written by JupiterCrushed
original source of the story was Submitted by the author
I can’t place the exact date or even year the town built the park. One day we were walking home from school past massive, tarp-covered fences; the next, the veils were lifted and a concrete jungle playground had appeared. The cynical adult in me shudders to think what the town spent on it, but back then? My friends and I were absolutely stoked. We were all going to be the next Tony Hawk. I drove down that road again recently, reliving the memories, only to find the park had been swallowed by a condo building.
I never did grind a rail. I’m not even sure I ever got the ollie down right. I have never been an athlete, but by the end of that summer, I could at least push off and find my center as I streamed across the flat ground. I owe my mother an apology for the constant begging for a new board. I didn’t need the expensive one to get better; my uncle’s hand-me-down was plenty. It had cool stickers, too. It’s only now, with the help of the internet, that I finally understand what they all meant.
So many stickers of busty cartoon women. No real hidden meaning or anything just my uncle Steve and his love for anime. Me and my friends were at that age of noticing the girls at the park. They still had cooties and everything, contaminated goods but fascinating in a way. My best friend Derek was actually the worst boarder of all of us, more scared than anything. He was still the first one to try a ‘drop-in’ off one of the ramps.
Derek faceplanted, like bad, blood and everything. Crying, older kids coming over to check on him. It did not impress Amanda who was sitting in the stands with her other friends, I doubt they even knew we were down there.
I wasn’t interested in Amanda, though. It was the older skater girl on the far side of the park who caught my young eye. Honestly, she probably caught the eye of every guy in that park, whether they’d admit it or not. Not everyone’s cup of tea, Uncle Steve would have said. Amanda was just a girl. She had the Barbie T-shirt, pink chapstick, and maybe weighed a hundred pounds soaking wet. Continue reading “Skater Girl“