September 5, 2018

That Wednesday seemed like it would be nothing out of the ordinary. My life had already fallen apart - I was convinced that nothing could ever get better or worse. The rest of my junior year, and the rest of my life, would be just like this. Véro was the only interesting thing in my life at this point. The yacht club and sailing were both lost causes.

The day after the last yacht club party of the season, my parents, my grandparents, and the Reinharts all formally quit the yacht club. Mr. Stafford did nothing to stop them. It seemed like he didn't care if two of the families that had founded Clearwater Lake Yacht Club left - it was more important that he had his way. Eden was shocked when Mr. Stafford didn't say anything about our departure, but Mom and Dad didn't seem surprised at all. "It's just how he is," Dad said. "Greg doesn't care about anything but himself."

"So you're just going to leave?" I replied. "You're not going to do anything about it?"

"What's the point?" Dad said. "Besides, we already tried that with the Pigglyville protest, and that didn't do anything."

It was no use arguing with my dad. He wouldn't change his mind, and I wouldn't change mine. By the end of the day, we had all formally withdrawn from the Clearwater Lake Yacht Club. Over the next several days, I tried to find some way to undo what Mom and Dad had already done. I asked about joining another yacht club, even if it wouldn't truly be the same, but all of them were too far away to be practical. I asked about creating our own yacht club, but there simply wasn't enough room in Clearwater Lake for two yacht clubs. Tuesday night, I even tried to lie about my age and register myself for the yacht club, but Dad caught me and took away my computer for the rest of the day. By Wednesday, I was out of ideas. It seemed like I would never be able to sail again.

I went through the school day as usual, but at that point, I was just going through the motions. Everett, on the other hand, seemed totally unaffected by our decision to leave. He hung around Louis and attempted to flirt with senior girls as if nothing at all had happened. I wished that I could bring myself not to care, but I loved sailing too much. I went to each of my classes, and when I got to fifth period, I complained to Véro about the situation.

"It's killing me," I told her. "The only reason that I'm not in the yacht club anymore is because the adults can't get along."

"That does seem unfair," Véro said.

"It's all Mr. Stafford's fault," I complained. "He's single handedly destroying Clearwater Lake Yacht Club."

Eden arrived in the cafeteria, sat down at our table, and said, "What's this about the yacht club?"

"Sylvie is mad that her family left," Véro said.

"I'm mad too, but it will work out," Eden said.

"How?" I asked. "I've tried everything already."

"You could get a membership on your own," Véro suggested.

"You have to be eighteen for that, and before you ask, I already tried lying about my age," I said. "It's hopeless. I'm not going to be able to sail next summer."

"Why are you so worried about this?" Véro asked. "It's next summer."

"Sailing's the most important thing in my life, aside from you..." I said.

"That's sweet of you, Sylvie," Véro said with a smile.

"...and it always has been," I finished. "It means more to me than almost anything else, and I don't know what I'll do with my life if I'm not sailing. There's this huge hole in my life, Véro. I don't know how to fill it."

Véro paused for a moment to think. "If sailing means this much to you, there has to be a way," she said.

"That's the problem," I said. "There isn't."

"What if you joined in on my family's membership?" Véro asked.

"Am I allowed to do that?" I asked.

"Maybe," Véro said. "Family memberships are for three to seven people, and we only have three people on our membership."

"I'm not a part of your family though," I said.

"Let me look it up," Eden said. She went on the yacht club's website, and then said, "It only says that family memberships consist of three to seven people, with no indication that those people have to be related."

"There we go," Véro said. "Sylvie, would you like to join our family membership?"

"I'd love to," I said.

"What about you, Eden?" Véro asked.

"I'm okay," Eden said. "It might be time for me to move on from the yacht club anyways."

"Come on, Eden," I said. "I want you to be in the yacht club with me."

"Sylvie, we'll still see each other," Eden said. "We can still watch Pixar movies together. I just won't see you at the yacht club parties or during the races."

"You don't have to leave, Eden," I said.

"I know, but I really do think it's time for me to leave," Eden said. "If my parents and my sister aren't going to be in the Clearwater Lake Yacht Club, then there's really no point in having me there."

I shrugged and said, "It's your choice." I still didn't want Eden to leave, but it wasn't my decision to make. I was fine with being in the yacht club without Everett or my parents, but Eden wasn't, and that was okay.

"Next year's going to be interesting, whether we're all in the yacht club or not," Eden said.

"You're right about that," I said. "Do you think that Mr. Stafford's going to do everything that he said that he would?"

