The Fault In Our Parkour

The Backyard

Kela looked up as she saw her older cousin jog across the field.

"Hey! It's the Jae-nator!" Liam yelled as he waved her from where they were standing. Kyle and Cole smiled and waved also; Jae returned the greeting.

Jae looked quite different from Kela, despite them being closely related cousins. She was taller, had shoulder length brown hair that had auburn highlights and dark green eyes. She was a good 4 inches taller than Kela, and had a feminine athletic build. Kela had brown hair and dark brown eyes and was about 5'4". Quite the opposite of her cousin. Jae was 16, and Kela was 15.

"Hi guys!!" She sprinted the rest of the way down, her jogging pants wrinkling where the wind hit it. "Cole! I found this sick spot where its perfect to train!" Cole stood up and the shook hands and bro hugged. Liam and Kyle fist bumped her after she broke away from Cole.

"Jae!" Kela smiled and waved hi. "Kela???!!" Jae grinned and ran to hug her cousin. "OH MY GOSH I HAVENT SEEN YOU SINCE JANUARY." Jae squeezed Kela so hard Kela had to break away from her before she slowly died of suffocation.

"Whatcha doing in this neck of the woods?" Jae asked Kela.

"I started parkour like 4 months ago," Kela admitted timidly. "I didn't know you were apart of a pk group!"

Jae laughed and said with bright eyes, "Yeah. We're called the "Totally A Real Parkour Group!""

Kela raised and eyebrow. "Oh, um... That's an interesting name..."

Liam stuck his tongue out and pointed at Kyle. "It was his idea."

Kyle defended himself, "You know if we wanna be a real parkour group our name has to say it all."

Jae nodded. "Yeah. It's kind of lame, haha."

Cole pursed his lips and crossed his arms. "Whatever. We'll change it later." He looked at his phone; it was about 8:30 AM.

"Jae, the reason I called you here is to help us teach Kela the fundamentals of parkour."

Jae nodded, pulling a pink hairband off her wrist and gathered her hair into a messy bun.

"We're going to go to the back." Kyle grabbed his back pack and slung it over his shoulder.

Cole and Liam also gathered their stuff and put on their back packs.

"Yeah, we'll have so much fun." Liam said sarcastically.

"Shut-up, Liam. You're being a Payne in the butt." Cole smiled crookedly at his own joke.

"Very funny," Liam muttered.

"Onward!" Jae lead, into the 'back'.

-

In case you were wondering, the 'back' that they all were referring to was an abandoned construction complex in the back of Kyle's house.

Kela walked in silence as she listened to the group talk and laugh. She felt so out of place! And Liam didn't make it any better, he always had something mean to say to her.

"Yeah!!" Cole exclaimed, "AND THEN LIAM RAN AWAY WITH KYLE'S SWEATS."

Jae laughed hysterically, while Kela recalled the incident that happened about 2 months ago. She couldn't help but smile at the memory.

"Wow! I haven't been here in a while.." Jae trailed off as they reached the complex. "Good ol' times!

"Yep." Kyle slung his stuff onto the dirt. "Lets have fun now." He blew air onto his hands while rubbing them together.

Cole rolled up the hem of his pants to his knee. "It's kinda hot, don'tcha think?"

Liam straight up yanked his shirt off and tossed it in Kyle's face.

"EWWW!!!" The boy squealed, thrusting it on the ground. "It's stink!" Kyle retorted.

-

Kela admired the rusty beauty of it all. Beams of metal and wood sprawled on a landscape she could see herself navigating. The sun was rising, and the construction looked majestic against the orange sky. There was pillars, metal benches, walls and poles to practice on.

Parkour.

A sport where the challenger gets from Point A to Point B using the objects around him to propel himself forward.

This was perfect.

-

"Ay, girly!" Liam broke Kela's thoughts. "Lets just get started already. I'm getting bored." He sighed almost too deliberately, when Cole nudged him in the ribs. Liam yelped and then shut-up after the look Cole gave him.

"Since you know how to do rolls, we'll start with vaults." Kyle patted a 3 foot metal workbench. "See, it's solid." He konged over it, to show Kela it was safe.

Cole nodded. "I'm going to show you the safety vault." He motioned for her to look and said softly, "Pay careful attention."

The boy jogged and then placed his left hand onto the bench, followed by his right foot on the opposite end. He brought his left foot between the space that was left in the work bench to his right leg. Cole landed soundlessly on the other side, and his head turned to Kela. "Got it?"