Saint Joseph School

I was loitering in the baggage claim area of the airport on Sunday afternoon. Rob's flight from San Diego was still on time, amazingly. It should have been on the ground by then, so any minute...

"Tony! Bro!"

I turned as Rob bounded down the escalator, backpack slung over a shoulder, his dark hair mashed up one one side of his head from sleeping on the plane.

We automatically fell into the Bomb Squad handshake, and I grinned line nothing was or would ever be wrong between us. Drama or no, he hadn't done anything to me personally. And until the whole mess was out in the open, we were still best friends. Truth is, I was really glad to see him.

"Dude, it's fucking cold! You should told me." Rob had nothing but jeans and an Element hoodie over his T-shirt.

I only laughed at him. "You retard."

"Tonyyy!" From behind Rob came a squeal I'd recognize anywhere. Meiying was sprinting at me full tilt, dropped her own bag and skateboard, and tackled me with a hug. God, she smelled good. "I missed you so much, dude!"

I gave her an extra squeeze like it might be the last. Thanks to her visiting China every holiday, I hadn't seen her since summer. And now she was Rob's.

"Hey, chica. God, it's been forever." I reluctantly let her go.

"I know, right? Lemme get a look at you, Mr. Hero!" She stepped back and looked me over with an roguish grin. "You've been working out." Before I even finished nodding, she squealed again. "Ooh, they're so cute!" She gently seized a wing, petting the remiges.

"H-hey, now..." I raised my eyebrows at her in warning and her mouth turned into a little "O" in understanding, her eyes sparkling mischievously.

"I wonder what you do when it's windy..."

Meiying had been my first serious girlfriend back when we were in seventh grade. My first for a lot of things, actually. For the sake of the crew, we broke it off and made the crew-is-family rule. As a result of all that, Mei knows me better than probably anyone, and she's like one of the guys in that I don't have to censor myself around her. The best part, though, is that it's never been awkward between us. I guess, until now.

"Dude, can we get something to eat? Breakfast on the plane sucked."

Rob's face said it all. If we're not exact twins on something, we're complete opposites. Maybe it's just because he's Irish, but Rob loves a good fight, so he's in your face about anything. Which is fine, since I'm not confrontational; he's always defended the rest of the crew when it came down to it. So, at any rate, Rob's expression said, "I know that you know that she's mine, and you're friends and that's cool, but try anything and I'll rip your nuts off."

Mei let go of my feathers and went to retrieve her board, and I nodded at Rob.

"Sure, we can hit the Up and Away Burger, if you want. Some local flair?" I grinned innocently.

We collected all the gear off the baggage carousel. I recognized Mei's skate bag going by and snagged it. I handed it to her, but held on for a moment as Rob jogged off to track down a suitcase that got away.

"Why are you here, anyway?"

She gave my arm a pinch and smiled in a way that said she didn't want to hurt my feelings. "Gotta support my boys."

After school Rob and I milled around the quad, outside the dorms. He was huddled into his hoodie, one of my scarves wrapped around him three times. I hope I didn't look that pathetic when my first New England November hit.

Meiying skated up with a tall paper coffee cup and handed it to Rob with a smile. Minus the board, she looked like a Seattle girl in her new, puffy North Face jacket with faux fur trim, skinny jeans, and chunky skater shoes. But she looked warm and I'd already teased her about it this afternoon. She popped her board into her hand shuffled around in the crusty snow banks.

Rob blew quietly on his coffee and looked at me again. He'd been watching me all day. And all yesterday.

"Bro, I've never seen you so wound up." He studied my expression. "...Haven't you been laid since Chelsea?"

Mei politely ignored us, having heard me whine about all this before.

I sighed, staring through him. "Like...once? Chick I met at the YMCA tournament..."

Rob's jaw dropped. "Last July?! Dude..." he chuckled sympathetically and turned to scruff his short-cropped hair and survey the rest of the quad.

I saw Sam exit the dorms in the distance, backpack slung over one shoulder. Rob noticed too and nodded in her direction.

"And that's the girl that's got you trapped on the friends ladder?"

I felt my jaw turn to concrete and I swung around at Rob, jabbing him hard in the shoulder with an index finger. "Listen. My girl problems begin and end with Jenny."

He held up his free hand defensively. "Hey, sorry, bro, my bad. ...And too bad." He glanced toward Sam. "She's a doll."

Bile in my throat. I mentally stabbed him with all I had. "She's crew."

I pictured the butterflies in my stomach looked something like Mothra from the old Godzilla movies my dad would watch now and again. It was goofy, I mean, I had no reason to be nervous. It was just Tony's buddies from back home. Maybe part of it was anticipation of the trip, Philadelphia, the demo, Chicago, going to a show, but I knew that wasn't it. I had to laugh at myself. I'd gone on patrols with Ves or Artie or Tony dozens of times, yet I get knocked for a loop about meeting two friends of a buddy.

Luckily, the feeling didn't last too long. I smiled when my eyes met Tony's outside of the dorms, the blue haired boy tossing me a wink by way of greeting. Standing with him was a taller boy with dark hair, drinking a cup of coffee and a much shorter dark-haired girl. She was really pretty and quick with a smile, introduced herself as Meiying or Mei, and gave me a tap on the arm by way of greeting.

"I'm Sam, good to meetcha too." I smiled back, keeping my right thumb looped in my front jean pocket, and my left holding the strap of my backpack. I hated how my accent always seemed to get thicker when I met people for the first time. She wasn't a jerk about it though, just the opposite. Her friendliness was infectious and by the time we'd skated over to the park; Mei and I with our boards, Tony and Rob on their blades, I forgot about the butterflies, the accent, and it was like I'd known her for years.

