bad for not at least trying to chat with him. Maybe he'd be happier by now if so and maybe we'd have one more friend to hang out and goof around with.

"Uh… Mr. Thompson?" I realize something. "Why are we in the rich people part of town? The really rich people part of town?"

"Because this is where Xander said he lives," Mr. Thompson says. "That street up there is Bluewing Avenue."

"Seriously?" I ask. "Aren't these where the millionaires live? Holy cow! Xander really got lucky with foster parents!"

"Make sure to behave," Mr. Thompson tells me. "And don't boast about it, okay? That can make someone uncomfortable."

"I won't," I tell him. "These houses are so huge… Xander probably gets lost in his new home. I know I would."

Mr. Thompson chuckles. He pulls onto Xander's street and up to his house. It looks like he lives at the back of the neighborhood, though calling it a neighborhood is a bit wrong because this place is huge. Each property is massive and could fit dozens of houses in the yards alone. Some of the pictures Xander sent me makes it seem like his yard his huge, but the pictures were always careful to not show everything.

I bet he's also uncomfortable letting me know he's rich now, too.

There's a guardhouse with a gate at the wall that surrounds the property and we're stopped for a minute as the guard checks to make sure we're allowed in. He's actually a little bit hostile at first, but only until he's given the O-K to let us in.

At the door, another security guard lets us into the house and guides us toward the dining room, where Mr. Caldwell is sitting in his pajamas. Two other spots at the table are already set up, both at the sides on the opposite end of the table from Mr. Caldwell. This place is really huge and the floors are super polished and clean and I'm willing to bet that the cushions on the dining room chairs are more comfortable than even the couch at Conner's house.

"Good morning," Mr. Caldwell stands and walks over, shaking Mr. Thompson's hand. "Nice to see you again."

"Hello, Trey," Mr. Thompson says as I examine the silverware at one of the seats… from a distance. It looks really fancy. "Are you sure getting him home won't be a problem?"

"Yes," Mr. Caldwell answers. "I'm leaving for work after breakfast but Quinn, Xander's driver, can take S.G. home after lunch. You can sit if you want, S.G., though Xander will be a few more minutes before he comes down. He prefers to arrive right at seven for breakfast."

"Okay," I reach for the chair.

"Other side, if you don't mind," he says. "Xander prefers that seat."

"Oh! Okay!" I go to walk around the table and realize that there's a woman working in the kitchen. "Hi! You must be Ms. Katie!"

"I am," she smiles at me. "Good morning, S.G."

"Breakfast smells delicious!" I tell her. "Whatever it is! Smells cinnamony!"

"Cinnamon rolls," she says. "Xander asked for them for breakfast."

"Really?" I ask. "I asked him about them Saturday 'cause we had dutch oven cinnamon rolls for breakfast and he said he didn't like them when I asked him."

"He doesn't," she confirms. "I think he just wanted you to get to try my recipe. We started them last night and they're almost done baking."

The oven beeps as she says that, so she pulls that out and I take a seat. Mr. Thompson and Mr. Caldwell are finishing whatever it is they were talking about, so they say goodbye to each other and Mr. Thompson reminds me to behave, then leaves.

"Is it okay for me to hang my backpack on the chair?" I ask. "Or should I put it somewhere else? Didn't think about that until now."

I hung it on the back of the chair when I sat down, but maybe Mr. Caldwell doesn't like that sort of thing?

"You can leave it there," Mr. Caldwell tells me. "Swimming shorts?"

"Yeah," I nod. "Xander said that was on the schedule for today."

"It was," Mr. Caldwell tells me. "How did your camping trip go? Xander said you were sending him a lot of pictures."

"Yeah!" I nod.

We talk about my camping trip for a few minutes, then Xander shows up and takes a seat. He's dressed in green pajamas and black socks and looks really shy at the moment. Ms. Katie serves us all breakfast, which isn't just cinnamon rolls with icing and something to drink.

We're given a large cinnamon roll each with a lot of icing on top, and I'm given a choice of sides and what I want to drink. Xander gets to make his choices first and I find out through his requests that there's not much limit to what we can get and that we can get more. Mostly because Mr. Caldwell reminds him to ask for more after he eats if he's still hungry, then tells me to go ahead and do the same.

I go with bacon and eggs, but am also served some fruit salad that has blueberries and sliced kiwis, bananas, mango, and strawberries. The fruit salad has some sort of liquid in it, a sort of sweet syrup to go with it. It's not a lot of syrup but really just a thin layer of it, but it tastes good.

