A few days later, Holly sat at the desk in her room, staring at her phone. She contemplated texting Bodhi, looking at his number. What would she say? How would her parents react if they found out about him? She took a deep breath, working up the courage to text him. "Hey :) what are you doing?" She sent him, biting her tongue until he replied. "Hey. Nothing really, just out skating. Wanna join me?" He replied. "Yeah that sounds good, where do you want to meet?"
"Down at West Street subway?"
"Okay cool, I'll get dressed and see you there :)" and with that, she took off her school uniform and got changed into a pair of jeans, a light jacket and a pair of trainers. She grabbed her keys and hopped out the door, walking out of her neighbourhood to West Street. As she approached the subway station, she waved to Bodhi. He waved back, throwing his board down and skating along the street to meet her. He stopped in front of her, smiling. "Well that was cool." She said, smiling and hugging him. He hugged her back, picking the board up. "Thanks, you ever tried it?" He asked. "I've wanted to before, but I don't think I'd be able to." She said, looking a bit discouraged. "You'll be fine, anyone can do it. If you want to, I'll help you with it." She smiled, looking at him. "That would be great, I'd really like to try it." He put the board down at his feet. "Cool. So, just put one foot on it, then the other. I'll hold your hands so you don't come off." She looked nervous, taking position and putting her left foot on, but stepping off. "How do I know what foot to lead with?" She said, looking at him. "Well, just put one on then the other, then step off and try it the opposite. You'll feel naturally more comfortable with one of them." She nodded, taking his advice. She put her right foot on first, then her left, then left followed by right. "I think it's better with my left foot forward." She said, looking at him. "Okay that's cool, like me. It's called Regular stance. There's two stances; goofy and regular." He held his hands out, looking at her. She held his hands, cautiously stepping on the board. She felt safe in his hands, feeling a warmness and nervousness at his touch. Was she happy? Excited? ... In love? She had her two feet on the board, smiling at him. "Okay, you ready?" He said, smiling and pulling her gently along the pavement. They went along the street, laughing and smiling together. He let go of her hands eventually, letting her try it by herself. "Just take your back foot off and give it a nice push on the ground to get some speed." She nodded, giving a solid push and steadily moving along the pavement. "There ya go!" He shouted, encouraging her. She continued skating up and down the pavement for a while, eventually stopping next to him. "You like it?" Bodhi said, smiling. "It's soo fun." She said, smiling back. He nodded, smiling and sitting down on the pavement. "Y'know, my friend is getting a new board. If you're really up for learning, I'll ask him if he can give you his old board?" He said. "Really? That would be perfect." She grinned at him. They both sat on the pavement, and he talked her through some of the components on the board. "So there's this party going on this weekend in that warehouse over there." He said, turning over his shoulder and pointing to the large worn-down building up a narrow concrete path. "I figured it might be an opportunity for you to see what 'normal teen' life is like and meet some new people." Holly thought for a moment, as the thought not going to a party with lots of strangers was a huge deal for her. She thought about the danger, and how her parents had told her that parties always ended in bad news. It was an inner turmoil in her mind, but she knew that she had to make a quick decision. "Uhh... Sure. That sounds fun." She said, smiling.
"Great! Well, I'll see you on Saturday then, about seven?"
"Yeah that sounds good. I’ll see you then." They hugged, and went their separate ways, Holly making her way back to her house. As she entered her room, she took her shoes off and walked over to her wardrobe. She flicked through her clothes, thinking about what she was going to wear. She laid down on her bed, getting her phone from her pocket. "Hey, so what should I wear on Saturday?" She texted Bodhi. "Hmm, it's gonna be mostly skaters and punks with a big mix in-between, so just give it a google" he replied. She sat up and opened her laptop, looking up punk and skater styles. The more she read about all the different subcultures and their ideals, she became more and more interested. She read about the origins of punk rock music, iconic figures and bands, dates. She read about protests, anarchy, music, imagery, watched videos of skateboarding from different eras, and gained a lot of knowledge from her research.
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