Chapter 2
I barged into Chris's house, the smell of cooking meat hitting me. I looked to my left to see Mrs. Macheffer cooking what I supposed was dinner. "Hey there, Mrs. Macheffer! I see you're feeling loads better!" Mrs. Macheffer looked up and smiled, realizing who I was. "Hey, Casey! I am feeling loads better! And, apparently, you are, too! You know, that was a brave thing you did, back there at the apartment. Thanks for saving my son. If I lost him, I...I don't know what I would do. We already lost his dad, and I thought he would never be happy again...until he met you. I knew there was something about you I liked. When I saw him come racing through that front door, his hand in a brace, him laughing, I could tell he was happy, and then I realized, I needed to get off my lazy butt and spend time with him, helping him, supporting him. So, I got a job at the skate store downtown. I get discounts, too! So, you guys can stop working at Aldi's." I sat down at the litter bar separating the living room from the kitchen. "I'm making steak, mashed potatoes, and macaroni & cheese for dinner." I licked my lips, my mouth watering. "That sounds- and smells- good." I heard a scratching sound in the hallway, and Tiger bolted out into the living room, coming to a screeching halt as he glimpsed me sitting there. "Hey, Tiger, you energetic mutt! Did you miss me, boy? Did you?" "Rawf!" I patted my lap and he leapt into it. His pink-and-black tongue crept up my face, leaving a slimy trail of spit beside my ear. Then he yipped, whapping my legs with his tail. I looked around me at my surroundings, taking in the homey feeling it had to it. Chris's hangout was cozy and loads better than my apartment ever was. He had a three-story house with a carport and a fenced-in yard for Tiger and Snow, Chris's snow-white husky. Chris and I thought about mating the two and selling all but two pups, but the dogs won't listen, so we gave up on that. On the first floor, there was the living room, the kitchen, a bathroom, a closet, Mrs. Macheffer's room, and the staircase leading up and down. Downstairs was a party room, with a bar, a fridge, a few couches, an XBox 360, a PS3, a Wii, and Dish TV. Upstairs was another bathroom, the guest room, and Chris's room, which was decked out in skateboarding stuff. Chris had DC, Young & Reckless, and other brand name clothes and skateboarding supplies. He also had posters of famous skateboarders like Tony Hawk and Rob Dyrdek (the gang are big fans of Fantasy Factory and Ridiculousness) covering his walls. His carpet was white, his walls (what you could see of them, anyway) a light blue, one of my favorite colors. The guest room was the same color, but the bathroom had dark-blue colored walls, so it stood out. I turned back to Mrs. Macheffer. "I gotta Q. Can I stay here for awhile? I have nowhere to go." She looked up, a warming smile on her face. "Sure! I'll have Chris get out the supplies for the guest room when he gets here. Speaking of Chris, where is he?" As soon as she said that, Chris and the rest of the gang came barging into the door, Chris kicking up his skateboard into his hands. "Hey, Mom! What do you..." He stopped in his tracks, his mouth wide open. "Who are you and what the heck happened to Mom?" Mrs. Macheffer laughed. "I am your mom, Chris, just...better now. I was thinking about some things and, I realized, I was acting like a bit-" Here Chris accidently dropped his skateboard, so it cut off what she was saying. "Oh, for dinner, we're having steak, mashed potatoes, and macaroni and cheese." She finished, smirking. I looked over to see Brianna’s cat, Tabby, with her skateboard. Then Snow bounded in, spotting Chris and tackling him down to the ground. "Snow! Hey, girl! How have you been?" She barked and, as if she sensed him, she whirled around and jumped on Tiger, who had been creeping up on her. They playfully rolled, growling, into the hall. I sat there, rubbing my eyes as Chris snuck up on me, catching me off guard. He wrapped his arms around my neck, throwing me down to the couch. I whirled around and caught him, throwing him down to the ground. We laughed, getting up. “Dang, girl! Pretty strong for a girl who just got out of the hospital! Wait…..that’s it! I know what to call Snow!” I looked