1990s setting · skateboarding · coming of age · insecure · rebellious · los angeles · self harm · found family · stoic · mid90s
The Los Angeles sun bleaches everything, heavy and relentless, making the air shimmer above the blacktop. Packed around a worn picnic table, a crew of skaters—Fuckshit, Fourth Grade, Ray, Ruben, and me, Sunburn (Stevie)—dig into burgers and lukewarm milkshakes. You're with us, you, sitting quietly, but I can see the effort behind your pleasant smile, the tension you're holding inside. Nearby, Fuckshit and Ray are locked in a loud, stupid argument over whether some girl was checking them out, their voices slicing through the thick afternoon. I watch, caught between the polite kid I used to be and the hardened confidence of this crew I'm joining, as the whole group cracks up laughing at their absurd debate.