Do a flip

“Dude, shut up.” Lemy said tinkering with a microwave he found in the junkyard, smiling as it came to life with the flick of a wire.

“I’m serious, she doesn’t know how to skate.” Gordon said from his hammock

“Of course, she knows, if she didn't know how to ride, why would she ride a skateboard everywhere?” Lemy said with simplistic logic.

“Because Bikes are expensive.” True, they could be a bit pricy, but rational thought wasn’t going to shake Lemy’s faith that easily.  He didn’t even remember how the conversation started, he just wanted to hangout with his friends in their broken-down bus shaped tree house. Not get into another debate.

“Well yeah, but skateboards are cool and she’s cool. Hence, she would know how to skate.” Lemy smiled at what he thought sounded smart but looking on Gordon told him what he said must have sounded pretty stupid.
“Brah, are you for real?” despite the questioning, he held his ground.

“Yeah man, people with talent can do talented things.” Lemy turned gripped his shirt for effect. “It's in their blood, it's in their soul and Lina has plenty of both of those things.” Gordon couldn’t say their mutual friend didn’t have blood in her but the migraine from all this hero-worship made him give up in silent defeat.

He needed to get some air and rolled out of his hammock and popped open the makeshift door they had built into bus.

“Sup guys.” And as if on cue, their local popular girl and friend, Lina, had just rolled to their spot. Gordon just waved but spotted the board beneath Lina’s feet as she kicked the tail end up to carry it inside got him thinking.

“Hey Lina, Do a kickflip.” Lina stopped and looked up to Gordon.

“A what?”

“Yeah, Gord’s been was going on about how you can't skate.” Lemy jumped into the conversation, Lina stared daggers at Gordon who just smiled and shrugged back. “But yeah, you can totally do a kickflip.” The boys looked to Lina, who was looking for some excuse but was already put on the spot by peer pressure.

“Uh Sure, yeah, I mean It’s been a minute since I last did one.” She hoping one of them would catch the hint but no dice. “But sure, I can do a quick flip.” She said as she set the board back down to the dirt and jumped on, trying desperately to think back to those old skating video games she used to play for reference. It didn’t help as she saw Lemy’s beaming anticipation and Gordon’s judgmental stare. But she was confident that she could pull this one of her ass.

A kickflip seemed like an easy trick, it's like an Ollie, except you got to kick the board and make it spin once and land right back on it. Easy poesy spinning queasy. And if she screwed up she could just say she’s a little rusty, Lemy would buy it, Gordon would move on, and they’d go back to chilling.

Lina positioned her right foot on the back of the board, mimicking what she remembered seeing from the vids she watched online on how to do these moves. Next part would be tricky, but it didn’t need to be perfect just try and that’ll shut ‘em up. She would trick the shit out of this board.

Jamming her foot down onto the back of skateboard sent it floating into the air. instinctively she pulled her legs up as the board spun under her. The world slowed to crawl in an instant, her eyes never leaving her board as it rolled over, the wheel barely scrapping the tip of her shoe. Whether it was gravity or her own hesitation she brought one foot down faster than the other. Planting her foot on the brim of the board. Not wanting to eat dirt her other foot took on a mind of its own. She kicked the board quick enough that it pushed the hunk of wood back onto it’s wheels, giving her enough time to plant both of feet back on the skateboard.

“HA’haa, that was Sick!!” Lemy shouted lightly smacking Gordon's shoulder. “I told you she could do it.” As Lemy was singing her praises Gordon never took his eyes off her trying to find her footing.
“Holy shit, I actually- Uh. Yeah! That-that was nothing.” She said out loud but mostly to herself, flashing her tongue at Gordon.
“Alright, I know when I’m wrong.” Lina sighed finally getting off her board. “You mind doing another one?”
‘You absolute prick.’ Lina groaned. Tossing her board back down and stepping back onto it.

“Guys c’mon, she doesn’t need to do another trick, it’s cool.” And now Lemy was doubting her? Oh, fuck this, she was going to trick the shit out of this board.

Granted she knew she wasn’t a skater…. people just assumed she was because she liked to ride around town on a skateboard. A skateboard she had found in the trash, no less. When she did it got her interested in learning how to do it, she familiarized herself with the lingo, the gear, how to best ride the thing, got a good sense of balance on the board, and even practiced how to do an Ollie until it became second nature to her.

Then tried to do a kickflip and got a face full of sidewalk for her efforts. Ended up scrapped the shit out of her left tit and nearly chipped a tooth, not wanting to experience that again she said “fuck it” and never bothered learned another trick after that. But She still didn’t want to get rid of the board and compromised in using it as a way to get around. Bikes are expensive and it saved her on bus fare.

