This is a scrapped project from a little while back. I was going through my files and decided to delete it, but after reading it, I almost cried, so I decided to share it.
This all serves as a much less recent and much less significant prequel to my the §quad (formerly known as Empyreans). Enjoy.
Entry 001
“Hi! This is frickin' Chouetsu!â€
Those words were probably the most memorable line I’ve heard spoken in my life insofar. After all, those two… three… four… five words carried a huge significance.
They bookended the span of the two best days of my life, before it all changed.
Even though I’m saying that like it was a big change.
It wasn’t, to be honest.
Just more friends to call family and love to death and a call to action.
Not like it was permanent either.
But still, things were different back then, back when all we really did do was sit on the corner while sippin’ AriZonas… talking about shit… listening to music.
Skate.
Let me start on the first day of school. Well, one of them. I was 14, so I think I was in… seventh, eighth grade?
Entry 002
“Blaine! Man, we out here!â€
I laughed at the voice to my side and then looked ahead of myself to see the campus of the school, the surrounding cities and Suburbia, even little nuggets of the Pacific Ocean that surrounded this oversized paradise I called home.
Xavier.
“This never gets old!â€
Second voice came, speaking lines that’d he’d never ever finish speaking for the first time.
Jay.
“I love this! I love you!â€
Third voice confessing to me before hugging me tightly and kissing me on my cheek three times.
Nixe.
“Bro, I can see the ocean!â€
A forgotten face gleefully smiles over the island with one hand in her pocket and the other stretched into the sky to reach around Jay’s neck.
…Sachiy—No. This is Sylvia.
This was probably the second most memorable thing I’ve ever experienced. Standing atop what felt like the highest perch on Earth and finally seeing the beauty of the world I lived in for the first time.
The moment didn’t last all too long, though, as the bell rang, knocking Sylvia almost clean off of the building before Jay caught her.
Entry 003
“That was hot!â€
Our view of the world had gone from a spur-of-the-moment idea and escape from opening ceremonies to a topic that’d go on to become literally a daily topic (length of the conversation notwithstanding) for the rest of our lives.
But, then again, Sachi—Sylvia’s transformation is just as prevalent, with actual subject matter. Shit.
“So what are we gonna do now?â€
Xavier’s question rang through the suddenly-quiet situation, bringing us to another subject matter as we lounged around Jay’s huge living room with smiling faces.
I remember wanting an architect to build a house like theirs at the time, but not much else aside from the other life-changing conversation that was sparked just then.
“That view’s inspired me to put the camera down and hop on the board for once.â€
“Here we go!â€
“Hell yeah!â€
“Aww snap, Lil’ bro thinks he can take down the Gazelle Queen!â€
“I told you, I’m the older one.â€
“Nah, I don’t think so.â€
004
After this little exchange, a sort of unseen wager was made, and we all found ourselves riding in a small pack through Suburbia, towards the dying industrial district—our place. Anybody without sense could have easily mistaken us for a skateboard-centric street gang, but luckily, nobody did. Especially with tall-and-skinny Jay riding ahead of us on his rarely-used board and camera in his hand.
"I didn’t even think you could balance on the board, let alone ride on it while it’s moving!†Sylvia’s presumptuousness got the best of her like always, much to Jay’s chagrin.
So the tall-and-skinny cameraman set off to prove even more that he was indeed just as talented as his twin sister as he scraped one of his feet against chalky griptape and effortlessly popped and flicked his board into the air.
“How about this?â€
Being Sylvia’s twin, Jay was just as healthily-confident as she was presumptuous. Fitting this, he’d managed to land a hardflip, a trick none of us discounting Sylvia herself could land on the first try. And even then, Sylvia was incapable of landing the trick cleanly. She’d always lose her balance shortly after landing it. But Jay landed the trick perfectly, on his very first try.
Naturally, we were all astonished, especially considering the fact that even then, Jay effectively towered above us all at an extreme six-foot-two. But then again, Tony Hawk is an inch taller than him. Sylvia, naturally, was astonished, and felt herself instinctively double-taking before realizing that her twin brother had indeed perfectly hit an almost-impossibly-difficult hardflip.
“Fluke!â€
Even after being disproven, she still kept an air of pride, throwing away Jay’s trick as an impossibly lucky moment. Then, she popped her board into the air as well, landing a Tre flip as if it could come close to Jay’s spontaneous Hardflip. Naturally, she landed the trick off-balance.
Her anger had thrown her off, so soon she began to push her feet about to regain her balance before she fell, only to totally kick the board from underneath her feet. She fell to the ground and cushioned the impact with a roll before rising back to her feet whilst further adjusting the ‘Preme hat I’d bought her as part of a bet from weeks earlier.
Soon, she began to smile, seemingly (that is, reluctantly) over her sudden frustration towards Jay.
And from that day on, we all wholeheartedly acknowledged that Jay was the best.