~meaning; "ą ཞɛąʂơŋ ʄơཞ ცɛıŋɠ; ῳɧąɬɛ۷ɛཞ ɠɛɬʂ ყơų ų℘ ıŋ ɬɧɛ ɱơཞŋıŋɠ."~

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Joe prays for school to end early today... Just like how he does everyday. A reminder for him, that nothing ever changes.

His head almost smacks into to the desk when he hears the return of a remarkably memorable voice; but refrains from doing so, to save himself from any unnecessary attention and injury.

"Remind me to skive the next lesson we have with him. That teacher is such a noob." Rudy tantrumed, obnoxious of anyone sitting within a 5 metre radius of him.

"You did kinda did throw your chewing gum at him."

"Still... That's not enough reason to give me a detention. And it was an accident!!"

"Sure. So when you threw your pencil at him, that was also an accident?"

"Of course, it was!! So was the chalk in his tea."

"You put chalk in his tea?! You really are something. You could at least do something worth bragging about. That reminds me, how's your search for crew members going?"

"I've given up on the darkhorse."

'The dark horse?' Joe chuckled when hearing this, rightly assuming that they were talking about him.

"Finally!! It's about time."

"Excuse me?!"

"You knew there was no chance with him anyway. I didn't think there was someone more stubborn than you, but it looks like he might be!"

"Why are you suddenly insulting me?" Rudy cleared his throat.

"I'm not. Rather than being the most stubborn person on the planet, your second-"

Joe walks out, thoroughly irritated by the two of them.

'Why are they particularly irritating today?' He thought to himself.

Maybe, just maybe... He's disappointed that Rudy had given up so easily.

Or perhaps... He's irritated at himself for not taking the offer; for being, 'the most stubborn person on the planet'.

Rudy continued to ramble on, without noticing Joe leaving the room.

"I'm trying a different way of advertising for crew members, instead of creeping around skateparks."

"Good!! And what's that?"

"Posters!!" He reached into his bag and took out a couple of colourful advertisements.

"Awesome... I like this idea, but where are the rest of them? Did you only print-off three, or are these just samples?" Carter flipped it over as he read the unnecessary details.

"No- this isn't all of the posters."

"Okay... So where are the rest of them?"

"I threw them up in the air so, they should be just about everywhere in the city!"

"I can't actually believe you! You've wasted masses of paper! You seriously think some professional boarder is going to pick up a flying piece of paper and stick in their pocket for safekeeping?" Carter sighs.

"You never know! Don't be so pessimistic."

"It's called being realistic. I'm telling you now, there's no way that will happen."

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The hills promise a warmth; that of a green, patchwork blanket with grey, road stitching.

Most would say the tarmac ribbon is ugly, but it most certainly isn't. It's unbroken skin allows for a glorious ride for all the longboarders in the city.

Herron stands on one of highest edges, admiring the beauty of the view. It's soft whispers tickle his ear, and for just a moment, he feels like a soul unhampered by a body.

A distant storm cloud catches his attention when he turns his head East. It's heavy with water and almost black with rage- why? We don't know.

He blinked away an invisible tear that stung sorely, as he was brought back to reality by a wet nose nuzzling at his bare ankle.

"Hey, you!" He knelt to Ruffcut's level, chuckling as he held his snout with both hands. "Couldn't you have left me for just a bit longer, I was enjoying the peace."

The dog possessed a guilty expression as he looked down at his paws.

"Awh... Don't worry, it's just me being silly. I'd have to come back to reality, sooner or later anyway."

As a reaction to Herron's change of mood, Ruffcut excitedly got up on all fours and chased his tail in anticipation.

"You think it's time, eh?"  He sprung to his feet and placed his longboard so that the head was pointing downhill, before placing the flat of his foot its body.

Ruffcut teased forward, readying himself for the race, sneaking in a quick bark before Herron pushed-off onto the endless spaghetti road.

The both of them had committed to a long distance push, today. Ruffcut loves them, although he has to work very hard to keep up with his owner, which is an impossible task.

*long distance push: when longboarders embark on an epic journey that can be as long as hundreds/thousands of miles.

He carved curves with every drift, as he crouched low to the board and began to gather speed. His slider gloved hands gripped onto its body, sweating with adrenaline.

*slider gloves: these are specialized gloves made out of a strong material such as leather and synthetic fabrics, and have large discs called 'pucks' attached to the palms. These are attached to protect the hands as the rider uses them to pivot during slides/drifts along the ground.

It wasn't long until Ruffcut could no longer be sighted, neither was his happy bark audible over the growl of the longboard.

