Happy 18th birthday, Dillon!
Before I get into the daily report, I’ve been thinking about
what it must be like for the Magi teens on their eighteenth birthdays ever
since seeing Dillon this morning; and giving him his gift and a big hug.
In most cases, I’m sure that the first thing they want to
know is about which of their friends are Magi too. They’d need to wait to find that out for
younger friends, but since the average number of Magi in each grade is two;
finding out those answers might mostly be disappointing – even while everything
else they get to learn is very exciting.
If you’re reading this, then you know I’m thinking about
that because of Dillon. I’ll never get
to know what that feels like because my best friend is a Magi, and we already
know about each other. He didn’t let
anything show at all about how he was feeling, but I could sense what was going
on with him while sharing that birthday hug with him. He hasn’t found out about Mom, Ethan, Ehlana,
and me yet, or I would have sensed that too, but that won’t change anything
between us until after Violet’s birthday in June. That’s something that I’m sure he’ll be
thinking about a lot for the next couple of months, and though I really wish I
could help him out with that; the council has been very clear about sticking to
this rule, and I can’t. That part of
Violet’s upcoming birthday story is going to make for a really great start to
the summer holidays, though!
Thinking about that kind of stuff now is much better than
thinking about certain parts of my day – or at least it’s safer for me.
Tai Chi with Mom this morning was a good start to the day,
and doing the birthday gift and hug thing with Dillon was fun even though
Stephanie, Jake, and some of their friends teased me about the hug. The morning went from fun to tweeird before
Rowen and I got to first class. That
started with finding out that Nora was mad after finding out that Tim had spent
the afternoon and evening at my house.
Her anger was mostly directed at Tim, but she got over it fairly quickly
when she realized that he really had no clue why she was upset about him
hanging out with Michael like he normally would on one of Michael’s days off
from the Inn. Tim’s reaction really
annoyed Rowen. She’d never try to steal
anyone’s boyfriend anyway, and is too shy to chase after any boys at all, but
the fact that Tim couldn’t even comprehend why his girlfriend might be mad
about him and Michael hanging out with us just proved to her that the guys in
our class don’t really even see her as a girl at all.
While Tim and Nora had quickly made up, I wasn’t that lucky
when it came to how Lisa felt about Michael hanging out with me. I have no idea how long she can stay mad, or
keep getting upset every time Michael and I are even mentioned in the same
sentence; but there’s no sign so far that she’s getting close to her
limit. I can tell you that Michael and I
are both getting tired of being followed and watched like we were again today. That didn’t keep us from having fun anyway
during our lunchtime music practice, and gave us some incentive to do a little
bike racing after school that will probably be taken completely the wrong way
by the time that news hits the grapevine at school tomorrow.
I guess that brings me to the best part of my day – which is
also what I don’t want to be thinking about tonight.
Michael and I were on our own when he came home with me
after school. Jake, Stephanie, and
Dillon were all busy getting ready for their evening in Crystal Springs with
Violet; Rebecca went to do her homework with Jenny; Rowen was working at the
computer store; and Tim was going to be busy with Nora – probably making out
while making up; and not getting their homework done. Let’s not go there either. We had our snack break with Mom, Alicia,
Ethan, and Ehlana, but then they were all conveniently busy; and Michael and I
were left completely alone while doing our homework in the lounge. That was scary because we really work well
together; had a lot of fun; and it was way too uncomfortable in an exciting way
to be alone in my room with Michael.
I am not crossing over!
Repeat as often as needed, Proctor!
The bike ride, and race to lose the group of girls that were
shadowing us was next; and that was extremely fun even though we both know that
being AWOL for about three-quarters of an hour will come back to haunt us
tomorrow. Just in case you’re thinking
the same thing that most of our friends might be tomorrow; nothing
happened. We lost Lisa and her friends
by hiding while they passed after putting some distance and a couple of turns
between us, and once they were out of sight and hearing; we back-tracked and
went for the rest of our ride in a different direction. I can tell you that they were not amused when
we passed them on our way back to my house when we needed to be home for
dinner.
We were there ahead of Rebecca, but she joined us in time to
hear all about our little biking adventure.
With just the six of us, we were able to have dinner at the kitchen
table. I didn’t even bother to try and
avoid the seating set-up – Ethan and Ehlana had already strategically placed
the chairs with their booster seats; and it would have been obvious why I moved
things around if I’d tried to do that right before we sat down to eat. While they’d set us up to sit next to each
other again, tonight we were at one corner of the table, and Ethan and Ehlana
had entirely too much fun every time Michael and I either bumped into each
other with knees, feet, or legs under the table; or brushed hands together
while eating or passing dishes around.
