Living with Tayler Holder

Chapter 10: Learning to skate

Today was a good day as I got up, showered and got myself ready for the day. I had decided to head to the nearby skate park and try and teach myself how to skate. Keyword, try. I decided on this outfit (minus the bag).

I went downstairs and ate some breakfast before picking up Vinnie's old skateboard which he gave to me as a present and leaving to go to the skate park. Vinnie claims it was a present but I think he was just trying to find a way to get rid of it without throwing it away. "I'm going out guys!" I shouted into the house before shutting the door without waiting for a response. I started my journey to the skate park and to be totally honest I was kinda nervous. What if I fell flat on my face in front of everyone? I tried to push those thoughts to the back of my mind as I finally arrived at the skate park.

I stood around the ramps for a while looking lost whilst I just observed the tricks these boys were doing. They looked so cool. I was so engrossed in watching them that I didn't even notice when one of them approached me.
"Hey do you wanna use the ramp?" He asked me. This boy had amazingly blue eyes and his hair was a mix between blonde and brown. He was relatively good looking but he was obviously too old for me. He looked about 19 and although that doesn't seem that bad, Tayler would lose his head if he found out.
"Um..no I'm not" I said as I tried to walk away. Coming here was a bad idea.
"Wait!" The boy shouted as he ran after me and stood in front of me, stopping me from walking farther.
"I can teach you how to skate if you want?" He said. Something about him just seemed different. He seemed like I could trust him. Because trust me, if a boy from London told me he would teach me how to skate I would run a mile. I walked back with him as he took the board from my hands and placed it on the floor.
"What's your name?" He asked whilst he went over to a bench to pick up a helmet which I'm guessing belonged to him.
"Grace. What's yours?" I asked. He seemed taken aback that I had asked such a thing but I didn't see the problem.
"It's Nick" he said as he put the helmet on my head.

"Right step on the board and put your feet like this" he said as he demonstrated on his own skateboard.
"Perfect! You've mastered the basics!" He said laughing.
"Right, now if you push off on your dominant foot you'll get some distance on the board. If it feels weird try the other foot and just use whichever is most comfortable." Nick said as he demonstrated once again. Me being me tried and failed.
"Look this was stupid" I said getting up from my position on the floor, "I'm going home" I said ready to give up.
"Hey, you can't just give up. You'll get the hang of it I'm sure you will"
"How are you so sure?" I said with a bit of attitude in my voice.
"Because you have a cool accent" he smiled at me as he guided me back into the board and took hold of my two hands. I can't lie, this boy was making me smile.
"So do what you did before and I'll make sure you don't fall. Do it with less force this time". I listened to what he said and it went perfectly well.
"Great! Now push off with more force." Nick said beaming. I looked at him like he was mad.
"I promise I won't let you fall" he said smiling at me whilst looking into my eyes.
"Ok then.." I said as I pushed off as Nick had his arms hovering around me to catch me if he needed to. And to my surprise I nailed it.
"Oh my god I'm doing it!" I said excited looking behind me at Nick before I crashed into a hard chest.
"Grace!" Nick said as he rushed towards me.
I looked up to see the face of the person I crashed into and prayed to God they weren't angry. As I cautiously lifted my head I was met with a smiling Vinnie.

