A/N: Sorry for the lack of updates, was out of town for a week. As always, thanks for reading and reviewing!

Chapter 38

The morning of Summer session registration dawned hazy, typical weather for Southern California in late May. Without bright sunshine to rouse her, Jess had to rely on her alarm clock instead, which rang at 6:30. She sat up groggily and stretched, making her Led Zep shirt rise up to expose her flat and still-untanned midriff, then rolled out of bed and put on some ELO at low volume to help her get going. I don't see how people get up early every day to work or in the locals' case, surf, she thought a bit grumpily as she pulled on her newest jeans and a light blue tee shirt.

Half an hour later she was out the door, still chewing on her last bite of buttered toast. I really hope there's not a big line at the college, she hoped as she slipped behind the wheel of the Triumph and cranked the engine. But I have a feeling there will be, since it's the first chance to register for the Fall semester, too. At least I won't have to go it alone, she thought as an image of Stacy's face came into her mental field of view.

When she got to the main campus at Santa Monica College, Jess saw with a sinking heart that the parking lots were fairly full and steady streams of students were making their way toward the gymnasium, where the registration process would begin at 8am.

She took her place in the line outside the closed gymnasium doors and tried not to estimate how far back she was. After glancing at her watch she scanned around for Stacy, but saw no sign of him yet. Well, he did say he might go surfing first, she recalled. But he'd better be here by eight. Waiting alone is such a bummer. She didn't recognize anyone else in the line either in front or behind her and resolved herself to spend a boring hour just standing in one place. After a very dull ten minutes had passed, she took Stacy's and her own desired class schedules out of her purse and reviewed them one more time. She and Stacy had met with the same advisor at separate times in order to coordinate their schedules as much as possible. He'd already had a couple of the courses she still needed, and vice-versa, but they managed to find two courses they could both take: Statistics and Abnormal Psych (or as Nathan called it, "Nuts and Sluts").

After she refolded the papers and replaced them in her purse, she looked up just in time to see Allen Sarlo's girlfriend Mindy walk by. They recognized each other at the same time and the younger girl came over and gave Jess a quick hug.

"Are you taking classes here this Summer?" Jess queried her, a little confused because she thought Mindy was still in high school.

The other girl shook her head no. "I'm here with Allen. Signing up for the Fall is the last thing he has to do before he packs to go to Hawaii," she explained.

"Ah, gotcha. Yeah, Stacy's going to be here too…eventually," Jess muttered, looking at her watch again. Thirty-five minutes before the doors opened. Well, he still has time, she mused. But he'd better not skip this in favor of surfing or I might just decide to toss his schedule sheet in the trash and let him take his chances with late registration, she decided.

"Ahh, he'll be here. Stacy's a pretty responsible guy," Mindy told her with confidence.

Jess nodded in agreement. "Is Allen going to Hawaii to surf?"

With a little laugh that bared her white teeth, Mindy folded her arms across her slim ribcage. "Of course, what else? God, I want to go with him so bad. I'm gonna go nuts without him. We spend so many days – and nights – together that it's gonna be weird not having him around."

Jess' eyebrows raised slightly when she heard that proclamation. "Nights too, huh?"

Mindy nodded sagely. "Oh yeah, he frequently stays overnight at my place," she told Jess casually.

"And your parents don't mind? Or do they know?" Jess asked in amazement.

Mindy shot her an amused look. "Yeah, they know. They just don't care as long as Allen treats me well and doesn't get me pregnant. And if he did get me in a family way they'd accept it and support us 'cause hey, it happens, ya know?"

Enviously biting her lip, Jess musingly replied, "And I guess you have a really lax curfew too, huh?"

For a moment Mindy stared blankly at her, then an unrestrained look of mirth and disbelief spread across her pretty face. "Curfew? Are you kiddin' me? I haven't had a curfew since I was ten or eleven! Don't tell me you have one," she giggled, making Jess look down at the ground with an ashamed expression.

"Yeah, I got one," she admitted reluctantly.