Ethan and Ehlana also conveniently needed Rebecca to play
with them after dinner; Mom had cooked; and that left Michael and me on our own
to do the kitchen clean-up. That was
another uncomfortably exciting and fun time too; and having thoughts about what
Mom, Miranda, and Aunt Leanne all thought about kitchen time with their
favorite guys did not help me deal with that at all.
I am not crossing over; I am not crossing over...
While Miranda and Jacob had been on the way home for hours
already by then, we still had a couple of hours to hang out together after
finishing the clean-up. Michael and I
did at least have Rebecca, Ethan, and Ehlana with us when we went up to my room
and the lounge again, but they mostly played in the lounge while we had a
little music practice before joining them so that Michael and Ethan could play
video games. It’s fun, amazing, and
scary how great our music is too, whether we’re playing a saxophone duet or I’m
playing my keyboard and accompanying Michael instead.
Playing toddler-rated video games was fun for all of us
too. I helped Ethan; Rebecca played with
Ehlana; and we took turns competing against Michael. I’m not sure which was funnier – watching
Michael losing matches on purpose to my brother and sister; or knowing that
they could win every game if they weren’t happily playing ‘normal
toddler’. Our gaming session wrapped up
when Jacob and Miranda got home, but my fun wasn’t quite over yet.
While Mom invited Jacob and Miranda over for our bedtime
snack, they first had a little surprise for Michael and Rebecca – a pair of
shiny new bikes. We were getting some
light rain showers then, and though Rebecca did like her new bike; she didn’t
want to go riding in the rain. I’ll use
that as the excuse for why I went riding with Michael instead even though I
wouldn’t have turned him down when he asked me to go along even if she had gone
too. Since Rebecca’s new bike was a
completely different brand and style, Michael and I didn’t have to guess why
his new bike just happened to be the guy version of my bike – with the only
differences being the paint job and a slightly different shape to the
frame. That’ll be one more little news
flash that will annoy Lisa; but then going for a ride after dark in the rain
probably won’t go over very well either.
Note to me for the future – if you’re going to go riding in
the rain, wear a jacket, or anything else that won’t be quite so uncomfortable
when it gets wet – and I’m not talking about feeling cold and damp; if you know
what I mean. Changing into one of my
favorite soft, warm sweaters seemed like a good idea too right up until it was
time for the goodnight hugs and kisses when Jacob and Miranda were ready to
take Rebecca and Michael home after our bedtime snack and story time. I’m not sure whether I’m more uncomfortable
about Michael’s reaction to seeing me in a wet shirt or the empathic jolt I got
when including him in the round of goodnight hugs.
I am not crossing over...
That was the end of the tweeird tonight. Once we were on our own again, Mom and I put
Ethan and Ehlana to bed; she did a short Magi lesson with me; and then we both
played catch-up on our family business work for a couple of hours. The Boston marathon
bomb attack yesterday, and the big earthquake in Iran today were the top
stories in the news, and while there wasn’t anything specific we could do right
now through the family business or our charities in Boston; we were able to get
a few things done to help out in Iran.
There will be things we can do to help in Boston too, but there is
already more than enough help on the ground there for the immediate needs of
the victims and their families.
While we’re on that topic, I’m sure that some future Magi
readers of my journals who know that Ethan, Ehlana, and I have a particular
talent for the Sight – especially when we work together – are wondering why we
don’t see things like this happening.
There are lots of archive writings about the Sight talent, but the short
answer is that it’s impossible to keep track of everything that could or might
happen in the world. Let’s that the Boston bombing for an
example. Using our Sight, and focusing
it specifically on the marathon, we might have been able to ‘see’ the
bombs. We also would have seen all other
possible outcomes that might have happened instead. There would be no real way of knowing which
possible future would be the actual one, and even if we could know that; we’d
have the problem of how we could possibly do something about it. The bottom line is that it just isn’t
possible for us to use our gifts to stop every bad thing that happens in the
world, and trying to do that is one of the things that can lead someone with
the Sight into madness. I’m sure that
every Magi wishes we could do more, but we have to accept our limitations even
as we try to do the best we can – which is what Mom and I were doing tonight
with our family business and charities.
When she was ready to call it a night, I came up to my room and got ready for bed too. I still had all of my regular bedtime studying to get done; and have been working on that since climbing into bed with Mandy. The language and archive work hasn’t completely kept me from thinking about how much fun it was to hang out with Michael tonight. Other than those uncomfortable moments, the few junior matchmaking interventions, and a little teasing that mostly came from Miranda; this was exactly how I’d like things to be with Michael and me – if only we could do that without the tween drama at school or having other people constantly trying to push us toward being more than just friends.
I’m as sure that I won’t get what I want right now when it
comes to my friendship with Michael as I am that I’ll be fervently trying not
to think of soft, fuzzy bunnies while getting to sleep tonight.
I am not crossing over, I am not crossing over, I am not
crossing over.
Until next time, this is Magi Master Cassie Proctor; logging
out!