up at him. “What?” “I’m gonna name her after you! Here, Casey!” Snow came running into the room, Tiger lazily following. “Hey, Chris. For the benefit of me not being compared to Snow, no offense, Snow, let’s call her Faith. You know, for whenever your soul gets cleansed, it’s white as snow.” Chris grinned. “Sweet! Here, Faith!” Faith barked happily, jumping into Chris’s lap. “Hey, Chris. Get Casey her surprise!” Ben put in, making me jump. Hey, don’t judge me. I forgot. Chris ran into the hallway, his feet thudding up the staircase. I sat there; petting Tiger and watching Mrs. Macheffer cook the steak. Then Chris bounded in with a huge box and sat it on the counter, a grin slapped on his face. I slowly reached over and pulled the box to me, opening it to see... a cardboard box. I smirked and opened that box to pull out a brand-new Rob Dyrdek DC blue & white skateboard with a new pair of matching DC shoes and hat. I stared at the stuff, totally speechless. Chris came over and sat down beside me. "Do you like it?" he cautiously asked. I slowly turned to face him, a grin breaking across the surface. "I love it, man! Thanks!" I tackled him, inclosing him in a bear hug. Then I let go, kicking off my old, torn black Nike shoes and slipped into the DC shoes, the shoes perfectly fitting to my feet. I then pulled the hat on my head, threading my ponytail through the little hole in back. I stood up on the skateboard. All of the gifts were perfect for me. I rode in a complete circle, the board's urethane wheels moving smoothly and flawlessly across the hardwood floor. I slid to a stop, kicking the skateboard up onto the bar. I looked up to see everyone staring at me, amazed. "Dude! You look like you just walked off of the MTV channel or something! Hey, later, why don't we all go to the skate park and hang out with the other gangs? I mean, we haven't rode around town since a month before the apartment fire. I think, guys, that it's time for the Wild Grinders to shred the streets again!" Tiffany exclaimed, egging everyone on. Mrs. Macheffer cleared her throat, getting everyone's attention. "Uhhh... there's a BIG problem with that plan. While you were in the hospital, the Advert company went by the skate park and closed it down, posting signs that say that next Thursday, they're going to start destroying the park for their new buildings!" I looked over at the gang. "Guys, I think we need to fight for what's rightfully ours! Let's roll, Wild Grinders!" I stood up, pushing my skateboard off the bar onto the floor, where it thudded. I jumped onto it, pushing off through the door, the gang following me out. "Be back by nine-thirty!" Mrs. Macheffer called after us, Chris shooting her a thumbs-up. Faith and Tiger was bringing up the rear. Oh, I forgot to mention, our pets skateboard, too.
We pulled up to our skate spot, signs posted everywhere. The front gate was shut and padlocked, with chains wrapped all around and through the chain-link fence. We rode around to the back of the lot, where we dug a hole a couple of years ago. It was for whenever the park was closed, we could get in and skate. All of the gangs use it. We crawled through the opening, me zipping up the tallest, steepest ramp in the whole spot. I turned to face the opening where the gang was still crawling through the opening. "Wow, guys. We may be the best skateboarders / rollerbladers in this town, but we won't be going out for the most slyest one. You guys are slowww..." Everyone finally made it to the top after fifty blue million years passed, and I cleared my throat. "Guys, we have to stop that company from destroying our own skate spot. This is OUR skate spot, not theirs! Who cleaned it up and paid for the cement? Who planted the trees, the shrubs, even the grass around the trees? Who even painted this park black, blue, and green, our school's colors? That's right, we did! The skaters and skateboarders of this small town of Morganton NC! They should ask us to destroy our spot! This is basically our second home! Remember that time we stayed the weekend here, just for fun?" Everyone nodded simultaneously. "If you look at this ground, you could probably see our blood, sweat, and tears. There's no way in the whole freaking world that we're gonna let that stupid company