Define Strange

F0ur

        It's a Friday afternoon, and my aunt is reminding me of all the rules, as she does every Friday night before she goes to work. Although she has very few for me, compared to how many she has for Gracie, she enforces them well. Be home by sundown, call her if I'm coming home earlier (text if she's at work), no friends over on school nights, and find a job. She claims she's going to keep repeating that last one until I follow through with it. My aunt thinks the most important things in my life right now, ranked, should be school, and family. I on the other hand, make it skating, Gracie, school, work.

        My aunt Rebecca is a bartender at this amazing restaurant downtown. It's about a twenty minute skate, five minute drive. Becca keeps insisting that i apply for the hostess position, but I can't even imagine working at the same place as her. I love her, don't get me wrong, but she hates skating. She feels the need to consistently inform me that I'm wasting my time. If I worked there, she'd want me to work the same hours as her, so that she could drive me. I just can't get it through her head that I don't want to work there.

       My mom was a skater. Her board is in the back of my closet. I've thought about skating on it, but she was legendary. There's no way I could ever consider myself enough to skate on that thing. The state skating competition is coming up in May. I've competed for the past two years. The first year I competed I underestimated the skill it would've taken to reach even the top ten. And last year I got 7th place. That competition takes real skill. A lot of blood and sweat goes into my practicing for this year. I only have four months, and I've already signed up online.

       Last year Dylan got 5th place, which is insane. We talk at school, but we've never skated with one another. And last year when I saw him compete it was the first time I ever really saw him skate, and I'm pretty sure my jaw had dropped far past the floor. First impressions don't get much better than that. And after he collected his bronze medal he came over and told me I did good. He'd never seen me skate before either, so in my opinion it was a decent first impression on his part as well. After that I did everything possible to see him skating around. I asked him why he never has his board at school, he said he prefers to keep it to himself and that he doesn't even think he'll compete again. I skate around his neighborhood sometimes still, hoping to catch him in his driveway doing even a minor trick. His decks fascinate me as well. He has three, that I've seen. Each completely different, and none of them seem to match his personality at school and I wonder what he's like at home or how he acts when he's by himself. One of his boards always draws my attention more than the others. The griptape is black, plain as day. However the underside of the deck is a dark red, kind of orange color and it has an angel with a broken wing, and red eyes. I want to look at it closer, just examine it. I want to know the meaning behind it, and the fact that it's Dylan's just intrigues me so much more.