"Man, how old are you again?" Mindy queried. Upon hearing the reply she hooted with laughter again. "Ohmigod, I'd move in with Allen's family…or friends…hell, I'd go stay at the 'Y' if it came to that!" Mindy declared.

Jess frowned in thought. "Bet the 'Y' has a curfew too, though," she mused aloud, but Mindy just rolled her eyes and made an exasperated sound.

"Anyway, you get what I'm saying. There's no way I could live like that. Don't know how you can put up with it, to be honest."

"Well, there's a reason for the way Mom is…" Jess broke off speaking and looked back at her sandaled feet again.

Mindy, her light eyes wide with interest, gave Jess a tentatively warm smile. "Hey, don't feel like you have to explain anything to me. I just thought it was a pretty crazy thing for an eighteen year old to have, that's all." When Jess gazed off into space without responding, Mindy quickly added, "But you can talk about it if you want to. You know you can trust me." This last statement was followed up by an even warmer smile.

Jess nodded in confirmation. "Well, I do feel like I can trust you now, especially since your party. Thanks for not blabbing about me and Stacy to everyone, you know…" her voice trailed off again as the skin over her wide, high cheekbones turned slightly pink.

"Ah, it's all cool," Mindy assured her with a laugh and a quick tap on Jess' upper arm. "It's nothing we all haven't done, ya know? It was just your turn in the lottery to get busted doing it."

"Yeah," Jess agreed with a nervous laugh. And then, dropping her voice to a near conspiratorial whisper that forced Mindy to lean closer to hear properly, she began to recite the tale behind Sandie's overprotective behavior.

"When we lived back in New Jersey, my mom was married to a guy – not my dad, this guy was from Camden – who ended up being a total overcontrolling jerkoff. He was technically my step dad, but I refused to call him "Dad" or even think of him as a father-like person. My real father lives in Georgia and he's the only "Dad" I need, ya know?" When Mindy gave her a genuinely understanding nod, Jess continued. "So anyway, about a year ago Mom finally got a divorce from Fred – that's the schmuck's name, but I hate to say it aloud so I just call him the schmuck – and we moved in with my grandma Esther for a little while. But the schmuck didn't let it go. He started following her around everywhere and making threats, stuff like he was going to kidnap me to Colorado, crazy stuff like that-"

"Why on earth-" Mindy started to query, but Jess quickly explained.

"He always thought he was a better father than my real dad and it royally pissed him off that I wouldn't call him "Dad" and all that. He got so jealous of my real dad that he forbade me to call him, or let me take his calls, and he'd always get to the mail first and would throw away letters from him to make it look like Dad wasn't trying to contact me. God, what a putz," she snarled, her grey eyes sparking with anger at the old memories. "Anyway. The schmuck's threats really got to my mom. Scared me too, but Mom went to all kinds of measures to keep me safe short of hiding me somewhere in Antarctica. I wanted to go live with my real Dad, but it would have screwed up my senior year and to be honest, I wouldn't have been any safer since the schmuck knew where Dad lived, too. So Mom insisted on picking me up every day from school and set a strict curfew and limited who I could hang out with. If I was at a friend's house, I had to call her before I left and either she'd come pick me up or someone she trusted would drive me, like my Uncle Paul or Grandma Esther."
Mindy shook her head in open disbelief, her sun-lightened hair swinging around her smooth golden shoulders. "Guy, Jess, I had no idea. That must have been seriously scary for you," she said in her mildest voice.

Jess gazed unfocusedly into the distance again. "It wasn't fun," she said after a moment's silence. "And yes, we did talk to the police, but Mom was afraid to get a restraining order because she was afraid it might really set the schmuck off. When a colleague of hers told her about this job in the art department at the movie studio, Mom jumped at it, natch. We didn't tell anyone before we left. Not even my best friend Renee knew ahead of time. Mom made a down payment on our house in Venice sight unseen and we loaded up her car in the dead of night and just drove away." As she spoke she seemed to get ever so slightly choked up, but seemed to instantly recover herself before finishing her saga. "So now Mom works behind tall gates and we live on a quiet little back street three thousand miles from the schmuck and he seems to be none the wiser. He probably thinks we moved to Philly itself, or New York State, since that's where Mom went to college. She uses her maiden name but I use my real dad's last name. They were never married, by the way. Mom and my real dad," Jess added offhandedly.