Rob was a little cooler, but I didn't have all that much time to notice. Mostly he was talking with Mei or goofing with Tony. He wasn't unfriendly, I just reckoned he was one of those people that it'd take a while to warm up, so I gave him some space.

Mei and I hit the vert for a bit, but mostly we were there to watch Tony and Rob, so we grabbed a couple of smoothies and found an out of the way spot with a good view. I couldn't help but smile watching, Tony was definitely on his A-game.

"So how long have you known Tony?" Mei asked between sips of her Tropical concoction.

"Pretty much since he started, I guess." I shrugged. "We sorta had the skate thing in common, even though I skate, he rolls. He said he'd show me how to grind rails, and we've been buds ever since."

"Just 'buds'?" She asked with an impish grin. It's like people were all shocked that a guy and a girl could be friends. I used to get that a lot with Teddy Winston, and again with Bryan.

"Just buds." I repeated. "We got a lot in common, we hang out, go to school, skate, you know. Buds."

"Uh-huh." She said, knocking me into the shoulder again while I took a sip of my berry blitz.

"No, seriously." I repeated. "Buds. Just buds." She seemed placated by it and shrugged, playing with the straw of her drink.

"He's doing well here?" She asked, watching Tony take his turn on the vert. "I mean, he likes it and everything?"

"Far as I know." I replied, smiling as he went into a fakie 360. "He misses all you guys and home, and I can't really blame 'em, California sounds incredible. But he's making friends here, all the kids like him, because what's not to like?" She nodded wistfully, letting a long pause fall between us.

"I heard about his accident." She said, her voice drifting off. My mood dropped a bit. It wasn't exactly an accident, but I wasn't about to be the one to drop that bomb. I wish I'd have known him better then. I didn't know that it was intentional. I could've talked to him, said something better, maybe.

"Yeah, he's... he's definitely lucky." I said with a nod. I wasn't sure how much people knew about what he could do and who knew he healed fast, so I figured the less I said, the better.

"Mmm-hmmm." She agreed, not really listening because Rob was taking his turn. I went back to my smoothie and watching the guys skate, grateful to be off the subject. "Rob's on fire isn't he?" She asked. I scratched the back of my head and nodded to be polite.

I mean, he was good, but he was no Tony Kite. The demo would definitely be something else.

"Ha, you slacker!" Rob crowed.

I grinned at him through teeth and mopped my forehead on a sleeve. I'd always been the better skater technically, but his consistency with vert combos made me look like a noob. He'd gotten better while I'd been distracted by the whole hero thing. Maybe I'll take him out versus some Hellions later and we'll see who's cocky then...

"So about that twister..." Rob leaned on the deck rail while I chugged water, offering only eyebrows in response. "Can you do it?"

I smiled the shark smile again. "Not yet. What's this secret plan of yours?"

"Well, we need a big air ramp. And those." He pointed off my left shoulder where a wing drooped with exhaustion. "If you can do the trick, you can do the trick. Who cares how you learned it?"

"I dunno, dude..." Though he had a point. I had all the components down: cabalernos, double back flips, 1080s. The trick was just mashing it all together and feeling it as a whole without killing yourself on the first try.

"Oh don't start that high and mighty bullshit now. The only reason you're pro now is 'cause you're not dead five times over."

I half-mumbled, half-grunted in warning, Rob's hyperbole hitting a little close to home. The only reason Rob is pro now is because I did nearly die; he took all the credit for our Freshpark contest entry while I was conveniently in the hospital.

"You telling me it's not true? Like you woulda tried that shit if you didn't know you wouldn't get hurt?"

Too far. I scowled and crossed my arms. "I did get hurt. I don't know if you remember all the months I spent in casts while you hit on my girlfriends, 'cause I sure do."

Rob just laughed at me. "Dude, is this about Mei?"

Probably.

"No."

"Then chill the fuck out and do the trick." He was grinning dangerously, too. Asshole.

I hissed and screwed my helmet on for emphasis, dropping into the half-pipe if only to not have to listen to him anymore.

I get it now. He doesn't want me to embarrass him at the demo. He wants to piggy-back on me all the way to the top, just like it's always been. He wants a twister? Fine, I'll give him a twister. He won't be expecting me to have a secret weapon of my own. I'll give him a trick he's never seen before.

The flight from Paragon to Philadelphia is pretty painless, though we were all crammed onto one of those little planes where you have to gate check half your carry-ons. We took up a whole row, Rob and Meiying on one side of the aisle and me and Sam on the other. It was only an hour flight, but Rob was asleep already.

When there wasn't anything to see out the window anymore, Sam pulled the safety card out of the pocket in front of her.

"Bored much?"

She grinned sheepishly. "I don't wanna break anything. Is this an exit row?" She peered around over the seats, popping her gum.

"Here, break this." I tossed her my iPod.

"Thanks, bud."

We exchanged grins. I wonder if she'll let me buy her a Shuffle some time.

"Peanuts?" The flight attendant had snuck up on us.

Sam smiled politely but still looked a bit nervous, announcing, "No, thanks," a little loudly.

I made a throat slashing motion and the woman smiled at me like I might be insane, moving on.

Sam lowered her voice mischievously. "Enough is enough. I've had it with these motherfucking peanuts on this motherfucking plane!" She sounded nothing like Samuel L. Jackson, but it was cute.

