Oregon summers were typically very dry and very warm. During that year, temperatures were comfortably within the low to mid-eighties, and it was mostly clear. When the cloud cover came in, however, that's when things started to get all sticky. Evergreen actually kind of enjoyed those days when the cloud cover came in because it often meant that a thunderstorm was right around the corner. He always found it quite relaxing to be sleeping as it rained cats and dogs against his windows with cracks of thunder on all sides and his windows being briefly illuminated by the distant flash of lightning that was considerably soft in the darkness of his bedroom.

He had been able to better and better come to terms with the things he experienced in the Land of the Banished. Taking a life, no matter how big or small, leaves an impression on any individual, especially one who essentially hates all confrontation. Growing up, he did his best not to really offer his opinions or to speak too loudly, due to the off chance that he might offend someone and if someone trespassed against him, he typically just let it go straight away, claiming that he didn't have the energy to waste in dealing with the person, when in reality, he didn't have the heart to do so. He spent several nights lying awake, almost being able to hear the screams of the cannibal dwarves in his mind's ear. Almost, that is, if it wasn't for the Aerosmith and the Guns and Roses that kept him company by night on his iPod Touch, a wonderful gift from Dad, he would add.

Pretty soon after returning home from California, Evergreen, Dad, and Seta went back to Underhill Market to pick up supplies. He got all of his assigned reading, of course, but he also picked up a book about animagi and another about auror dueling techniques. Even though Professor Woods may have come back to school over the summer, that didn't mean that she would be automatically available for their occasional private tutoring sessions. He knew that he had to be ready for Elphaba and her minions if talking to her didn't work. He was hoping that he wouldn't have to do any more fighting and that he would be able to make the Wicked Witch see reason. Only time will tell.

The last few weeks of the summer involved Evergreen reading and reviewing all of his textbooks. Naturally, he took some notes and had Seta quiz him a bit on a few of the principles and spell names and effects in the eighth-grade curriculum. He also spent some time communicating with Bianca. He really had a serious, full-fledged crush on her, and it was wonderful!

Thinking about her made him shake with excitement and made his stomach turn in the wildest of ways. She was honestly super pretty with her long, dark hair, her flawless, tanned complexion, and her beautiful bright eyes. Sure, girls had always given him the time of day, but it was an exciting thing, having someone want to spend time with him and who considered him just as good-looking as he found her. Evergreen didn't think too much about his physical good looks before, that is until he met Link. However, Bianca just made him feel super suave and super cool.

They spent much of their free time sending crane messages. This was a fancy little magical thing where a little paper crane would fly to Evergreen at amazing speeds, unfold itself, and present a message to him. According to Bianca, the messages disappear once the intended recipient reads and comprehends the message. After reading it, he would write his response, and the paper would fold itself into a crane again and fly away as fast as lightning. Sure, Bianca's home was located in the Tututni Settlement of Magic a good 250 miles or so away, but somehow, the paper crane always seemed to fly off and fly back within 10 to 15 minutes. Doing the math, the little paper crane would have to be traveling at like Mach 2! He Googled it, so what? Some crazy magic had to be at play with that because a little paper crane going that fast would likely burst into flame and not make the journey. Evergreen smiled as he read Bianca's most recent message.

So, there's a ballroom up there? You should show me where it is. Heaven forbid you let a girl lead you for a change.

She was made well aware of Evergreen's complete and total lack of grace during the previous year. Although his rhythm was perfect, he just had some difficulty explaining that to his body. He and Bianca got to know each other very well over that past year, since that previous Thanksgiving. She wasn't his 'girlfriend' per se, but she did refer to herself as 'his', at any rate. He figured that they were probably too young to get involved in anything heavy with each other, and she saw it that way too, so he just considered her his friend. His friend that he wanted to flirt with. His friend that he wanted to flirt with only. Seeing the girl he was crushing on giggle or blush at anything he said or did made him feel great after all.

