sk8-hi | sor

eight

"You see," she said, "your first love isn't the first person you give your heart to—it's the first one who breaks it."

- Lang Leav

it's been a whole twelve hours since zack sent me home. i came home last evening, ordered a pizza and ate by myself since my dad was working at his office again (he left a note on the refrigirator with some pizza money) and just sat in my room doing some extra studying and blasting ed sheeran or ariana grande. it wasn't a very interesting night for me, and i went straight to bed after cleaning up.

i woke up exactly at 5.15 this morning and got dressed, went for a run around my neighbourhood. it took about an hour and got home to a sandwich my dad left for me. he said he was going to meet someone important at the peninsular hotel (whic was a pretty expensive hotel) and have their meeting at grand hayes hotel (an even more expensive hotel). what fancy people. i wonder who they were.

i looked back at my sandwich after spending about five minutes pondering on who the nysterious rich fellows might be. it was a classic, yet delicious, blt sandwich. my dad makes the best of those because he adds a special pinch of a mixture of ingredients. he prepares it every six months, making sure it was ready to go when we needed it. as much as i'd like to admit, it's the best-tasting samdwich i've ever tasted. and i've been to the annual sandwich competition in japan.

anyways, after gobbling down the blt and chugging the orange juice that my mom bought after her 'errands'. it's been about two or three days since the fight, and she's decided to stay with my aunt. she lives about half an hour away; my aunt, i mean.

i took a nice, long, refreshing shower before hopping into a pair of blue jeans with a plane white tee and a vest with my precious sk8-his. i threw my four essentials into my bag — my wallet, charger, headphones and some lip gloss. summer taught me that. glancing at the clock above my door, i noticed it was only 7. i sighed, sinking into my desk chair. i stared blankly at the long list of homework and chapters to study. i rolled my eyes, setting it down and picking up my phone. i began scrolling through my phone for about half an hour, played the guitar for another half hour. at 8, i decided to make my way to a book store/cafe near the place i was meeting zack and his sister. i walked towards the bus stop with my phone in my left hand and skateboard in the other.

time passed quickly at the café. it didn't take long for my cup of hot chocolate to empty, and it certainly didn't take long for me to finish a lovely read by jandy nelson. i could never bring myself to buy books, because i knew after reading one, i wouldn't read it again. besides, my room was messy enough.

at 11.30, i walked out of the café and skated across the concrete road towards the diner. zack's car wasn't there yet. so i waited for a couple of minutes before he pulled up. his sister, a gorgeous brunette followed out of the car. she was dressed in a blue-white dress and some yellow flats.

zack, being the gentleman he was, opened the door for her and she entered with a smile. zack saw me sitting at a booth and slipped into the seat beside me.

"tomika, i'd like you to meet my sister, harlene," zack said, forcing a smile as he gestured to his sister.

she took off her sunglasses from dior and streched out her hand, "harley, please. nice to meet you, tomika. i heard you're the one who wanted to meet me."

"that's not false. zack called me his girlfriend. we aren't dating just yet."

"so i've heard. you're going on a date after, yes?" she asked, raising an eyebrow but eyes glued to the menu. "a skate park, was it? my little brother needs to bring his a-game back, doesn't he?"

"actually, i suggested to go to the skatepark. i'm a skaterat. this is xylo, my very trusted board."

"i see," she looked unimpressed. yikes. it's going to be difficult to leave a good first impression on harley. "shall we order?"

"i'll get a strawberry milshake and a cheeseburger, please," i quickly said, giving the waiter the menu and looking at zack with worried eyes. i tried to get him to notice my crazy eyes but to no avail. "so, what are you guys planning to have?"

"i'll be having what she's having, thanks," harley said and also gave the waiter her menu. she laced her hands together and placed then neatly in front of her, eyes wandering around the diner. "quaint little diner, isn't it?"

i've been going here ever since i was little. it was where i celeberated my fourth to eleventh birthday, and then i started becoming a teenager and ultimately grew out of the place. at twelve i had a day out at the skate park and at thirteen i had parties at my grandmother's house. she doesn't stay there anymore, because she's normally travelling. she lets me go there whenever i want, as long as i tell her that i am there and who i am with.

"truly. so, um, harley, what brings you to texas?" i asked, clearing my throat and finally mentioning her name.

"does there need to be a reason for myself to visit my family? i'm sure when you go to college you would want to visit your family if you had the opportunity to."

"let's talk about something else."

thank you, zack. for finally saving my whipped ass. there was no way zack's sister was going to accept me for the tomboy-nerd small person that i am. she's always going to give me a hard time if zack and i ever become a couple.

we started chatting about a common interest — reading. i tokd her about the book café i went to prior to lunch, and about my favourite series. it might be childish, but i was in love with the percy jackson series. logan lerman playing perseus just made it better. it didn't take long before i settled down and started to be comfortable with harlene. sure, she was still going to be snooty, but i couldn't help but get excited over this. when our food came we just kept talking about some books we both loved, specifically the one i'd finished in my reading session earlier.

"'i'll give you the sun' by jandy nelson!" harley and i shouted simultaneously. we laughed hysterically and i could tell by the large smile on zack's face that he was happy that we got along. she continued, "it's such a good book, though."

"definitely. it's so different, i love it."

"precisely! have you read 'the sun is everywhere'? i heard it was wonderful," she smiled as she dabbed a napkin on her lips and reapplied her lip gloss.

"it was. a must-read, hands-down," i nodded my head as i finished up my burger. we continued talking about the books which led to movies, and eventually music. my kind of conversation, obviously. we could have talked for hours on end, but zack decided that it was time to leave at about 3.20 p.m.

we all walked out together, bidding harley goodbye as she walked to the mall across the street and i followed zack into the car.

"that was great! you two totally got along. too bad i wasn't included in the conversation," zack scoffed as he fastsened his seatbelt.

"oh don't be such a grumpy gus, zack-o. what's your favourite book, anyway?"

"ender's game. i read it when i was twelve and i fell in love for the first time."

"that's too bad. i'm not gonna be your first love, then?"