Herron loves this... The feeling of being as high and fast as a jet.

The heavy board contributes to the stability and momentum of the ride, allowing for a fluid motion that a skateboard just couldn't provide.

He let the pucks of his gloves grind against ground until he came to a gradual stop.

"Perfect." He smiles to himself.

He waited for Ruffcut to catch up, who was only a couple of minutes behind.

However... while Herron stood there, admiring the view [again], a gust of wind blew a crumpled piece of A4 paper into his chest.

Slightly confused, he turns it to see an advertisement for a crew; a skateboarding and longboarding crew.

"Where on earth did this come from?" He eyed the details suspiciously, before he placed his fingers at the top of the poster, ready to rip it.

But, for some reason, it doesn't happen. Herron doesn't rip the poster. He just stares at it...

"For heavens' sake." He groaned, tucking the paper into his pocket without much care.

But, the little care that he did have, is just enough to turn his world into something worth waking up to...

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Joe's fringe hangs moodily over his eyes- the same hairstyle he's had since he can remember. It's another method of staying invisible and typically, it's quite hard to know what someone's thinking when you can't see their eyes.

Although he didn't take much liking to Rudy, they could both mutually agree that school is boring- however, for different reasons.

Both are intelligent, but Joe excels academically, while Rudy struggles to get a passing grade. Therefore, Joe finds it boring because he's ahead in every subject, while Rudy is behind everyone in all classes. As a result, they both hate school.

But, there is someone who loves school, and that would be Dom Hoffman; a mediocre student in almost all subjects (with the exception of German and Computing). Yet, the reason why he likes school, is not because of its learning environment but, because Dom likes to socialize with people. Unfortunately though, he hasn't been able to make many friends his own age.

Joe swings his bag off one shoulder so that it hung at his side, before taking out the exercise books [from that day], and shuffling them into his locker.

Content with how organised it looked, he slid his skateboard out from the side of the metal box, and closed it.

He placed the loose strap back onto his shoulder and adjusted them until the skateboard fitted comfortably between his spine and backpack.

Dom Hoffman, an oblivious individual, hurriedly made his way through the crowded corridors, holding an open laptop in hand.

He knocks Joe while venturing through the maze-like school, but Joe successfully keeps his balance and doesn't fall over.

"Oops, sorry!"

"Idiot." Joe spitefully replied, but not loud enough for Dom to hear.

'People seem intent on being pests today; it's a shame I don't have a spray that repels them. Bugs are indeed, much less of an annoyance.' The boy with a low fringe thought to himself. 'At least it's the end of the day.'

But, not quite.

Carter and Rudy were about to leave through the school gates when something caught Rudy's eye.

Someone, other than themselves, has a skateboard [from this school]?!

'I still have a few flyers left.' The red-hair playboy smirked slightly. 'That guy looks like he might be good with his board...'

Little does Rudy know, Joe is the same boarder that he's been hunting for months now- the dark horse.

However, with the ball of determined fire in his chest, whoever this 'Joe' is; he will definitely be leaving with a flyer.

"This must be fate!! I see you have a skateboard, and coincidentally I'm forming a skateboarding crew! I'm Rudy by th-"

"Not interested." Joe turns away, walking towards a bus stop in the opposite direction that he was before.

Rudy chuckles, leaving Carter mildly confused.

"That's the second time within 24 hours that you've been firmly rejected by someone; shouldn't you just give up?" Carter reasons.

"No. There's something exciting about this one... He exudes a similar aura to the dark horse, don't you think?"

"Just because they both rejected your offer in exactly the same way?"

"I guess... But, he might change his mind, you never know." Rudy chuckles again; watching Joe stride off completely unaware of the flyer sticking out the top of his open bag.

I guess you could say that Rudy is more resilient than anyone, particularly when it comes to skateboarding.

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Dom happily wonders through the street, feeling rather proud of himself, although the reason why, is questionable. He's managed to find out where Herron lives; using his computer to hack a few information sources.

By no means does he plan to stalk Herron, but to many people, what he's doing is exactly that.

After a lengthy walk through town, he feels stupid.

'Have I seriously been walking around all this time... Holding my laptop, as if it was a mobile?! For goodness sake.' He puts the laptop away, before facepalming and taking out his phone.

His phone has OogleMaps downloaded, so he's able to pull up the directions to the address pretty quickly.

The house appeared to be at the top of a steep hill, not to Dom's liking. But, he admits the view accompanying the unique terrain is alluring and makes the hike far more pleasurable.

