So, I guess you've met Mom & Dad, or Juliana & Cora as I guess I've got to call them. Things are going about as well as can be expected, I suppose, although that's not exactly great.
Don't take that the wrong way - for as much as this has got to be as weird for them as it is for me, they've put me first at every chance over the past couple of weeks, from making sure I knew what to do with a bra to where to wipe, and doing their level best to get me up to speed after skipping a grade. "Juliana", especially, is always ready to jump in when I look like I may flounder talking to Leda's friends at the lunch table or something. I appreciate it.
But, well, like Dad mentioned, things weren't great before all this, to the extent that maybe I should have known it was falling apart. Sometimes, when I get back to our suite or they think they're alone in the bathroom or something, I'll hear them snapping at each other more, like Dad thinks Mom is trying to make him look foolish or only helping him half as much as me, and apparently the trip to Old Orchard or getting rooms at the Trading Post was the other person's idea.
And on top of that, Lena's got her own parents, and they apparently were worried sick about her being stuck in Maine, supposedly sick with Covid, and only texting rather than answering the phone. The first time I picked up, they scolded me and asked a million questions, and it was really weird talking to these two people I really didn't know for like forty-five minutes, trying to remember what details would throw them off. They've actually called every night this past week, and while I kind of appreciate that, too, it's also sort of intense? Like, they're trying to be nice, and I'm scared that I'll say something that makes them even more worried. Which maybe they should be, but according to everyone who's ever been at the Inn, they'll never believe why. For instance, when Krystal/Mackenzie told me about how her own mother didn't believe her, even though it would explain a lot...?
Fortunately, the real Leda seems pretty cool; we text a lot, although she doesn't always respond right away and is kind of quiet about what sort of situation she's landed in. She's doing her best to at least help be with running, to the extent that she can via text from wherever. I need it - for all that cross-country looks like it's just running, and making sure you stretch beforehand, you've kind of got to know the road and have a plan for when you're going to give yourself a little more time for deep breaths and the like. I did badly enough on my first practice day that the coach took me aside to tell me to let her know if there was any long-covid related shortness of breath or stuff like that, but also warning me that I could lose "my" scholarship if I can't run, so, no pressure.
The guy living my life seems okay. He mentioned that he was going to have to break up with my girlfriend, which is a bummer, but he's like 40 and apparently not a creep, so what can you say? We weren't actually doing anything, really, but it would still be gross.
Well, just thought I'd check in the way Mom & Dad have. Now I've got homework - is it still homework at a boarding school? - and kind of glad to have stuff to fill me time.
-L.J./Leda
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