The weather was absolutely gorgeous. "Can I go skate around?" he asked his mom. "Sure, just be back before dark," she said. There was a gas station off in the distance, obviously this had to be his destination. I mean how long was he expected to go without a Mountain Dew? I mean what the fuck! The terrain was very hilly, this was all new to him. Skate a little..... walk up hill a little.... then do it all again. Where he came from there were no hills. Everything was flat.... and wet.
When he finally got back he was really tired. There was a ledge around the flowerbed and he took a seat and lit up a cigarette. "Hey," he heard, but paid it no mind. "Guy on the skateboard!" he heard. Standing up he saw a girl staring at him. "Hi," he choked out. His first introduction and he was kinda shy, so he blew it out his ass.
"I'm April, what is your name?" she said. "James," he replied. "You are not from around here are you?" she said. He must have heard that statement at least a thousand times. "No, I am from Louisiana." he replied. She paused for a minute, looking him up and down. "Some of us are going to hang out at the cemetery up the hill, you wanna come hang?" He got so happy he almost yelled it out, "Hell Yeah!" They had hung out in cemeteries quite a few times where he was from. "You find it strange how the darkness calms us." -Mushroomhead That night he got a little drunk, a little high, and made a couple new friends. The weekend flew by so fast.
Monday was a real fucking bummer. Waking up at 6 am and getting ready was no fun. Plus, he was so nervous his stomach was killing him. He spent half of his time in the bathroom, not knowing if he was going to puke or crap. He was not a very outgoing person. This shit was like torture. New city, new state, new school, new person. Jimmy was what he had been called since he was born. He decided that was no longer him, he was now James. He got in the car and his parents dragged him to school.
Registration, meeting the principal, a half assed tour of the campus and they set him loose. Missed first period, so it was off to second. Late of course. It is bad enough being a new student, at a new school, but then you have to go in late so everyone can stare at you. Worse yet, the crazy bitch made him stand in front of the class and introduced him. He had to sit in a chair because all the desks were full. She promised to have a desk for him the following day.... yipp-fucking-ee. Next there was a "morning break" where the students could get a snack or just chill out for 15 minutes, cool. He got a powdered donut with jelly filling. You could never get something this cool at his old school, Awesomeness!
Two more periods went by and it was lunchtime. He walked down a hallway toward the lunchroom, at lest he thought it was. Everybody in the hallway was Latino. They were lined up on both sides, sitting down, backs against the wall. He heard someone say "I wouldn't walk down that hallway if I were you, white boy. They will hurt you." James turned around and saw a Latino guy, with long black hair, wearing a Slayer shirt. "Thanks man," he said. "No worries," was the reply he got back. It seemed like everybody knew he was not from there, and what the fuck did "No Worries" mean?
He decided he was just going to skip lunch today and walk back to the front of the school. That part seemed pretty calm to him. There were some benches to sit on and relax. Maybe read that new skate mag he had brought. Walking by the flag pole he paused. He never made it to the benches. There was a violent push into his back and his hat was ripped off his head. Whipping around, he saw a big white guy holding his hat. Then the guy threw it into the trash can. James said "what the fuck is your problem?" The ogre hollered back, "Nobody wears blue around here and gets away with it." James was not about to lose his favorite skate hat to some giant douche bag. He said "Okay, I won't wear it here anymore," as he walked over and picked it up out of the trashcan. It was a baby blue Nike hat with duct tape on it. One of his best friends gave it to him before he moved. He dusted it off and was putting it into his book bag when the giant yelled at him, "No, I am going to kick your ass."
Well shit, James thought. This dude is a lot bigger than me. He is probably going to beat my ass, but I am not backing down. Just then he felt a hard shove in his chest and had to take a couple steps back to get his balance. Every hair on his body raised up. He walked back up and pushed the guy back and stepped back with both fists clenched... it was on now. Just then another guy walked in between them and said "It's cool, chill out." He looked at James and said "He was trying to punk you, and you are obviously not a punk. We are going to go to the tunnels to grab a smoke, wanna ditch with us?" Let's see, stay in this scary ass school and probably get his ass beat, or sneak off and smoke a cigarette with some people he knew nothing about. "Yeah I'll go with you," he replied.
They walked to the edge of the school property waited for a few minutes, making sure nobody was watching. There were 6 of them on this covert operation. Then down into a large drainage ditch, under a bridge and into a large storm drain. They lit up cigarettes, some lit up joints. This was a cool place and he was starting to relax again. They were asking him questions, "Where you from, are you a skateboarder, you like drugs, been in trouble with the law?" Matter of fact he was on probation at the time. One of them said "We can make sure nobody fucks with you anymore. We are going to start a rumor that you are fucking crazy and just got out of juvie for stabbing somebody." He could tell the giant douche was still wanting to fight him from the tone in his voice. He lit some paper on fire and threw it at James. James grabbed it and threw it back. The other guy suggested they smoke a joint and chill the fuck out, so that is just what they did.
Everything was cool and they kinda dazed off. James looked over and saw a girl. She was sitting a little ways away from them. She had caught his eye earlier, but the violence had made him forget everything else. He didn't think she had said hardly anything the whole time they had been there. She smiled for a second as they made eye contact, and they both quickly looked away. He kept glancing at her. She was a little taller, dirty blond, brown eyes, nice tits, hot ass, and dressed way to nice to be hiding in a storm drain. She was beautiful and he was very intrigued. He asked the douche about her. "Who is she?" "Her name is Aimee, but I call her Aim-word. I am going to ask her out." "The fuck you are" James thought.
He snuck away from school almost everyday. They introduced him to Munchkin Land, and showed him how to sneak out of every part of the school. There would be new people and new distractions. It was like being part of a secret underground organization. He tried to talk to Aimee every day. In fact, his whole day was based on seeing her. More importantly was seeing her smile. If he did not see her his day would be ruined. She began talking back. She really did not talk a lot, in fact sometimes he felt like he had to pull the words out of her. Actually, she did not have to talk because he could see so much in her eyes. They seemed to both be hiding from something. Maybe they should hide together, he thought. She made him fell better, just being close to her. He fell head over heels in love with her, and he never looked back.......
It started out being easy to make friends in California. Nothing like back in the south. It seemed like in Louisiana if you were not born there, they did not want you there. These new friends we different. It was like they were all people that did not fit in somewhere else, so they just stuck together. They taught him a lot about gangs, colors and turf. Things he didn't know anything about.
The newness of California wore off really quickly. He missed his old friends so much. At times he spent hours alone, crying in his room. His father told him this would only be a two year post and then they would go back to Louisiana. In his mind he was just killing time until they moved back. He made it a point not to get too close to his new friends, but there was one he was already very close to.
Alcohol and drugs were easily available. That was part of why they hung out in the cemetery a lot. It made them feel comfortable in the darkness, and there were never many people around. He never really felt comfortable about snorting lines off of some one's gravestone though. Somethings are just going to far. Like when he started selling joints at school. That was a bad idea. It lead up to him being strip searched in the principals office by police, and almost getting expelled..... and that was only the beginning of his troubles......
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