tear this place down!" By this time, the other gangs had snuck in and was surrounding the ramp. Some of the more vicious skaters shouted in agreement. "We're gonna make signs, make some noise, let those Advert people know that we skaters don't stand down. We're not pushovers, we're not gonna go down without a fight. We're fighters! We're gonna protest for the sake of our skate spot and for the future skaters to have a place to skate! For our gangs now, LET'S SAVE OUR SKATE PARK!!!" The Wild Grinders rode down the ramp, splitting up to talk with the other gangs that came. The only gang that wasn't there was the Fireblazers. Go figure. I walked up to our closest gang, the Light Speeders. (I swear, some of these names, man. They crazy!) "Hey, man, what up, KC?" The leader asked me, riding up on his board. KC's my nickname, along with Case. "Yo! Vincent, what's up, my man How's the Light Speeders?" "They good, man. They good. What's up in the top dog group, the Wild Grinders?" Our skate group was the most well-known gang in the county. We won the skate-offs against the Fireblazers last year. "Nothing, my man." Vincent nodded. "Hey, KC, heard about what happened with the apartment." "Aw, I'm good." Dang, word spreads fast around here! "Hey, you guys gonna help protest with us?" Vincent nodded, his blonde hair bobbing around. "Man, this is great! I saw you guys heading over this direction, and that you were out of the hospital, so I hollered at the other cats, and then my gang, told them that the Wild Grinders were back in the game and you guys were heading toward the skate spot. So, we pull up to you givin' a great speech. Ma, we were like 'Dang, man!' I mean, a day out of the hospital, and the leader, and hero, of the Wild Grinders is already bringing a challenge, protesting, and rallying everyone up. Guess you guys are tough!" I chuckled, looking around at my gang, spread out and talking with the other gangs. "Yeah, we tough, man, we tough." Then I heard the fence rattling, and I looked over to see the Fireblazers scaling the fence. "I hope you guys know there's a hole right there, right? It's there so you don't have to scale the fence. Just FYI." The leader, Devin "Flame" Korman looked up at me, then back at the fence, then smacked his forehead. I shook my head, chuckling. "Holler at'cha later, Grinder!" Vincent said, running to catch up with the rest of his gang as I rode over to Flame. "Hey, Flame." Flame looked up, his red eyes focusing on me. "Wild Grinder! Yo, what's new, Case?" I smirked. "Nothing. You have your contacts in?" He nodded, his bright-orange hair quivering in the wind. "Hey, what's going on here?" He looked around, curious. "Protests for the park. I'm the firestarter, you guys are the fuses to a great battle for this park." Flame nodded, looking down and taking notice of my new board. "Hey, nice board, man! Love it!" I kicked it up into my hands to show him closer, turning it around. "Case, that is an award-winning board right there. Who got it for you?" I glanced over at Chris, who was over with the Shadowboarders. "Chris did." Flame whistled a teasing tune with a grin on his face. "You know, I think he likes you. He's always with you, man! But, to tell you the truth, a lot of the guys dig you. I saw a few of the other gang leaders having a skate-off over you, but then Chris came along, and it just died." I laughed softly. "Wow. But, why me?" Flame smirked. "You're everything a dude skateboarder wants: a girl skateboarder with leader qualities, a beautiful face, and the character alone... that's another story altogether." I looked down at the ground. "Oh." "Well, I'mma go, so talk to you later. Peace out, Case!" He rode away as I rode over to the Flareboarders, the Shadowboarders' right hand gang. I snuck up on their leader, Peter "Flare" King, jumping on his back. "Heya, Flare!" Flare looked over his shoulder, a grin breaking on his face. "Hey, girl! Wazzup?" "Nothin'." I jumped off his back as he turned to face me. "Same here. Hey, great speech! I guess even fire won't kill the Wild Grinder! When I got the call from the Light Speeders' leader Vince, I was like 'No way, man! She just got out of the hospital! But I called the other Flareboarders and we headed over here. And what do you know? You're up