Something was tickling my nose, and I patted at with my hand. When it didn't stop, I forced my eyes to open, my peacefulness gone and my body quickly reminded me that it was in pain. Something soft was wrapped tightly around my head and I sat up slowly, a dizziness passing over me. I turned to the person who was holding a leaf in their hands.
"What are you doing?" I asked Evan, who was staring at my with an emotionless look. Man, what was this dude's problem? Loosen up a little, gosh. But I wasn't really one to talk.
"I've been trying to wake you up." He replied, standing up from his crouched position. I struggled to get to my feet until Evan grabbed my hand and easily pulled me upright.
"Thanks." I said, stretching my body out, every part of me aching. I touched my temple; a soft material that felt like cotton was around it. That's when I noticed that Evan's long sleeve navy blue shirt was now a sleeveless shirt.
I signed and said, "Thanks for this too." as I pointed at my head. He only nodded, his muscular arms attracting my attention a little too much.
I looked him in the eye and asked, "How long was I lying there?"
"Thirty minutes." He replied, looking away from me and in the direction of people who were playing on the ramps and rails.
I scratched the back of my head and spoke, "Felt like longer than that."
No respond, not like I was waiting for one. I touched my pockets; my iPhone was still there with my headphones. I signed again and began to walk into the light of the skate park.
That's when I noticed something in Evan's dead eyes. I saw something like longing. I followed his glaze back to the skate park at the groups of people clapping each other's shoulders and doing tricks.
I titled my head in that direction and look at him, "You ride?"
He looked at me and that dead look was back in his eyes. He didn't answer, just simply looked at me. I knew that look; it was the look I gave to people when they asked about my family at home. The look that said, you don't understand so there's no point in talking.
I let out a long loud breath and asked, "Why did you quit?"
I saw a little shock on his face before, like every other emotion, it disappeared so quick if you hadn't been looking for an emotion you wouldn't have noticed.
"I didn't say I rode."
I rolled my eyes. "I'm not stupid, Evan. I give people that look too. You've ridden in the past and then for some strange reason you dropped it. I don't care if you don't want to tell me, it's your business. I'm just asking."
He stared at me, as if he was trying to figure me out. "Okay."
I nodded and continued out the cluster of trees, surprised to see Evan walking at my side, his hands stuffed into the pockets of his black jeans.
"Want me to walk you home?"
I glanced over at him, a little angry boiling up on the inside of my body. I crossed my arms as we walked back the way I had come from.
"I'm not some pathetic and weak girl that can't handle herself, Evan. I'm perfectly fine without you trying to walk me home like I don't know self defense."
Evan glanced at me before saying flatly, "I'm walking you home because me and James have some unfinished business. So if he comes after you, I can handle it. Since you rudely interrupted it."
My face flushed at the fact that I had figured he wanted to walk me home to protect me. What was I thinking these days? I dropped my arms to the side and quickened the pace even though my legs burned and my head pounded harder with each step.
Evan kept up easily, his long legs used to the stride.
"Whatever" I muttered.
We had reached almost out of range of the skate park when we heard a familiar voice speaking.
"Hey, Evan! I didn't know you came here still." Jeremy called out, skating straight for us.
I noticed Evan tense up at my side. What his problem, he obviously knew the guy? I hung back a little, pulling my hood up quickly and ducking my head. Evan didn't respond to the boy and soon
Jeremy was standing in front of us, holding his skateboard. "We've missed you, dude."
Still silence. But Jeremy continued on, "Have you started back skating?"
Evan again only responded with the damn silence. Skipping the question, Jeremy continued, "Who's this you got with you?"
Dammit, if he didn't talk I was going to get annoyed. Soon though he said, "Someone I just met."
"Oh, who is it?" He asked on.
I could feel something of irritation rumbling off Evan like an aura.
"I don't know."
Suddenly, a cold wind blew and my hood flipped off and Jeremy's eyes instantly went to the bright pink in my hair. He smiled at me, amusement in his eyes, "That's who you are."
Turning to Evan he spoke, "Why are you hanging out with this weirdo?"
I raised my eyebrow and crossed my arms over my chest. "Excuse me, peanut head boy. I'm not a weirdo and you have no damn right calling me one. Your one to judge when you don't even know how to skate without smashing right into someone."
For the first time, I saw Jeremy's eyes go cold and he glared at me, the angry radiating right off of him. But I wasn't going to back down, not now, not ever. I glared back and even stepped forward. I had to tilt my head back more to look him in the eyes but still I went forward one more time until I was almost in his face, but I knew personal space, it was a friend of mines.
"Your the freak that won't talk and with the crazy hair. You can't talk about skating when you can't even skate your damn self."
I rolled my eyes and replied, "You don't know me, pig shit. Don't get mad because your ass can't properly skate."
That's when he smirked, a cold and evil smirk. "If you can talk a lot of mouth, why don't you show me what you can do?"
I raised an eyebrow, my stomach dropping down to the ground.
"What?"
He titled his head, a gleam in his eyes that I disgusted already. "Show me how to skate properly."