It really is a wonderful place to watch the stars, that is, if you don't mind the Solitary Separatist ghost floating in and out. I'm sure it's a wonderful place to dance as well. Unfortunately, they only throw dances for the high school-aged students, so we still have a while until we'd be able to go under any official thing. This was his penned reply.

Who said anything about anything official? I'd have to share your attention at that point, and I don't like doing that. I'd prefer having your pretty eyes look my way.

He didn't often get speechless, but in this case, he did. The way she complimented him was crazy. She took little things about himself that he didn't even give much thought to and made him feel like a million bucks. He didn't think his eyes were pretty, if anything, they were boring and safe, like a cloudy sky. She thought otherwise. He had to reply.

And I'd prefer to have them on you as well. After all, you are the prettiest girl on the Oregon coast and I have cable television.

Almost feeling some regret for sending such a flirty message, he waited at his window with bated breath, Seta looking on with amusement. How would she react? Did she know about cable television? Did they have any TV's in their village? Ever since Seta had died and came back to life, Evergreen shared a curious connection with the bunny. For some reason, they could always sense EXACTLY what the other is feeling at all times. It just meant that they had no secrets, which was both annoying and kind of nice. Pretty soon, the crane reappeared.

Really? Hmmm… you don't say. If I didn't know any better, I would say that you're kind of into me.

He smiled at this and grabbed his quill to write his response. She always feels like she gets the last word! He hastily wrote his reply.

Well, I happen to know that you're about as interested as I am.

He smiled as the crane took off again. It was a fun little game they played. They started it at school, where the crane took seconds to find the other person, and after their game of 3 questions went stale, they just took everything they learned about the other person and just started this banter. It was new, it was exciting. It was nice. Many people started to get interested in him only once they found out that his mom was Glinda of the Quadling Country. Bianca didn't even care. To her, he must have been kind of a kindred spirit, being raised by a single parent and having too many expectations over their heads. To Bianca, he wasn't the famed heir to the House of Marina or the destined child of Good Witch Glinda. She was great. She really was. It's not that he was in love with her, because she was 12 and he was 13. They were much too young to know anything about romantic love, really, but he just really liked the way she made him feel.

"Evergreen," called Dad from downstairs, "I've got dinner."

When he briefly hesitated, looking again out of the window for the crane to return, Seta let out a loud laugh.

"She will still be there after you eat, you know."

"Yeah… right…" he replied, "Coming Dad!"

Boy and bunny then left the bedroom, bounded down the hall, and leaped down the stairs in a few swift motions. Dad watched from the bottom of the stairs with an odd look on his reddish face.

"What?" Evergreen asked, "I'm a teenager, you know!"

"Yeah yeah. Mr. Teenager, there's dinner here, eat." He replied, deadpan.

Not long after their exchange, the Quandarys take their seats at their kitchen table and start into the spaghetti and meatballs that Dad had cooked up. Dad could surely make a mean pasta dish, that was for certain! The meatballs were hand-rolled, and the garlic bread was perfectly crispy. Evergreen looked across the table at Dad with a sudden feeling of affection. He did so much for their family. He sacrificed so much for Evergreen. Evergreen knew that he would eventually bring Mom home to him. If it was the last thing he did, he would reunite his parents. They deserved it, after all these years.

"What are you up to?" Dad asked, taking a generous helping of the bread.

"I was—"

"—sending messages to a girl he likes." Seta interrupted with a goofy smile that emphasized the size of his two front teeth.

"Traitor," Evergreen said, under his breath.

"Oh, really now? Is it that PGA you noticed last Thanksgiving?" he asked, his eyes twinkling slightly, taking a bite of his bread, mentioning the Pretty Girl Alert that was Bianca.

"Yep, that's her."

"Well, if we are thinking of the same girl, I think you should get some dance lessons to keep up with her. Also, if you wanna end up marrying her, something tells me that you'd need to learn how to swim, ya know?"

