The summer evening heat radiated across the black asphalt of the basketball court where the two teenage boys were skateboarding. Jason and Kyle had the court all to themselves, since everyone else already followed the dinner-bell home. They stayed behind today because they had more important things than eating to worry about. Jason was down to his last letter, and he was on defense. If he failed to land the trick on this turn, not only would he lose the game, but he would also lose the girl.

Thoughts of Julie permeated Jason’s mind like the humidity that saturated the atmosphere at this time of year. Jason thought about the electricity that he felt when Julie was near him. The way that his heart raced when she looked his way, and the way that it melted when she smiled at him. He would have turned into a puddle thinking about her adorable big brown eyes, but a sharp stinging sensation caused by a bead of sweat invading his bloodshot eye brought him violently back down to earth.

“C’mon man. It’s your turn. Hurry it up. I don’t have all day. I’ve got somewhere to be after this.” Kyle said.

"Gimme a sec" Jason said. "There's something in my eye."

Jason wiped his eye with the bottom of his sweaty t-shirt as he lamented the decision to stay up so late the night before.

If I had known that I would be competing for the chance to ask Julie out, I would have gone to bed earlier, Jason thought. I can’t believe we’re really doing this though. I had no idea that Kyle also liked Julie. As loud-mouthed as he is, I thought he would have said something if he did.

Jason shook his head.

I can’t afford to think about that right now. I have to focus.

He wiped the sweat from his forehead, and then he told Kyle that he was ready to continue.

Before Jason's break, Kyle did an inward heelflip. This was Jason's weakness. He had always been better at kickflips than heelflips. Kyle knew that, and that is why he chose to do that trick. Kyle was trying to end the game swiftly with this decisive move since he was one letter away from losing the game himself also. The two opponents were neck and neck, but Kyle had the upper hand because he was on offense, and he got to pick the trick.

Jason quickly thought about the times he had done an inward heelflip. The times he had landed it, and the times that he had failed to. The latter being much more than the former.

What was the difference? he contemplated.

Suddenly, he remembered a video that he had watched on Youtube, a tip trick video about inward heelflips. He remembered that the skateboarder in the video said that the most important part of the trick was keeping your leg clear of the board so that it had enough room to complete the flip underneath you.

Kyle impatiently banged the back of his skateboard against the ground and urged Jason to "Get on with it already."

Jason took a deep breath, ran a few paces, threw the board down on the ground, and then hopped on it effortlessly. As he sailed swiftly across the molten black asphalt, he engaged all his mental energy into maintaining his balance while he meticulously placed his feet into the optimal stance for an inward heelflip. With laser sharp focus, he used his back foot to pop the board while simultaneously jumping and sliding his foot in a cupping motion off the northeast corner of the board.

Time began to move in slow motion. The sound of the board’s tail springing off the ground echoed off the chain-linked fence surrounding the empty basketball court. Jason used all his might to extend his leg as far as he could, like the video recommended. The board flipped and spun underneath his feet beautifully while Jason’s legs did something resembling a kung-fu kick in the air above it.

When the board rotated sufficiently, Jason’s brain reacted with the lightning-fast speed that only instinct could provide. He reigned his front foot back just in time to catch the nose of the board before it spun wildly into oblivion. This caused the board to level out underneath him in the air. All he had to do now was land his back foot on the board. Unfortunately, this was easier said than done. Jason’s foot came down slightly to the right of the bolts. He flung his arms wildly to keep his balance while both of his feet connected with the board. His back foot was only centimeters away from dragging the ground, but in the end, he managed to land it successfully.

Neither one of the boys could believe it. Jason had finally managed to land an inward heelflip on the first try. He was exhilarated!

“Oh! Hell, yeah!” Jason yelled while he danced goofily in celebration.