"Ayyy squirt" he said laughing as he picked me up from on top of him like it was the easiest thing in the world.
"Oi I'm not a squirt. I'm only two years younger than you bruv." I said dusting myself off.
"Alright bruv" Vinnie said holding his hands up and mimicking my accent. We both laughed as Nick stood there confused.
"Y'all know each other?" He said confused as he watched our interaction.
Shit. I forgot Vinnie was famous.
"Um..no we don't. I've just seen him about...?" I said trying to convince Nick we didn't know each other.
"She's lying. We know each other" Vinnie said looking at Nick as my eyes widened.
"Yo chill Grace! I used to live with Nick at the Hype House. He's a TikToker too" Vinnie said laughing as he dapped up Nick.
"Yh we lived together for a while now. And you didn't recognise me Grace?" Nick said with his hand over his heart as he faked a look of hurt.
"I thought I made it obvious when I asked for your name" I said blankly.
"Oh right. I just thought maybe you were playing dumb because who the hell trusts a stranger that easily!" Nick said laughing but also slightly concerned.
"This girl let me have her hands around her and teach her how to skate when I could have been a complete creep." Nick said pointing at me as he spoke to Vinnie. To be fair he did have a point.
"Well we learn new things every day" I said trying to change the subject as I looked around and noticed the skate park was empty and looked at the time in my phone. It was now 5pm and I should be heading home before Tayler lost his head again.
"I've got to go guys before Tayler gets worried. See you around?" I said as I gave Nick a side hug and Vinnie lifted me off the ground with his hug.
"See ya" I said giggling into his shoulder.
"Not if I see ya first" he said back as he put me back on the ground. I'm not sure Vinnie noticed but Nick gave us a sort of weird look. I hope he doesn't think there's anything going on between us because there isn't. Imagine me with Vinnie!

After a short, uneventful walk I arrived back at home.
"Hey guys! I'm back!" I shouted into the house to let everyone know I was back from the park. As I shut the door behind me I was greeted by a bucket of ice water being thrown over my head. It. Was. Freezing. I slowly turned to see who the culprit was and to no surprise was Nate stood with a bucket in his hands whilst Tayler snickered from the stairs.
"We thought you needed to cool off because ya know, it's a pretty hot day" Nate said trying to stop himself from laughing. I shot daggers at Nate and he took it as a sign to run. I quickly ran after him to chase him down but before I knew it Tayler's hands had wrapped around me and pulled me back.
"Easy tiger" he said as he kept a firm grip on me until I had calmed down. I was now soaked and couldn't let Nate get with it so I had to get him back. Suddenly an idea hit me. Tayler and Nate both had their backs to me now and I burst into tears. Both the boys whipped their heads around and rushed over to me with looks of guilt in their eyes.
"Look we're sorry Grace, we didn't think you'd get this upset" Nate said.
"Yh, it was just a little joke" Tayler said.
It was now the perfect time for me to strike. As the boys came closer to me for a hug I gave them both ear flicks.
"Owww" they winced at the same time as they pulled away.
"And....scene" I said bowing. Both the boys had looks of shock on their faces.
"I can't believe we just got duped" Nate said still in a state of shock.
"Welcome to the family! She really is one of us." Tayler said proudly.
"I never knew you could act Grace" Nate said still rubbing his ear trying to soothe the pain.
"I mean I've taken a few drama classes here and there" I said flicking my braids behind my shoulders.
"You should film pov's on TikTok. You'd be so popular! Especially if you film with us." Tayler said getting excited.
"Woahhh, I'm gonna have to stop you right there. I don't want to leach off anyone. If I become popular I want to do it myself. And I would never film pov's because those TikTok actors never get taken seriously." I said. Tayler still had a smile on his face.
"What?" I said confused.
"You never said you wouldn't download Tiktok..."Tayler said.
"I mean..it might not be the worst thing in the world." Just as I said that Aisha walked passed.
"Hey guys" she said smiling.
"You know Grace's gonna download TikTok" Nate said smiling.
"Oh cool, what's your username so I can follow you" she said taking out her phone.
"Oh, I don't want anyone in the house to follow it. I just don't want to draw any attention to myself on the app." I explained to her.
"Oh right. You should tell everyone on the house group chat so they all know." Aisha said to me.
Nodding I took out my phone and sent a message saying:
Hey guys, I'm downloading TikTok so pls don't follow me 😁.
I was left with loads of confused responses but everyone agreed.

I went up to my room and downloaded the app and began to scroll. I guess TikTok isn't too bad.