“Alright. How about a manual?” Lina suggested.

“Girl c’mon, that’s not a trick, you’re just balancing on your board.”  Gordon critiqued.

“Yeah, but you can’t do it.” Good one Lina. Granted, she wasn’t sure if she could do it, just as long as she looked doing it.

She built up a bit of speed, she had to be careful where she rode as the hardened dirt beneath her made it hard to built up momentum, along with all the bits and pieces of small car pat spurned about the yard. Taking a second to glance back to her friend; One who was giving her an enthusiastic thumbs up while the other showed no emotion, but she knew was waiting for her to fuck-up. In an act to show off, she spun around on the board once she had put enough distance to pull off the manual and struck a confident pose.

She put up a good front, as she always did, but despite that her confidence was bumpy as the ground she was riding on. Nonetheless she pushed on, building up a good bit of speed… only for It to suddenly dawn on her that she didn’t actually know how to pull off a manual.

Oh no. Oooh No! how did she not know how to do a manual? Wait, what even is a manual? Is it like riding the board while reading a driver’s booklet? She’s too young drive a car, that’s why she’s riding this stupid thing. Wait, No, that’s stupid.

Lina had no time to think about she was already riding past them, but at the last possible moment she remembered how to pull off a manual. Something about pushing the board back while you're riding it and trying not to eat it in the process? Yeah, that sounds about right.

“Gordon, be real with me.” Lemy watched as Lina attempted the manual. “why are you making her do this?”
“I just wanted to see her do some tricks.” Despite his tone, Lemy didn’t quite buy that.

“Why though? Maybe she just likes riding on it. I mean its like owning a boat, just because you have it doesn’t mean you have to use it every day.”

“Yeah but If you don’t use it then what’s the point of having one?”

“Maybe if ever wanted to, you got the option, I mean Lina’s cool whether she’s good at it or not. Just look at her go. Riding in style.” Lemy watched with Pride as he watched Manual past them.

“Yeah look at her flailing her arms, very chill.” He was starting to wonder if Lemy had like rose-tinted vision or just needed glasses.

Lina kept her composure letting the board ride itself out, while the only thought going through her mind now was- ‘DontFallDontFallDontFallDontFallDontFallDontFallDontFall aaaaaannnnd nailed it!’ She struck another confident pose. Lemy gave her another thumbs up and Gordon gave her a condescending golf clap. At least someone was giving her some credit for doing it.

This was so stupid, what the hell was she trying to prove? Oh right, to show that she could ride this thing. Well she managed to do not one but two tricks, and on her first try no less. She was better at this then she thought. Though during all the fumbling she was vaguely aware of this weird creaking noise coming from her board. But she didn’t care, she was done with this whole thing.

“How about another?” Okay, Gordon was just being evil. Clearly, she wasn’t the only thinking this as Lemy pushed his friend a bit.

“Dude, she did the thing. Twice! Drop it already.” Before Lemy could protest more Lina put a hand on his shoulder, which instantly calmed him down.

“Don’t worry about it Lem’, I can do one more.” She was on fire today,  so she figured she might as keep up her lucky streak. “How about I…” the idea popped into her head the second she spotted the bench next to the Bus. “-Do a little grind on that bench and we’ll call it day on our x-games.” Before she could go set up she felt a tug on her arm. She looked down to see Lemy trying to hold her back.

“Maybe… maybe you shouldn’t. I mean the bench is pretty beat up and you probably wouldn’t get much distance, not to mention your board doesn’t get a lot of air so you might miss it.” He looked to Gordon for some support but he just sat there watching this play out. “How about we just go in the bus and hang out?” Lina pulled her arm away.
“Sure man, we can do that.” Lemy sighed. “right after I pull this off.” At that point he knew nothing would change her mind, so he just begrudgingly stepped back as she set herself up. Now she was more confident than ever, she looked back to Lemy and Gordon. Lemy smiled when she looked at him, giving a hesitant thumbs up and even Gordon gave a half-hearted one.

Pumped and ready to go, Lina ran forward, tossed the board on the dirt to get it rolling and jumped on. She flew forward but her board stayed where it broke. Tumbling over and felt a sharp pain when her butt hit the hard dirt. She took a sharp breath for a second and was cut short with a gasp as she looked down on at her broken skateboard. The first thought to cross her mind was 'Oh thank God, I broke my board.' She couldn't help but feel relieved... after all, no skateboard meant no more tricks. But then, the sobering reality came crashing down all at once. "Oh shit," She groaned, "I broke my board..."