Xander goes with sausage links and hash brown patties for his side, though those are served with the same fruit salad that I am and a small dish of syrup that he uses to dip his sausages in.

At first, I ask for just orange juice but Xander gets both that and milk so I ask if I can get milk and am offered a choice of flavors for it. Xander makes a weird face when I ask about chocolate milk.

The cinnamon rolls are amazingly delicious and better than any I've ever had before. Xander seems to enjoy the rest of his food more than it, but he does ask for seconds and even thirds. I can only eat a second cinnamon roll and serving of eggs.

I really want to ask him what sort of magic he uses but think he'll not be comfortable telling me that. Xander's got to be a mage, though, with how much food he can put away.

"W-want to see the bedroom?" Xander asks after we finish breakfast.

"Sure!" I answer.

Xander leads me up to his bedroom, which is huge and has the biggest bed I've ever seen in it! The carpeting in here is extremely plush and I take off my shoes when entering just in case. His bed is made and there are two stuffed animals on it. One is the brown stuffed bear I've seen in a few of the pictures he's sent me, while the other is a silver-and-gold wolf.

"You play video games?" I ask. "I'm not really interested in that one but I heard it's fun from a friend!"

"Huh?" Xander asks.

"The plushie!" I point at it. "That comes with the deluxe collector's edition kit of the game. Or did you buy it separately?"

"Luke brought it over last night when he came to let me know he was going to an island," Xander says. "He says he thought I'd like it. I do, even if it's from Luke."

That last part was muttered and I don't think he meant to voice it. Or even knows he voiced it.

"The bear is Trenton," Xander tells me. "I've had him since I was a baby."

Trenton? He was talking to the bear last night? I guess if that's how he tries to figure things out, then that's cool. It just surprises me, that's all.

"Cool," I say. "Does the wolf has a name?"

"He hasn't told me yet," Xander says as he goes to his closet. "I'm going to get changed. Um… in the closet, though. Please hold on."

Xander enters his closet and closes the door and I explore his room a little after. Not snooping around kind of exploring, just walking around to see if there's anything interesting I can spot. I want to check out the other three doors in here but that would be rude so I wait for Xander to come out.

Without me asking, Xander shows me what's behind the other three doors once he finishes changing. His room for bathing and showering is awesome! I want that kind of bathroom but it's not like my parents would set one up if I asked. They certainly have the money, they just wouldn't do it because it'd be a waste. It isn't until he shows me the room with the toilet that I realize has has two bathrooms… but only one of them is an actual bathroom even though they're both called that. It seems to confuse Xander, too.

"And you get your own office?" I ask when Xander shows it to me.

"I get to use it for doing assignments and stuff," Xander tells me. "The chair is very comfortable. Do you want to sit in it? You won't get into trouble."

"Sure!" I sit in the chair. "Whoa! This really is comfortable! What kind of games do you play?"

"Go Fish," he answers. "And Grandma and Grandpa Caldwell taught me how to play Poker and Rummy on Friday while Mr. Trey was at an event."

"You didn't get to go with him?"

"He asked but I said I didn't want to go because it would be crowded."

"Oh," I say. "Oh! I left my backpack downstairs. It's got my stuff for swimming in it. Where should I stick it?"

Xander takes me back downstairs so I can grab my backpack and I spot the pool through the patio doors. I was still waking up when I arrived and then I guess I didn't look outside.

"Whoa," I say. "That's a huge pool."

"It's not the one for the swim lessons," Xander tells me. "That one's inside. It's this way."

Xander leads me to the indoor pool as I marvel at just how lucky he got with this placement. Not only does he have a giant bedroom with a giant bed and his own closet and awesome shower and bath setup and office, but he even gets two pools, including an indoor one! When we arrive there, I find the indoor pool to be pretty large as well.

"The changing room is over here," Xander tells me. "You can borrow a locker to put your stuff in. The room is enchanted so sound doesn't echo loudly. Ba."

The 'ba' was probably meant to showcase the effect of the enchantment, but I don't think Xander was loud enough for it to have really done much. Then again, indoor pools are usually echo-y even for normal talking so I guess the point is proven. Every time I've been to an indoor pool before, it was super noisy because of the echo.

This probably makes Xander more comfortable, which is nice. I'm curious if it was already like this before Mr. Caldwell started thinking about adopting or if he changed it after hearing about Xander not liking noisy things or loud noises.

