Chapter 7

"What in the world could it be?" Mom said as I opened the package Maria sent me.

I honestly had no idea. It came as a complete surprise.

"Books!" I said.

It also included a note.

"These were mine when I was your age. Katie and Sasha are too young. Thought you might enjoy Jane Austen's books. Love, Marie."

There were three books: Emma, Pride and Prejudice and Sense and Sensibility.

"I read those when I was your age, too," Mom said. "I never thought I'd be saying this, but it's really a thoughtful gift. You need to call her and thank her."

Mom handed me her cell phone.

"Hi dad," I said. "Yeah, everything's okay. Why am I calling? I need to talk to Maria."

Dad acted like he really didn't want to talk to me.

"Hey Maria!" I said. "Yeah I got them! Yeah, I'm going to read them. That's why I called. Thanks so much. Doing good. Yeah we have a meet on that Thursday. You want to talk to Mom?"

I handed Mom the phone. Mom was surprised Marie wanted to talk to her.

"Hello Marie," she said. "Yeah. He would probably love that. I think it would really be an adventure for him. Yes, I'll let you ask him."

She handed the phone to me and had a big grin on her face.

"Hey!" I said. "Wow! That would really be cool! I'd love to go!"

Marie was being honored by a feminist group for a magazine article she wrote and was going to receive her award at a banquet in New York City. She knew dad wouldn't want to go, so she was inviting me.

We would be going to see the New York City Ballet perform Romeo and Juliet on the night before. She was going to come East a day early to watch me compete in gymnastics.

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"You know you really should get your hair cut," Mom said as I wrestled with putting my hair into a ponytail.

"Come on mom," I said. "Boys wear their hair long now, Mom. And wear ponytails."

"But do you have to tie it with a ribbon?" she asked.

"We want to look nice at the meet, Mom," I said. "All the girls are doing it."

"But you're not a girl," she said.

I rolled my eyes and admired my work in the mirror.

"Take your duffle bag downstairs at put it in Marie's rental car since you guys will be flying out after the meet," she said.

I grabbed my duffle bag and my gymnastics bag and went downstairs where Marie and Katie were waiting.

"Wow!" Marie said. "Don't you look cute!"

"Mom doesn't think I should wear the ribbon with my ponytail," I said.

"Don't encourage him, Marie," Mom said with a laugh.

Marie winked at me.

"I'm really looking forward to seeing you compete tonight, kiddo," Marie said.

We were competing against three of the state's top teams.

"We'll probably be competing against all three at state if we make it out of the regional meet," Coach Mills said at our team meeting before we went out to the floor to stretch.

I looked up into the crowd and saw Mom, Aunt Paige, Claire, Marie and Katie sitting in the stands together. I was still amazed Mom was letting Katie sit with Marie. Beth and Gina were also in the crowd.

"Are you nervous?" Kylie asked me before I made my first run at the vault.

I nodded my head.

"Just try to relax," she said.

I took off, did a handspring before soaring over the vault. I came down, took a step back, but stayed on my feet. The crowd applauded.

"Good score, good score!" Coach Mills said when an 8.7 was posted.

"Good score," Kylie whispered. "But I know you can do better."

I took a deep breath before taking another run down the lane. I ran, did my handspring, soared over the vault. This time, I stuck my landing!

I looked up and saw Aunt Paige high fiving Marie.

"Way to go little sister!" Gina yelled from the stands.

Shelley came up and slapped me in the butt. It stung.

"Way to go!" she said. "But don't let it go to your head!"

I posted a score of 9.3, my best score of the season.

It helped us to the lead after one event, but Bellemead High School took the lead by a couple of one-hundreths after two events after we had a couple of stumbles on the uneven bars.

They still held that lead after we were done with the beam.

Kaycee slipped on the floor, putting pressure on me to post a good score the team could count.

"Go out and dazzle them!" Dominique said when I got ready to take the floor. "Put some sass in your routine! Use some hippage."

I almost died laughing. She relaxed me.

My tumbling passes were the best of the season. I danced as well as I'd ever done with the music and did a couple of handstands that Aunt Paige helped me put into my routine.

I posted a 9.1, by best score of the season.

"Your best meet by far!" Coach Mills said. "I'm so proud of you. I don't know what's gotten into you. But I hope it stays."

Jessi, Kylie and Shelley posted great scores, but no one could touch Dominque, who scored a 9.8.

We won the meet to stay undefeated.

Mom, Aunt Paige, Marie, Claire, Katie, Beth and Gina were waiting for me. They clapped when I came out of the lockerroom.

"I want you to have fun in New York!" Mom said when I got in Marie's rental car. "Be good."

"I will, Mom!" I said, rolling my eyes.

"I'm sure he'll be a complete angel," Marie said.