"I dunno, I'd rather have peanuts on my plane than snakes on my--" She cut me off with a light (for her) punch in the arm and I laughed at her. "Hey, if I ate peanuts and breathed on you, would you die?"

She grinned at me. "Depends. Did you brush your teeth this morning?"

I slugged her back for snickering so hard about it.

After the drink cart had passed, Mei leaned over the aisle and grinned slyly at me. "So I hear you've got a new trick..." she whispered.

I tried to suppress the grin. "Yeah, you saw it." Thanks to Rob's coaching, I finally nailed a couple twisters, and he got pretty close himself. It's definitely not a consistent move, but if I can land one at the demo, that'll pretty much make it for us.

"You know what I mean."

"How'd you find out?"

She winked. "Emilio, of course."

I smiled and nodded. I'd posted the video of my new invention after Rob and Mei had left for Paragon, banking on the chance that they wouldn't see it until after the demo. An ace in the sleeve, I guess.

"Okay, well." I lowered my voice and leaned into the aisle, too. "It's a side flip with a double-method grab--but the axis is weird. Y'know how a flatspin is like doing back flips at 90 degrees?" I demonstrated the take-off by swinging my left foot across in front of me, accidentally nailing Sam in the shin.

"Hey, what'd I do now?"

"Sorry, chica, I got excited." I winked, giving her arm a squeeze, and turned back to Mei. "What was...? Oh yeah. Flatspin. Like back flips. But in vert, that puts you on your side, right?

Mei nodded, following along, and made a clockwise down-the-drain motion with her finger, indicating the axis of rotation for the trick. "Yeah?"

"Well, this thing, it's like doing cartwheels on your face. So in vert..."

"It goes like this?" She drew clockwise pinwheels in the air. "Crazy. With a grab?"

"It's totally necessary for the momentum. 'Cause all you've got is the leg snap." I drew a quarter-circle back and out into the aisle with my left foot. No casualties this time.

"Like the Cali roll...but backwards."

"Sorta."

Mei grinned. "That makes sense. It sounds sexy as all hell. So what are you gonna call it?"

I shrugged. "Dunno yet. Any ideas?"

"You're asking me to name your trick? Jeez..." Her face scrunched up in a half-embarrassed, pleased sort of way. "Um..." She made a little skater with her fingers and pantomimed the trick. "Well, it's not a spin or a flip. And it's not a twist."

I shrugged. "This isn't a science, Mei."

She giggled. "Fine, fine. Did you guys have any ideas?"

Sam piped up, leaning over. "I suggested 'coin toss' on account of he can land it heads or tails."

"Oh, that's cute." Mei nodded.

I cleared my throat. "Only I'd rather not be associated with tossing anything, thanks."

Mei swatted my arm. "Oh, don't be a pussy. Coin flip? Well it's not really a flip." Her face suddenly lit up. "It's a roll. dude, 'Philly roll'!"

Sam nodded, impressed. I just groaned. "Oh man, that's almost corny enough to work."

"C'mon, it's great. It's totally comeuppance on the Cali roll." Sam grinned at me.

Double-teamed, I smiled and sighed. "Alright, alright. Philly roll. But don't tell Rob. I don't wanna shake him day of, you know?"

Mei shook her head. "You and your surprises. That's what got us in this mess, you know."

That stung. She was only teasing, but she was right.

We somehow managed to get all our shit together and to the hotel around eight o'clock. It was kind of amazing. We'd decided to split a two-double four ways since no one was keen on paying an extra fifty bucks a night on a place to dump our gear. But I hadn't put any thought into the sleeping arrangements.

I guess I'd assumed the girls would share a bed and stalled when Rob and Mei quickly claimed the double by the bathroom. Mei's parents were pretty strict, so I didn't blame them, really. I looked to Sam and she glanced around and shrugged at me. I mean, it's not like we haven't cuddled up to watch movies and stuff. Still, this is the sort of thing I'd rather not let half the school know.

Rob and I repacked lighter skate bags and we crammed into another cab to head out to the Franklin Mills Mall for breakfast. Armed with egg McMuffins and Starbucks, we hit the Woodward Skatepark. As far as franchises go, it's pretty nice. The staff is meh and the membership fee is kind of ridiculous, but I can't complain about the features or the upkeep.

When Rob had said we'd be the only rollers, he wasn't kidding. There were a few BMXers as well, but this was really a skateboarding event. I clapped Rob on the shoulder.

"Do us proud, man."

He laughed at me, perked up by the coffee. "What, you going home or something?"

Rob had literally exploded onto the scene. I mean, he should have gone pro years ago. I'd easily put him in the top 25 active vert skaters right now, he's that good. And by associating with a gimmicky guy like me, if this really was the fresh meat market Rob was hinting at, it could make the rest of his carreer. Me? I just want to show the skate world I'm not dead to it, and, powers or not, I'm a skater first and forever. Sure, I'd like to have my cake an eat it, too, but all this really needs to do to make it worth it to me is get me out of this early retirement limbo.

We spent the next couple hours warming up, retuning, and goofing off with the other guys (and girls). The line-up was surprisingly diverse and, aside from a couple people, made-up of rookies and unknowns. There were a couple guys I recognized from our crash cam web ring, and it turned out there was one other roller: an East Coast guy named Brendan I knew from national competitions. We all ganged up to shoot the shit and speculate about this weird invitational.

"Kite? No way! Uh, what happened to you?" Outside Paragon, powers didn't happen to normal people you knew.

I could only shrug at the elder skater. "I'm a supe. Who woulda thought."

