Lia had never seen a skateboard as cool as this one before. Her nose almost pressed against the window as she gazed in awe at the skate shop’s latest model: a bright red, shiny board signed by the recent World Cup winner and internet star, S-Kate Jack.
It was not for sale, just on display.
What’s more, Lia couldn’t even skate.
With a huge sigh, she turned away from the window to head for home just as a group of boys pulled up beside her, heading for a nearby field to practice.
Lia followed them cautiously. For a moment she tried to pluck up the courage to ask them to let her join in, but in the end, she just stood at the gate and gazed at their jazzy moves, daring jumps and windy rolls in a silent wonder.
She did not dare to go inside.
Her focus was on Andy, the most skilful racer, who was two years older than her. He had once managed a small salto, a feat that remained the talk of the school.
Of course, Andy didn’t notice her, and neither did the others. Girls don’t skateboard anyway.” “When the boys had finished their exercise and were getting ready to leave, Lia started walking too. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Andy going in a different direction than usual, and going into the corner shop. After a moment’s thought, Lia ran after him; she wanted to buy another dairy bar anyway.
At the checkout, she managed to get in the queue just behind Andy.
“Just say something to him… Anything,” she thought to herself. “Tell him, how awesome he is. Ask him to teach you to skate. Say something, come on! Then something unexpected happened.”
Andy wanted to buy a bottle of juice, but apparently miscalculated his funds, as he was 50 cents short.
“I have enough, here, have this one on me!” cried Lia, hardly believing she had finally found the courage to speak. And just like that! How ridiculous,” she felt annoyed with herself.
“Wow! That’s really nice of you! Thank you!” Andy looked at her, quizzically, “you go to our school, don’t you? You look so familiar.”
Andy handed over the money for the juice, and Lia paid for her dairy bar, searching for words but only managing a faint “yes”.
“I’ll pay you back tomorrow then! Thanks again!” Andy said, before skating off on his board.” “At school the next day, Lia looked for Andy at every break, but somehow, they did not run into each other. Of course, in the afternoon, all the big boys were there again on the skateboard track, with Andy leading the way. Lia hesitated. Should she go over to him and remind him of his debt? In the end, Andy beat her to it.
“Hi,” he smiled at her, “I didn’t see you at school today, but I wanted to pay you back your money. Here you go! Thanks again!” he said, dropping the fifty cents into Lia’s hand. Do you want to hang out at the skateboard park?”
“I… can’t skateboard. I don’t even have a board,” Lia moaned.
“No worries! I’ll show you how. Come on, it’s not so hard!”
They put their bags down beside the track and Andy called out to the others not to wait for him.
“I’ll be your tutor,” said Andy with a smile, then he turned back to face Lia, “Guess what, we’re preparing for a competition! It’s two months away, but the winner will receive a board signed by S-Kate Jack. I spend hours practicing here every day, but I still don’t feel good enough. I have only managed a salto once.”
“Well, I think you’re insanely good. I can’t believe all the tricks you are able to do.”
“I’ll show you what to do!”” ““See? It’s all about balance! If you have that, you can do a lot of things. But at the beginning, you just need to roll smoothly. Once you have mastered that, the rest will follow.”
Andy proved to be a very patient teacher and even lent Lia his board. Less than an hour later, Lia was gliding along the straight parts of the track with ease and confidence.
“You are a really fast learner. Back in the day, I practiced for days before I got it right! Cool!”
Lia felt a rush of pride with his praise. Unbelievable, Andy, the sharpest skateboarder of all was praising her! And actually, she was already feeling very proud of herself, too. She noticed the way the wind caught her hair as she rolled quickly past, and couldn’t wait to learn some of the easier tricks.
She got so caught up in it all that she didn’t even notice the time flying by.
“Oh no! I have to go home; my parents will be worried. Thanks, the lesson, it was great.”
“You are welcome! See you again tomorrow afternoon, right? Since we’ve got started, we might as well keep going, right? I’ll teach you some of the easier tricks.”
Lia was sure that at this moment, she was the happiest girl in the whole city, or maybe the whole country.” “The next afternoon, Andy came armed with a surprise: he brought one of his old skateboards.
“Here, a pressie for you,” he said, “it will be fine for practicing on. I got a new one from my dad for my birthday, so this one is going spare, but it’s still a smooth ride. I want you to have it!”
Lia could not believe her ears.
“Wow, thank you! Lucky you, getting such cool stuff from your dad!”
“He’s always sends me expensive stuff for my birthday because I hardly see him. He and my mom divorced ages ago. But now his gifts really came in really handy because now you have your own board. Are your parents still together?”
“Yes, and yesterday they were really worried when I was late. But this morning I told them that I will come here after school, so I just have to be home by six. We might as well get started!”
That afternoon, Lia learned how to do a stair jump. Andy was amazed at how talented she was and how quickly she got a taste for boarding.
“I’ve never seen anything like it,” he said, “check this out, guys! Yesterday she couldn’t even skateboard, and today she’s doing jumps!” – as the other boys gathered round to admire Lia’s fresh skills. Of course, they were as impressed as Andy was.