Alex Jackson: Grommet

by Pat Flynn

  You can see now why I don’t trust men☹.

  Well, I know that’s some heavy stuff, but I hope you can handle it. Thanks for cheering me up this weekend, and I hope we keep writing, though I’ll understand if you stop. Who needs a penpal with problems like these?

  Seeya

  Becky

  PS. If Alex asks me out, I think I might say yes! I still don’t trust men, but he seems different.

  Alex folded up the letter, and returned it to the bottom of his underwear drawer. I wish I was different, he thought sadly.

  CHAPTER 22

  Casey’s Advice

  Later that afternoon Alex took a walk down to the skatepark to see Casey. He had to promise his mum he wouldn’t skateboard himself, which wasn’t hard seeing as he didn’t own a deck.

  Casey was on the vert, as usual. He was practising tricks on the lip, or top edge, of the U–shaped ramp. He pulled tail stalls — resting the back of the board on the lip for a few seconds before dropping back in down the ramp; and rock’n’rolls — where he’d rock the deck onto the metal coping before spinning it around 180 as he rolled back down. These weren’t difficult tricks — Alex could do them on the small half–pipe — but he wouldn’t dare try them on the vert. You needed the guts of a sumo wrestler.

  Casey came over to where Alex was sitting and was shocked to hear about Becky’s disappearance, the fight with Billy Johnstone, and Alex’s stay in hospital. He checked out the impressive scar that was forming on the side of Alex’s head.

  “Not bad for a grommet,” he acknowledged.

  “Don’t call me that,” Alex said, rolling his eyes. “It brings back bad memories.”

  Casey said he had a surprise for Alex so they took a walk out to Casey’s car, an old purple Gemini that looked like it was on its last legs. From the squeeky boot Casey pulled out a brand new, top of the line World Industries Everlasts board. He had fitted it with 53 mm Spitfire Wrathletic wheels, perfect for street skating. All up it must have been worth at least $300.

  “I talked the rep into giving you a free board. I said you’d be better than me in a few years, once you got your head screwed on right, so for him it’s an investment. You have to wear this though.” He threw him a SkateBiz T–shirt.

  Alex didn’t know what to say. Does this mean I’m sponsored?

  “What are you going to do about Becky?” asked Casey.

  “I wanna talk to her, but I don’t know where she is.

  “You know her email address, don’t you?”

  “Yeah ... though I’m not s’posed to.”

  Casey looked down at Alex’s new board and hopped on, getting the feel of it with a few 360 degree kickturns. As he was spinning the board around and around in the one spot, he lost balance — a rare occurrence for Casey — and fell on his backside.

  He got up smiling. “I wanna ask you a question. When you’re trying to pull a trick and you get slammed in front of everybody, do you care?”

  “A bit.”

  “I don’t. I reckon that for every ten tricks I try, I’m gonna blow it five times. If people see me make the trick, that’s great, but if they see me miss it, no big deal. I’m not perfect. I know that, and I don’t care if other people know it. You following me so far?”

  “I guess,” Alex said, in a tone of voice that said no, not really.

  “If I’m skating tricks so that others will see how good I am, then I’m not really being true to myself. And chances are, I won’t make as many good tricks, anyway.”

  “So you skate better when you don’t worry what the other kids think?”

  “Exactly. Remember how I said I would think of some advice to give you?”

  “Yep.”

  “Well that’s it. Don’t worry what others think about you. Do what you know is right. If people like it, cool. If they don’t, it’s their problem.”

  “But what about it you’ve already done something wrong?”

  “Then try and make it right. And be man enough to accept the consequences.”

  “I’ll try and remember that.”

  “Don’t try. Do it.”

  He knew what he’d said to his Mum, but Alex couldn’t resist having a go on his new board. Besides, he was in a hurry. He had to get to the library before it closed.