As we walk toward the changing rooms, I notice that Xander's sticking pretty close to the wall. The swim lessons aren't just to teach him how to swim, are they? Is he trying to overcome a fear of drowning as well?

"Here," Xander shows me the changing room, which is full of lockers and benches. "That opening there leads to the showers to wash off before and after we go in the pool. Um… this is the locker with my stuff in it. Luke and Parker used these two last week so they'll probably use them again, though I think they took their things. You can use any of the ones I'm not using, though."

I pick the one on the other side of Xander's from the other boys' lockers as the names Xander's mentioned clicks in my head.

"Wait," I say. "Parker? Is it Parker Milton?"

"Um… I don't know if I was told his last name," Xander looks uncertain.

"He's got brown hair and blue eyes and earth magics he inherited from one of his parents," I say. "They're chefs and caterers. He goes to one of the rich-kid schools now but used to go to DFMS with Conner and me. Awesome kid and still hangs out with his old friends. I'm not one of them but I do know them. I've heard he has a close friend named Luke."

"Oh," Xander says. "Maybe. It could be him."

"He's a cool kid," I say. "Sometimes plays basketball with my friends and me at the park."

"I see you play there sometimes," Xander says. "Um. But I don't remember seeing Parker. Could just be my memory," he wiggles a little, clearly uncomfortable. "Um… want to see more of the house? Mr. Trey said I should offer you a tour and there's still a lot of time before class starts."

"Sure!"

Xander shows me around the house, which is even bigger than I realized. Not only that, but he has a huge in-home theater, too! Twelve seats, plus his own concessions stand. All of the cups in here are hard-style plastic cups with a frosty, cratered surface, like the sort they use at my favorite pizza place for in-restaurant dining.

Now that I think about it, clear ones of these were at Xander's seat at the table but I was given glass cups. I wonder what that was about.

Unauthorized reproduction: this story has been taken without approval. Report sightings.

"All of these directions," I say as I examine a laminated page posted by one of the machines. "Is that so you can do this on your own instead of asking for help?"

"Yeah," Xander answers. "Since it's not just putting it in the microwave and hitting a button. I made popcorn the other day. It wants a little bit of oil, then the kernels, then you pop it. Once it's done, you pick your topping and add that on. Or you can eat it plain. I ate mine plain."

"What kind of stuff do you watch?" I ask. "Or can you play games on it? I bet they'd be awesome on a screen that huge!"

"I haven't played games in here," Xander tells me. "I watched a do-cu-men-ta-ry about wolves on Saturday and then one about sharks yesterday. Mr. Trey watched the shark do-cu-men-ta-ry with me yesterday. He sat there and I sat there, and he fixed up the food for us. But I did put caramel sauce on my popcorn because I was curious if that would taste good and Mr. Trey said I could when I asked. It did taste good. I only did that once just in case. Then I ate more plain popcorn."

"Caramel popcorn is awesome!" I tell him. "Wish the theaters served it. Conner, Sam, Isaac, and I sometimes go there to watch a movie that's showing but they just do butter and extra butter popcorn with that fake, artificial butter flavoring."

"If I want butter flavoring," Xander opens up a cabinet to reveal a minifrdge inside of it. "There's butter in there, and I can melt it using this microwave," he opens up another another cabinet. "And then pour it on. And look, there are directions on the inside of the door for how much butter to use based on how much popcorn made and how buttery. Also that it should be added while the popcorn is still hot. The butter in the small fridge is sectioned out already so I don't have to worry about cutting it. The pieces are between pieces of wax paper so that I can just peel a piece off and use it, already portioned. That's good for avoiding waste, and the wax paper is a special one that can be recycled with normal paper. Not like normal wax paper. Mr. Trey thinks of the environment for a lot of things."

"That's pretty neat," I say. "Oh, by the way, Ms. Katie implied that you helped make the cinnamon rolls?"

"I helped measure," he nods. "Also mix, knead, flatting, fill, roll, cut, and place. Um. And anything else I forgot. The stuff that you do when preparing them but before putting them into the oven. We did that last night and put them in the fridge. Ms. Katie finished them this morning. Did you like them? I don't, but Ms. Katie's recipe tastes better than the ones I'm used to."

