He was lying in the grass of the UBC rose garden looking up at the sky, his book bag tossed careless to one side. The sky was vividly blue - only a wisp of cloud here and there. 

He thought about the drone. The one that he had crashed. He closed his eyes imagining himself looking through the eye of it, soaring above him, up over the broad avenue of main mall, past Walter Koerner library, past the Buchanan building, and shooting himself over the rose garden, through the trees past the museum of anthropology and out over the open water.

He could feel the warmth of the sun on his body, its late summer heat felt good on his skin. There had been a surge of good weather heading into September and someone had called it Indian Summer. He wondered how long it would last.

A piece of grass tickled his elbow, but he ignored it. He could feel all of it against his skin, but he forced himself to relax.

Then suddenly there was a shadow standing over him.

“Hey,” said a girl’s voice.

He opened one eye, squinting cautiously at the intruder. His face cleared as he recognized the girl who sat next to him in English class. Her long blond hair tumbled over her shoulders as she bent to look at him. Her green eyes were friendly and open as she smiled.

“We’re going to be late for class.” She said, gesturing for him to get his bag. “Coming??”

He scrambled onto his feet, catching the bag in his hand as he went. Hesitating for a moment, he grabbed the hand that she was holding out and abruptly pulled to his feet. It caught them both a bit off balance, but she righted herself agilely, laughing breathlessly. 

“By the way, my name is Taylor. Hi!” she said, smoothing her hands on her pants and then picking a strand of hair out of her mouth. She smiled again.

“Hi,” he said. “William.” No stutter. He stood there, not quite sure what to make of her.

“Uh. Let’s go?” she said after another pause. She smiled encouragingly.

Finally, he nodded, his gaze following behind her as she leapt up the stairs like a wild gazelle. Then he too was running, his white and gold Adidas shoes flashing under him as he headed to class.