Brendan's mouth turned down appreciatively. "Huh. Well, it's great to see you out. Don't die again, yeah?"

At eleven o'clock they roped off most of the park for spectators and corralled the twenty of us in a warm-up corner. Bored with the pro shop, Mei peered over my shoulder as I scribbled down a rough routine for the commentators. She scratched between my shoulder blades impatiently, buzzing on the excitement, too. I covered my work and turned to grin wryly at her.

"Hey, you'll see it soon enough. Go be Rob's arm candy for the press, huh? He looks nervous."

Overhearing, Rob coasted over, raking his fingers through his hair for the tenth time. "Bro, I just cannot get over how weird this is. It's, like, totally sketch."

I couldn't help myself--I had to be the cheerleader even though I had every reason to be bitter toward the guy under the surface. "So own it, dude. No publicity is bad publicity, you know? You're gonna rock it, you always do. Pretend it's home."

Mei nodded at us. "We totally brought home with us. All of us: it's just like old times." She tugged Rob down to kiss him.

Old times didn't involve kisses, but whatever. Thankfully Sam distracted me, offering me a hand up. "The WAGs and stage moms are being shooed out."

I scrambled up to my wheels and pulled her into a hug. "Alrighty. Don't be afraid to throw elbows to get a good spot."

She grinned. "Kick some tail, you guys."

Mei gave me a hug, too, before hopping the press fence.

I turned in my routine and Brendan cruised over, looking way too chill for being at the top of the order.

"We gotta warm up these scene kids?" He nodded at the crowd. "What's the world coming to?"

Rob shook his head. "Yeah, how can riding bikes in a tube be cooler than roller skating?" We laughed.

"They'll see." I propped my elbow up on Rob's shoulder. "They've got no idea."

Rob caught the dangerous gleam in my eye and smirked knowingly. "You've got another 'surprise,' don't you. Damnit, bro..."

"No, no." I grinned back and patted Rob on the chest reassuringly. "I practiced this one. Don't worry."

Brendan had a damn good run. It really wasn't a bad idea putting us first--even though the crowd was still trickling in, he fired them up with a 1080 and flashy stuff that skateboarders can only dream of. Last I heard, Brendan was breaking into big air and it was showing in his monster grabs in the pipe. Maybe that's why they chose him for this thing even though he's a veteran of the scene.

"Next up, we got a couple kids from Encinitas, California--that's Brina Shima's stomping ground. There must be something in the water out there, 'cause you haven't seen anything like these guys since the Redwood City Bomb Squad."

Hearing announcers talk about us always sends shivers down my spine. I bounced in my boots and tried not to look nervous.

"This kid is only sixteen and just came out of nowhere last year. Now he's taking the scene by storm with massive combos that put him up with the long-time pros every time he drops in. Give it up for Rob D'Arcey!"

Rob put on a polished show like I'd never seen. I could tell he was playing a little safe compared to usual, but he was seriously impressive compared to Brendan, sticking to his signature spin combos. Even gaining air, he doesn't stop tricking--the kind of skating that makes vert look challenging and creative to even a die-hard flatlander like me.

He finished out with a ridiculous back flip to fakie 1080 to flatspin 720 combo that left at least us skaters agape in awe.

"That's my Rob! Whooo!" I heard Mei shriek from the crowd. She was hopping up and down at the rail like a maniac.

I tackled Rob as we passed on my way up to the deck. "That's how we roll! Fuck yeah!"

"Phew. Thanks, bro." Rob beamed and nodded, exhausted, and made his way over to Mei.

I couldn't feel guilty at all for what I was going to do to him now. I could top him, sure, but nothing could eclipse a run like that.

The last of our inline skaters today is exceptional all around! This sixteen-year-old park skater had a brush with destiny last summer that could've ended more than just a career, but instead, he's now one of Paragon City's heroes. Back on wheels and here to stay, Anthony Kite!"

Guh, corny. But I don't know how they reacted to the intro or the wings. When I'm up there, I barely hear the crowd. I'm not even thinking. I just drop in.

I kept things low and technical: inverts, grabs, and grinds with switch-ups--stuff the crowd hadn't seen yet. After about a minute of that, I felt it was time to ramp it up. Double flatspin. Double back flip. Flash stuff I usually end a street run with so I've got down-pat. I took two passes to get the air I wanted and now everyone knew I was up to something. I breathed out the pressure and the nerves--I've landed this thing at least twenty times--and let it rip.

My leg swung out and I pitched into the spin. I grabbed both boots at the laces, resisting the centrifugal force, spinning faster, and laid out, my wheels nearly on my head. I saw the deck, the ceiling, the deck again, snapped my feet down, and it was all over.

In movies they make it seem like these moments last forever, but really, it's only the bad ones. When you've got a trick down, even though you want to savor it, it's over before you know it. It's why we've got to do them again and again.

"A dealbreaker 540! That's Kite's own trick, shown for the first time, unveiled here at Woodward Skatepark Philly!"

I was so heady with adrenaline, I jumped back up to the deck rather than wipe out now. I could suddenly hear the crowd and they were going a little nuts. Inline is really under appreciated these days, but kids love their new shit. Sam was hollering, keeping her hands to herself probably so she didn't kill anyone in the excitement, while Mei jumped up and down practically on top of her, probably yelling about how I'd changed the name and I'm a cheap slut for it, etc.

It was Rob's face that did it for me, though. An island in the crowd: total, blank, paralytic shock. With a face like that, I knew I had to do the twister, too. And with over a minute left to do whatever, I nodded to the emcee that I wasn't quite done yet.