Jason sang his own praises vociferously while he grabbed his skateboard off the ground and began air-humping it,

♪ Oh, yeah! Hell, yeah! I did it! I’m awesome! I’m amazing! I did it! ♪

Kyle's smug look was replaced by one of disbelief. He closed his hanging jaw and then muttered an inquisition,

“What the fuck, bro? You been practicing inward heels when I’m not around or somethin?”

Jason had a big dumb smile on his face while he pointed right his index finger at Kyle and said,

“You didn’t think I could do it, did you? Did you? Well, I landed it. That's all that matters. Go ahead with your next trick."

As Kyle got ready to do his next trick, Jason thought back to how this whole predicament started. Earlier this afternoon, the two boys made small talk while they were walking to the neighborhood park to skate.

“Damn, dude. I can’t believe summer’s almost over.” Kyle said.

“I know right. This summer flew by way too fast. I had to go to church camp, and you were busy with karate. It’s bullshit. They should make summer longer.” Jason replied.

“Facts. Anyway, how was lame ass church camp?”

“Boring as fuck like always, except for one thing.”

“What?”

“Julie Fitzpatrick. Bro, I’m not gonna lie... I’m thinking about asking her out.”

“Are you serious?

“Yeah... why...?

“Because I was actually planning to ask her out.”

Jason’s blood ran cold. He wasn’t expecting this. He was expecting Kyle to rag on him, to really let him have it. That is why Jason prepared himself for what he thought was the worst. He never would have imagined that the worst would be something entirely different. He swallowed the lump in his throat and said,

“Bruh, no way. You’re joking, right?”

“I’m serious, bro. Deadass. I was planning to ask her out on the first day of school.” Kyle replied.

Jason was shocked to find out that Kyle had also gotten close to Julie without him knowing. They had both fallen prey to her strawberry-blonde charm, one of them at church camp and one at karate practice. The two boys began to argue about who should be the one to ask her out first, but when the argument started getting heated, they both realized that neither of them wanted a girl to come between their friendship.

“Well, damn. What are we supposed to do?” Jason asked.

Kyle answered, “Why don’t we play a game of S.K.A.T.E? Whoever wins gets to ask Julie out first.”

Jason liked the idea since S.K.A.T.E is a game that the boys played often. Sometimes they played against each other, and sometimes they played against other skaters. It’s like the game of H.O.R.S.E. in basketball, but you do skateboard tricks instead of taking basketball shots.

The sound of Kyle’s board clacking against the ground snapped Jason out of his thoughts. Kyle had failed to land his trick. He tried to do a hardflip, its like an inward heelflip but its the kickflip version. Jason wasn't sure why Kyle chose that trick. Kyle, unlike Jason, had always been stronger at heelflip tricks.

Maybe he couldn't think of any other trick from his roster that we haven’t already done, or maybe he just wanted to see if he could steal some of the luck that I must have had to land that inward heelflip.

Either way, Jason was glad that he was on offense again. Now it was his turn to pick the trick, and it was his chance to end the game and win.

He’s not the only one running out of tricks. I am too.

Jason and Kyle had been playing this game for an hour in the early summer evening heat, and exhaustion was taking its toll on both their dehydrated bodies. As Jason mulled over trick ideas in his head, he thought of one trick that he learned to do this summer. It was a rare trick. He had only ever seen one other person do it besides himself. The trick was not particularly hard to do, but it was not something that you could do on the first try either. It took a little bit of practice to get the hang of it before you could do it whenever you wanted to like he had been recently.

Jason took another breath, and then he decided to bank everything on this beginner level trick that was just unique enough to be clever. Like before, he ran a few paces, threw the board down on the ground, and then hopped on top of it, but this time he was rolling backwards. He positioned his feet, popped the board, and then jumped while simultaneously twisting his body backward. This made him do a fakie-backside-180. If the trick had ended there then it would have been a simple trick that any decent skateboarder could do. What made this trick unique is that instead of landing on all four wheels, Jason only landed on the front two wheels. Then, he continued to spin another 180 degrees to complete a full 360 before the other two wheels landed safely on the ground.