"Yeah," I nod. "They were pretty good. Best cinnamon rolls I've ever had in my life. And I'm not just saying that 'cause they're probably rich-people rolls. They really are good. I love cinnamon rolls and even learned how to make them myself but those ones are really good. Do you think she'd give me the recipe?"

For the first time, I see something other than anxiety, discomfort, concentration, or fear on Xander's face. The expression is very slight but it transforms his whole aura. Happiness. Ms. Johnson wasn't lying when she told us that Xander is very obviously happy when he is. He's even standing a little bit straighter now and looks less tense. I think his head is even held up a little bit more.

"I don't know," Xander tells me. "But you could probably ask. Um. It's been half an hour since we ate so I need to brush my teeth. Let me show you to the classroom. Do you want to get your stuff from your bag first? You stuck it in the locker."

"Did I need to bring something?" I ask.

"You didn't bring snacks?" Xander looks confused.

"Was I supposed to?"

"No," Xander says. "But I thought you would since I said you could. You didn't need to, though, it was just an option."

"Uh…" I try to think back to our conversation. "You told me we could eat during it, but not that I could bring snacks. I thought you were referring to lunch."

"Oh," Xander's face reddens and he looks down. "Sorry. I do have snacks but-"

"Hey," I say. "You don't need to give me snacks or anything."

"I mean," Xander says. "I was going to bring some already. We were baking yesterday to make some for it, but Mr. Trey also took me to the store so we could buy more healthy snacks, too. I just… never mind. It's stupid. Anyway, the classroom is this way."

Xander leads me to a classroom… which is sort of set up like an actual classroom, except with beanbag chairs and desks. Then he disappears to go brush his teeth and I take a look around the room.

There's the teacher's desk, the beanbag chairs, an alphabet strip on the wall, a banner with the order of operations, a poster with a map of the original colonies, and a poster with information on the types of rocks. On one of the dry-erase boards, there's a rough drawing of a wolf in blue marker. A couple of tall cabinets are set up in here as well, probably for storing stuff for the lessons.

To have a classroom in your own home… whoa.

As I look at the posters, a man enters the room, followed by a security guard, followed by Xander with a backpack.

"The snacks are in here," Xander whispers to me as he lifts up the backpack. "But we can't have them until after the break."

"Okay," I whisper back, then look at the guard, who's taken up position in the corner. "Is he here to watch me?"

"No," Xander whispers. "His name is Roderick. He's here to shoot Mr. Massey if he tries to do something inappropriate. I can ask him to show you his guns if you want."

I guess if that's what it takes to help Xander feel more comfortable, then that's what it takes. Kind of a weird situation but after figuring out what might have happened to Xander, I guess it makes sense. His foster dad is really awesome for setting that up for him.

"No, thanks," I whisper.

Xander sits down so I do the same, picking a blue beanbag chair. He's on a green one, which I kind of figured since he likes that color. The class doesn't start right away as it's apparently starting at eight, not whenever we're all here.

"Here's your actual test," Mr. Massey hands Xander a packet along with a board for writing on and a pencil and eraser. "I saw that you put the packet in the tray, so I'll go through it while you're doing this. Remember, Xander, to just do it the best you can and don't worry if you can't solve a problem. It's just so I know if you remember everything or if we need to go back over something, okay?"

"Okay."

"S.G.," Mr. Massey looks at me. "You don't need to do the test, but you can if you want to. It's order of operations."

"Sure," I say.

Mr. Massey gets me the stuff so I can take the test, then I give it a try. Xander mumbles under his breath as he works so I tune it out to focus on mine. All of the problems are fairly basic order of operations problems, with no overly massive numbers. Is Xander really that far behind? Whoever failed to give him the help he needed before now should get fired.

After we finish, Mr. Massey quickly checks the answers for the tests.

"Good job," he tells Xander. "You did better that the practice test on Friday. Let's try something a little bit more complicated today: mean, median, and mode."

"I don't want to do mean stuff," Xander says.

"Not that kind of mean," Mr. Massey tells him. "In math, think of 'mean' as another word for 'average'. It's the average of a set of data. Let's take a look at this set of data here."

Mr. Massey rights up some numbers on the board: 1, 1, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 5, 5, 6, 7, 7, 7, 7, 7, 8, 8, 9, 9, 9, 9. Once those are written on the board, he starts walking us how to figure out the mean, the median, and the mode. At the same time, he also teaches what they are.

