to assist you with balance. A day later, Jacob had seemed to find a solution that would leave him free to skate how he pleased, unencumbered by me who could barely stay on my board. “Georgia can teach you how to skate,” he introduced me to a girl wearing a baggy green flannel and ripped jeans. Her black Converse were old and worn and she had long flowing strawberry blonde hair reminiscent of an angel in a Renaissance painting. Her face was pink and covered with freckles and her lips pursed in a smirk that made me forget what I should do with my hands. She led me to a flat area and started to show me basic kick turns but I was more focused on making sure I didn’t say anything stupid. I told her about how nervous I was to learn how to skate in a busy skatepark with everyone watching. She reassured me, relaying stories of when she first started and wiped out in front of a bunch of guys that went to our school. “Everyone is always learning something,” she told me, “no matter how good they are, they’re always learning a new trick,” she touched my shoulder, “so you don’t need to worry.” After a few days I had improved a lot; going faster than I thought I ever could and staying on the board up and down hills. It was 11 A.M. at the skatepark when she sat in the shade of a concrete wall to cool down. Even in the shade, Arizona’s summer heat was relentless. It wasn’t even noon yet and the temperature had already crept past 100 degrees. My bangs were stuck to my forehead as I wilted down next to her.
Step four: As you get more comfortable on the board, you can commence to an inclined path. For this step you will need to visit a local skate park. Push off a few feet away from a small hill and balance on your board as your speed increases. Bend your knees as you reach the bottom of the incline, this is called pumping. It was late and Georgia was trying to convince me to shoot down the hill and up the half-pipe. I had already skated down the hill and bailed, jumping off my board, a few times. I was enthralled with skateboarding because in my plain-sailing, suburban life I never had to do anything that scared me. Everything in my life was comfortable and I had become blasé about my routine, driving my sister to school every morning, moving slowly through every period, reading when I
11