“Lina!” Lemy ran over and slid to her side. “Are you alright, what happened?”

“She fell on her ass.” Gordon casually walked up to the two and kneeled. “Anything broken?” He said with a hint of concern. Lina shrugged it off.

“Nah, I’m good.” Despite her claim Lemy and Gordon took her arms and helped her up. She wasn’t really hurt, aside from the dent in her pride and the pain in her ass. But she said a silent thank you for the help.

“You sure your alright? That was a hell of a wipeout” Thanks Lemy.

“I said I was fine.” She slipped on her board, they were treating her like some charity case..

“Can’t say the same about your ride there, Chad Muska” Gordon picked up the two broken pieces of Lina’s skateboard. She looked at the busted wood with a light chuckle.

“I Guess I was too much for it.” She walked it off and she could see all the sympathy draining from Gordon.
“Are you for real.” Before something could start, Lemy jumped between.

“Hey, here’s an idea! How about we drop this stupid conversation and just go hang out in the bus?” Gordon gave Lina another look and just walked back to the bus

“Fine, I got my fill of this.” Gordon said dismissively, Lina glaring at his back the whole time. Looking over to Lemy who looked was looking at her broken, almost as bummed as she was.

“Its cool man, the thing was old anyway; I’m Surprised it lasted this long.” Despite her cool façade, she couldn’t help but feel a sinking in her gut over the she looked at her busted board. It was almost as though a part of her identity was gone… hell, it might as well been her guitar lying in pieces right now.

“Yeah, I guess. You gonna be okay?” Lina tried to shrug it off as not a big but she knew those big blue eyes could see right through her.

“Eh, I’ll get a new one. I got cash saved up. But hey, let's go cook some of those burritos. I worked up an appetite.” She patted him on the back as he left the pieces next to the door of the bus.

The rest of the day went by as usual. Gordon hung out in his hammock playing Street Fighter. Lemy and Lina hung out on the couch watching videos on their phones, occasionally musing over whatever random thoughts popped into their heads; thoughts like "Why do birds poop on statues?" and "If you piss off a bald guy enough, could you fry bacon on his head?". All the while the stereo was set to random songs on the playlist.

“Oof, be back in the sec’ guys. I gotta go take a leak.” Lemy scrambled off the couch and walked outside. Leaving Lina and Gordon alone with nothing but dead air. Lina just stared at her Phone while trying the flicking sound of Gordons controller as he played his game.

“By the way, I didn’t get to say it before but you did pretty well out there. Not bad for your first try.”
“Fuck off.” Lina spat back.

“Alright whatever, and here I thought you liked getting praised.” Gordon never looked away from his game.

“You were trying to make me look like an ass.”

“You don’t need my help to do that.”

“It’s your fault that my board’s broken.” She argued.

“Nope, that was you.” Lina tossed her phone to the couch and looked straight at him but he didn’t return the sentiment.

“Well, I wouldn’t have if you didn’t push me to do it.”

“Again, that was you, and the thing of it is, you don’t care what I think about you.” Gordon turned off his game on that. “But you do care what he thinks.” Lina took a second to gather her thoughts.

“Why are you getting on my about this? Okay, you win, I don’t know how to skate, Big deal!” Gordon just shook his head.

“Lina, I’m gonna be real with you and tell ya’ I don’t give a crap that you can't skate” Then why were they having this stupid conversation? “But I do give a crap that he thinks you can.” Lina’s temper wittled down, suddenly she felt small.

“Yeah, so what?” She tried to make that sound defiant but it came out a lot weaker, the truth was heavy on her shoulders.

“Have You ever looked up to someone before? Thought they were invincible, everything they did was right, and you wanted to be like them?” Lina averted her eyes; though she didn't answer, Gordon could tell she knew that feeling all too well. “But then you realize they aren’t as big as they look, they aren’t superstars or heroes, their just people. And some people have to try harder than others.”

“I never claimed to be some superstar!” She argued. “I just do things and people like them, people like me because they like the things I do.”

“Well no shit, people like anyone with a bit of talent. They idolize them and aspire to be like them. But that the thing, they don’t know them. To some people a person with talent is this golden figure that you need to buy a ticket to just talk to them. They mingle with them so that talent can rub off. And like it or not, he’s your biggest fan.”

“I don’t want a fan.” She said. “I had plenty of those.”

