Skateboard Renegade (10 page)

“She doesn't really think you're a bad kid,” Skeeter assured him. “You've disappointed her, and that's how she's showing it,
by saying stuff like that.”

“Oh.”

“But she said when I talked to her the other day that you'd been doing better lately—helping Zoey and all.”

“Oh, yeah. I paid back what I owed her, plus I gave her free lessons, and her friend, too.”

“Good man!”

“Yeah, I got really tortured for it, too, when the guys found out,” Zach told him.

“Mmm, yeah, I guess that could happen. But you know what? You've gotta be the one the guys all follow. Then you don't have
to worry about what they think, because they're all busy thinking how to be like you.”

Zach laughed. “What if they don't follow me?”

Skeeter smiled. “Then they miss out,” he said. “Come on—let's get you hennaed. Gotta make those other kids jealous.”

“Okay, you can look now,” the henna artist told Zach.

He looked, and he liked what he saw. The stain was reddish, instead of bluish like the needle tattooing. But the screaming
eagle was vivid and well
drawn, and the Asian lettering in bands above and below the eagle made him look and feel like a skateboarding ninja.

“That'll last you a month or more,” Skeeter told him as they boarded home.

“And after that?”

“You've got to locate a place in Moorehead City that does it. Either a tattoo place, or a manicure place maybe.”

“Cool. Can you teach me some more tricks before bed?” Zach begged.

“Not tonight, partner,” Skeeter said. “There'll be time for that after the exhibition tomorrow.”

Uncle Skeeter was an awesome skateboarder, but some of the professionals in the exhibition were totally unbelievable. One
kid about Zach's age bounced around on his board like it was a pogo stick, balancing himself on the top truck. There was a
trio of boarders who did tricks by hopping from one board to another. And some of the tricks that were done on the half pipe
made the whole crowd gasp.

“That was fierce!” Zach told Skeeter when the
exhibition was over. “I want to learn to do all of that stuff!”

“Whoa, easy there, dude!” Skeeter said with a laugh. “You've got one more day out here. There's only so much new stuff you're
gonna be able to learn.”

“Well, what should I do, then?” Zach asked.

“Do you do any tricks already?”

“A few. I've got kind of a simple freestyle routine.”

“Cool. Show me. In one day we can work on that, add a few quick touches, and make it a thing of beauty.”

“All right!”

That's what they did for the rest of the afternoon. Skeeter showed Zach how to do multiple 360s by using the upper body to
drive the turns. He taught him how to jump to goofy position and back while in full motion. Mostly, though, he helped Zach
improve his “mental game.”

“Skateboarding's a Zen sport,” Skeeter explained. “That means you have to unite your mind, body, and spirit. By hooking into
the cosmic flow, you go with the moment and let yourself be part of something bigger, something perfect.”

Skeeter's eyes were closed as he said the words, and Zach knew that was how he approached everything: making musical instruments,
saving sequoia seeds, fixing skateboards—everything.

Zach was feeling tired and sad as they rode the bus back to the airport on Monday morning. “I wish I could stay longer,” he
said.

“Me too, partner,” Skeeter replied, putting an arm around Zach's shoulders. “But you've got enough to chew on for a while.
Next time I see you, you'll be a Zen boarder, and we can work out some routines for the two of us.”

“Yeah!”

“And listen, Zach —”

It was the first time Skeeter had called him Zach the whole weekend.

“If you give your mom and dad a reason to have confidence in you, they will. It might take some time—parents are a little
slow to catch on sometimes—but I promise you, it'll happen.”

S
o how was it?” his mom asked as she greeted him at the airport. “Skeeter called to say he really enjoyed seeing you.”

“He's the coolest guy,” Zach told her. “Y'know, mom, he really does have jobs. They're just not in offices. Uncle Skeeter's
a rebel, like me.”

“Oh.” His mother smiled, and her eyes went soft. Zach could tell she was thinking of her little brother. “So you're a rebel,
too, huh? Well, Skeeter didn't turn out so bad, I guess. Still, I hope you won't go
that
far with it.”

Zach smiled a secret smile as they drove back home. He couldn't see himself ever living like Skeeter, no. But he felt that
he'd found a true friend for life—one who knew lots of cool stuff and would be happy to teach him.

“Your friend Benny called while you were gone,” his dad said. “He was asking about your school project. Have you guys done
any work on it at all?”

Zach thought for a moment, trying to decide whether to tell his father the truth.
Be trustworthy, and you'll earn their trust,
he heard Skeeter's voice inside his head.

“We need an idea,” Zach confessed.

“An idea!” his father said. “You mean, you haven't even started yet?”

“We'll start tomorrow,” Zach assured him. “We still have two weeks, almost.”

“Two weeks?” his mom chimed in. “My goodness. You'd better find an idea fast!”

“You know,” his father said, “if this was anything to do with skateboarding, he'd have had the project finished by now.”

Suddenly an idea hit Zach smack in the forehead. “That's it!” he cried out at the top of his lungs.

His mother, startled, jammed on the brakes. “Zachary!” she gasped. “Don't do that!”

“Sorry, Mom,” Zach said, settling back in his seat. “But I just thought of the perfect project.”

“A skateboard simulation? That is so boss!” Benny said when Zach laid it out for him on the phone.

“I knew you'd like the idea,” Zach said happily.

“There's, er, only one problem,” Benny hedged.

“Problem? What problem?”

“I don't know anything about skateboarding. You'll have to tell me exactly what to program.”

“That's what I'm here for. Still, I want you to see the course I set up in the driveway.”

“Sure. How about after school tomorrow?”

