Page 23 of Crashing into Love

“Juice. I sent both up yesterday because I didn’t know which.”

“Orange. But I’m more of a coffee girl in the morning.”

“And oatmeal?”

“Usually, yeah. But I still ate what you sent up. Well, I ate some of what you sent up because you sent up the whole kitchen.”

Selma laughed a little and turned to her daughter.

“Okay. We can go out today, but when I say it’s time to go, it’s time to go, okay? If there’s an emergency back here, we have to leave.”

“Really?” Gia stood up and hugged her mother.

Drew watched Selma instantly relax, and she smiled at the exchange.

“Drew’s coming, too, right?” Gia asked after pulling out of the embrace.

“Uh…” Drew left her mouth open.

“You can say no,” Selma told her.

“Should I say yes?” Drew checked with a lifted eyebrow.

“Yes!” Gia practically yelled with excitement.

???

“That’s it. Do a little jump and twist your hips here,” Drew instructed as she placed her hands on Gia’s hips, showing her what she meant before she took a step back to watch Gia attempt to turn her board. “She mentioned she goes to a special school,” she said to Selma then, who stood beside her.

“She does. It’s a gifted program, and it costs about a million dollars a year.”

“Is that US or Canadian?” Drew joked. “Great job, Gia! Try again!”

“She’s actually in the sixth grade.”

“I’m sorry… What?” Drew asked, turning to Selma in surprise.

“Yeah. She’s bored there, too.” Selma shook her head. “It’s a pretty small school; they only take twenty students per grade. She got in last year after testing off the charts. And while it’s expensive, it’s also worth it. She still hates it, though.”

“Why?”

“Because of the boredom. She’s kind of right there in the middle of being ready for seventh or maybe even eighth grade. They asked me when she was admitted if I wanted to move her up to seventh to see how she did, but I didn’t want to do that. She’s in a school with a ton of smart kids, but she still gets picked on for being so young for her grade. At this rate, she’ll be done with high school by fifteen – sixteen at the latest – so I don’t know… Am I supposed to let her skip more grades and finish sooner, or keep her where she is and just have her deal with the boredom, but it’s slightly better for her socially?”

“Like this, Drew?” Gia asked loudly.

Drew returned her attention to the girl and noticed that she was trying to twist the board in the snow.

“Hey, good job. You’re getting it to turn, Gia.” She walked over to the girl. “Want to work a little on really moving?”

“Yes,” Gia said with a wide smile.

“Okay. But you can’t go so fast that I can’t catch up to you, all right?”

Gia laughed.

“I won’t.”

“Good. So, let’s put our board straight that way.” Drew pointed.

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