Jason had done this trick a hundred times this summer simply because it was fun. That is why it was easy for him to pull it off. Kyle, however, had a perplexed look on his face. He had never done this trick before. Hell, he had never even seen this trick before.

“Bro, what the fuck was that?” Kyle asked.

“I don’t know the name exactly, but I’m calling it the Sexy Caballero.” Jason replied.

Kyle laughed and said, “Well it shouldn’t be too hard. It’s just a backside caballero with extra steps.”

With just the right amount of confidence that it takes to overestimate yourself, Kyle laid his board down, pumped a few times, jumped on it, and then attempted the trick. The first half of the trick came easily as expected, but something went wrong with the second half of the trick, the part where you land on two wheels and turn another 180 degrees. It was just as Jason had calculated. Kyle couldn't quite do it. Not on the first try at least. Kyle lost his footing, wobbled backwards and fell.

Jason thought that he heard something crunch, so he rushed over to help Kyle up.

“You OK, man?” Jason asked.

Kyle batted his hand away angrily and said, “I’m fine.”

Afterward, Kyle stood up by himself, Jason noticed that his elbow appeared to be bleeding.

“Shit! I gotta go.”

Kyle grabbed his board and rushed home without saying anything more to Jason.

Jason stood there feeling awkward for a moment. Then he went home, showered, and ate dinner. Afterward, he tried to call Kyle. No answer. It went straight to voicemail. Jason felt sick. He had won the game and the right to ask Julie out, but he still felt guilty, or anxious, or unsettled. Jason didn’t quite know what this feeling was, but he knew that he hated it. He had not done anything wrong. He played the game fairly, and it was Kyle’s idea to play the game for Julie to begin with. Jason had won on Kyle’s terms, but whatever this feeling was, it did not feel like victory.

Jason laid in bed trying to sleep the feeling off, but sleep eluded him. He tossed and turned for several hours while he thought about Kyle, Julie, and all the events that transpired that day. Jason’s train of thought pulled into the station of the first day of fifth grade. Ten-year-old Jason was more nervous than he ever had been since he was the only new kid in a class full of peers that had been together since they were in pull-ups. Kyle assuaged Jason’s fears by immediately adopting him as his new friend.

Jason owed Kyle for his quick assimilation into the group. Without Kyle, Jason would have been a quiet loner like he was at his previous school. It was Kyle that made Jason one of the guys, and it was Kyle that introduced Jason to skateboarding, which was something that they were both passionate about. Over the years, the two friends had shared many things, jokes, laughter, secrets, punishments, and now feelings for the same girl.

Around one in the morning, Jason couldn’t take the insomnia any longer, so he decided to take a couple of his mother’s melatonin gummies to help him fall asleep. It was the only thing that could override his thoughts. He finally fell asleep around 2 am.

The next day, Jason went to the neighborhood pool. Julie was there swimming. The way the summer sun glistened on her golden-brown skin took Jason’s breath away. His heart raced wildly in his chest as Julie climbed out of the pool in slow motion like beautiful girls often do in movie sequences. Just as he was opening his mouth to speak to her, Kyle walked up and kissed Julie right in front of him!

Jason was devastated by what he was witnessing. It was clear that they were dating, and this made Jason furious! Jason lashed out at Kyle using a wide spectrum of colorful language, but Kyle and Julie did not seem to care. They just kissed again! Jason’s anger surged within him, so he ripped Kyle off Julie, cocked his arm back, and then punched him in the face! It was direct hit! He could feel his fist connect with Kyle’s jaw when he landed the blow! He looked down at his fist and his knuckles had blood on them, but he didn’t feel any pain.