Maybe I was imagining it, but dropping in again, I could feel Rob's tension radiating. But, "Quit while you're ahead," doesn't do it for me. And I'd worked my ass off for this trick.

The commentator knew what was up and announced the twister attempt, giving it some background: back flip-360-back flip, a signature move of the vert master Yasutoko Eito. All I needed to know was that I could do it, too, and after showing the dealbreaker, the pressure was off.

I love the twister because it's a ridiculous blur, all tucked into the tightest ball I can manage to get all the way around. I mean, Christ, I'm already tall for a skater, but pushing six feet, I seriously don't know how Rob does vert.

I grabbed as much air as I could and threw everything into the spin. I barely made it, landing low and pitched forward, dragging my fingers down the vert just to stay up. But I was up, stayed up, and, God, the rush. After Rob's run, my new trick, landing the twister, not knowing what's going to happen next, and getting to share this moment with my best friends, I don't know if I'd ever felt so good in my entire life.

As the commentator and emcee wrapped up the set, I climbed down and made for the crowd, accepting high-fives as I coasted over to the crew. I grabbed Sam in a tight hug from across the barrier and beamed at the others as she gushed loudly in my ear.

"Hole-lee cow! Tony! That was like beyond amazing! I mean, you totally absolutely and completely nailed it, and just when you thought it couldn't get any better, you picked up speed, and then bam with the twister it was completely non-stop insane and did you hear the crowd? No way, I mean no way! I am so getting rich off selling your stuff on e-bay!" [/b]

Rob was shaking his head now, an incredulous smile starting to tug at the corners of his mouth. "You nailed it, bro. Holy shit, what was that even... God, you fucking killed it."

Mei was so overly excited, she'd looped back around to calm again, grinning at me like she'd perfectly predicted how the whole thing was going to go down.

"Yeah, Tony, that Savannah-to-invert? Sexy."

I smirked crookedly back at her. While everyone was buzzing about the aerials, Mei instead complemented me on a rail combo that I was particularly proud of.

"Aww c'mon, chica, you'll make a boy blush." I reached over and scuffed up her hair right under Rob's nose.

"D'you guys wanna stick around for the rest or go get some lunch?" Rob was looking up at the first BMXer who was riding the wave of excitement we'd generated. He had his work cut out for him if he had any hope of keeping it.

"You don't wanna schmooze with these phantom talent scouts?" I pressed down on Sam's shoulders to peer over the crowd.

He shrugged. "If they're here, Dad'll track 'em down."

Rob's dad was a start-up junkie and had served as our manager since we'd first started winning prize money, but the guy hadn't sent me so much as an e-mail since I'd moved out east. I wondered what Rob'd been telling him. The show had good camera coverage, though, so I wasn't so worried about missed opportunities today, except to any fans if we ducked out now.

"I could eat. After we get some pictures with those girls." I waved at a couple down the rail who were watching us, cameras and markers in hand.

Sam nodded. "We're just here to see you guys anyway," she offered.

Mei bounced on her toes, suddenly peppy again. "Lunch on me! I call cheesesteaks!"

I flicked water from my wingtips as I wandered back out of the bathroom. The girls--that is to say, Mei--had commandeered most of the counter space, so I'd been elbowed out to the counter under the mirror in the main room. Mei was at the desk with her knees tucked up, messing with her laptop.

"Where'd everybody go?" I applied a layer of Tag before pulling my shirt on, struggling with the extra holes.

"Bubble tea." She rested her cheek on her knee, watching me.

I warmed some hair wax in my hands and teased the mess of crispy blue ends and black roots into half-assed liberty spikes. I'll get it cut when I get home. Well, back to school, anyway.

"You and Sam getting along?" I took a random stab. We really hadn't had a minute alone to catch up the whole week, and Mei looked like she had something on her mind.

"Yeah, she's a real cutie." She rocked back in the chair. "Too girl-next-door for you?"

"Eh?" I grinned at her. "Naw, we're just friends, Mei."

"Oh yeah?" She wasn't really smiling. "'Cause I've only ever heard you call girls you've slept with, 'Chica.' If that's wishful thinking, you at least owe it to the poor girl to let her know."

I just stared at her, suddenly furious. "But I don't..." I was trapped between the conviction that I'd gotten over Sam and the shock of having one of my tells exposed. But internal drama aside, what was this all about?

"What the hell?" I surprised myself, sounding way too spiteful. "I haven't seen you in forever and now you're getting on my case? I thought I could come to you with this sort of stuff." I scoffed and took a couple steps like it would burn off the anger. "But now you're banging Rob, so I guess that deal's off, too." All the stress that had been building this semester finally exploded and I immediately regretted it. This was Mei I was yelling at.

She was out of the chair now, her voice shrill. "Okay, what the hell happened to you? Big hot-shot hero or not, your behavior this week has been totally inexcusable. What do you want from me?"

"Oh, I dunno." I rolled my eyes dramatically. "Why Rob?"

"'To get back at you for leaving!' Is that what you wanna hear? Maybe I like him." She heaved an exasperated sigh, looking confused and hurt. "What could you have against him? You're best friends, and... I mean, have you ever thought about what it might be like to always be number two?"

I deflated a bit. She had me there. But even that hardly entitled Rob to a revenge scheme of this magnitude.

"But he took all the credit for the Freshpark thing, his dad is supposed to be my manager and he hasn't done shit since the accident, I hear about it from Chris of all people that you guys hook up--breaking his own rule...!" I took a breath, trying to not get hysterical. "He broke up the crew! I left him in charge. My life is fucking falling apart, I was totally depending on him, and he killed it." I sank down to sit on the edge of the bed and swallowed the sudden lump in my throat. God, chill, it's just skating for chrissake.