there, givin' a speech! One day out of the hospital, and you're at it again! Do you ever take a break? Let someone else lead the Wild Grinders?" I shook my head. "Not even for a day?" I kept on shaking my head. "Even if I did, the person couldn't be able to fully lead the gang, because my presence is always there." He nodded understandingly. "I see. Even when you were in the hospital, your presence was still there. That's cool! When I'm gone from the gang, it isn't like that. Someone else in the gang will try to take over, but they epically fail. Before you know it, I'm back, no more fighting. Your guys don't fight when you're gone." I chuckled. "It's because the Wild Grinders never actually designated a leader. If you ask the others, yeah, they'll say I'm the leader, but, here's a tip. Notice that all of the other gangs dress and act the same. Then look at us. We're diverse. I let them do whatever they want. The other gangs, well, they're like dogs. They follow their leader like dogs cause they think they have to. Also, take notice that my gang is the only one spread out among the other gangs. That's why we're respected. We allow anything and anyone- as long as it's not from the county west from here. You dig?" Flare nodded, glancing at his watch. "It's nine fifteen. I'm outta here. Peace!" "Peace out, man." I jumped onto my skateboard, rushing over to Chris. "Yo, Chris, round up the others. I' et the pets." He nodded and we split up, completing our missions and meeting up outside the fence. Then we split up again, everyone going home, Chris, me and the pups heading toward Chris's house in the cool night air
We barged into the house, the heat blowing in our faces. Chris turned to me. "I'll go fix up the guest room. You do whatever you want- just don't go into the guest room." I nodded, heading for the backyard. I sat down on the steps leading from the door to the yard, lost in thought about what was going to happen tomorrow at school. Would everyone hate on me or respect me? I was running myself through different scenarios when Chris yelled from the window. "Hey, KC! I'm done! Come in here and check it!" I looked up to see Chris hanging halfway out the window and I grinned. I scrambled up the stairs to the guest room, where I calmed down and opened the door, which had a sign on it that said "KC's room- STAY OUT!" and had a DC sign on it. Inside was a fully decked-out room. It was pretty epic, what Chris did to my room. There was Manafest, tobyMac, and Rob Dyrdek posters all over my wall, five hooks for hoodies and hats and stuff, a blue desk with a new blue laptop, a speaker deck for MP3s, and my skateboarding clock on top, my own flat-screen plasma TV hooked up to my own XBox360 with Kinect and Wii, my skateboard-shaped bed, and my closet was walk-in, with my own DC and Young&Reckless clothing collection, with crates for socks, shoes, and other stuff. I jumped onto my bed, which was beyond awesome. Then I rolled over to the TV to look at what games I had. There was too many to count! I grinned at the thought of playing all of those games. "You like?" Chris cautiously asked. I turned to him. "Dude, I love it! It's so awesome here! Actually, now, I'm not surprised at the foam pit in the basement. I wanna jump in it tomorrow." Chris grinned and grabbed my shoulder. "Let's go now!" He grabbed his skateboard and we both ran to the basement. He just rushed in there and shot up the make-shift sketchy ramp and into the foam pit. "Yeah!" Chris shouted, climbing out of the foamy black hole. I cheered and shot from where I was up the ramp and performed an eggplant before dropping back into the pit, a few cubes of foam falling down the ramp. Chris burst out laughing, me trying to escape from the sea of foamy cubes. I finally scrambled out, pulling my skateboard with me. I walked over to Chris, stopping in front of him, and leaning onto my skateboard. "Man, that was an epic eggplant! How did you DO it?!" I smirked. "I'm just that good!" Chris scoffed. "Yeah, right." I yawned, a giant gaping hole in the middle of my face. "I'm tired. Peace out. G'night, Chris." "G'night, sleep tight, don't let the bed bugs bite!" He said it in rap-format, making us both laugh tiredly. Then we went to our rooms, got into our PJs, and went to bed.