“Great. My skateboarding friends from Brighton are coming over, which is good. I want you to meet them.”

“Is that really necessary?” Benny asked.

“Totally,” Zach told him. “They'll have lots of good ideas. I'm telling you, man, this project is going all the way. We're
taking the trophy, Jack.”

“Ah, I just thought of another possible glitch.”

“Uh-oh.”

“Little one. Teeny-weeny one.”

“What? What?”

“This project is supposed to have moving parts. What are our moving parts?”

“Hmmm …” Zach thought hard, trying to envision
the course he would design. “Okay,” he said, “first of all, there's a seesaw. You skateboard up it, then down.”

“Okay, that's one moving part.”

“And, of course, there's the skateboard.”

“Two. We're getting there.”

Zach scrunched up his face, trying to squeeze more ideas out of his brain. “And the rider moves. We're gonna have him hopping
from one board to another.”

“Cool! Do people really do that?”

“My uncle Skeeter does it.”

“Wow!”

“Okay, and we should make it so kids can design their own elements, like a simple interface….”

“Hey, you know what?” Benny said. “I think we're in business.”

“Absolutely.”

“But we've gotta have a name for it.”

“I've got it,” Zach said. “Try this on—Skeeter-Skate.”

“Awesome,” Benny said. “I love it.”

“Hey, hey, hey!” Brian greeted Zach as the boys all skateboarded up to his driveway after school next day. “I did the dirty
deed, yo!” He rolled up the left sleeve of his T-shirt to reveal his new tattoo. It had a skateboard, all right, but the word
ragin'
had been misspelled!

“'Raggin'?' Zach asked gently. “What's raggin'?”

“Ragin', man!” Brian insisted.

Zach shook his head, and watched as the pain and panic crept into his friend's eyes. “I'm afraid not.”

Brian let out a little whimpering sound.

“I'm sure they can take it out and leave all the rest the same,” Zach said, trying to reassure him. Then he looked around
at the others. “Did any of you guys get the same one?” he asked.

The other kids looked down. “We, um, didn't get the money to do it yet,” Kareem said lamely.

“Bunch of wusses, all of you,” Brian growled, rolling down his T-shirt sleeve.

“The skateboard looks awesome, though,” Zach offered.

“Thanks,” Brian mumbled.

“I got tattooed, too,” Zach said with a sly grin.

“Yeah?” Brian asked, brightening.

Zach nodded, and pushed up his T-shirt sleeve for them to see. All the guys aahed and oohed at the screaming eagle.

“Now that is phat,” Sam said.

“And I didn't even have to get any needles.” Zach told them about henna, and soon they were all excited, making plans for
their temporary tattoos. They were all going to get eagles, to match Zach's.

That made Brian really furious. “Hey, what am I supposed to do with mine?” he asked.

Zach shrugged, and they all shrugged with him. “It's okay to be different, Brian,” Zach told him.

“Shut up, Halper,” Brian muttered.

Zach shrugged again. “Hey, guys, check out my skateboarding course!” He showed them the setup, and when they saw the cones
and the ramp, they couldn't wait to try it out.

“Awesome!” Jerry said. “This is so cool!”

They all high-fived him and nodded appreciatively when he told them he owed it all to Zoey. “If I hadn't been giving her lessons,
I would never have thought of it,” he said.

Benny showed up then, and Zach introduced him. Benny shook hands with all the guys. Zach could see
that he was feeling kind of awkward, so he stepped in. “Benny and I are designing a skateboard simulator for our computer
engineering class,” he said.

“You skateboard?” Brian asked Benny.

“Me? Uh, no.”

“Wanna try?”

“Uh, no thanks. I don't think I could —”

“Aw, come on. Just once,” Brian urged him.

Benny, looking caught in a trap, got on a skateboard, and no time was flat on his keister in the driveway. Brian howled with
laughter, and the other kids, as usual, followed suit.

“Shut up, all of you!” Zach scolded them. “It's not funny, can't you see that?”

“I think it's a riot,” Brian said, coming up to him and frowning.

“Anybody else think so?” Zach asked, turning to the others. He looked them in the eye one by one, and each of them slowly
shook their heads no.

“Don't let him bully you!” Brian told the others. “Hey, check this out! I'm Fatty Flatfoot!” He danced around like he was
Benny falling off a skateboard, and fell to the ground laughing. But none of the others even smiled.

“That's enough, Brian,” Zach told him, standing over him in the driveway. “Benny's cool. He's a lot funnier than you are.”

“Oh, yeah?”

“Any day.” Zach turned away, leaving Brian lying on the ground with a stupid expression on his face. To the others, Zach said,
“Now about our simulation. We were hoping you guys could give us some good ideas—”

“An A-plus!” his dad said, holding up the paper Zach and Benny had handed in with their project. “'Shows great creativity
and effort. Congratulations!'” he read. “Well, well. I guess you're turning things around, son.” He patted Zach on the back.

Zach nodded, but he was too busy right now to give his dad any attention. He and his friends were all planted in front of
his computer, playing Skeeter-Skate as Zach and Benny proudly looked on, giving instructions.

“If you double-click, he jumps,” Benny told Sam, who was in control of the mouse at the moment.

Sam made the rider jump, and the animated mosquito made a leap from one skateboard to the other.

“Yowza!” Sam said. “I did it! Man, I've gotta try that next spring, when they open up Moorehead Park again.”

Snow had fallen that morning. It was only early November, but Moorehead City had long winters, and they'd be doing more snowboarding
than skateboarding for the next few months. Still, it was great to be able to come inside and see skateboarding tricks.