"Really? Interesting. So I guess your curfew is a holdover from your time back East," Mindy said, nodding with comprehension as she turned all the facts over in her head and used them to develop an overall picture of Jess' situation. "Well, thanks for telling me that, Jessica. And of course I won't tell a soul. You have my word on that," she reassured the dark-haired girl kindly.

Jess smiled at her with relief. "I believe you, Mindy. And hey, thanks for listening."

"Oh, any time," Mindy told her. "Hey, we should trade numbers and go out to lunch or shopping sometime. Allen's going to be in Hawaii for three weeks and I'm gonna have a lot of time to hang out."

Already digging in her purse for a pen and scrap paper, Jess nodded in agreement. "Yeah, let's. You're gonna miss Allen a lot, huh? Ok, what's your number?"

As they were exchanging contact information Jess heard a male voice calling her name from about twenty yards away and looked up to see Stacy coming toward them at a jog, his damp hair swinging heavily behind his shoulders.

"Hey, Jessica. So sorry I'm late, but the sets just wouldn't stop comin'," he explained after he got to her side and gave her a fast squeeze. "Hey, Mindy."

"Hey, Stacy. Surfing while making your girlfriend stand in line? Boy, you're the last of the great romantics, huh?" Mindy shot at him teasingly as Stacy gave her a snarky little smile.

"She doesn't mind, do ya Jessica?" Stacy asked her as he slipped an arm about her waist and pulled her close.

Jess shook her head and met Mindy's amused glance. "Well, it's a good thing Mindy was here to talk to or I'd be bored as hell," she admitted, but put her own arm around him and returned his embrace.

"I better get back to Allen before he thinks I bailed on him to go surfing myself," Mindy told them, then made her departure with a wave and a promise to call Jess later that week.

Watching her go, Stacy murmured, "Mindy's a cool girl. She's a little younger than you, but I think you two would get along well."

"I think so too," Jess replied with conviction, then steered the conversation to a more urgent topic. "So, you ready for all the registration craziness?" she quipped with a little grin, which quickly melted away when she saw Stacy's mixed expression of seriousness and anxiety.

"Um, I've decided not to register, actually." Staring at the ground and blinking nervously as he made this proclamation, Stacy's face was a study of conflicted emotions.

For a moment Jess just looked uncomprehendingly up at him before finding her voice. "You mean you're going to wait and register later, or…" she let her voice trail off as Stacy began to shake his head negatively.

"No, I mean I'm not registering at all. I was doing some thinking today – well, starting last night – and decided not to go back to college for a little while," he confessed in a tight, distant voice.

Stunned, Jess gaped wide-eyed at him again. "You're kidding!" When Stacy shook his head no again, she disbelievingly asked him, "So what are you going to do instead?"

He shrugged, looking very flushed and uncomfortable at this point. "I dunno, just surf, I guess," he said in a vague tone. At the shocked look on his girlfriend's face, he tried to explain his decision a little more fully. "I know it sounds crazy, but last night it just kinda hit me that what I'm doing right now – the classes and skate contests and stuff – it just doesn't feel right anymore. It's just not fun like it used to be," he added with a sigh, closing his blue eyes as though the admission caused him physical pain.

"But you're doing so well in the contests," Jess protested. "I thought they were going to be your ticket to sponsorship!"

Stacy winced slightly. "I thought they would be too, but so far they haven't. I'm starting to feel like a rat in a wheel, ya know? Running like crazy and getting nowhere. I want off the ride for a little while. Just gimme some time to chill, get my head together, plan my next move, you know?"

Jess ran her hand through her dark tresses, still processing this unexpected revelation and trying to figure out where she fit in it. "You're not going to Hawaii too or anything?"

For the first time Stacy laughed. "Oh god no! I'm way too broke for that. Don't worry, Jessica. I want to keep seeing you and everything. C'mon, you're one of the few things in my life that's working out, ya know?"