"Maybe," Eden said. "Hopefully, Mrs. Holloway will keep him in check."

"I hope so too," I said.

"It may be far away, but I can't wait to sail next year," Véro said. "This season was so much fun."

"I liked it too," I said, smiling at Véro. "If the Pigglyville protest had gone better, it might have even been perfect."

"There were plenty of good and bad things this year," Eden said. "That's kind of how life is."

I nodded, but all of a sudden, the bell rang, and all of us headed in our separate directions. I shared my next class with Quentin Sterling-Stafford, much to my chagrin, but so far, he had stayed out of my way this year. I could only hope that would continue. The following class was physics - my favorite class, if only because I sat next to Eden.

The teacher's lecture was quite dull that day, but I didn't mind. I was daydreaming about the day when the trees in front of West Clearwater High School would grow new leaves, and the sailing season would begin again. Véro and I would be racing against adults - a crazy thought - and we could go to yacht club parties together every weekend if we wanted to. We would have to deal with Mr. Stafford, but that wouldn't matter too much. I would be doing what I loved most with the girl that I loved most, and that was what really mattered.

When there was a pause in the lesson, I chatted with Eden about our other classes, and Eden told me about some crazy theory that she had about what would happen in Toy Story 4. "Eden, sometimes I wonder if you even saw the first three Toy Story movies," I said when she finally finished.

Eden laughed and said, "You'll see. I'm totally right."

"We should marathon the first three movies, and I'll point out all the scenes that contradict your theory," I said.

"We should," Eden said. "I'll point out all the scenes that support it, and you'll see that I'm right."

I briefly considered asking if I could invite Véro, but I knew that it was important that Eden and I have some time alone together. I could hang out with Véro another time. As if reading my mind, Eden said, "You know, you and Véro are such a cute couple. I'm glad that you two stayed together through everything that happened with your family."

"Thanks, and I'm glad that we stayed together too," I said. "I love Véro a lot."

"I can tell," Eden said. "You two are really good for each other."

After physics was over, I said goodbye to Eden and went through the rest of the day without a care in the world. When I thought of next season, I imagined a future with my girlfriend and my closest friends by my side, and I knew that together, we could take on the world. Nothing could stop us now, not even my family or Mr. Stafford.

Despite my optimism about the future, I told myself to live in the present. I still had all of junior year ahead of me before I even had to worry about sailing again, and I needed to take that time to focus on my schoolwork and my relationship with Véro. In the end, my life was about more than just sailing, and I had to recognize that if I wanted to be happy. By the time my last class came around, I wanted to go home and spend some time on the lake, but I did my best to concentrate on what the teacher was saying.

When the bell rang, I rushed out of the classroom and headed straight for the bus. I found Véro, Brooke, and Eden in a cluster in the back of the bus, and I decided to sit near all of them. "What are you all doing after school?" Véro asked.

"I have a lot of homework," Eden complained. "It's only the second week of school. Who assigns fifty pages of reading on the second week of school?"

"That does seem excessive," I said.

"Was it Mrs. Wheatley?" Brooke asked. "I have her, and she gave my class a lot of homework too."

"Yeah, I'm in her third period English class," Eden said.

"I had her last year, and I didn't think she was that bad," I said.

"She must have gone crazy over the summer or something," Brooke said.

"I have some homework, but I also have first period study hall, so I'll do it then," Véro said.

"First period study halls just encourage people to procrastinate," Brooke said. "There should be some sort of rule against them."

"I'd rather have a later study hall, but I'm mostly just glad that I have one," Véro said.

The bus arrived at our stop, and all four of us hopped off of the bus. "Sylvie, would you like to go out to the lake with me?" Véro asked.

"I'd love to," I said as I took her hand, not caring who saw us. We walked past my house and down the path toward the lake, and when we got to the pier, we sat down and dangled our feet in the water, watching the waves roll in and the fish swim by. I didn't think of Pigglyville or Mr. Stafford or Keep Clearwater Clear - I simply appreciated the lake as it was.

"Isn't the lake beautiful today?" Véro asked.

"I think you're even more beautiful, Véro," I said.

I kissed her gently, and she said, "Thanks, Sylvie, but nothing can compare to Clearwater Lake." I laughed, thinking of how much she had hated the lake and this town when she had first arrived here. So much had changed since then, but a lot had stayed the same too. "I wish every day was like today," Véro said.

"Me too, Véro," I said. It was a perfect scene: a bright, glistening, not quite clear Clearwater Lake, little houses popping up all around it, boats waiting next to the pier, and two girls in love watching all of it happen. Nothing could possibly be better.