With that, he shoved the skateboard into my chest and my arms went around it to keep it from dropping on my toes. He took a step back and gestured at an open small ramp at the edge of the park.
I glared at him and shoved the skateboard back at him, "I have nothing to prove to you, dip shit."
His eye twitched before he grinned and said, "I knew the little freak was nothing but a barking dog. At the end of the day, you can't put your money where your mouth is."
Angry so bright it makes me want to pick the whole world up and drop it on his fucking head ran through me. I snarled at him and yanked the skateboard back.
"Fine."
That's when the perfect idea popped up into my head and I smirked evilly at him. His grin died down at the sight of mines, causing mines to grow wider.
"I know. Let's have a mini competition." I said, my words pouring out of me with excitement. "Gather up some people and the park and let them decide who the best is. You get on that ramp and do one trick and then I'll do the same. Afterwards, we let the public decide who can skate properly."
Jeremy grinned back and said, "Fine. I'll let a dumbass freak like you learn the hard way."
He walked towards the people of the park, to gather than up at the small ramp, which I made my way to. I stared at the cement of the ramp and blew out a long sign. My head still pounded but my heart was racing with excitement. I heard someone clear his or her throat and I turned to the person next to me. I had forgotten that Evan was with me. I stared at him and he stared back.
"What?" I asked.
"You can ride? If not, you'll be humiliating yourself." Evan asked.
I took my eyes off him and looked at the night sky, the full moon shining it's bright light down on us. So many stars were sparkling for the people below. Finally once I felt calm again, I looked him in the eye.
"You think I'll do this if I didn't know how to ride?"
He just stared at me. I mean I used to be like any other girl, not even into skateboarding at all. But that girl was gone when back in middle school I saw some boys skating off the railings of the school. I was in 8th grade, much of an athletic back then. I forced them into teaching me how to skate and after playing around with for one year, I started free styling and really getting into it.
Until my mother had her first boyfriend when I got into high school. I forgot all about my addiction, throwing away the skateboard and focusing on my education. Now, I was going to have to use my forgotten memories and pull back some knowledge of it all.
After five minutes had passed, a large group of people was all standing a good distance from the side of the ramp. They all stared eagerly to see some sort of competition to go down. Jeremy went first, as if knowing I was going to let him go first. He smiled and waved at me. I stuck my tongue out at him.
"Immature." Evan muttered and I shoot him a glare. I watched as Jeremy stood on his skateboard and slowly went to the edge of the ramp. Then he pushed his foot hard against the cement and he was off. He pushed against the cement again, gaining even more speed and I watched as he came to the other side of the ramp, jumping off the edge and into the air.
Quickly, he turned his body at a 180 degree and he flipped backward, three times become landing a hard impact while pushing his feet against the cement to the other side of the ramp.
"Bigger flip." I muttered the name of his trick while walking towards him as he climbed down the ramp. He was smirking when he shoved me the skateboard.
"Let's see you fall on your ass, freak."
I shook my head and looked at his skateboard. It looked brand new and was fit for his leg width. I put the skateboard down on the ground and stepped on it, tilting back and forward on it. It was too large with too much weight for my small body.
I looked over at the gathered people and asked, "Anybody got a skateboard I could borrow?"
More than ten people raised up a skateboard. I walked over and looked at them, most of them were large for boys. But finally, I found on that suited me perfectly. It belonged to a boy about as short as me, which made him 5'5 and a half. I muttered a quick thank you before climbing up the ramp.
I've practiced on some, searching them out in Iowa and doing some tricks. But it was so long ago, though I think my body would remember what to do. That's when I thought of the trick I loved because of its name, but it was extremely hard and I needed a lot of air. Lucky for me my small height and low weight should be light in the air. But the downfall was that I was going to come down faster than usual.
I scratched the back of my head as I stared down at the ramp. Finally, I decided on doing my favorite move. It had taken a whole month of straight practicing to get it down pact. And I hoped I could still remember it.
My heart was pounding excitedly in my throat as I stepped on the skateboard and let it drifted towards the edge of the ramp. Soon I was titling downwards and slowly going down the ramp. I kicked my foot on the ramp as hard as I could and the wind was blowing in my eyes, my short hair blasting back from my face.
A deep laughter from inside pushed to be released but I resisted as I saw the other side of the ramp the curved upwards. I pushed against the cement with my foot multiple times and I sped up quickly.
Finally, I was beginning to go into the air. Hurriedly, I positioned my feet, one foot in the middle of the board. I was in the air, high above, the sky coming at me like it was attacking. I remembered to crouch my knees and to keep my spine rigid. Then I used my back foot to step to the nose and I twisted my back foot around in a circle, causing me to bring the nose to the back, spinning the board around the center foot.
I was falling back towards the ramp's edge but I repeated it one more time before the middle of the board hit the edge of the ramp. I used my foot to go down the ramp and back up to the other side.
I didn't even notice the people clapping; I was staring at the stars that were shining so brightly. They were trying to attack me, but now that I think about it, I was the one attacking it. I smiled at the hilarious thought.
