Beck
“Wait, you mean you didn’t skateboard, like at all, from the day you crashed until Beck came to visit you in April?” Summer asks Jordan as we pile into my van after an awesome morning session at Rampas.
“No, I wasn’t even cleared until three months after the crash.”
“Yeah, but you still could have skated, just not verts,” Naomi points out the obvious.
“I know, but I couldn’t even get on a skateboard to go down my parents’ driveway. I still don’t really know what was wrong with me.”
“Well, you aren’t skating now like you took any time off. If I saw you skating and didn’t know you, I’d be like, she’s definitely a pro,” Summer tells Jordan.
“Well she is a pro, or she will be officially in a couple of days,” I tell them.
“What?” Naomi nearly shrieks. “Are you repping Brazen again?”
Jordan twists in the passenger seat as I crank the AC.
“Yep. Griff’s getting the contract ready and I’m going to Southskate Fest.”
“No way,” Summer says. “Seriously? How did we not know any of this?”
“Because I decided this last night at like eleven. Past my bedtime, so maybe I wasn’t in the right state of mind. Could have been peer pressure. My roommates want me to do it so I can beat Camila.” I notice she doesn’t mention Sarah Kase. Jordan thinks the one time she beat her was a fluke, but I know better.
“Oh, hell yeah,” Naomi shouts. “Wait, did you watch the show?”
“Binge watched the entire thing yesterday start to finish.”
“And you haven’t dumped my brother?”
“Not yet,” Jordan teases.
“We should celebrate,” I propose.
“Celebrate what? Me not dumping you after watching Shred Live?”
The girls snicker in the backseat.
“No, you joining Brazen again, competing again, and you watching the entire season of Shred Live and being able to laugh about all of it.”
“Oh, don’t forget rejoining social media! I want to do that today while I’m on a roll.”
I’m less excited about this particular mission of hers, but I understand it.
“We can party!” Naomi calls. “We have the day off from Stargaze. Wait, you must already know that because you’re driving toward Summerside.”
“Can we hit up the pool at your complex? Invite Griff and the guys over? Lucy and Ellie said they’re off early afternoon today and Zora has the whole day off.”
“Yeah, let’s do it!”
We swing by the grocery store on the way back, loading up on hot dogs, chips, drinks, and whatever random crap Naomi and Summer throw in the cart.
I know Griff is stressed and I should be helping him with everything going on, but he’s told me to take this time as a vacation. In a way, I’ve been more or less working around the clock since filming started in early January, but he knows I don’t see it like that. This is his way of thanking me for Brazen and letting me get quality time with Jordan.
Griff’s been working around the clock too, but he takes a break to join us this afternoon. Moses, Taylor and Brie come too. While they’re all working for Brazen in some capacity now, they won’t have regular hours until the offices open. It’s kind of like summer vacation for all of us, I guess. That’s definitely what it feels like on a hot July day at the pool, everyone in a celebratory mood. For Jordan, definitely, but also for me winning the house, and the Brazen crew moving in there with me soon. Griff signed the lease for the place in downtown Jay Beach this morning, so we’re toasting to that too.
“All right, I’m doing it,” Jordan declares from her lounge chair when I take the one beside her after getting out of the pool.
“Doing what?”
“I downloaded the Instagram app. I’m making a new account though, deleting the old one.”
I want this for her, the whole pro skateboarder dream. But my chest fills with tension thinking about the messages and comments she was subjected to before. My fame, Griff’s fame, it’s only gotten bigger since then.
But Jordan’s no fool. She knows what she’s going to face.
“Okay, I’ll follow you so you have at least one follower,” I tease.
She tells me her new profile name, and I open the app from my phone to follow her.
A few seconds later I hear her gasp.
“What is it?” I’m leaning over my chair to look at her screen. She’s got my profile up.
“Beck, you have over three million followers.”
“Yeah.”
“That’s three times as many as you had last time I was on here, seven months ago or so.”
“It’s just because of Shred Live.”
I watch her click on a few things and study her reaction. It’s the same thing I did last night throughout the Shred Live viewing. I kept expecting her to freak out, but I should have known better. It’s not so much that she doesn’t have a jealous streak, but I guess she knows me well enough to know I wasn’t into any of it. In some ways, she’s twenty years wiser and tougher than her eighteen years.
In other ways, she’s still this sensitive little girl. I love both parts of her and I don’t want her to change, even if her sensitive side can be painful for her. As I watch her continue to scroll, clicking on images and reading comments, I know that she’s come a long way since we first met. The cruel parts of fame still bother her, but instead of hiding from it, she’s facing it. She knows she’s strong enough, and I need to believe in her too. I’m scared the anxiety will hit at a bad time again, a panic attack will set in when she’s skating or driving or swimming or… no. She’s got this. She’s totally got this.
Her roommates hop out of the pool and soon Naomi, Summer, and everyone else are sitting around warming up in the sun.
“Okay, this is weird, why are you staring at your phone?” Zora asks Jordan. “You’re never on your phone.”
“I told you last night! I’m back on social media as of ten minutes ago. So far Beck’s my only follower.”
Everyone here, even Brie and Moses now, knows about the bullies online, the stalker. So when she announces this, they cheer and high five like she just landed a 540.
“I wanted to do it when everyone was here instead of alone in my room. Does that mean I’m not an introvert anymore? I always thought of myself as a loner and now I’m having an identity crisis.”
Naomi tells her, “No, you’re just growing up and realizing it’s no fun facing the hard stuff alone if you don’t have to.”
“Sixteen going on sixty over there,” Griff calls to Naomi from his spot. “Who wants a drink? And no, Summer and Naomi, you can’t have alcohol.”
This would actually be a safer environment than other options for learning about drinking. Griff and I weren’t bad kids but we’d definitely drunk alcohol a few times by their age. The girls don’t bother arguing and most of us go for the soft drinks anyway. It might be summer break, but we all know drinking in California sun starting in the afternoon is a recipe for a hangover.
“Hey guys!” a female voice calls out from the other side of the pool deck. We turn to see who it is. The high school friend, Sydney, wears a big-brimmed straw hat, and this coverup dress thing. Something about the outfit says fancy, even though it’s pool attire. Could be the hoop earrings, the big sunglasses, or the bag that matches the hat, I don’t know. It just seems a little out of place amongst our casual group with worn out flip-flops and faded towels.