Kyle was mad now, and Jason could see it plainly in his expression. Jason began walking backward as Kyle marched toward him seething with rage. Kyle released his wrath with one swift right hook that caused Jason to spin around. Jason tried to catch his balance by spinning around again, but when he did, a cliff instantly appeared out of nowhere. Jason flung his arms in a panic as he fell, but right before he hit the bottom of the giant ravine, Jason jolted awake feeling as though his spirit had landed violently back into his body. He sat up in his bed, and habitually looked at the alarm clock. It read 10:29 am. The sun was shining brightly through the blinds in his room, and Jason had a faint scent of chlorine in his nostrils.

Mom must be cleaning the floors, he thought.

After Jason got dressed and ate breakfast, he tried to call Kyle again. No answer. The phone went straight to voicemail a second time. Jason texted him and waited, but Kyle did not respond.

What’s going on with him? Did he block me? Why isn’t he texting me back?

Later that day, Jason went to the park to skate, but Kyle was nowhere to be found. Jason asked if anybody had seen him, but nobody had.

Damn, I wonder if he’s OK. He said he was fine, but his elbow was bleeding, and what was that crunching sound that I heard? Surely, he didn’t break his elbow, did he?

Day after day for a week, Jason repeated this process of calling, texting, and asking around about Kyle, only to receive the same results. By Saturday evening he had had enough. He threw his phone indignantly against the couch.

Kyle needs to stop acting like a little bitch! He's being really immature about this! I can't believe he would act this way!

Monday morning eventually rolled around and now summer vacation was over. It was the first day of high school and Jason had to face it alone, without his best friend. He was so torn up inside that he almost wished Julie never even existed in the first place. He put one foot into madness as he stepped off the school bus into a jungle of his peers. His social anxiety was at an all-time high as he sheepishly navigated his way through the high school labyrinth. Suddenly a primal sixth sense caused him to look up from the crumbled paper map in his hand. His heart sank to his feet with disappointment for what felt like an eternity while he watched Julie kiss Kyle in front of the lockers.

This is a nightmare! My dream has become a reality! I’ve lost my best friend and the girl I love. What the hell am I supposed to do now?

When the bell rang, the couple stopped kissing and Jason realized that the rat bastard that had stolen his girl was not Kyle but Jake Thompson. Jake just happened to be wearing clothes that looked like Kyle’s.

Jason's disappointment quickly turned to gladness as a wave of relief washed over him. He laughed out loud while he said to himself,

I can't believe that she's dating Jake Thompson. Fucking Jake Thompson!

Jason shook his head and smiled all the way to his class. He walked in late, but as soon as he opened the door, he saw Kyle waving him over to come sit next to him.

“What’s up homie? How you been?” Kyle said as if nothing had ever been wrong.

“I've been alright.” Jason replied, lying through his teeth.

“Did you hear about Julie? I can't believe she's going out with Jake Thompson. He's such a douche.” Kyle said.

“I know right! What does she see in him?” Jason answered back.

“I don't even know man. Girls are stupid. By the way, I’m sorry I had to rush out after our game last week. I had to hurry back home to get packed for vacation. We went to Panama City Beach for a week. It was sick!”

“Why didn’t you tell me you were going on vacation?”

“Well, I was going to, but then we started fighting about Julie, and... I don’t know. The game got so serious that I guess I forgot. Shit, my mom almost beat my ass for getting home so late. I was so focused on the game that I almost forgot about going on vacation. I still can’t believe you beat me with that ballerina ass whatchamacallit trick.”

“The Sexy Cabellero.”

“Yeah, that was it. I broke my fucking phone trying to do that trick! My mom was pissed! She almost left me at home.”

“That must have been that crunch sound that I heard when you fell. I thought you broke your elbow.”

“Aww, were you worried about me? That’s so sweet!” Kyle said patronizing him.

Jason gave him the finger lightheartedly.

“Anyway, it looks like we both lost our chance with Julie,” said Jason.

“Fucking Jake Thompson” Kyle replied.

Both boys laughed together as the homeroom teacher started their first official high school class.

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