It was in Desmond's third year of high school that everything went to shit. And it was his own fault.
He'd met Rebecca during the summer while he was working at the wall-climbing place downtown. An offhand comment he'd made about climbing a local rock face had led to them exchanging anecdotes, and soon he was the only staff member she would have belaying for her. Considering she was a paying regular, management had no trouble sacrificing Desmond to keep her happy.
They got along well, and he'd even joined a few groups with her; climbing mountains, cliffs, and sometimes the outsides of buildings. The last ones were always the most fun to him, but Altair preferred the cliffs. They agreed to disagree and Desmond tried to schedule even numbers of both types of climbs when he could.
Through all the bonding experiences he’d learned that they actually went to the same school and he'd even had an English class with her at one point, though neither one of them remembered the other being in the class. They coordinated to share a Natural Sciences period together, and Desmond joined Rebecca's Computer Repair course to cover an elective. By the time the summer was over, Desmond was practically living in Rebecca's small apartment with her and her roommate Rauf, who was a really decent guy.
Of course, him being out all the time wasn't helping his case with Dad much, but Desmond would just as soon avoid him. Anyway, Altair approved of Rebecca, and sometimes Desmond would swear that when Altair would make an offhand comment to Rauf, he would almost react to them.
When classes started up he had to quit his job, -which sucked- but they told him he was welcome back next summer. Desmond oriented himself pretty quickly to his new schedule, and after his first Natural Sciences class he and Rebecca had hung out for a bit in the halls with a few of her other friends.
That was how he'd met Lucy.
Desmond couldn't have crushed harder if he’d tried, and he was on cloud nine for the rest of the day when he made her laugh, twice. Rebecca teased him about it, but he couldn't even come down enough to feel embarrassed. It took two weeks for him to get up the balls to ask her out, and Rebecca laughed so hard in Computer Repair when he told her about it that she fell off her chair.
The first date went good, the second went better, and she was the one to kiss him goodbye at the door after the third. She was an ace in the Sciences and at Math, but terrible at writing essays. He had to teach her how to write a proper book report, and she helped him pass his Natural Sciences mid-term. Desmond was pretty sure it was love.
And then Lucy signed up to help with the after school tutoring program. And then she met an underclassman by the name of Kadar Al-Sayf and helped him with his math. And then she introduced him into her circle of friends, and Desmond saw him again for the first time in years. And then Malik and Altair saw each other again.
Childhood Fantasies, Part 6
He'd met Rebecca during the summer while he was working at the wall-climbing place downtown. An offhand comment he'd made about climbing a local rock face had led to them exchanging anecdotes, and soon he was the only staff member she would have belaying for her. Considering she was a paying regular, management had no trouble sacrificing Desmond to keep her happy.
They got along well, and he'd even joined a few groups with her; climbing mountains, cliffs, and sometimes the outsides of buildings. The last ones were always the most fun to him, but Altair preferred the cliffs. They agreed to disagree and Desmond tried to schedule even numbers of both types of climbs when he could.
Through all the bonding experiences he’d learned that they actually went to the same school and he'd even had an English class with her at one point, though neither one of them remembered the other being in the class. They coordinated to share a Natural Sciences period together, and Desmond joined Rebecca's Computer Repair course to cover an elective. By the time the summer was over, Desmond was practically living in Rebecca's small apartment with her and her roommate Rauf, who was a really decent guy.
Of course, him being out all the time wasn't helping his case with Dad much, but Desmond would just as soon avoid him. Anyway, Altair approved of Rebecca, and sometimes Desmond would swear that when Altair would make an offhand comment to Rauf, he would almost react to them.
When classes started up he had to quit his job, -which sucked- but they told him he was welcome back next summer. Desmond oriented himself pretty quickly to his new schedule, and after his first Natural Sciences class he and Rebecca had hung out for a bit in the halls with a few of her other friends.
That was how he'd met Lucy.
Desmond couldn't have crushed harder if he’d tried, and he was on cloud nine for the rest of the day when he made her laugh, twice. Rebecca teased him about it, but he couldn't even come down enough to feel embarrassed. It took two weeks for him to get up the balls to ask her out, and Rebecca laughed so hard in Computer Repair when he told her about it that she fell off her chair.
The first date went good, the second went better, and she was the one to kiss him goodbye at the door after the third. She was an ace in the Sciences and at Math, but terrible at writing essays. He had to teach her how to write a proper book report, and she helped him pass his Natural Sciences mid-term. Desmond was pretty sure it was love.
And then Lucy signed up to help with the after school tutoring program. And then she met an underclassman by the name of Kadar Al-Sayf and helped him with his math. And then she introduced him into her circle of friends, and Desmond saw him again for the first time in years. And then Malik and Altair saw each other again.
And then things went to shit.