  CHAPTER 23

  Telling Her

  To: Beckyt13@hotmail.com

  From: Juliette@skunkmail.com.au

  Dear Becky,

  Hey there! I know I haven’t written in a while and I’m sorry. I just want to say that it’s not because of what you told me in your last email about your father. Well, that does have something to do with it, but it’s more complicated than that. Let me explain ...

  I’m not who you think I am. I don’t live in Perth and I’m not even a girl. I’m a boy who lives in Beeton and goes to St Joseph’s College. Actually, you know me well. Very, very well. I’m Alex.

  Before I give you the rundown on why I did such a stupid thing I want to say sorry. Sorry about your dad. He did a bad thing and is paying the price, but you and your mum are as well and that’s not fair. Sorry about Billy Johnstone finding out about your dad and spreading it around the school. (Did you hear he threw my head into a pole?) And sorry I pretended I was Juliette.

  From the minute I saw you I had a crush on you the size of Sydney. It wasn’t just coz you’re the hottest girl in Year 8 (though you are), it was coz you seemed real cool and nice. And I knew when you said no to Billy that you had good taste! But you also seemed sad, and I wanted to find out why. Then Jimmy came up with this stupid idea of finding you in an Internet chat room and before I knew it I was going along with it and writing emails to you.

  Since we started going out, one part of me really wanted to tell you what I did. I didn’t coz I was scared of what you’d think of me. I knew that you had enough trouble trusting people as it was, and if you found out what I’d done you’d dump me quicker than a tidal wave. I wish I wasn’t such a wuss.

  I want you to know that going out with you has been the best experience of my life. I was pretty stoked when I landed my first ever kickflip, but you even beat that! It’s hard to put into words what you mean to me. It was more than just the good times we had, like at the station (though I’ll never wait for a train again without remembering you!) Even simple stuff like seeing you for the first time each morning, or sitting beside you in class, made me feel good about myself.

  I know that ever since we met you haven’t been feeling very good about your life. I wish we could have talked about stuff, like how you feel about your dad, your old school, even your tennis game!

  Even though I probably don’t deserve it, I hope that you’ll be able to forgive me. At the moment I have no idea where you are. Are you still going to go to school at St Joseph’s? I really, really hope so. It mightn’t be such a bad thing that everyone knows about your dad. You won’t have to hide it anymore, and as soon as the next piece of gossip comes along, all the kids will forget about it. If they don’t, it is their problem, not yours.

  I’ll wait for you to call or email me, though I’ll understand if you do neither! I hope I see you at school on Monday.

  By the way, Becky. I think I love you.

  Alex.

  xxx

  On his way out of the library, Alex gave the librarian a long, sweet smile. She didn’t smile back.

  The next morning Alex returned to the library to see if Becky had replied to his email. He logged on, typed in his password and waited expectantly.

  There are no new messages.

  CHAPTER 24

  Grinding It Out

  At school the next week, which was the last week of Term One, Alex discovered that he was no longer Mr Popularity. Other than Jimmy, only Miss Pinzon seemed genuinely pleased to have him back at school.

  “You poor thing!” she exclaimed, running her finger lightly along his scar. “I hope you’ll be okay for the skateboarding exhibition on Friday! I can’t wait to watch you in action.”
<
br />   “Action Jackson. That’s me, Miss.”

  A few boys wanted to see the scar and some girls asked about Becky, but most kids kept their distance and mumbled about the nutcase who’d attacked Billy and then got the living crap beaten out of him. Billy was enjoying his return to the limelight, and by Wednesday he had a new girlfriend, Linda Staccone.

  Alex had more important things to worry about than his status among the Year 8s at Joey’s. Becky hadn’t been at school for almost two weeks now, and it looked like she wasn’t coming back. The only person who would know for sure was Letch, and Alex knew it was no good asking him. Every day after school Alex checked his email at the library, but each time he went home disappointed.

  The final skateboarding meeting was held on Thursday at lunch to make last–minute plans for the big event. Jimmy and Sarah Sceney had been busy during Alex’s absence. They had collected stickers from skateboard shops around the area to be tossed to the students who watched the demonstration. There were posters advertising the exhibition plastered all over the school, including the one drawn by Becky of Alex grinding down the stairs in front of the library. It made Alex sad just to look at it.

