Before You Go | A Prequel

1.3 | The Park

"And if I have this talk with you again-"

The rickety wheels of the skateboard rumbled over the concrete, picking up speed with an easy glide as Claudia kicked off once more.

"-you're gonna get a consequence, and you're not gonna like it. Friggin' asshole."

The board stayed with her feet as she jumped onto the rail. Metal scraped across metal with a grating screech. She kept her arms out for careful balance but still cursed as she felt her feet wobbling. Her momentum plummeted fast, and she bailed- jumping off the side of the rail and stumbling a bit as she gained her bearings. The skateboard clattered to the ground on the other side, rolling a bit before halting to a stop at a nearby wall. Claudia continued her grumbling as she went to retrieve it.

"....And if you think Dad would be happy with the way you've been acting then I implore you to go think again- freaking jerk!"

Who the hell did Nico think he was to be so sure that he knew their Dad so much better than anyone else? And who the heck was he to always be bringing Dad up whenever he wanted a Trump Card for her, or anyone else to just do whatever he wanted? He was acting like he wrote the man's will. Nico just wanted to boss people around.

And back at the car, he was lucky that all she just wanted was for him to stop running his trap. Because if he really wanted to go at it, then she could have pointed out how HE had barely even been at home for the better part of the last few months! She could have reminded him of how they'd barely even seen him aside from last winter when he'd come home for holiday break (and even then, he spent most of it with Chaaarlie and the rest of his stupid baseball friends).

It wasn't until after Dad died, that he suddenly wanted to come around and start playing Big Brother again. Trying to act like he was Dad, or Dad-Lite. And maybe he thought he was fooling the rest of them, but he wasn't fooling her. He couldn't. Nobody could ever replace their Dad. It wasn't possible. It was bullshit, and the more he tried, the more he just pissed her off.

"Ah!" Claudia yelped as she stumbled away from the rail once more. She was getting better though. She's almost made it to the end of the rail before momentum betrayed her yet again.

An aggravated huff pushed from her chest as she snatched the slipping baseball cap from her head and shook it out a good bit. She'd get it next time- she'd almost gotten it last time. It was like Dad always said- 'You can't fail until you quit.'

Dad wasn't a quitter. He wasn't. Claudia knew her father well, which is why it had been so incredibly hard to contain herself from unleashing the rage on all the post-mortem murmurs and mutterings and stupid judgy looks from people who hadn't actually known him a day in their life. It seemed like everyone had something to say or to whisper now that he wasn't around to hear it. It seemed like nobody knew how to just mind their own fucking business.

She huffed as she fixed the cap back on her head. The two long braids held duly in place by the tongue of the hat turned backwards. Motion continued around her. Kids of varying ages gliding up and down the ramps, the tell tale sounds of a wipeout rolled in like clockwork every now and then. Finally she spotted her board where it had been discarded nearby a group of kids congregating in a small circle.

-"That's five, ten, fift- one,two,three, four... fourteen? Yo, who only threw four?"

-"All I got is four! The skittles were a dollar!

-"Alright, so put the skittles in?"

-"I'm not bettin' my skittles!"