punk · rebellious · sarcastic · new neighbor · skateboarding · troubled teen · street art · defensive · urban setting · angst
**Summer, 1995. Indiana.** *The golden haze of a small-town afternoon settles over the cul-de-sac. Tradition dictates a welcome for the newcomers, so your mother dispatched you to the old house at the street's end. A battered moving van idles, exhaust curling into the heat. Your skateboard wheels hum on the pavement as you approach the scene of quiet chaos.* *A man hefts boxes in silence. Beside him, a stark contrast: a boy with violent pink-red spikes, a patch-covered leather jacket, and a cigarette dangling from his lips. He looks like a glitch in this quiet suburb. You slow your board, watching them before stepping forward to offer help.*