Unlike when my teacher taught the class how to do it, Mr. Massey doesn't teach what they are, then shows it. He discusses each one as he teaches it, and he does so in a simple way. So he explains about how the mean is the average from a data set and to get it, we have to add up the numbers and divide by how many they are, then has Xander try it. I do as well just to make sure I get things right, and once he's sure that Xander has the mean down for now, he moves on to median.

I think that's a better way to do it, rather than teaching all three at once and then applying them. Mr. Massey also breaks things down into easier-to-understand terms. If he were a teacher at my school, I'm sure more of my class would have done better. Just how hard did did Mr. Caldwell search to find a teacher like him?

"Take five to stretch your legs," Mr. Massey tells us after we both do a few practice problems on a worksheet he printed up for us. "Then we'll move on."

Xander gets up and… actually stretches his legs. I think Mr. Massey just meant to give us a break so we can stand and 'stretch our legs' by doing something like walking around. Since Xander's actually doing some stretches, though, I follow suit and do a few stretches as well, then show off by stretching my hands past my toes.

"Whoa," Xander says. "I've only seen one other person do that before. I thought it was just that there was something weird with him. Normal people can do that?"

"I mean," I say. "I wouldn't call myself normal, but yeah! If you're flexible enough. Takes a lot of work, though."

"That was impressive," Xander tells me as he sits back on his beanbag, then he gives Mr. Massey a nervous look before whispering to me. "How much of this did you understand?"

"Most," I tell him. "We were taught it in the sixth grade at my school, so I already knew it."

"Oh," Xander says. "I think we were, too, but I didn't understand it. I only sort of understand it now."

"That's an improvement, right?" I ask and he nods. "Cool."

Xander opens up his backpack and starts pulling things out of it. A plastic container with chips, another with baby carrots, another with ranch dressing, another with oatmeal raisin cookies, another with sugar cookies that have smiley faces drawn on them in icing, another with grapes, another with what is probably fruit dip, and two bottles of milk in refrigeration sleeves. I think the containers for the ranch, icing, grapes, and baby carrots are refrigeration containers, too.

"We can have food now," Xander tells me. "As long as we don't make a mess."

"Okay," I say as he starts opening things up and putting them on the ground between us. "Thanks."

Xander nods, then hands me one of the milks and opens his. Mr. Massey comes over with a piece of laminated paper.

"Here's a help card for mean, median, and mode," Mr. Massey tells him as Xander accepts it. "You can use it in class here if you need to, okay?"

"Okay," Xander says, then Mr. Massey returns to his desk.

The next lesson is on variables and how to deal with them, and Xander seems to struggle a little. He's hesitant to ask for help, but Mr. Massey calmly answers his questions when he does. The teacher makes sure that everything is explained clearly for Xander and even does a review again after giving us a quick test on variables. The review covers both topics he taught today, then Xander is given a packet.

"This is just something for you to practice what you learned," Mr. Massey says. "It's not for a grade and you don't need to turn it in tomorrow. Work on it throughout the week and turn it back in next Monday, okay?"

"Okay," Xander says. "Thank you."

"You're welcome," Mr. Massey says. "See you tomorrow."

"Bye," Xander says.

Mr. Massey leaves and Xander watches until he's gone, then he looks at me.

"I'm going to put these in the office I'm using," he shows me the packet and help cards Mr. Massey gave him. "You can come with me if you want. We have ten minutes until the swim lesson starts."

"Sure!" I say, then help him close the containers, though he puts them all into his backpack.

We go up to his room and he puts the help cards and packet at his desk, then he leads me back downstairs to put the containers in the kitchen. The backpack is hung up on a hook inside of the pantry door, then Xander leads me to the indoor pool and changing room so we can get ready for the class.

"Are you okay?" I ask when I notice him trembling.

"I-I think I'll be fine."

"Are you… scared of drowning?"

"A lot."

"So are you not getting in the pool, then, but just working on trying to get in?"

"I-I'm sorry!"

"For what?" I ask.

"For being such a big baby," Xander sniffles, tears welling up in his eyes.

"Whoa," I say. "Who said you're a baby? Everyone's got fears. Like me! I'm a bit of a daredevil in some ways but I'm terrified of heights! When I was little, I was on a camping trip with my parents and fell off a cliff and ever since then, I've been pretty scared of heights. If I try going up high, I get all dizzy and everything starts spinning around and I freak out real bad. Sometimes, I even hyperventilate and pass out."

"Hyperbentimate?"

"Hyperventilate," I say. "It's deep or rapid breathing caused by things like anxiety or panic. Well, I think that's how it's explained."