  The Year 11 boys had gotten hold of a homemade funbox to add to the course, so the skaters would have the opportunity of pulling some gnarly tricks. Their demonstration was to last an hour, right before lunch.

  On Friday morning Alex rode his new skateboard to school instead of taking the train.

  They set the course up in the morning, rubbing candle wax on the kerbs and rails to make them more slippery for grinds and slides, and by 11.30 quite a crowd had gathered to watch.

  Alex was still down in the dumps about Becky, but he got the exhibition under way by pulling off a 360 pop shoveit, swivelling the board around 360 degrees in the air during an ollie. This brought a few oohs and aahs from the onlookers. His new board felt strange but was excellent, light and responsive to everything he tried.

  The Year 9 girl, Kimberley Lim, was really ripping it up. She was pulling some excellent 50–50s, jumping onto the kerbs and grinding along the edge before ollieing back off and skating away. The Year 11 boys tried some wicked moves on the funbox, entertaining the crowd more with their stacks than their successful tricks.

  Jimmy had the microphone and was loving it. Talking came easily to him, and he made the kids laugh with his colourful description of the tricks being attempted. Sarah was never far away from Jimmy’s side, and Jimmy was glancing and smiling at her at every opportunity. Jimmy and Sarah together? There’s no possible way.

  Alex gave Jimmy the prearranged signal to start the introduction to the big trick of the exhibition.

  “Ladies and gentleman, boys and girls, you are about to witness history in the making. Alex Jackson, skateboarder and slayer of the female species, is about to attempt a trick never seen before at St Joseph’s College. He will ollie up unto the 60 centimetre railing you see in front of you, and then attempt to grind down it until he jumps off at the bottom and skates off a legend. Ladies and gentleman, that is 13 steps he will attempt to grind down, an extremely difficult and dangerous trick. You’ve seen the poster, now see it in person. Let’s hear it for the one and only ... ALEX JACKSON!”

  There was lots of whooping and hollering from the Year 8s, and polite applause from the older kids. Practically every kid in the school was watching. Even Letch and Miss Pinzon were looking down from the stairwell above Letch’s office.

  Alex knew that the odds were that he would get slammed in front of everyone, but for once he didn’t care. He’d been a hero and a fool already this year. He’d been in love and he’d been rejected. He’d try this trick because he wanted to, and if it worked he’d be happy, but if it didn’t he’d be fine. He was skating to his own beat.

  He picked up speed down the slight incline and popped the board with all his might to make it up to the rail. He nailed it. Ssssss. It was the sound of metal on metal, the wheel axles grinding on the railing as it slid down, picking up speed down the 13 steps. Thirteen steps! It didn’t seem many to climb, but it felt a long way down on a skateboard.

  Alex was coming to the end of the rail and he kept his knees bent and his arms out on either side for balance. When he came to the end of the railing he pushed down with his back foot and braced himself for the landing. Bang! The four wheels hit the cement in unison. He skated off like it was the easiest trick he had ever done, and the kids went nuts. He smiled broadly, but not at the applause. He hardly even heard it.

  CHAPTER 25

  She’s Alive!

  It was the end of the Easter holidays and Alex had spent most of it down at the skatepark. Casey had introduced him to the vert, and Alex was starting to get used to the scary feeling of dropping into a ramp that went straight down. He had even attempted a few simple moves on the lip, but needed more practice riding fakie down the ramp. It felt weird as.

  For the first few days of the holidays Alex had checked every afternoon to see whether there was an email from Becky, but he was sick of feeling rejected so had stopped going to the library. Jimmy and Sarah Sceney were going out and they made Alex sick with their pet names for each other ( “HeMan” and “Schnookums” were two) and the way they emailed each other three times a day even though they lived only a five–minute walk from each other’s house.