I barged into Chris's house, the smell of cooking meat hitting me. I looked to my left to see Mrs. Macheffer cooking what I supposed was dinner. "Hey there, Mrs. Macheffer! I see you're feeling loads better!" Mrs. Macheffer looked up and smiled, realizing who I was. "Hey, Casey! I am feeling loads better! And, apparently, you are, too! You know, that was a brave thing you did, back there at the apartment. Thanks for saving my son. If I lost him, I...I don't know what I would do. We already lost his dad, and I thought he would never be happy again...until he met you. I knew there was something about you I liked. When I saw him come racing through that front door, his hand in a brace, him laughing, I could tell he was happy, and then I realized, I needed to get off my lazy butt and spend time with him, helping him, supporting him. So, I got a job at the skate store downtown. I get discounts, too! So, you guys can stop working at Aldi's." I sat down at the litter bar separating the living room from the kitchen. "I'm making steak, mashed potatoes, and macaroni & cheese for dinner." I licked my lips, my mouth watering. "That sounds- and smells- good." I heard a scratching sound in the hallway, and Tiger bolted out into the living room, coming to a screeching halt as he glimpsed me sitting there. "Hey, Tiger, you energetic mutt! Did you miss me, boy? Did you?" "Rawf!" I patted my lap and he leapt into it. His pink-and-black tongue crept up my face, leaving a slimy trail of spit beside my ear. Then he yipped, whapping my legs with his tail. I looked around me at my surroundings, taking in the homey feeling it had to it. Chris's hangout was cozy and loads better than my apartment ever was. He had a three-story house with a carport and a fenced-in yard for Tiger and Snow, Chris's snow-white husky. Chris and I thought about mating the two and selling all but two pups, but the dogs won't listen, so we gave up on that. On the first floor, there was the living room, the kitchen, a bathroom, a closet, Mrs. Macheffer's room, and the staircase leading up and down. Downstairs was a party room, with a bar, a fridge, a few couches, an XBox 360, a PS3, a Wii, and Dish TV. Upstairs was another bathroom, the guest room, and Chris's room, which was decked out in skateboarding stuff. Chris had DC, Young & Reckless, and other brand name clothes and skateboarding supplies. He also had posters of famous skateboarders like Tony Hawk and Rob Dyrdek (the gang are big fans of Fantasy Factory and Ridiculousness) covering his walls. His carpet was white, his walls (what you could see of them, anyway) a light blue, one of my favorite colors. The guest room was the same color, but the bathroom had dark-blue colored walls, so it stood out. I turned back to Mrs. Macheffer. "I gotta Q. Can I stay here for awhile? I have nowhere to go." She looked up, a warming smile on her face. "Sure! I'll have Chris get out the supplies for the guest room when he gets here. Speaking of Chris, where is he?" As soon as she said that, Chris and the rest of the gang came barging into the door, Chris kicking up his skateboard into his hands. "Hey, Mom! What do you..." He stopped in his tracks, his mouth wide open. "Who are you and what the heck happened to Mom?" Mrs. Macheffer laughed. "I am your mom, Chris, just...better now. I was thinking about some things and, I realized, I was acting like a bit-" Here Chris accidently dropped his skateboard, so it cut off what she was saying. "Oh, for dinner, we're having steak, mashed potatoes, and macaroni and cheese." She finished, smirking. I looked over to see Brianna’s cat, Tabby, with her skateboard. Then Snow bounded in, spotting Chris and tackling him down to the ground. "Snow! Hey, girl! How have you been?" She barked and, as if she sensed him, she whirled around and jumped on Tiger, who had been creeping up on her. They playfully rolled, growling, into the hall. I sat there, rubbing my eyes as Chris snuck up on me, catching me off guard. He wrapped his arms around my neck, throwing me down to the couch. I whirled around and caught him, throwing him down to the ground. We laughed, getting up. “Dang, girl! Pretty strong for a girl who just got out of the hospital! Wait…..that’s it! I know what to call Snow!” I looked up at him. “What?” “I’m