"Oh," Xander thinks for a moment. "I do that a lot."

I don't know how to respond to that so we finish getting ready for the swim lesson and once we're both showered and in swim trunks, we enter the pool area again and Xander tells me to go ahead and get in while he tries.

While I wait for him, I jump into the deep end and swim around a bit and meet Coach Evan. Xander's standing at the shallow end, but against the wall rather than close to the pool. It seems like he's really nervous about getting closer to the water, so I try to just splash around a bit and have fun in the hopes it helps him see it's not so bad.

Coach Evan and I chat every few minutes, while he spends the rest of the time talking with Xander from about ten feet away. His tone is calm and soothing the entire time, probably to try and help Xander relax some.

"-but yeah, Isaac is definitely a better swimmer than me," I tell Coach Evan as we talk for the fourth or fifth time. "And he really likes to-"

A sudden screaming soun fills the air from the deep end of the pool and we both look over to see Xander hurrying (but not running) toward it with his hands over his eyes. Then he kind of just… falls into the water because he didn't jump.

I immediately start swimming over as Coach Evan jumps into the pool to swim over, and we both reach Xander as he resurfaces, flailing around and gasping for air. Coach Evan and I both try to call out to Xander but I don't think he's noticing. Even with the enchantment that prevents a pool's normal echo, Xander's screams are extremely loud, almost deafening.

Why won't the coach try to stop his failing? How is Xander still floating, too?

It takes a few minutes, but Xander eventually stops flailing about and treads water, though he looks exhausted.

"You good?" I ask once he's been treading water for a few seconds.

"No," Xander answers. "But I'm in the water."

He gives Coach Evan a nervous look and the coach backs up a little bit.

"Do you want to try doing laps first or floating?" Coach asks.

"Um… floating," Xander answers.

I float with Xander and we bump into each other a few times because we're just drifting on the water rather than guiding it. Once Xander's calmed down a little bit more, the coach has him do some laps so I swim them as well. Xander's not as strong of a swimmer as I am so I don't try racing him or anything, I just swim alongside him.

The fact that he's new to swimming is pretty obvious and Coach Evan helps correct Xander's mistakes after the laps. All of the class goes along those lines, with Xander doing whatever swimming exercise Coach Evan teaches or asks and then the coach letting him know what to improve and how. He even says a few things to me, too. Then, we're to try again while doing our best to use his advice to improve.

"Thanks for coming," Xander says once we've showered up and are getting dressed after the swimming lesson. "And. Um. Sorry for screaming in your face like that."

"I was scared for you," I tell him. "You looked so panicked and I didn't know what to do. You didn't have to force yourself into the pool, you know."

"Y-yeah," Xander's face reddens. "But I got in last week with Luke's help and I wanted to try to get in by myself today. Since I wore out my panic last week, I thought I could do the same today. I… I understand if you want to go home and not hang around me after seeing how pathetic I am."

What should I do? Or say? I get that he's got problems he's dealing with and it doesn't make me not want to be around him. It's not like they negatively affect me or any of the stuff I want to do with him.

Oh! I know!

"Hey," I say. "After lunch, can I show you something really neat? It's a magic trick I know! Not one of those fake stage tricks but actual magic. It does require a beach ball that's not blown up yet."

"Um… I think Mr. Trey has some of those," Xander says. "I can ask if it's okay but he might want to know what the trick is. He's at work so he might not answer. You do want to stay for lunch?"

"Yeah!" I answer. "If you want to hang out a bit more without the classes!"

"S-sure," Xander says. "Um. This way."

I make sure to grab my backpack before following Xander to the dining room, then he takes me out to the back porch. Ms. Katie is grilling burgers right now.

"We've got about six more minutes before they're ready," she says. "Almost time for the fries to go in. S.G., any particular way you like your burgers?"

"Cheese, barbecue sauce, onions, pickles, tomatoes, and lettuce!" I answer. "Though I eat them in a variety of ways so it's cool if it's something else."

"I can do those," she says.

"Mr. Trey said you can do the trick," Xander tells me. "Ms. Katie, may I please have Swiss cheese, onions, pickles, lettuce, and onion on my burger?"

"Sure thing, Xander," she says. "Why don't you two have fun while I finish cooking these? I've put lemonade on the table there for you if you're thirsty."

