Chapter 7

"She's back!" yelled Teddy as he walked up beside Buffy who stood at the railing in the bleachers.

"Physics!" Dawn told him happily as she skated the rink, preparing for a single flip. Tina was also in the bleachers watching Dawn. Dawn wanted to impress her and decided to do double the flip.

"She's been using her physics project to help some of the skaters. Tina agreed to give Dawn some rink time if she analyzed Gen's skating moves," Buffy said as Dawn made the flip and landed a tad bit off. "Pull your arms in just a little, they threw you off."

Teddy looked at Buffy. "So you're training her?"

Buffy shook her head, "I don't have time to train her and work. I still have to provide a living for the two of us somehow. Normally I wouldn't even be here, except I had a day off from work."

When Dawn's rink time was done, she went into the locker room. She was starting to unlace her skates when Nikki came rushing in. Dawn had asked if she could some of Nikki's choreography in exchange for analyzing her skating.

"She said absolutely not," Nikki told Dawn. "She goes, 'The Jumping Shrimp does NOT share her choreography with the competition!'"

"The Jumping Shrimp?" Dawn asked.

"It's my trademark. Mom copyrighted it," Nikki revealed. "We're marketing plush shrimp dolls and everything. Anyway, I convinced her that I could teach you my last year's program. I mean, it's old, but who cares, right?"

Actually, Dawn cared – a lot. She didn't want an old routine. Yet she knew with a little help from Buffy she could rework the routine and if she set it to new music … "Right," she agreed. "Who cares?"

A couple days later during Dawn's first session with Gen. Gen was having a lot of trouble landing a double axel and nothing would make her believe that a scientific formula would make any difference. But Tina insisted, so she gave it a try.

Dawn gave her some pointers that were based on principles of physics and analysis of the way she was performing the move. After listening, and viewing the computer image, Gen raced around the rink and then took off!

Up in the air Gen went for, then two revolutions. By doing it Dawn's way she gained the height she'd been lacking and she came down gracefully.

"It worked!" Dawn shouted happily.

"You told me it would," Gen reminded her. For the first time ever, Gen actually smiled at Dawn.

On the next Saturday afternoon as Dawn was cleaning up the snack bar kitchen, Gen came in and asked her if she wanted hang out with her. Dawn was shocked by the request, though she knew she shouldn't have been. Nikki, Tiffany, and Gen had all been pretty friendly to Dawn since the first day of school. So Dawn had said yes that she would hang out with Gen.

That evening Dawn and Gen ended up at a backyard party full of kids Dawn barely even knew. Gen dragged Dawn over to meet Kyle Dalton.

"Dawn, Kyle," Gen introduced them. "Kyle plays hockey, and Dawn, you skate. So you two have a lot in common. Have fun!"

Seeming satisfied that she'd left Dawn well connected, Gen rushed away. Dawn saw her melt into the arms of Brian, her boyfriend.

Dawn was starting to get the picture. She was the cover to get Gen out of the house so she could be with Brian.

"So, you skate, huh?" Kyle asked.

"Figure skate," Dawn answered.

"I wouldn't let the team hear this, but you guys could skate circles around us," Kyle said.

"But I'm not pushing a puck," Dawn pointed out.

"You should come to our next game," Kyle said.

Dawn was about to tell that she'd love to come watch him play—but she was suddenly distracted by a guy who was whooshing abover them on a zip-line that had been suspended across the backyard. "WOOOOOO!" he cheered as he zoomed past.

"Uh-oh, he's not going to make it," Dawn realized.

"Sure he will," Kyle disagreed.

Dawn shook her head, studying the guy, who continued to shout happily as he clutched the triangular blue handle as he rode on. "No," Dawn insisted. "Assuming his weight to be 150 pounds, and at that rate of descent, his projected trajectory brings him—"

Kyle and Dawn cringed as they heard a terrible crash right behind them. Turning, they saw that the guy had smashed right into the patio furniture, overturning two chairs and landing in a pinful-looking position underneath the table.

"It brings him right there," Dawn said to Kyle. "It was a simple V times M equals A miscalculation."

From Kyle's bewildered expression it was clear he had no idea what Dawn was talking about. "You know," she added, trying to explain, "velocity times mass equals' acceleration. Physics."

Kyle slowly started backing away from Dawn, "I have to … um …" he stammered. "Uh … later," he said before hurrying away.

A group of cool girls, that Dawn knew were Cordette wannabies, had witnessed the entire event and stood staring at her like she was the biggest loser of all time. "That was Kyle Dalton," one of them informed Dawn with chilly disdain.

"Word of advice," said another of them. "Don't ever talk again."

"Sorry," Dawn said. "I can't help it. When I get nervous I babble a little. Actually, I babble a lot. It's like a gear comes loose in my brain and just like one of those Planck diagrams of random particles colliding out of control—"

"Um … you're doing that babbling thing again," one of the girls pointed out, her lip curling into a scornful sneer.

"I think babbling is hot."

The three girls and Dawn turned at once to see who had spoken. Teddy walked up to Dawn and took her arm, walking her away from the crowd of jeering girls. "Thanks," Dawn said, sighing with relief. "Do they eat small rodents for breakfast?"

"I think they just chew grass," he said, laughing.

Teddy and Dawn walked together into the house. "See I don't go to many parties," Dawn explained. "Well, no parties, really, at all, unless you count birthday parties—but who counts birthday parties? I mean, they're mandatory and they're usually mine or Buffy's. You can't count your own or your sister's party, can you?"

"Hey, Dawn, it's me," Teddy said gently. "You can stop now."

Dawn took a deep breath. "I can?" She asked.

Teddy nodded toward the girls who had just been taunting Dawn outside. "Don't let them get you nervous. You're prettier, smarter, and way cooler than all of them."

He grabbed a couple of sodas from an ice-filled bucket and handed Dawn one. "So, you're Gen's cover story for tonight," Teddy said as he and Dawn opened the cans. "That's usually my job."

"Why is it your job?" Dawn asked.

"Being Gen's brother isn't easy," Teddy answered.

"She's your sister?" Dawn cried, she'd never expected.

Teddy nodded. "Yeah."

Then Dawn realized something even more surprising. "You're Tina's son?"

"Is that so hard to believe?" Teddy asked.

"I just thought… uh… wow…" Dawn said.

"You thought I was the help," Teddy supplied. "Well, I kind of am. Gen skates and I fix stuff. That rink was a pit when Mom bought it with her divorce money. I helped her bring it back. I did all the repair work, painting, the Zamboni." He smiled as he mentioned the Zamboni. "That's my favorite part. Ever since I was a kid I loved to take things apart and put them back together."

"That's your calling," Dawn commented.

"Calling?" Teddy asked.

"The thing you were born to do." Dawn explained.

"Yeah, I guess it is," Teddy said. "It's funny to think of myself as having a calling. Gen is the one with the talent. In our family the focus has always been on getting Gen to the Nationals."

"Just because you don't skate, you don't think you have any talent?" Dawn asked Teddy. "Don't you think you're worth something, too?"

"I don't know," Teddy admitted. "Am I?"

"I think you are," Dawn told him.

"So, for you, you're calling is the science stuff, I suppose." Teddy said, shifting focus back to Dawn.

Dawn shook her head. "I'm good at it, sure. But it's not what I want to do. I only am trying to get physics scholarship to pay for college. I really want to major in ancient languages and mythology."