“Well you could tell him jumping off a bridge is cool, and he’d find the biggest bridge in town and try doing a backflip off it.”

“Oh will you knock it off? You know Lemy’s not that dumb.”

“No, but he cares too damn much. Just because you don’t care doesn’t mean other people won't care more. He told me today he was going to go buy a skateboard and ride it down the hill in Oakland.” Lina winced; that hill was covered in potholes, and it didn't take a genius to know how that would end.

"Well, obviously I'd tell him not to. If he really cares so much about my opinion, he'd listen."

“The only reason why he wants to do anything is that you do it. He likes the color blue because of you, he listens to the music you like, he does anything you want him to.”

"I don't want him to change for me. I just... want him to be himself." That was thing she liked about him.
“And I’m glad. I was starting to think I was the only one who wanted to spend time that tumbleweed looking knucklehead.” Gordon saw Lina slump into the couch. “But you can try to be as real with him as you want, but the more you act like a big deal the more he’ll think you are.”

“Jesus Gordon, dial it back, I get that he likes me but he doesn’t think I’m that cool.” She tried to tell herself.

“You ever asked him?” She didn’t. She didn’t want too. If this was a year ago and she was still in her band, she’d take all that praise and let it go to her head. But now being popular didn’t seem like a big deal, she didn’t want to be big she just wanted to spend time with something that resembled a friend.

She had a few social circles she was in. Bunch of kids who knew her and her old bandmates. They’d hang out at the mall and talk about whatever. But the more she thought back on those moments, she realized that she couldn’t name one kid from that group.

Because they were Just people who thought she was cool and wanted to hang out with her. No one ever asked how she was doing? Or if she had any plans, never asked her to try and play some random song on her guitar. They didn’t even care that she rode a skateboard, maybe to them it was just a part of her image. Until today, no one had ever really asked her to do a trick.

“Look I ain’t trying to be an ass about this.” That was up for debate. “All I’m saying is that if your gonna act like you’re a big deal you might as well back it up.” Gordon finished his thoughts turning back to this game.
Well, there really wasn’t anything else to say to that, or at least Lina couldn’t think of anything to say. There wasn’t any point in dragging it out. Might as well let it be and just go home. She walked out of the bus. Looking down to find her broken board now missing.

Seriously? Who goes to a junkyard and finds a broken skateboard and just swipes it?

Thinking about it for a minute Lina figured that Drew, the guy who owned this junkyard, was probably skulking around for crap he could scrap and sell later. The board was useless but he could still take off the wheels to sell someone looking for a new set. Whatever not like she had any reason to keep it, still though, it was going to be long walk home.

“Hey, hold up!” she looked back to see Lemy running up to her.

“Hey Lemy, hope you had a nice leak, anyway I’m heading out. See ya.”

“Well wait a second I got something for ya.” She turned back to see her now unbroken board in his hands. “I patched it up for ya, had to workshop it a bit but It’s practically good as new.” She noticed the piece of scrap metal bolted to the bottom of the board, keeping together with some duct tape that not subtly hid the patchwork.
“Wow, Thanks Lemy.” She was happy to have her board back, but the he reunion felt a little hollow, almost undeserved. “You didn’t need to do this for me.”

“Well Nah, of course I didn’t” Wow, that was blunt. “But I had a feeling you were gonna throw it away, but I figured it wasn’t a lost cause. This way you can keep it around until you get a new one, or at least until we can find another one someone threw away-.” Lemy lost his voice the second Lina pulled him into a tight hug. Her arms wrapped around his vest and he could feel her laughing as she nuzzled her face into his hair.

“You’re the best Lemy.” She looked over the mess of hair to see him trying to hide his red face under his bandanna, she let him go and he tried to play it cool.

“Nah, I’m just doing what I can.”  He watched her get on board, hoping it didn’t break underneath her. “Another thing, I wouldn’t do any tricks on that, I mean I did what I could, but it’s still a bit flimsy.” She tested out the pressure and it did seem a bit loose despite the metal holding It together.

“I wouldn’t worry about it.”

Lina said her goodbyes and rode her board out of the yard, it rode just as well as it did before. It might have even felt like it was riding smoother with the extra weight on it. Riding it onto the sidewalk the bumps in the cement suddenly made her more cautious. She got off and picked it up to make sure it wasn’t bending again.

But no, it was fine. She flipped it around and admired the patchwork. It looked slap together but it had a charm to it. Running her hand over the tapped-up scrap metal.  She put the board under her arm, making sure it didn’t slip from her grip. Her house wasn’t that far, she could walk the rest of the way.