Skateboards and Surfboards

Chapter 1

Living on the Cali shore my whole life, you learn that there are two kinds of people.

Skaters...and surfers.

They kind of hate each other. And growing up there made me realize that I had to choose.

But don't worry. You could test out the water and the streets until you turn 13. Then you stick to one. And that's your group. Until you decide to leave, which is around the time you turn 19 or 20ish. Some people even stay longer than that.

Up until I turned 12, I had never gotten in the water once. I never liked surfers. They were so cocky and annoying, even to me back then. So I naturally was a skateboarder. A girl skateboarder with a guy's name. Yes. That's me.

But my friend, Ricky, wasn't like that. He loved both the water and the streets. I remember being so terrified for him because I was afraid to lose him. I still remember one of the last conversations I had with him before he turned 13.

"Ricky, you realize you can't be a skater and surfer. It's suicide." I told him sitting on a park bench after he got out the water.

"Ryan. I'll be fine. I know what to do." He replied, rolling his eyes.

"You're not planning on being a surfer? Are you?"

"It's my choice."

"Ricky! I'll never be able to talk to you again!" I practically shouted.

How could he do this?! We were best friends and he was going to end it just like that. That's what happens at this time in your life. You have to deal with losing your friends.

"Sorry. But it's what I have to do." He said before leaving. And we haven't talked since. I got over it, I guess. You have to.

He chose the surfers.

The choosing isn't a whole big ordeal, trust me. On the day you turn 13, you just meet up with the group you choose while they're either at the skate park or beach. If you don't show up to either, you're not in the group. Neither of them. Actually, there's a few groups of skaters and a few of surfers. They're not like, huge herds of them. That's crazy.

Of course I chose the skaters. And I was a rare one, they said. Not many girls pick skaters. Or surfers.

Girls are wimps.

And from then on, you get taught to skate and hate surfers. You stay off their surf and they stay off your turf. Surfers have it hard. They have to get out of the water at some point. And they go to the streets. Where we are. And sometimes, it gets pretty bad.

It's usually the heads of the groups that start everything. Fights happen. Sometimes police get involved. And even occasionally handcuffs are used.

Welcome to my life.

^^^^^

It started as a normal day. Waking up late, throwing on normal skater apparel, grabbing my board and heading off.

But it wasn't a normal day. It was the day of a big skating tournament. And we, the older skaters, were taking the rookies to "watch and learn" and "stop being wimps and skate", in the words of the senior skaters. Senior skaters are actually skaters that are past the age 18 and refuse to stop skating. It was OK for the first year or two, but after that, the group starts to ignore you and treat you like a rookie.

I was supposed to compete in the tournament. I was the only girl in my category today. There were other girls from the other skater groups. I talked to them while I waited for my name to be called. All skater groups were chill. There's no rival between any of us. Just against the surfers. The only reason we compete in these tournaments is for bragging rights. Which is completely fine. I just like to chill with other skaters than my group.