Mei's expression slowly waxed sympathetic and she shuffled over and sat next to me. "Tony...the crew was your dream. You can't just walk away from it and expect it to survive."

That hit me like a bucket of ice water, the idea that the other guys were just going along with it for a lack of better things to do. Did they think I'd abandoned them?

So maybe it wasn't Rob's fault at all. Maybe he was just going after what he wanted, same as me. I threw my hands up, defeated, still angry but with no one to be mad at. "You think I chose this?"

Mei wordlessly hugged me around the ribs and we flopped backward on the bed. I just stared at the ceiling for what felt like ages.

"...Sorry, Mei."

She shook her head against my chest. What I wouldn't give to go back a couple years... Sure, we were just a bunch of stupid kids, but...

"You really rocked today. You're gonna make it big, I know it."

I was slow to respond, my mind hung up on cool summer nights, coconut shampoo, a broken wrist, that sour-sweet feeling in the pit of your stomach...

"The point wasn't to do it alone."

Mei propped herself up on her elbows and looked at me. "We're always gonna be friends, Anthony. You and Rob and me and everybody. And when we're all out of school, it'll all work out, you'll see."

We spent the rest of Friday tooling around Philly, skating everything, riding the trolleys and subway, and looking at stuff. We saw the Liberty Bell and Edgar Allen Poe's house, grabbed some water ice, and did the Rocky Steps (while singing badly). Rob's dad treated us to sushi for dinner, and then we crashed, dead tired, and caught our morning flight to Chicago to catch NOFX before they tour even farther west and out of the country again.

It's times like these, especially when Sam's around, that I feel like a spoiled brat. Both my parents work, so I get allowance from them on top of any promotion work, prizes, and free gear. Rob's invested every penny he's won and, with his dad matching him one-for-one, siphons off the interest for fun money. And Mei's parents are both doctors, so they're just loaded and let her run up the credit card as much as she wants so long as she goes to med school, too. All of our friends grew up that way.

But Sam, who regularly bums pizza money, picked up a part-time job at a movie theater to scrape together just air fare and hotel for this trip. And on top of that, she's too proud to let me pay for big things, and it makes me feel like a dick. So when Mei insisted that they go shopping, I gave her a warning look.

"Oh, c'mon. I've got to hit Saks. How about shoes? Even tomboys like shoes. If you don't, you just haven't found the right pair yet."

She didn't get it. And I'd seen Mei drop nearly a grand on "the right pair" of shoes. I tried to subtly make a "cut it out" gesture. And then again not so subtly.

Sam smiled and shrugged, probably not wanting to seem like a poor sport. "Sure I'll go. Sounds fun."

Mei beamed, triumphant. "Woot! We'll just look, I swear." She said that mostly to me. "Plus, you gotta tell me all about this hero thing."

I knew Mei wasn't going to leave Chicago empty-handed, but there wasn't any tactful way to stop them now. I wished Sam luck.

Rob and I checked out the Burnham Skatepark (which sucked) and grabbed some deep dish pizza for a late lunch. It was still hard to look at him and not be reminded of being kept up the night before by Mei's giggling. He picked some of the large chunks of tomato off his slice.

"You've gotten, like, ridiculously good since last summer," I offered, quickly hiding any telling expression with a bite, burning the hell out of my mouth in the process.

Rob grinned only a little ironically. "And you still manage to top me."

I waved it off. "Psh, no way. It was flash. To anyone who knows their shit, you're the real rockstar."

"There's nothing cheap about a twister, bro. Quit trying to make me feel better." He seemed generally unaffected. Not sullen, just not as pumped as he should have been considering the weekend we'd had so far.

"No, dude." I shook my head and smiled. "Dead serious. Just 'cause I taught you or I can pull crazy shit out of my ass sometimes doesn't mean anything. You own vert in a way that makes me totally jealous. And I've been a total dick about it."

Rob sipped his Coke contemplatively. "Well, I shoulda told you about Mei." His expession broke with an embarrassed smile. "I guess I was afraid you'd fly back and kill me with eye lasers or something."

We shared a strained laugh.

"Naw... I left you in charge--so that means you're in charge. You do what you want. Mei can do what she wants. Who am I to say...?"

"Well," he cleared his throat, "I kinda did the same thing to you back in eighth grade."

I shrugged, resigned. "It's been three years, dude. I don't think about her like that. It's just weird to see you together. And you broke our deal." That was really the kicker in all this.

"Yeah..." He sighed heavily. "Yeah, I fucked up." He pushed the tomatoes across his plate with a fork.

That was really all I wanted to hear, I guess, because I started feeling a bit better and took a bite of pizza. "...Did you ever think we'd actually get here?"

Rob chuckled to himself and sagged in his chair, hooking a lanky arm over the back. "Yeah, I always did--you were always so goddamned sure of it, so yeah. I think the other guys took it real rough when you left. And Thanksgiving. I mean, Emilio wants to be a DJ now? But yeah. I always figured you'd be famous somehow."

Not we. You. Alone at the top. I shook my head. "What about you?"

He grinned then. "Why d'you think I've been working so hard? Gotta keep up with you, bro."

I don't know what I was thinking. I've been such a retard, all this time hating the one guy who'd believed in me all along.

"So we're cool?"

Rob tossed a balled-up straw wrapper at me and laughed. "Yeah, bro, we're cool."