gonna name her after you! Here, Casey!” Snow came running into the room, Tiger lazily following. “Hey, Chris. For the benefit of me not being compared to Snow, no offense, Snow, let’s call her Faith. You know, for whenever your soul gets cleansed, it’s white as snow.” Chris grinned. “Sweet! Here, Faith!” Faith barked happily, jumping into Chris’s lap. “Hey, Chris. Get Casey her surprise!” Ben put in, making me jump. Hey, don’t judge me. I forgot. Chris ran into the hallway, his feet thudding up the staircase. I sat there; petting Tiger and watching Mrs. Macheffer cook the steak. Then Chris bounded in with a huge box and sat it on the counter, a grin slapped on his face. I slowly reached over and pulled the box to me, opening it to see... a cardboard box. I smirked and opened that box to pull out a brand-new Rob Dyrdek DC blue & white skateboard with a new pair of matching DC shoes and hat. I stared at the stuff, totally speechless. Chris came over and sat down beside me. "Do you like it?" he cautiously asked. I slowly turned to face him, a grin breaking across the surface. "I love it, man! Thanks!" I tackled him, inclosing him in a bear hug. Then I let go, kicking off my old, torn black Nike shoes and slipped into the DC shoes, the shoes perfectly fitting to my feet. I then pulled the hat on my head, threading my ponytail through the little hole in back. I stood up on the skateboard. All of the gifts were perfect for me. I rode in a complete circle, the board's urethane wheels moving smoothly and flawlessly across the hardwood floor. I slid to a stop, kicking the skateboard up onto the bar. I looked up to see everyone staring at me, amazed. "Dude! You look like you just walked off of the MTV channel or something! Hey, later, why don't we all go to the skate park and hang out with the other gangs? I mean, we haven't rode around town since a month before the apartment fire. I think, guys, that it's time for the Wild Grinders to shred the streets again!" Tiffany exclaimed, egging everyone on. Mrs. Macheffer cleared her throat, getting everyone's attention. "Uhhh... there's a BIG problem with that plan. While you were in the hospital, the Advert company went by the skate park and closed it down, posting signs that say that next Thursday, they're going to start destroying the park for their new buildings!" I looked over at the gang. "Guys, I think we need to fight for what's rightfully ours! Let's roll, Wild Grinders!" I stood up, pushing my skateboard off the bar onto the floor, where it thudded. I jumped onto it, pushing off through the door, the gang following me out. "Be back by nine-thirty!" Mrs. Macheffer called after us, Chris shooting her a thumbs-up. Faith and Tiger was bringing up the rear. Oh, I forgot to mention, our pets skateboard, too.
We pulled up to our skate spot, signs posted everywhere. The front gate was shut and padlocked, with chains wrapped all around and through the chain-link fence. We rode around to the back of the lot, where we dug a hole a couple of years ago. It was for whenever the park was closed, we could get in and skate. All of the gangs use it. We crawled through the opening, me zipping up the tallest, steepest ramp in the whole spot. I turned to face the opening where the gang was still crawling through the opening. "Wow, guys. We may be the best skateboarders / rollerbladers in this town, but we won't be going out for the most slyest one. You guys are slowww..." Everyone finally made it to the top after fifty blue million years passed, and I cleared my throat. "Guys, we have to stop that company from destroying our own skate spot. This is OUR skate spot, not theirs! Who cleaned it up and paid for the cement? Who planted the trees, the shrubs, even the grass around the trees? Who even painted this park black, blue, and green, our school's colors? That's right, we did! The skaters and skateboarders of this small town of Morganton NC! They should ask us to destroy our spot! This is basically our second home! Remember that time we stayed the weekend here, just for fun?" Everyone nodded simultaneously. "If you look at this ground, you could probably see our blood, sweat, and tears. There's no way in the whole freaking world that we're gonna let that stupid company tear this place down!" By this