So relieved to hear him say that, Jess' knees nearly gave out on her. "Well good. Because if you dumped me too then I'd know you were out of your ever-lovin' mind," she shot at him with a grin. "So are you sure you don't want to take just one class? Y'know, to keep your hand in, so to speak?" she couldn't resist asking in a last-ditch attempt to keep their Summer school plans alive.

His mouth set in a straight line, Stacy shook his head no. "I'm just gonna keep my schedule wide open this summer. And no skating contests for a while, either. It's gonna be all about the surfing. Nothin' clears my head more than riding the waves, man. Nothin'," he emphasized. "As soon as I made my decision after waking up today all the tension just vanished. And then I had one of the best sessions this morning that I've had in a long time. This is the right thing to do, Jessica. I hope you can understand…"

She softly placed one hand on his chest to silence him. "Yeah, I do understand, or at least as best as a non-surfer can," she told him in a soft voice that inspired him to give her a relieved hug.

"Hey, I'll be glad to give you surfing lessons too," he said when he let her go again.

"Deal," she agreed. "Oh good, the line's moving faster now. God, I just want to get this crap over with. Hey, are you going to stay, or do you want to surf some more?" she asked him with an anxious glance.

"Of course I'll stay," he told her. "After all, I promised to go with you today. No sense in making you go through this alone."

An hour and a half later Jess had gotten into all the classes she'd wanted. As she'd gone from one sign-up table to the next, Stacy stayed faithfully at her side, living up to his earlier promise. It had nearly broken her heart to see her name on the roster lists without Stacy's written after it like they had planned, but his mind was made up and there was no arguing with his decision. Privately she had to wonder if he really was doing the right thing by putting off his education, but she refrained from chastising him any further. I'll just sound like my mom, she realized. And that's the last thing he needs right now. I may not agree with his plan, but I'll support it anyway. What other choice do I really have?

"I'll walk you to your car," Stacy offered as they left the gymnasium. When they reached the Triumph they paused for one more hug and kiss. "You wanna come have dinner at my house tonight? Mom's making chicken and rice," he informed her with a little grin.

"Yes!" Jess replied gleefully, her earlier bad mood lifting a little at the thought of having her favorite meal, especially as prepared by Stacy's mom, who unlike Sandie was the queen of good home-cooked meals. She agreed to come to his house at seven and they parted ways for the afternoon.

At 6:50 Jess pulled up in front of the Peralta residence and parked. She checked her reflection in the rear-view mirror before climbing out of the car, noting that her shin didn't hurt from the movement for the first time since twisting it during her first skating lesson the other week. She adjusted the halter top of her ankle-length dark brown dress and climbed up the steps to the front porch. Before she could even knock Stacy opened the front door and ushered her in. As promised, the luscious smell of baked chicken breasts simmering in wild rice greeted her nostrils and made her salivate a little bit.

Stacy's mother, clad in a brightly colored paisley dress and her light hair neatly coiffed as usual, stepped out of the kitchen to greet her. "Hello Jessica, don't you look lovely. You know, brown's your color," she said admiringly as gave Jess a quick once-over with eyes the same intense hue of blue as her son's. "Go ahead and sit at the table, dear. Stacy, would you go tell your father that dinner's almost ready?"

As soon as he was out of earshot at the back of the house, Stacy's mom paused to lean against the kitchen doorway and speak in a confidential tone to Jess. "You know about Stacy's big decision, I take it?"

"Yes, he told me this morning. What do you think about it?" she had to ask as she toyed with the stem of the full water glass that was already set at her place.

His mom gave a crooked little smile of resignation. "Well, I can kind of see his point, to be honest. It was his grandmother who put the idea into his head last night, you know. She was looking through a skating magazine and when she saw he wasn't in there, she asked him how he could be the number three skateboarder in the world and not even have his name mentioned anywhere."

"But he's been in magazines before," Jess protested.

"I know," Stacy's mom agreed. "But she did have a point. What's the point of going to all those contests and being the number three skater in the world if you don't get plenty of recognition for it? So anyway, he got really quiet and thoughtful after that. And this morning he told his father and I that he was going to ease off of the skating and the school, too." She sighed. "I can understand the skating decision, sure. But I do wish he'd reconsider the school part."