Xander gets himself a cup of lemonade and asks if I want some. There was a plastic cup and a glass cup on the table, and he's used the plastic cup. Does he not like glass? I want to ask but feel it would be rude to do so.

"I can do the trick in less than a minute depending on the size of the ball," I tell Xander as I get myself a glass of lemonade. "Want to see it while we wait for lunch?"

"Okay," Xander sets his cup down. "Let me get a ball real quick."

Xander goes to a shed to grab something from it, then returns with a deflated beach volleyball and hands it to me.

"Watch this," I unplug the air cap, then press my thumb over the hole. "Three… two… one!"

The ball begins to inflate as I use the same trick I did at the lake on Friday. Xander watches the ball with wide eyes for a few moments, then he turns his gaze to me with a look of concentration. He makes a 'huh' sound, then returns to watching me inflate the ball.

"Ta-da!" I cap the valve and hold out the ball. "One blown-up ball in less than a minute!"

"You can do magic?" Xander asks.

"Air magic," I confirm. "I get a lesson once every two weeks, usually. Have to save up money for it and don't always have enough. It really depends on if I can get enough work mowing lawns and stuff."

"That was a cool trick," Xander tells me. "What did you learn it for?"

"That wasn't one I 'learned'," I grin at him. "It was something I figured out on my own just for fun!"

"Oh," Xander thinks for a few moments. "Can you suck the air back out of the ball?"

"I've never tried that before!" I realize. "Let me try!"

I unplug the ball, then focus on trying to shift the air out of the ball. Sadly, I'm not precise enough for that… so I squeeze the ball to let out the air.

"Ta-da!" I show him the deflated ball. "No magic for that one but one ball, deflated!"

Xander seems a bit confused by that and puts the ball away, then goes back to the deck to sit and wait for lunch to finish. There's a deck of cards on the table and he asks if I want to play Go Fish so we play that until Ms. Katie serves lunch.

"Thanks for coming over," Xander tells me after we're done eating lunch and are entering the house again. "Um… Luke probably won't be back tomorrow, either. If he's not, would you be okay with coming over for the classes? It's spelling and martial arts with Mr. Massey and Coach Evan. Mr. Trey said that Quinn can pick you up if you need a ride."

"Sure!" I answer. "I had fun hanging out with you, Xander! And now I know we can bring snacks, I'll bring some so it's not just you!"

"Okay," Xander hurries into the kitchen and grabs something off the counter before bringing it over to me. "Here. It's cinnamon raisin bread. Ms. Katie and I made it yesterday."

I open up the food container and find an entire loaf of cinnamon raisin bread in here.

"It was made specifically for you," Ms. Katie tells me as she brings in our lunch dishes. "So he's not just accidentally offering a whole loaf."

"Oh," I say. "Cool! Thanks, Xander!"

"You're welcome," he says as a man approaches us. "This is Quinn. Bye, S.G."

"Bye, Xander!" I tell him. "See you tomorrow, if not here, then at the bowling alley, right?"

"If we're both there," Xander nods. "Bye. Have a good day."

----------------------------------------

[Xander – 12 years]

I feel like I was supposed to do something else when S.G. left but I can't remember what so after he leaves, I look at Ms. Katie. If it was too important, she probably would have reminded me.

"Do you think I'll get into trouble for taking a nap?" I ask her. "W-would Mr. Caldwell be upset with me? The classes made me extra tired today for some reason."

It doesn't feel like I'll be able to stay awake for much longer even if I tried, so taking a nap is unavoidable. I'm mostly asking so that I know how much trouble I'll get into for taking one.

"You can take a nap if you want," she tells me. "Though I'm surprised you didn't go with S.G. to take him home."

"W-was I supposed to?" Is that what I was forgetting?

"No," she says. "It just seemed like you were having a lot of fun with him so I thought you were going to want to help take him home to delay saying goodbye as long as possible and hang out with him a little bit more."

"Oh," I say. "It's too late now. Quinn is probably pulling out by now. Um. Do you think Mr. Caldwell will be mad at me?"

"No," she answers. "Go take a nap, Xander. Do you want me to wake you up at a certain time or after a certain amount?"

That way, I don't sleep too long. I was going to set an alarm on the phone but if Ms. Katie is offering, then it's probably better to accept her offer. She probably knows something I don't.

"S-sure," I say. "F-forty-five minutes. I-is t-that o-okay?"

"Sure," she answers. "Enjoy your nap, Xander, and I hope you dream about delicious cheesecake."