May 23, 2018

The bus arrived at West Clearwater High School ten minutes before first period, and although we had been chatting all throughout the bus ride, there was still one more thing that I desperately needed to bring up with Eden. I climbed off of the bus and stepped into the fresh morning air. I couldn't see the lake from the high school, but there were enough yacht club kids attending West Clearwater that I could still feel like I was taking a small piece of Clearwater Lake with me.

Eden and I went directly into the school, and after a trip to our respective lockers, we met again in the cafeteria. The student body had split itself into cliques, and Eden and I knew exactly which one we belonged to: the yacht club kids. We passed by the football players, the band geeks, and the outcasts before we found an empty table. Brooke and Quentin would arrive soon enough, along with the handful of other CLYC kids who attended West Clearwater High School.

The table next to us was filled with kids from the nearby Oneida reservation. My Oneida heritage from Dad's side of the family should have given me a connection with them, but as they made inside jokes and talked about things that I had never even heard of, I realized that they lived in a whole different world. Even they were a minority within the Oneida Nation - most of the Oneida kids went to the school on the reservation or East Clearwater. A part of me wished that I was more connected to my roots, but I wasn't really sure how to do that.

Eden was in a similar situation. She was a petite Chinese girl with deep brown eyes and long, black hair, but she had lived in Clearwater Lake since the Reinharts adopted her and her sister Kelsey when Eden was a baby and Kelsey was two. Unlike me, Eden had no real desire to connect with her roots. As far as she was concerned, she was a Reinhart through and through. Perhaps that was what brought us together - we were two girls who were separated from our heritage, living in the almost entirely white community on the shores of Clearwater Lake.

Of course, that was not what I wanted to talk to Eden about. "The registration deadline for the Clearwater Lake Junior Regatta is coming up soon," I said.

"I know," Eden said. "I already registered."

That was when my plan to win the regatta fell apart. Eden and I had sailed the regatta together the last two years, and we had placed in second last year. I was certain that we could win this year, as long as I had Eden as my crew. "I thought that we were going to sail together," I said.

"I know, but Brooke asked me to crew for her already, and we entered the race together," Eden said. "Please don't be mad, Sylvie."

"I'm not mad," I said. "I just thought that we agreed that we would sail together this year."

"I'm sure that you can find someone else to crew for you," Eden said. "Maybe Quentin would do it. I mean, you two went to prom together."

Even thinking about Quentin made me uncomfortable. He was a nice enough guy, but I just wasn't interested in him, no matter how much both he and my family wanted to think otherwise. "I don't want to talk about Quentin," I said.

"Why not?" Eden said. "He knows that you two are just friends, right?"

"I'm not sure that he does," I answered.

"You should just tell him that you're gay," Eden said. "He'll back off if he knows that."

"Yeah, but then he'll tell his dad, and Mr. Stafford will tell my parents, or worse, Grandpa, and I'm not ready to come out to them yet," I said.

"You have a good point," Eden said. "Maybe we should just find you a different crew. Is Megan Graves sailing this year?"

"She's on vacation in Europe during the regatta," I said. "What about Ashley Vega?"

"She already entered," Eden told me. "What about Louis Kaufman?"

"He's my brother's friend," I said. "That would just be awkward."

"You're running out of options, Sylvie," Eden said. "Everyone else is the yacht club is too young to be useful or too old to qualify for the Junior Regatta."

"You're right, but I still don't really want to sail with Louis," I said. "I'll figure it out later, but there has to be another way."

"Maybe you could enter into the regular Clearwater Lake Regatta," Eden suggested. "You'll just need to find someone over sixteen to sail with."

"I won't be able to win the regular regatta," I said. "There are too many good sailors there."

"There are a lot of good sailors in the Junior Regatta too," Eden said.

"Yeah, but I have a better chance with kids my age," I said. "Besides, this is the last year that I can sail this race. I should take advantage of that."

"Okay, Sylvie," Eden said. "Do you want to come over to my house after school? We can do a Pixar movie marathon, just for old times' sake."

"That sounds great," I said. "I'll come over as soon as I can after school lets out."

The bell rang, and I waved to Eden as I ran off to my first period class, Chemistry. It was strange to think about it, but this was the last year that I would be eligible for the Junior Regatta. I had to win it this year, and that would be impossible if I didn't have a crew. Preferably, I would find someone with sailing experience, but I still might win even if my crew didn't know how to sail. I just needed someone to weigh down the boat on windy days. That couldn't be too hard to find, right?

Chemistry and AP Human Geography were interesting enough, but by the time I got to lunch, I was ready to fall asleep. I had a hard enough time paying attention in the afternoon, and it didn't help that I had my least interesting classes at the end of the day. The thought of hanging out with Eden after school kept me going. I couldn't wait to re-watch Toy Story, WALL-E, or my favorite, Finding Nemo. Certainly, we had already seen those movies hundreds of times, but that didn't mean that we didn't enjoy watching them again and again, crying even when we could recite the whole movie word for word.