Evergreen turned the color of strawberry ice cream at Dad's comments. Yes, dance lessons wouldn't kill him, but who in the world is talking about marriage?

"Dad. Who s-said anything about m-marriage!" his childhood stutter made a sudden appearance, "I'm not even sure we wanna date each other!"

"Hey, son. I'm just saying that it's good to enjoy yourself and better to prepare yourself. Just in case."

"Dad. You're ridiculous."

"I was 13 once too, you know. I wasn't a 13-year-old wizard, but take out the magic, and I was there. She's not your first crush, right?"

Well, this conversation was kind of inevitable. Evergreen figured that they would just rip off the band-aid. He trusted Dad and talked to him about everything, but talking to anyone about his crushes seemed super uncomfortable and embarrassing. It was a weird thing. Sure, he understood a bit of the biology behind it when, back in fifth grade, he learned about the differences between boys and girls and the reproductive systems and processes, but something about it just felt really personal, really vulnerable. He didn't get how some people like Link, his best friend could be so nonchalant about such things!

"Not exactly. I also have a little crush on this girl Esme. Her dad's a governor in the magical congress or something."

"Wow. A governor's daughter. What does she do?"

"Well, she sings."

"Are you up for some duet action?" Dad asked with a sideways smile.

"Dad! I hardly talk to her."

"Oh. So, she's one of THOSE crushes. Okay, okay. Don't spell me or anything."

Evergreen shook his head in response. Dad was weird, really weird and even though he was a man who was very in-touch with his emotions and often wore them on his sleeve, he couldn't read Evergreen's very well. If he could, he would have known that Evergreen would much rather do anything else than have that conversation. He wasn't too much like Dad in that respect, he typically kept his thoughts, opinions, and feelings to himself. It was more comfortable that way. It was safer. If no one knows what he feels, they couldn't use it against him. Why do I feel that way about Dad as well, though? He would never do something like that. Whatever is spoken in confidence stays there. He scratched his head as he twirled his fork, collecting half a dozen spaghetti noodles.

Their meal continued with just a little bit of chatter between the three of them. Included in the conversation was about the plays that Professor Park had prepared for the year. Evergreen went, earlier that summer, with a group of other Ilvermorny students back to Ashland for the Shakespeare festival to watch a number of the plays that they had going. Othello, the Moor of Venice, and Our Town were some honorable mentions. Evergreen enjoyed Othello. There was a man who just wanted to live a good, quiet life, and then others who didn't like him just because of his appearance ruined him by tearing apart his relationships and making him go mad. It was a sad story indeed, and Evergreen just couldn't get his head around the fact that some people actually do things like that just because someone looks different than oneself. It wasn't fair to treat him that terribly because he was born a certain way.

The disturbing thing was that Evergreen knew that attitudes like that still existed. His uncle Ian was a black man from Florida. Whenever he and Aunt Hannah went to the Midwest, some people were watching them, thinking that Uncle Ian was some kind of criminal. People had allegedly approached Aunt Hannah and accused her of either stealing black men from nice black women or of "dirtying" her bloodline. How could they say that when all of her kids were easily Evergreen's best-looking cousins? Jeso, Eli, Viscar, and Miracle (Mira) had skin the color of caramel, eyes the color of honey, and the blackest hair one would ever see. They were all athletic, so they were in amazing shape. How anyone could look at any of those men or Mira and think anything besides "Wow, they look great" was beyond Evergreen indeed.

As Dad and Evergreen started cleaning up after dinner, something small came flying in from the open back window. It flew in with a swish and landed with a slight clatter on the floor. Evergreen stuck his plate in the dishwasher and turned toward the sound. It was, once again, the paper crane. He reached down and picked it up, unfolding it to read the message. He smiled when he did so and Seta let out a snicker. It was a short and simple phrase from Bianca.

Well, that's good to know. Anything else you'd care to reveal?