time, the other gangs had snuck in and was surrounding the ramp. Some of the more vicious skaters shouted in agreement. "We're gonna make signs, make some noise, let those Advert people know that we skaters don't stand down. We're not pushovers, we're not gonna go down without a fight. We're fighters! We're gonna protest for the sake of our skate spot and for the future skaters to have a place to skate! For our gangs now, LET'S SAVE OUR SKATE PARK!!!" The Wild Grinders rode down the ramp, splitting up to talk with the other gangs that came. The only gang that wasn't there was the Fireblazers. Go figure. I walked up to our closest gang, the Light Speeders. (I swear, some of these names, man. They crazy!) "Hey, man, what up, KC?" The leader asked me, riding up on his board. KC's my nickname, along with Case. "Yo! Vincent, what's up, my man How's the Light Speeders?" "They good, man. They good. What's up in the top dog group, the Wild Grinders?" Our skate group was the most well-known gang in the county. We won the skate-offs against the Fireblazers last year. "Nothing, my man." Vincent nodded. "Hey, KC, heard about what happened with the apartment." "Aw, I'm good." Dang, word spreads fast around here! "Hey, you guys gonna help protest with us?" Vincent nodded, his blonde hair bobbing around. "Man, this is great! I saw you guys heading over this direction, and that you were out of the hospital, so I hollered at the other cats, and then my gang, told them that the Wild Grinders were back in the game and you guys were heading toward the skate spot. So, we pull up to you givin' a great speech. Ma, we were like 'Dang, man!' I mean, a day out of the hospital, and the leader, and hero, of the Wild Grinders is already bringing a challenge, protesting, and rallying everyone up. Guess you guys are tough!" I chuckled, looking around at my gang, spread out and talking with the other gangs. "Yeah, we tough, man, we tough." Then I heard the fence rattling, and I looked over to see the Fireblazers scaling the fence. "I hope you guys know there's a hole right there, right? It's there so you don't have to scale the fence. Just FYI." The leader, Devin "Flame" Korman looked up at me, then back at the fence, then smacked his forehead. I shook my head, chuckling. "Holler at'cha later, Grinder!" Vincent said, running to catch up with the rest of his gang as I rode over to Flame. "Hey, Flame." Flame looked up, his red eyes focusing on me. "Wild Grinder! Yo, what's new, Case?" I smirked. "Nothing. You have your contacts in?" He nodded, his bright-orange hair quivering in the wind. "Hey, what's going on here?" He looked around, curious. "Protests for the park. I'm the firestarter, you guys are the fuses to a great battle for this park." Flame nodded, looking down and taking notice of my new board. "Hey, nice board, man! Love it!" I kicked it up into my hands to show him closer, turning it around. "Case, that is an award-winning board right there. Who got it for you?" I glanced over at Chris, who was over with the Shadowboarders. "Chris did." Flame whistled a teasing tune with a grin on his face. "You know, I think he likes you. He's always with you, man! But, to tell you the truth, a lot of the guys dig you. I saw a few of the other gang leaders having a skate-off over you, but then Chris came along, and it just died." I laughed softly. "Wow. But, why me?" Flame smirked. "You're everything a dude skateboarder wants: a girl skateboarder with leader qualities, a beautiful face, and the character alone... that's another story altogether." I looked down at the ground. "Oh." "Well, I'mma go, so talk to you later. Peace out, Case!" He rode away as I rode over to the Flareboarders, the Shadowboarders' right hand gang. I snuck up on their leader, Peter "Flare" King, jumping on his back. "Heya, Flare!" Flare looked over his shoulder, a grin breaking on his face. "Hey, girl! Wazzup?" "Nothin'." I jumped off his back as he turned to face me. "Same here. Hey, great speech! I guess even fire won't kill the Wild Grinder! When I got the call from the Light Speeders' leader Vince, I was like 'No way, man! She just got out of the hospital! But I called the other Flareboarders and we headed over here. And what do you know? You're up there, givin' a speech! One day out of the