"Well, call me if you need me," Mom said.

"You realize you still have the ribbon in your hair," Marie said as we drove off for the airport.

"I know," I said. "Thought I'd keep it in for a while."

"You realize people at the airport will think you're a girl," Marie said.

"I'm cool with it," I said.

"Well, if you're cool with it, then I'm cool with it," Marie said.

#####

Mom called it a "5-star hotel" in the middle of Manhattan.

"Breath-taking view, isn't it?" Marie said as we looked out of the window at all of the skyscrapers lit up at night.

I nodded my head.

The room had a hot tub and the biggest bathroom I'd ever seen in a hotel room.

"Hope you don't mind that we only have one room," Marie said of the beds that were side by side. "I used to bathe you when you were a kid and I've seen you in your underwear."

It wasn't a big deal to me.

"We need to both get showers and hit the bed," she said "We've got a big day of touring tomorrow."

We were going to the Statue of Liberty. We were going to go downtown and see "Ground Zero", Time Square and Rockerfeller Center.

We both read in bed before falling asleep.

"You're reading Emma?" Marie asked. "How do you like it so far?"

"I like it a lot," I said.

Touring the next day was pretty awesome. We went to the top of the Statue of Liberty. She bought us matching Yankees' caps and jackets that were really cool.

We at lunch at a small cafe downtown.

"You've got a choice tonight," Marie said. "We can do the 'manly' thing tonight and go see the Knicks, which I'm sure your dad would want us to do."

"Or?" I asked.

"We can go over to see the Rockettes at Radio City," she said.

"The Knicks suck!" I said. "I'd rather see the Rockettes."

"I was hoping you'd say that," Marie said. "But what about going to do a 'manly' thing."

"You bought us Yankees' caps and jackets," I said. "Isn't that a 'manly' thing?"

#####

Shopping, dinner and the ballet.

That was the plan on Saturday. The banquet was Sunday.

"I'm going to pick out a couple of dresses at Bloomingdales," Marie said. "We'll get you a tux."

Marie tried on several dresses.

She asked me my opinion on each.

"For a boy, I think you've got a really good perception of what I'm looking for," she said when she finally settled on the one she was going to wear to the ballet.

I took it as a complement. She actually noticed me looking through dresses while she was looking for a dress to wear to the banquet.

"Have you found something you like?" she asked.

"They all look really nice," I said. "But I like the blue, and the red one, too."

"Would you rather wear them than the tux?" she asked.

I blushed. I was almost afraid to answer.

"You can tell me," she said. "It's okay. No one has to know that you wore a dress to the ballet or the banquet."

I nodded my head yes.

"We'll have to get you some shoes," Marie said. "And some underwear. I'll take the dresses home with me. Your dad will never have to know they're yours."

####

Marie did my hair, make up and nails.

She seemed to be having as much fun as I was.

"Marie, can I tell you a secret?" I asked.

"Sure, what is it?" she said.

"I dunno, there are times when I really do enjoy being a girl, you know?" I said.

"I know," Marie said. "I was thinking that watching you out there bouncing around in your leotard, with the ribbon in your hair at the gymnastics meet."

I have to admit Marie did a great job getting me ready, even better than Gina's sister and friend did during homecoming.

I looked really classy. So did Marie.

"You ladies look really nice," the doorman said when we left the hotel and got into the limo.

"Thought you would like the limo better than the taxi," Marie said.

"We're really riding in style," I said.

"Of course we are," Marie said. "We're going the ballet, not touring."

We went to a very fancy Italian restaurant. I had no idea what to order, so Marie did the ordering for us. She ordered some type of Ravioli that the waiter said was a good choice.

We ended up talking to an elderly couple sitting at the table next to us.

They were also going to the ballet.

"You have a very beautiful daughter," they said.

I blushed.

"She's my stepdaughter Chloe," Marie said.

"Chloe?" I whispered. "Oh my teammates would really have fun with that."

"I've always liked Chloe for a name," Marie said.

"I didn't say I didn't like it," I said. "Maybe it suits me."

We had very good seats at Carnegie Hall to see the ballet.

The dancers were absolutely amazing.

"Oh my God, the girl playing Juliet is very beautiful, don't you agree?" Marie asked.

"Yes she is," I said. "She's very graceful."

"I am so amazed how they dance en pointe like that," Marie said.

The guy playing Romeo was also fantastic.

"Marie, you want to know something?" I asked.

"What is it, kiddo?" she asked.

"The girls are very beautiful," I said. "They do some fun things. But I'd rather dance the guy's parts. I like doing the leaps and the jumps. I like partnering the girls."

Marie gave me a hug.

"Lucas Lacy, you are one extraordinary boy," she said. "One beautiful, extraordinary boy!"