I was woken up by my mother.
"Huh?"
"You have a practice at school, remember?"
"Oh, right!"
"I think you should shower first; you still smell a little like chlorine, barely, but still, while I make pancakes."
"I am not that hungry; I ate a ton for supper yesterday."
"Maybe, but you need energy for the practice. I won't take no for an answer."
"Sure," I say, forcing a smile.
But the reality is that I could cheat a little. I am almost at my goal. Just a few more pounds...
I make the shower water cold to wake me up, but then I am shivering, so I make it warmer, but I can't seem this morning to find the right balance. So I hurry up, dry, and sit in front of a thick stack of pancakes, with calorie-rich syrup already on it, as well as a little square of butter.
My mom has the same kind of stack.
I also have a huge glass of orange juice.
"Is Dad still asleep?" I ask, almost whispering.
"As far as I know. He had a rough week."
I begin to eat, and I have to admit, they are delicious. I don't understand why the butter isn't pre-spread, but I see my mom looking at me, so I do spread it.
"How come?"
"He negotiated with a few potential clients in the big city, and, well, it's not going as well as we hoped. He is making sales, but we need to make plenty of concessions"
"Like what?" I asked after another bite.
"Lower order volume is the one that hurts. We don't have drivers and trucks to deliver, so we pay a third-party company. When it's a big order, it makes sense, but now, we'll need to rethink our business plan."
"Ouch. Could you get a truck?"
She laughs. "If we do, it will eat all the profit. We must maintain survival for a while. It's like a catch-22 situation. I won't lie; we didn't really get a perfect solution."
The best they got was that the smaller orders meant they could use a single delivery to service several customers, reducing the cost per customer.
For a while, there was talk of opening a warehouse in the big city, but the reality is that it would add complexity to managing the inventory of both warehouses.
This will be an ongoing issue, and it's indirectly linked to the sort of conversion of our town into a suburb of the big town over.
Why? Because now, they see us as part of them, easing commerce. We still don't, but that's another story.
This was my first full breakfast in a while, and to my surprise, I had no problem eating it. Maybe once I get my ideal weight, I will be able to resume eating properly.
I did like intermittent fasting, and I did like that giving my lunch to Olivia helped her, so that would probably continue.
For the commute, I put on my sundress, but my mom had prepared proper clothes the night before to let her husband sleep. She would stay dressed to stand guard. She also brought her Kindle.
"Did you like the supper yesterday, Kiddo?" She asked in the car.
"I did. We played board games in the library. That was cool. And Sandra was there."
"Right, I remember you talking about her. Are you happy with how you are turning out?"
I know Mom and Dad both were worried about my loss of weight recently, so this might have been another way to question me.
"Yeah, I am. I mean, both Mindy and Lucy were impressed, and, well, Lyndon seems to like me. I think I do like how I look, even if I don't quite look like Sandra."
"You look like you, not her. In a way, you look a little like how I looked when I was your age. Well, roughly."
"Well, you are taller than I am," she said.
"Sure, but you aren't a clone of me. You only have about 50% of my genes."
"Right."
We soon made it to school, and I found Gabriella already nude on the stage, in the process of working on the lasers.
"Hey, future president," said Mom.
"Kylie! My treasurer. Yesterday was spectacular. We won already. I mean, sure, we didn't get 100% of the vote, but my plan worked. We have more than half of the possible ballots cast."
"Doesn't he have pocket votes, like you said?"
"Sure, and maybe that will be more votes for him, but on opening day, we had 87 adult members with the right to vote, and we got 46 votes yesterday. That's more than half."
"Wait, I don't understand. We were about 55 adult people, including your family, who aren't members."
"Oh, they became members for the election. A few weeks ago. "
"Ah, I know what you mean now by getting your own pocket votes."
I get on the stage and casually remove my sundress, but I keep my dancing shoes, like Gabriella did.
My mom announced she would keep guard outside the room, which Gabriella approved, and we began the practice.
Without Victor, no adjustments were possible, so now the plan wasn't to adjust the lasers to my dance routine but to adjust my routine to them.
