Pre-Parade

Badge of Honor

Milton rolled his eyes, sighing, "Here we go."

"It's okay, Milton. This is all about learning from our mistakes. Now watch carefully." When he turned on the TV a few of them watched in amusement. "Here you are meeting your opponent."

"That kid beat Milton? He's tiny," Eddie said amused.

"He wasn't that small, Eddie," the red head defended.

"Uh, yeah he was. The ref just helped him out of his stroller," Kim points out, the others laughing.

"I don't care how small my opponent was. He was very tough."

"She- she was very tough," Jack corrected

"You know what, I'm outta here." Milton announced getting up from his seat.

The others awed by how he wasn't catching onto their playfulness. "Come on dude, where're going?"

"Somewhere where I can get a little respect," he said walking out quite ticked off.

They'd gone back to watching Milton's video when a high pitched whistle rang out from the courtyard and Joan's voice shouting, "Stop thief!"

When they ran outside to assist they instead found the robber already on the ground and Milton falling on top of him. "Oh cheese and crackers. You got him! Milton got him everybody! That was the longest thirty feet in my life. Get him outta here! Take him away!"

"Milton what happened?" Rudy asked.

Phil cut in before the boy could answer for himself. "This little squirrel boy took down the Seaford Snatcher! Don't change, hero, don't ever change!"

"I-I was just trying to-"

"Do the right thing? Well you did, mister. And because of your bravery, I award you with this plastic badge." Joan stuck the plastic badge right above his heart. "Which makes you an honorary mall cop."

"Milton, this is awesome. I can't believe you did this." Despite it playing off as a compliment, Asa noticed the belittled tone Jack used when he said "you." She slapped him in the arm, staring up at him with a pointed look. He just gave her a confused look back.

An idea popped into Milton's head as he widely grinned. "Well I did. I certainly did!"

*＊✿❀　❀✿＊*

Asa's never ridden a skateboard before, nor has she roller bladed or ice skated. Basically any sport that required more balance than necessary while remaining upright on her two feet wasn't her forte. Sure she does ride a mini scooter, but to her it gave a more stable mode of transportation.

After having heard of this, Jack offered to teach her how. She insisted it was fine and not for him to bother until he mentioned the amount of gas money she'd be saving.

"Gear up, Tiger and welcome to Jack's Skateboarding one-oh-one." Jack announced when he and Asa entered the Off the Rails skate park. They'd arrived early before meeting with Kim in order to have Asa get to at least know how to skate in a line.

She looked around the park, surveying the many pipes, rails and just the people alone. There weren't many that were starting out for the first time such as herself. And that made her already want to back out. "Is it too late to say I'm outta here?"

"Considering how you caught the bus with me instead of taking your mini scooter, yes." Jack caught onto the slight hesitant in her voice. He glanced at her with a comforting look. "Are you okay?"

Asa didn't want to meet his gaze. "I could still hitchhike back."

"Asa," Jack said placing a hand on her shoulder, "look, I'll be right here for every step on the way, okay?"