"Well, classes don't start until next Monday," Jess told her. He's got until then to change his mind and sign up."

Stacy's dad walked into the dining room, followed closely by Stacy himself, who was wiping his just-washed damp hands on his shirt. "Hello, Jessica," Mr. Peralta said, then took a seat at the small round table beside her. "Are we discussing our errant son?"

"Dad," Stacy started to protest, but got cut off by a little barking laugh from his father.

"Never mind, son. Like we've always said, it's your life. College will always be there whenever you're ready to go."

"True," Stacy replied with obvious relief as he took a seat by Jessica and gave her hand a covert squeeze under the tablecloth.

His mom brought the covered dishes to the table and they all served themselves, talking about a variety of topics from the growing drought to Carter's chances in the Fall's presidential election. "Imagine a peanut farmer running the nation!" Stacy's dad snorted derisively.

"Hey, he does have experience governing a state, and stranger things have happened in this country," Stacy countered amiably before his mom changed the subject to something more benign.

After dinner Jess helped his mom clear the plates and glasses away and load them into the dishwasher while Stacy and his dad sat on the couch and turned on the TV. The wall-mounted kitchen phone rang, startling Jess, who was standing right beside it waiting to hand Mrs. Peralta another dish. She answered it, then frowned a little bit as she listened to the caller's voice. "I…yes, go ahead. Yes, you have the right number. Just a moment." She covered the mouthpiece with one hand and called out to the living room: "Stacy! Phone for you, long distance."

Stacy's eyebrows shot up in surprise. "Ok, I'll get it in my room," he announced as he leapt to his feet and ran to the back of the house. Jess and his parents all looked at each other and shrugged.

As she came into the living room and stood by the couch the temptation to tiptoe into the hallway and eavesdrop on his call was strong, but Jess managed to resist. Stacy had left his bedroom door open and the dimmest snatches of Stacy's side of the conversation were just audible over the low volume of the TV set. She heard him say "Unreal" then "That's so hot" and then alarmingly, the words "passport" and "visa." After a pause this was followed by another "That's so hot" and finally a "Ok, thank you very much. Bye!"

The next sound that came from Stacy's room was a joyous victory whoop, then the Z-boy himself came charging back down the hall and stopped in the living room doorway. "Guys, guess what!" he yelled enthusiastically. That was John Arnold, a guy who owns a chain of sports shops in Australia, and he wants to sponsor me for a tour! I'm a pro now!" He concluded his announcement with another whoop, squeezing his eyes shut in delight as he grinned and bounced up and down on his toes.

Stacy's mom stood up and gave her son a big hug. "Oh, I'm so proud of you, Stacy. Come, sit down and tell us more." Stacy obeyed, reaching out to take Jess' hand and pull her down on the couch along with him. As he explained the details he caressed her fingers with his almost absentmindedly. "Well, he wants me to do exhibitions, and give safety talks, and just um, tell people about skateboarding and stuff."

"That's just fantastic," his mom enthused, but Jess still wasn't totally clear on everything.

"So you say this guy owns shops in Australia…is that where you're going?" she asked hesitantly. Guess Mindy won't be the only one with a boyfriend out of town for a little bit during the Summer, she thought privately.

Stacy nodded happily. "Yep, all over the whole continent," he confirmed with a grin.

"How long do you think you'll be down there?" his mom asked. Hopefully no more than a week or two, Jess thought ferverently.

"He said it would probably take three or four months to do it right," Stacy informed them. Jess felt her pounding heart come to a screeching halt briefly. "Th-three or four months? she asked wide-eyed in confirmation, trying to swallow the panic that was rising in her throat and threatening to choke her.

"Yeah, three or four months," he confirmed, his expression still dreamy.

Stacy's dad leaned forward, a curious expression on his darkly handsome face. "So when will you leave, son?"

Stacy grinned again before replying. "He said their American agents have tickets and a visa already waiting for me at the airport. They want me to catch the next flight out. It leaves tomorrow. Nine a.m. sharp."