The Xtreme Apprenticeship

Part 1

   "UgH" Shaun thought while looking at himself in the mirror, "Come on Shaun get yourself together, it doesn't even matter what you look like, it's not like he will care. All that matters to him is that HE looks good. He probably won't even look at you. Just go, you are late already." And with that he was out the door headed to his first day of his apprenticeship.

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     This all started about a month ago when a friend of Shaun's, Edward, told him about an apprenticeship program announced by ESPN. The program allowed one person to train under an unnamed skateboard legend with a guaranteed spot in the upcoming X Games.

     "Shaun please," Edward exclaimed, "you and I both know that this would be a once-in-a-lifetime chance if you won. All you have talked about since we were like five years old has been participating in the X Games, the least you could do is apply."

     "Fine, but I swear to God if the 'master' of the apprenticeship or whatever is someone stupid like Tony Hawk, I am going to quit immediately." Shaun stated, finally giving in to his friends persistent begging. "It's not like I will actually get chosen." He rationalized to himself. "How many people are going to enter this, like twelve thousand? I'll be fine." The rest of the day, the boys spent filming Shaun doing the tricks he was most confident in for his submission into the contest.

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   The next thing he knew he had just left his last class of the day and while on his way to his car his phone rang. Not recognizing the number he still picked up anyway. "Hello?" he started. "Hi, is this Shaun White?" said the cheery voice on the other end. "Uh, yeah?" "Hi, I am Sydney from the ESPN Headquarters and I am calling to inform you that you won the apprenticeship working under Tony Hawk!"

     At the mere mention of that name, Shaun's stomach dropped. Edward was right, this was something that he had aspired to do his entire life, how could he just walk away from it now? Even if he had to work under someone he despised so much. Hawk was one of the best skateboarders alive, he could at least give the man that, but he had a reputation amongst other skateboarders as being the most self-centered and biggest womanizer of all time and for this Shaun couldn't, and wouldn't give him respect he expected.

"Hello? Sir?" the voice repeated, "Are you going to accept the apprenticeship?" "Uhhhh," Shaun sighed, "yeah sure." "Great! Pack your bags and we will have a car pick you up at 8 tomorrow morning! Bye bye now!"

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     As the car pulled up the the front of the headquarters building, Shaun immediately felt out of place. He hadn't dressed up because he figured he would just be training with Tony in the weeks to come, not meeting in a place like this. As he entered the building he stood in awe as he scanned the main room until his train of thought was derailed by the receptionist. "Hello Mr. White, nice to see you, I'm Sydney from the phone yesterday. If you could follow me I will take you to your meeting with the executives who are putting on this program and then you and Mr. Hawk will be excused to start training."

     Shaun follows her to a room with a large table and six men in suits around it. He scans the men looking for the man of the hour but alas he isn't there. As he sits down the man at the other end of the table tells Shaun that the meeting will start as soon as Tony arrives. An awkward hour goes by as they sit and wait for Tony.

     The door swung open as Tony walked in, dressed even less professionally than Shaun, wearing sunglasses and a snapback. Shaun looked up as he heard the commotion and as he expected, he was appalled by the man before him. As the meeting began, Shaun zoned out but from what he was actually able to comprehend, it was mainly boring guidelines for the weeks leading up to the X Games. The entire time all he could think about was how he probably wouldn't be able to make it to the end of the apprenticeship without punching Tony in the face or just straight up dying from being around someone so annoying.