I wasn't, like, 100% awake at first, so it took me a few tries to get it, with Gabriella being very patient with me.
But after maybe the 4th try, I was able to do it perfectly.
The big difference this time around, however, was that my soundtrack was now ready! Instead of the plain Everybody Knows, Gabriella had a version with a woman singing my lyrics.
After I had done my routine a few times well enough, I asked Gabriella who sang.
"Oh, my sister, I had the text and the song, and, well, she has a remarkable voice."
"She does."
"Sadly, she won't be able to come to the recital. She lives a few hours away."
"Well, thank her for me."
"Sure, but if you keep coming to the club, you'll see her again eventually."
"Right, you grew up a naturist?" I ask.
"No, well, it's complicated. We became a naturist family when I was six. Not that we were strict on clothing. My mother grew up a naturist, and my father agreed to raise us as naturists, but he backed out when my older brother was born."
"Oh, sorry to hear that."
She smiles. "Thank you. My mother divorced him when I was 6, and we moved into a naturist resort. That was the best. She also homeschooled us, so no clothes for months on end," she says, turning around herself with her arms open in a clear sign of freedom.
"And Mateo, your husband?"
"Oh, his family visited our resort. A lot. It's how I met him. He was the hottest man around, and I just couldn't live apart from him. I hope you find such love one day, Julie."
"I hope so too. I had a date Friday."
"Oh? Do tell, a handsome boy, I hope?"
"Lyndon."
She laughs, "Of course. I should have seen it coming. You would make a cute couple. Any future between you?"
"Maybe, but because of my delayed puberty, I don't have desires yet. So I am taking it slow."
"Wise."
"We might go rollerblading next week."
It's like a lightbulb turned on.
"At the Blue Horn?" She says, all excited.
"I don't know."
"It's the only real place around. It's incredible. They have an out-of-this-world sound system and club lights. You will love it. I am in talks with them for a naturist event, but they are too popular to close just for us, you know?"
"That could be cool, not that I know how to roller skate."
"If your parents can't teach you, and if Lyndon fails, I'll teach you. I did do some roller derby in college."
I look at her. Is there anything Gabriella can't do?
"I might take you up on it so I won't look foolish in front of him."
But she suddenly makes a weird face.
"Sorry, as I think about it, I am not sure if it would be a good idea. I tend to let my guard down with you, Julie. You are so mature, intelligent, and emotionally grounded that I tend to forget that you are just 14. I can't just always hang with you for now. Maybe in a few years, we'll become actual friends."
"Hey, I get it."
She hesitated, her eyes darting to the open door. "It's just, people talk, you know? And I have to be careful. But honestly, with you it feels so harmless. You're not like other students."
I smiled. I don't feel like the other students.
"Please, don't think I am pulling you away. I do want to work with you on the teenager council. Hey, maybe we can twist the rules and just make you lead on a rollerblade event so I have an excuse to hang out," she says, as if she were sharing a secret.
"I would like that."
"Good, let's practice some more; your move over the box needs a little more fluidity."
I did perhaps another hour of practice, and it was time to catch my breath again.
"I should have your uniform tomorrow. I am almost done with it."
"What do you mean, you are almost done with it?"
"I told you it would be custom-made. A sort of prison uniform with a futuristic look. Like, some gray from the Star Wars officers and diagonal white stripes. It will look spectacular."
"No, wait, I mean, are you making it yourself?"
"Yeah, naturists can like to sew, you know? Did you see the dress I wore to come and leave the event yesterday?"
"No, I only saw you nude."
"Oh, that makes me sad. It's a dress I made. Oh, the blazer I wore Wednesday."
"The multicolor one?"
"Yeah, I made that one! I stitched the colors together. One of a kind."
I smile. I liked it, and I wondered where she bought it. It fit her personality so well. That reassured me that my dance costume will look good.
After the pause, I resumed dancing, and even Gabriella was starting to lack issues to point out and was just adding more flair and more spectacle.