I had to smile at Mei's enthusiasm over shopping. You'd think they didn't have malls out in California or something. Truth be told, I'd always sort of enjoyed it, even if it wasn't "my thing." I'm into what I'm into, you know? Besides, what's not to like about a mall? You get all your major food groups in one court area, meaning you could get pizza from one place, fries from another with an egg roll and some frozen yogurt on the side. I am SO glad tanking burns a lot of calories.

I'd hit the malls around Paragon before, and Jase used to take me to these trendy shops in New York City all the time, but Mei? Mei was a professional. She charged more in one store than I could hope to make in half a year, but it was fun to watch. She barely tried anything on, judging color and size by sight and was a whirlwind to be around. I held a ton of stuff for her, the strength thing does come in handy now and again. I joked with Tony a lot about being a roadie or security for him when he made it big for that reason. After we hit what she called "the big five", she was finally ready to take a breather.

"C'mon, we'll hit up that gourmet coffee place, my treat." She offered, and I smiled and thanked her. I think that was maybe the dozenth time she said that. "My treat." I mean, I had money and all. Maybe not as much money, but the thing is, I'm just not into having stuff for the sake of having stuff. I don't care if my gear's top of the line. Mei bought this one pair of jeans, no lie they were near 200 dollars, and she didn't even make sure they fit! Tony usually offers to pay for stuff too, but I feel bad making him burn through his money. I like that it's never an issue. If I need a few bucks, he's always willing to lend it, and I don't so much mind borrowing it on account of I know we'll be buddies for a long time, so I got plenty of time to pay him back.

"Next up is shoes." Mei said with a smile, leaning back into one of the easy chairs with some sort of caramel drink as she rubbed her ankle. I wiggled my toes inside my Chucks and nodded, placing half dozen or so large shopping bags beside us. We small talked for a bit, usual stuff, school, TV and of course, skating. I think living in California - they take skating and stuff a lot more serious. I mean, back home it was something we just did to mess around, kill time, have somewhere to hang out after school. There was one skate park near half hour away from my house by car, and sometimes Teddy Winston's mom would drive us there on the weekend, but mostly it was parking lots or Sonny Gibsons' back yard, on account of his dad built him a half pipe out of plywood and stuff. We didn't really have a crew, but we also weren't serious. The closest any of us ever came to "pro" was when Sonny was holding onto his board and got to say "Just say no to drugs!" in a D.A.R.E. PSA on a local station. Boy did he ever brag. So it was sort of weird to listen to Mei talk about Rob, Tony and sponsors, but it was good in a way. Last thing I wanted to do was come off fangirl.

"So you never considered skates?" She asked between sips, and I shook my head.

"Well, yes and no. I mean, this is sorta the first time I'm giving rolling a go." I admitted, using Tony's term for it. "I had skates, but mostly we used 'em for roller hockey and stuff. I used to try and grind with all four wheels, even, but Tony, Tony gave me an old pair of his skates to practice. I think he said mine looked like they were decomposing or something. He showed me how to lock in and all."

"He's great at rails." She said, taking another second to fix her boot.

"Yeah." I agreed. "Sometimes it's hard, on account of my feet never seem to want to stay where I want them to go. But I'm loving going and learning new tricks."

"So you're trying to impress him?" She asked, hiding a smirk behind her paper cup. I rolled my eyes slightly.

"Like I said, we're just friends s'all." I still don't get why that's an impossible concept to grasp. You can like a guy without like-liking him. "I mean, we don't have a big skate crowd at SJS, so when he shows up at the school, theeee Tony Kite offers to let me borrow a pair of his skates and give me a few pointers, I'm sure as hell not going to say no."

"Hell yeah." She admitted.

"Besides, I think Tony misses home more than he says sometimes. And the park I know is likely lame compared to what you got out in California and all, but he loves what he does, I love watching him. He makes me want to skate, on account of I want to be half that good some day, you know?"

Mei nodded, looking sort of distant for a brief moment, kind of like storm clouds rolled in, but she chased them away with a final sip of macchiato.

"All right Sam, round two. Shoe time." She said with a smile. "And it's no fun to try them on alone." I laughed a bit and helped collect her packages. "By the time we're finished, you'll be able to tell your Jean's from your John's and Jimmy's."

"Jean Paul Gaultier. John Galliano. Jimmy Choos. " I said with a shrug. "Rossi for heels. Fendi for flats." Mei raised an eyebrow in my direction and grinned, causing me to smile a little sheepishly. It'd been a while since I thought about shoes that didn't come from Payless or Red Wing. "There was this... I dated someone who... there were red carpets... it's a long story."

"I told Tony everyone loved shoes. And we'll have plenty of time to talk while we try 'em on." She giggled, grabbing my free arm as she led us back into the mall. "Plenty of time."

We unloaded all our new mall swag at the hotel, Mei and Sam showing off new shoes, and then went for dinner at a mom and pop pizza place. We split a small pan pizza and loaded down with spaghetti, too. The red sauce was killer--but not as good as Grandma's, of course. I'd bet money she'd break my kneecaps if I said otherwise. Either way, what we really needed were carbs for the show later that night, and the authentic Chicago pizza was a bonus.

We took forever to get ready, mostly because of all the hair gluing. Rob was set to go, but I had to cement mine to withstand crowd surfers, and then Mei needed help sticking her short layers into a tri-hawk to make this sort of razor mullet thing. Sam joked that she should have shaved a mohawk when Billy'd dared her to, and even though I egged her on at the time, I'm really glad she didn't. She just wouldn't be the same.