  On the Saturday before Term Two started, Alex went to the library to have one last look in his email account. Sarah must have put in a good word for him with the librarian because she was much nicer to him now and had even ordered in one of the latest skateboarding videos. Alex never realised how handy knowing a librarian could be!

  He logged on, ready for disappointment, but he had one new message waiting for him from BeckyT. His heart nearly jumped into his mouth.

  To: Juliette@skunkmail.com.au

  From: Beckyt13@hotmail.com

  Dear Alex,

  Hey.

  Hey, again.

  Hey.

  I don’t know what to say next, and I’m starting to sound like I’m trying to sell the stuff cow’s eat. Okay, here goes.

  Hey. I know I haven’t written to you or called you and I feel bad☹. After that day at school everything got so crazy. I’ll explain everything later, but first ...

  I hate you Alex Jackson!!!

  How could you trick me like that? I really trusted you and you made me feel like an idiot when I found out what you did. That was low! If you were here now I’d be tempted to slap you, even though I’m opposed to violence in any form.

  Okay, back to the story. The Monday that you got into the fight with Billy I was really sad, if you can remember that long ago. On the weekend before, my mum told me that we were going to move to Italy for a while, coz her mum and dad live there and they offered to fly us over and let us stay with them.

  One reason I was so sad that day was that I had just visited Dad in jail to say goodbye. He was really nice about it and said it was a good idea for Mum and me to get away for a while. He even said that it would be good for my tennis to learn how to play on clay courts! He said that on clay courts the ball leaves a mark in the dirt, so everyone knows if the person is cheating or not. He said that he wished his work was played on clay courts, cause maybe then he wouldn’t have been able to cheat so much. He also told me he was very sorry for what he did to Mum and me. I cried heaps after that visit☹.

  I was also sad coz I was leaving St Joey’s. I was starting to like it there, especially some of the kids like Sarah Sceney and another boy, whose name has slipped my mind ...

  So now I am in Italy! My grandparents are really nice (though their English isn’t very good, so I’m learning to speak Italian☺) and my Nanna’s an excellent cook.

  So why didn’t I say goodbye? I wanted to on the Monday, that’s the only reason I came to school. Then, after you became crazy and went off to fight Billy, I couldn’t take it anymore so I ran home. After that I didn’t want to talk to anyone before we left — even you. I felt bad about everything. />
  I was worried about you, though. I thought you might have killed Billy, you looked so mad!

  Well, that’s about it ...

  Thanks for telling the truth about Juliette. I was and still am really mad, but I think I’ll get over it — one day. I like lots of things about you, Alex Jackson. I like the way you skateboard, I like your jokes and I even like the way you kiss.☺ I like you enough to ask you to write to me and tell me everything that is going on in Logan City. Did you buy a new skateboard? How did the skateboarding exhibition go? Did you know Sarah Sceney stopped liking you and has the hots for Jimmy Homan?

  I’m not sure how long I’ll be here, but I doubt mum will want to move back to Beeton in a hurry. I don’t think she liked it there. Too much riffraff!

  Say hi to your mum, dad, Sam and Mandy as well as all the nice kids at school. I look forward to your email.

  BeckyT☺

  XXX

  PS. I don’t really hate you. I love you.☺

  CHAPTER 26

  Normality

  School started again and everything slipped back to normality. Peter Callaghan argued with Mr Scott about the existence of God. Jimmy’s mouth said stuff before his brain realised it was a bad idea. Adrian Dorry spread all the news that’s not fit to print.

  For Alex, though, school wasn’t quite the same. He didn’t look forward to watching videos in the audio visual room. There wasn’t a pair of eyes he was desperate to find first thing in the morning. There wasn’t a girl he loved so much that he would fight anyone who tried to hurt her, even though he’d learnt that fighting is wrong.

  There wasn’t another girl like Becky.

  Glossary

  360

  Pronounced “three sixty”. Three hundred and sixty degrees. Measure of rotation. Used to describe skateboarding tricks, e.g. 360 twist.