But then, my mom erupted in the room. "Someone pulled up in the parking lot."
I went to my sundress and put it on while Gabriella vanished backstage. She came back wearing jeans and a t-shirt for Metallica but clearly had no bra under it.
"Metallica?" I said.
"Hey, I like the music I like."
I kept practicing even if a sundress isn't really appropriate for my routine. Whoever pulled up didn't bother us, but when we decided to break for lunch (and the day), the other car was still there.
I hugged Mrs. Sanchez in the parking lot because I was excited about how my dance routine was turning out.
"Oh, this is happening. Ok, good," she said, but I could feel her tense up as I wrapped my arms around her.
We went to our favorite pizza place, and on the way, my mom asked me how it went.
"I think I have it. I even could add some flair. It should be spectacular. And I had my song!"
"I heard. I saw the routine a few times. I am proud of you, Julie. In a few weeks, you went a long way."
"Well, it's still basic moves, but I like it. I might continue."
"Good, but let's get some food in you after all this work."
I couldn't comment, so we picked up two pizzas and came home to Edith and my dad, who were nude. Charlie was gone.
I took a single slice to start, but my mom dropped another slice on my plate, and I felt like I had no choice but to eat it.
She praised the dancing, and I told my parents about the nude rollerblading event.
"I never got the hang of it," said my mom.
"I tried to teach her. Maybe I could teach you, Sugar?"
I laughed. "I would need roller skates first."
"Then let's go buy some after lunch!" He says, determined.
"Don't tell me you guys imported them too?" I said.
My mother said. "No, it's too niche. We try to avoid fads because we might be stuck with too much unsold inventory."
"Don't you have a ton already?"
"Yes, but that's the excess. Remember, we need a quantity sold to break even. Most of what we have is what's left after we made a profit."
I remember that story, and I believe I explained it, so I won't bore you again with that.
So, after lunch, we got dressed, and I went with my family to shop for roller skates. Edith came along, if only because she was bored, but she didn't want any.
We had to do a few stores, as rollerblades seemed on the decline. This is counter to what Gabriella said about the Blue Horn. Odd. I'll know soon enough.
I ended up with red rollerblades, not because I chose the color; it's what fit me.
We also got a full set of protection. Helmet, stronger than my bike helmet, knee and ankle protectors, and also wrist protectors.
"When you fall on your wrists, they will protect them."
"You mean if?"
He laughs. "I do mean when. Because you will fall. Often. Until you don't, and then you might still fall a few times."
We made it home, and my father was anxious to start right away, so I indulged him, put on all of my protective gear, and we went outside in the street. Our driveway was just too slanted to practice in it.
He would hold my arm, not my hand, my arm, as he taught me the basics.
What helped a lot was that I wasn't bad on ice skates, and this wasn't that different. But this was, well, fine, different. Like switching from swimming in a pool to swimming in pudding. It moved, but not quite how I expected. Like trying to dance the same routine on a trampoline. The rhythm's there, but the ground keeps arguing.
Ok, it's like, when ice skating, I felt like I was, in a way, flying. With this, it's more like I had to push a shopping cart that went its own way.
Sure, the pavement isn't as soft and smooth as ice, and even small rocks change the game. But the worst is braking. It's an entirely different ball game.
I was good at using my ice skate to stop in place. With rollerblades, it's not so much braking as slowing down. Like, you need to schedule your stops in advance!
But I got used to the friction of the wheels, to how strict you need to keep your center of gravity, and how exhausting it can be.
Every move feels like weight training.
Honestly, I liked it, and by the end of a wonderful afternoon with my dad, I was getting the hang of it.
I did fall. Twice, but on my pad, and I didn't injure myself... much. Well, I didn't bruise my skin, but I would be sore tomorrow in many of my muscles.
I went to bed happy. I had my dance routine set, I learned the basics of rollerblading, and I had great moments with Gabriella, who is a lot more fun than Mrs. Sanchez.
I woke up in a good mood and with zero muscle pain. The joy of being 14. My dad, who rollerbladed a little with me, was sore all over...