That's when the sounds of the people around me caught my attention. The majority was pointing at me and I looked down at Jeremy's sour looking face. I won.
Relief, it flooded my system. I walked down the ramp, handing the skateboard to the owner, but the boy surprised me by shaking his head.
He smiled and said, "I'm Ryan. And you can keep it, you deserve it."
I shook my head and said, "I can't take your--"
"No, take it. I'm serious." Ryan said, his light grey eyes shining brightly.
I nodded and walked over to Jeremy and said, "And that's how you skate properly."
He scowled at me but didn't do anything but walk off, towards Sarah and the other guy. My shoulders sagged as exhaustion hit me hard. All my adrenaline was gone and my tired body was complaining already about my foolishness.
I gripped the skateboard underneath my arm as I walked towards Evan who had moved to the sidewalk. He didn't' say anything as we started towards my house, my feet dragging, my body heavy.
"Walk the dog." He stated.
I didn't have the energy to talk so I nodded, slugging forward. That was indeed the name of the trick I had done.
After a few seconds he said, "Where did you learn that?"
I glanced tiredly over at him and an idea appeared out of nowhere and I decided to go along with it.
"I'll answer all your questions if you carry me home."
There was silence as we dragged on, mostly on my account. He seemed to be really thinking about this and all the benefits and finally he said, "Fine."
Unexpectedly he stepped in front of me, holding his hands behind his back. I leaned down onto his back, placing the skateboard next to his foot, and then I wrapped my arms around his neck. I put my legs around his waist and his hands went underneath my thighs to hold me up. I felt the heat coming from his hands and it caused my body to fire up, but I ignored the stupid and uncomfortable feeling. My feet tingled in joy, not having to walk anymore. I almost drifted off to sleep until I saw him step onto the skateboard and push off gently.
I clenched my arms a little more tightly, but not enough to choke him completely. I didn't question about why he'd decided to ride after probably a long time.
Then he repeated his question, "When and where did you learn that trick?"
I signed against his neck before breathing in his scent. He smelled like deodorant and a really nice shampoo with a hint of the woods.
"8th grade. Back where I came from I made some boys teach me the basics and then I started checking out other stuff."
Silence before he asked, "Where did you come from? Where did you learn about tricks?"
I rested my cheek on his neck, my breath on his ear, but he didn't move his head away and I was too relaxed to move now that I was comfortable. I noticed that even my voice sounded relaxed and sleepy as I whispered my answers.
"Iowa. YouTube, watched the professionals do it and then some how to videos."
Again, it was like he took all my answers into his head and then processed it to his memory.
"Why did you come to Chicago?"
I moved my head from near his and rested my forehead in his hair.
"That's none of your business." I said, my voice cold and foreign to my own ears.
He was quiet and he came to a corner and I told him to turn, which he did easily even though I was on his back. He had awesome balance and strength. Evan could have been a professional if he wanted. I signed replaced my head back to it's most comfortable spot.
After a while I said, "I'm sorry. I just don't like talking about it."
It took him a moment to respond. "I understand."
I decided to switch the topic over to him. "How long have you been here?"
"Five years." He replied.
"How old are you?" I asked.
Silence before he said, "I'm seventeen."
Slowly my eyes were starting to close, the sound of his breathing drifting me into a slow dream. But the appearance of my house came and I stared at it, the huge mansion.
"Here" I said.
He stopped and got off the skateboard, and then he crouched down. I slipped off of him and yawned while I pulled out my iPhone, checking the time. 6:12am. I was outside for more than 10 hours. Usually this was the time when sleep was begging for me, but I drained it away with coffee.
This time though, I planned on sleeping even if I heard my mother's screams or anything else. It made my stomach twist at the thought though. I bent down and the material on my head slipped off. I'd forgotten I was wearing it in the first place. As if seeing that I remembered what happened my body began to ache terribly. I signed and picked up the two wet sleeves.
Evan wasn't even looking at me; his dead eyes were looking in the way we had come from.
"Bridget." He said, his deep voice ripping through the silence.
I turned and saw a girl appear from the shadows. And man, she was beautiful, like a cover girl on one of those magazines. I stared at her flowing and long golden hair with her perfectly tan skin. My pale skin looked dry and ugly, but hers looked all smooth and perfect and her figure was amazing. She also knew how to show it off in her tight blue skinny jeans and her fitted V-neck red t-shirt. Bridget walked towards us, glaring at me the entire walk over.
But as soon as her sharp and cold blue eyes went to Evan they softened and attraction was clear as day in them.
"Evan. I haven't seen you around lately." She tried to push past me but I'd already moved next to my black gate.
That way, I was standing a distance away but in the middle, watching them look at each other. Evan's eyes were dead but his mouth was pulled slightly into a frown. He shrugged in respond to what she had said.
Bridget closed into his personal space and wrapped her arms around his neck, pulling him down towards her. She glanced at me and made eye contact right before she kissed Evan.