hospital, and you're at it again! Do you ever take a break? Let someone else lead the Wild Grinders?" I shook my head. "Not even for a day?" I kept on shaking my head. "Even if I did, the person couldn't be able to fully lead the gang, because my presence is always there." He nodded understandingly. "I see. Even when you were in the hospital, your presence was still there. That's cool! When I'm gone from the gang, it isn't like that. Someone else in the gang will try to take over, but they epically fail. Before you know it, I'm back, no more fighting. Your guys don't fight when you're gone." I chuckled. "It's because the Wild Grinders never actually designated a leader. If you ask the others, yeah, they'll say I'm the leader, but, here's a tip. Notice that all of the other gangs dress and act the same. Then look at us. We're diverse. I let them do whatever they want. The other gangs, well, they're like dogs. They follow their leader like dogs cause they think they have to. Also, take notice that my gang is the only one spread out among the other gangs. That's why we're respected. We allow anything and anyone- as long as it's not from the county west from here. You dig?" Flare nodded, glancing at his watch. "It's nine fifteen. I'm outta here. Peace!" "Peace out, man." I jumped onto my skateboard, rushing over to Chris. "Yo, Chris, round up the others. I' et the pets." He nodded and we split up, completing our missions and meeting up outside the fence. Then we split up again, everyone going home, Chris, me and the pups heading toward Chris's house in the cool night air
We barged into the house, the heat blowing in our faces. Chris turned to me. "I'll go fix up the guest room. You do whatever you want- just don't go into the guest room." I nodded, heading for the backyard. I sat down on the steps leading from the door to the yard, lost in thought about what was going to happen tomorrow at school. Would everyone hate on me or respect me? I was running myself through different scenarios when Chris yelled from the window. "Hey, KC! I'm done! Come in here and check it!" I looked up to see Chris hanging halfway out the window and I grinned. I scrambled up the stairs to the guest room, where I calmed down and opened the door, which had a sign on it that said "KC's room- STAY OUT!" and had a DC sign on it. Inside was a fully decked-out room. It was pretty epic, what Chris did to my room. There was Manafest, tobyMac, and Rob Dyrdek posters all over my wall, five hooks for hoodies and hats and stuff, a blue desk with a new blue laptop, a speaker deck for MP3s, and my skateboarding clock on top, my own flat-screen plasma TV hooked up to my own XBox360 with Kinect and Wii, my skateboard-shaped bed, and my closet was walk-in, with my own DC and Young&Reckless clothing collection, with crates for socks, shoes, and other stuff. I jumped onto my bed, which was beyond awesome. Then I rolled over to the TV to look at what games I had. There was too many to count! I grinned at the thought of playing all of those games. "You like?" Chris cautiously asked. I turned to him. "Dude, I love it! It's so awesome here! Actually, now, I'm not surprised at the foam pit in the basement. I wanna jump in it tomorrow." Chris grinned and grabbed my shoulder. "Let's go now!" He grabbed his skateboard and we both ran to the basement. He just rushed in there and shot up the make-shift sketchy ramp and into the foam pit. "Yeah!" Chris shouted, climbing out of the foamy black hole. I cheered and shot from where I was up the ramp and performed an eggplant before dropping back into the pit, a few cubes of foam falling down the ramp. Chris burst out laughing, me trying to escape from the sea of foamy cubes. I finally scrambled out, pulling my skateboard with me. I walked over to Chris, stopping in front of him, and leaning onto my skateboard. "Man, that was an epic eggplant! How did you DO it?!" I smirked. "I'm just that good!" Chris scoffed. "Yeah, right." I yawned, a giant gaping hole in the middle of my face. "I'm tired. Peace out. G'night, Chris." "G'night, sleep tight, don't let the bed bugs bite!" He said it in rap-format, making us both laugh tiredly. Then we went to our rooms, got into our PJs, and went to bed.
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