Anyway, we did make it out the door in time to line up in front of the House of Blues a full hour before the doors opened. We had to be up on the rail for this show. The only problem: we'd dressed for the pit, but outside it was cold. Like, cold for Chicago, cold. With only a hoodie between me and March in Windy City, I was feeling pretty damn pathetic. Rob and Mei weren't looking too happy, either. Sam was pretty much fine, being used to Rhode Island, but she huddled up with us anyway.

I feel so self-conscious being outside of Paragon anymore, and sometimes it seems like having blue hair is just too much, even at a punk show. I'd put so much crap in it, the spikes probably would have lasted through a thunderstorm, but I couldn't help playing with it anyway. Eventually a green-skinned kid showed up and I felt a bit better, but not much.

The event staff took their sweet time getting the doors open, and someone had started a chant, but since we didn't need drink wristbands, we were in right away and staked out a spot front and center. Rob coat checked our hoodies and headed for the merch table while Mei chattered with one of the bouncers. At barely over five feet tall, it's a good tactic: the guy agreed to keep an eye on her during the show and pull her out of the pit if things got bad. She pointed out Sam, too, but we both knew she likely wouldn't need saving.

Rob came back with water for each of us and said he'd gotten us all T-shirts and checked them, too. By then, the floor was about half full, but not packed, and I started to get to know the people around us since we'd be getting up close and personal pretty soon. Most of them were older than us--in their early- to mid-twenties--and they looked totally normal except for a mohawk here and there. Most of them were locals, too, but there were some goth punks from Beloit, Wisconsin and some more kids from Milwaukee, and an old tattooed guy who laughed at us for being born after '85 but admitted that we at least knew what real punk was. I had to explain that, yeah, the wings were real and we were from Paragon and here because they'd skipped us on the tour, as usual. The old guy said that sucked but didn't blame bands for not wanting to deal with a pit full of mutant kids or whatever. In general, though, everyone was cool about it and agreed to look out for Mei and Sam.

We could feel the excitement building in the air as it got close to show time. People compared first times seeing NOFX and boasted about who'd seen them first, who caught guitar picks, or what crazy thing happened at the show. I kept mostly quiet but couldn't help constantly elbowing Sam, just totally in awe over how awesome the show was going to be. Rob laughed at me, but she just grinned, excited, too.

The opening set was some local band I'd never heard of, and even though I can't remember their name, they were pretty good. There was still room to thrash around and get into it, but when No Use for a Name came on, we got a taste of what the real crush would be like. Rob braced himself on the rail to hold the crowd off of Mei and she took charge of the camera to get some pictures and video of the band. The set was really awesome; they sounded great live and I loved their "NO USE FOR A LOGO" banner made with duct tape. I never bothered to see these guys live before and now I wish I had.

At some point, though, I realized that Sam's knocking around wasn't just her pretending to flow with the crowd and between songs I asked if she was okay.

"I think they have some kind of dampener in here. I can't tank up all the way." She looked off balance, unused to her feet not being stuck tight to the floor.

I hadn't noticed since I wasn't hurt. "It's gonna get a lot worse," I warned at a yell. "If you have to, get pulled out and I'll come with you."

And it did get a lot worse. As soon as No Use finished up, everyone was jockeying to get as close as possible. The old dude and the goth kids did a great job pushing off the kids who were getting nasty just to get a hand on the rail and bruise all our ribs.

But, God, was it worth it! I almost couldn't believe we were actually getting to see NOFX--one of the greatest punk bands ever, and the sound was amazing and the banter was great and they were right fucking there! It blew my mind. Even Sam was totally into it and sang along when she knew the words. As squashed as we were, the energy was so intense.

After a couple of songs, though, Mei was going down and had to give up on pictures just to protect herself. My wings were crushed to hell and not healing, and although Sam was hanging in there, she was getting drawn further away in the constant flow of bodies and looking tired. Rob threw a couple elbows into the temple of some kid who was trying to climb on him when the bouncer wasn't looking, and then we were officially out of there. As promised, the huge guy fished in and pulled Mei from the pit, followed by Rob, I helped hand Sam out, and then I got pulled out, too. I waved the old dude good luck before being escorted off to the side.

Mei was sniffling--she'd gotten pretty scared, but she was okay and so was the camera. Rob, being bony, had dealt more damage than he took. Sam was comforting Mei but gave me a thumbs-up.

"No worse than football," she yelled with a grin.

We looped around to one of the lower side balconies to watch the rest of the show and it was actually a great vantage point. Rob went back into the circle pit to mosh and Mei got some awesome video of No Use chasing Fat Mike around while El Hefe blared on his trombone. Melvin's accordion was broken for his song, but I couldn't tell, and the whole crowd went crazy and sang along to "Linoleum." I'd really, really wished they'd played "The Decline" (that song gives me goosebumps), but it was still the best show I've ever been to and I'm so glad I got to go with my best friends.

After, seriously, the longest ovation ever, we got our jackets and merch and went back out into the cold. Totally beat, we hit Taco Bell since it was still open and crashed at the hotel. I'd healed up as soon as we were out of the House of Blues, so I was just happily exhausted, not wanting to bother with my hair until morning when we would go our separate ways: Sam and me back to Paragon and Rob and Mei to Encinitas.

I turned my face in the scratchy hotel pillow to see Sam on the edge of the bed pulling off her socks.

"Didja have fun?"

She grinned wide at me. "Yeah! You kidding, bud? Seeing Philly and the demo and shopping and the punk show and meeting your friends, holy cow! Best weekend ever!"


THE END