How Green Becomes Wood

"I wonder what happened." Milo commented, watching Alec and Toby. "He's been... declawed... You know, if you do the talent show every year, there's going to be a lot of pressure your senior year."
 
"If you do it every year, there's a pattern of it. And then people will start to expect it. If you're good, they may even look forward to it." Milo explained, futtowing his eyebrows, "You can't do worse worse than you did the year before, so your senior performance has to be, you know, the biggest and most impressive. Because that's going to be what everyone remembers."
 
"Good point," Xander said as he watched Alec down below. Alec was waving his arms enthusiastically, his extra wide sleeves flapping like wings. "I dunno. I mostly do it because he wants to. I don't hate it, but I wouldn't do it without him. As long as he doesn't explode from pressure, I'm fine with it."
 
"I wonder if he realizes that's the pattern it'll take." Milo commented, also watching Xander, "High school stardom. I wonder if you'll be invited to play at prom. Schools have been known to do that, right? Have students perform, rather than hiring a DJ? I've seen it in movies."
 
"Unless it's a really nice paycheck, that's where I'd draw the line," Xander said with a slight shudder. "I don't even want to go to prom. Not my thing. I might end up going anyway to keep an eye on a certain someone."

Alec and Toby seemed to have finished their conversation, and Toby headed off across the gym while Alec trotted up the stairs. "Back! What'd I miss?"
 
"We were just talking about your band and the talent show," Milo replied, "and prom. I wouldn't want to go to prom either, I don't think. Maybe if I had stayed in Chicago. But I don't think I'd be at any school long enough to feel like there was a point to go to prom... and I don't know if... that whole environment... is right for me. I already wear earplugs even in some loud restaurants."
 
"Oh! I didn't know you were sensitive to audio stimuli," Alec said in surprise. "That must be difficult at things like prep rallies and stuff. Prom sounds... interesting. I am not sure what to think of it."
 
"I don't go to pep rallies, so that solves the problem before it starts." Milo replied, moving his bag to point out a little case he had attached, "but I've always got my earplugs on me, just in case." He shrugged, putting the bag back, "I understand wanting to put on nice clothes. That is all."
 
"When you go-" Alec started to say, but Xander cut him off.

"You went to ask Toby if he was going to be in the talent show," he prompted.

Alec brightened. "Oh! Right. He said he has a rollerblading competition that weekend and won't be doing the show."
 
"There is really nothing with wheels he can't ride." Milo commented, "Did you ever do the thing in gym class as a kid where they gave you the tiny board on four wheels to sit on and you were in terrible danger of crushing your fingers?"
 
Xander grinned at the memory. "Those were the best!"

Alec frowned at the memory. "I did crush my fingers. Twice. I'm pretty sure I damaged one of them."

"Weren't they supposed to be like furniture movers or something? Anyway, what about them?" Xander asked.
 
"I was just thinking if maybe he had them in school and they're what made him like skateboards and everything else in the first place." Milo said, looking down at his own fingers and remembering rolling over them, "I bet he was that one kid who could be faster than anyone else."
 
Alec and Xander both thought this over and then nodded simultaneously. "Yep. That would make a lot of sense."

"He probably even figured out how to use them like an actual skateboard," Xander remarked.

"Oh, I was supposed to tell Mama about whether or not he'd be going so she could plan her ride," Alec said, digging out his phone. It took him three different pockets to find it. "Hang on. I'm going to text her real quick."

"He and his mum live next door to us," Xander told Milo, not sure if he knew that or not.
 
"Oh. Cool." Milo said, "I bet if he had one strong enough he could still do cool tricks with it. I'm not really, um, athletic, so... it's interesting to me. I could probably do track, though."

~~

Upon receipt of Alec's text, she quickly responded thanking him for letting her know, and then sat back tried to figure out who she should ask. Sally was her first thought, but she and Jack were coming from work, and she wasn't certain... exactly where their office was, and therefore didn't know how feasible it would be. The other option was Ciara, but she was a bit uncertain about putting her out of her way.

So, after weighing her options, she decided to text Sally to ask first.
 
"I'm not very athletic, either, but I'm attempting to change that," Alec told Milo with a smile. "You know, you could totally train for track if just for fun for yourself. I know that your circumstances wouldn't let you do a lot of meets, but I bet you'd make a great runner! You could do like marathons and stuff."

Xander glanced at the clock and stood. "We should head for class."

~~

It took several minutes for Sally to text back. When she did, she said she'd be happy to pick up Daizi but warned her they'd be late. Part of it was the extra distance from her office to Daizi's house, but another part was the fact that sometimes her work tended to keep her a few minutes past when she should have been gone already.
 
"I'm pretty good at running already," Milo said, gathering his things and standing up to walk to his class, "I don't think I'd ever join a team. And who would take pictures if I did?"

~~

Daizi thanked her and said she'd let her know, and then sat back while bouncing Ivy on her knee and sent a text to Ciara, Hey you're going to the twins talent show right? The lack of commas and apostrophes were the result of needing to use speach-to-text, but there wasn't a way around it.
 
"I'd take pictures while you ran, but they wouldn't be nearly as good as yours," Alec admitted.

~~

Ciara was not very used to texting. In fact, the twins were the only people she texted with any degree of regularity. It took her a bit to realize her phone was pinging at her. She picked it up and read the text. Yes, that is my plan. Is the show still proceeding as planned?
 
It is. I was just trying to figure out my plans for it, since I can't drive, and I've got Ivy. I was actually wondering if you would be willing to give us a ride? Dark would bring us home, but getting there is tricky. For clarity, she sent each sentence individually so they wouldn't run together, and even though she had never been so fortunate as to have a choice about asking for help, it still made her anxious to do so now, with someone she hadn't needed to ask help from before.
 
I am certainly willing to give you a ride, though I do not have a car seat. If you have one, I am willing to arrive early so we might install it, Ciara replied back. She realized too late that of course, Daizi must have a car seat. How else would she take Ivy places in Dark's car? Oh well. Perhaps Daizi would take it as a reminder to remove the car seat from Dark's car to be placed in her car. She was not entirely certain how car seats functioned. Was there an extra base piece that went in? Fuzzy memory of seeing other people deal with car seats said yes.
 
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