In English, I couldn't do anything except for stare at the clock, waiting for the moment when it would strike three o'clock and we could go home. Time ticked by far too slowly for my taste, and I was in a daze when Mrs. Wheatley called on me. "Sylvie, do you know what the color of Curley's wife's dress represents in Of Mice and Men?" she asked.

It took me a few minutes to collect my thoughts. I had done the assigned reading, but I couldn't remember what color Curley's wife's dress was, and I definitely had no idea what it represented. "It represents the author's inability to see women as actual people," I said as I glanced at the notes that I had taken.

"That's true, but not the answer that I was looking for," Mrs. Wheatley said. I was satisfied with that response, and I went back to staring at the clock. "Quentin? Do you have an idea of what the color of Curley's wife's dress might symbolize?" Quentin stammered for about a minute, trying to fool Mrs. Wheatley into thinking that he had something insightful to add to the discussion. However, the bell rang before he could come up with a proper answer. "We'll continue this discussion tomorrow," Mrs. Wheatley said. "Have a nice rest of the day."

I ran out of the classroom, but to my dismay, Quentin caught up with me. "Hey Sylvie," he said as he brushed his light brown hair out of his pale face.

"Hi Quentin," I said.

"You look lovely today," Quentin said.

"Thanks," I said, trying to walk faster.

"You know, I had a really great time at prom with you," Quentin said with a smile.

"Quentin, can we please talk about this later?" I asked. "I need to catch the bus."

"I just wanted to know if you'd like to meet me at Culver's after my shift tonight," Quentin said. "I'd love to spend some more time with you."

"Thanks for the offer, Quentin, but I already have plans to watch a movie with Eden," I said.

"Okay," Quentin said. "Maybe we can hang out another night?"

"We'll see," I said. I hopped onto the bus and sat next to Eden, and on our way home, we chatted about which movies we wanted to watch first. I was a little bit shaken from my encounter with Quentin, but I still looked forward to spending the evening with Eden.

When the bus arrived on the shores of Clearwater Lake, Eden and I raced out of the bus and into her house. We found Mr. Reinhart working in his office, while Mrs. Reinhart reorganized the bookshelf in the Reinharts' living room. "Hi there, girls," Mrs. Reinhart said with a smile.

"Hi Mom," Eden said. "Sylvie and I are just going to watch some movies."

"Sounds great," Mrs. Reinhart said. "Feel free to help yourself to some popcorn."

"Okay, Mom," Eden said. She and I rushed into the kitchen and quickly made a large bowl of popcorn. We then turned on the TV and ate popcorn as we watched Finding Nemo.

Near the end of the movie, Eden said, "Brooke and I are still deciding whether we want to sail Marlin or Nemo for the regatta. What do you think, Sylvie?"

"Does it matter?" I asked, still a little bitter that Eden wasn't crewing for me this year. "You and Brooke have the same type of boat."

"You have a good point, but we still need to make a decision," Eden said. "I'll text her again later."

All of a sudden, the credits began to roll, and Eden's phone buzzed. "Did you really make a picture of Brendon Urie pop up every time your sister texts you?" I asked, glancing at her phone.

"It's not just for Kelsey," Eden said. "I have a different picture of Brendon for every single one of my contacts."

"What picture did you put for me?" I asked out of sheer curiosity. Eden showed me a picture of Brendon Urie eating Cheetos with chopsticks, prompting me to ask, "Why?"

"Why not?" Eden asked. "Besides, you'd totally do the same thing if it were Taylor Swift."

"I don't even like her music, but she is pretty attractive," I admitted.

"See?" Eden said. "You're just proving my point. Anyways, do you want to watch Coco next?"

"That will make me cry," I said.

"Every Pixar movie makes you cry," Eden said.

"Every Pixar movie makes you cry too!" I exclaimed.

"Touché," Eden said. She grabbed the remote and said, "Let's just watch Coco. Even if both of us will be bawling by the end, we'll have a good time."

Sure enough, both Eden and I were crying by the end of the movie, but neither of us cared. Watching movies with Eden helped me forget about my troubles. However, by the end of the movie, all of my old worries were back. I still didn't know how to tell Quentin that I didn't like him, I didn't know what my new neighbors were like, and most of all, I still needed a crew for the regatta. I was running out of options, and I was running out of time. The registration deadline was sneaking up on me, and I couldn't win the regatta without someone else to sail with.

Despite everything that had happened over the last few days, I did know that I could always rely on Eden. She was my best friend, and even if she had registered for the Clearwater Lake Junior Regatta without me, I wouldn't trade her for the world.