The soft sky is like something out of a daydream with little cream flowers blossoming all over its canvas.

If, perhaps it wasn't so warm, Dom wouldn't be sweating so much. He takes off his thin, summer coat and wraps it around his waist; allowing his bare, toned arms to reflect the eye of the sun.

'This must be his house... It's smaller than I had imagined.' He made his way up to the front door, pausing before knocking.

For a while there was no reply, so he assumed he must be out.

But, just as he was about to leave the doorstep, a small, older lady with delicate silver hair opened it.

"Hello? How may I help you?" She smiled and a few happy wrinkles formed around her eyes and mouth.

"I'm sorry, I must be at the wrong house?" His attempt to walk away is swiftly interrupted.

"Could you be a friend of Ronnie?"

"Herron?"

"Yes, that's right. He's my grandson- why don't you come in?"

"It's okay, I just wanted to thank him for what he said to me the other day. It really did help me. But, I'll just come back another day and hopefully ca-"

"Nonsense! Come inside and I'll get you a drink- you must have walked quite a distance."

"It wasn't too long of a journey..." He almost choked on saliva, but entered the humble home. He was soon greeted by a familiar snout too, that of Ruffcut.

"So, what's your name?"

"Dominic." He cuddled the tail-wagging fluff ball.

"What a lovely name!"

"Thank you, my mum chose it."

She silently frowned at his reply.

He sits down on a sofa (tentatively) in the living-room consisting of mainly browns and mustard; the dog follows him with his tail still whipping from one side to the other.

"I've never met any of my grandson's friends before, but I want to ask you something..." She pours him a glass of lemonade, placing it on the table in front of him and settles in her favourite armchair.

"Oh?"

"How is he? Is he happy?" Her eyes widened with a kind-of longing.

"Umm..." Truth be told, he doesn't know much about him at all. "He's quiet, I guess. But, he seems positive."

"Does he smile very often?"

"A little bit..."

"I'm glad. I wasn't sure if he was ever going to smile again like he used to while he was young, but what you've told me is good progress. Thank you; as you can tell, his well-being is very important to me... Particularly because of all that he's been through."

"I don't mean to be nosey or anything, but could you elaborate on that? Why would Herron being feeling sad?" His gut drops a little bit, wondering if there is more backstory to this teenager than what would be typical of someone his age.

"He hasn't told you?"

"He often keeps to himself..."

"That makes sense. His past is a painful one, so I'd see why he wouldn't want to burden his friends with it." She fidgets with her fingers. "My daughter [Ria] and her husband [Russell]- his parents- died 10 years ago. The rest is his business to tell you, but he really has not been the same person since."

Dominic felt helpless as he watched her eyes fill with tears; even Ruffcut stopped wagging his tail as his head began to sink to the floor, burying his nose into the carpet.

"I'm sorry... I had no idea that was what you'd both been through. I actually came here to thank him for holding out a hand to me when I was really beginning to hate myself but, in turns out that my troubles are dust in comparison to his."

"There's nothing to be sorry about Dominic, and don't compare our hardships to yours. No one on this planet has the exactly the same trials as another person and we all experience them differently, but that most certainly doesn't mean that life is easy on anyone. Did Ronnie really help you so much that you should thank him personally?"

"Yes. He said exactly what I needed to hear."

"I'm just so proud of him." She wailed with an unexpected wave of water erupting from her face, taking Dom by surprise. "I thought that there might be no hope for him. Here I am, trying to help him and yet, he's helping other people without me even knowing! He's still the sweet, loving boy that I love so much; I thought I lost that part of him all those years ago..."

"He's an amazing person, so please don't worry. I will work hard to be a good friend to him."

"Thank you!!" She embraced him in a grandmotherly hug. "I'm so glad he has a good friend to rely on."

"Of course, if there's anything else I can do to help, let me know." Dom had a buzzing feeling, inducing this friendly grin to appear on his lips.

"Just be you."

'Just be me...' He repeated to himself. 'I don't think anyone's told me that before.'

The elderly lady got up and made her way to the dining table, picking up a leather jacket covered in badges and logos.

"Ron had only left [on his board] for work a few minutes before you arrived. But, I had hoped he would come back for this; that way, your journey wouldn't have been a waste of time. He normally takes it everywhere with him." She held it up by the sleeves.

"It's a nice jacket. I can see why it's his favourite."

When she returned it to the back of the chair, a soft and crumpled noise didn't slip from her attention. She filtered through the pockets of the jacket, taking out what looks like a scrap piece of paper.

Except, it wasn't just any piece of paper...

This poster was Rudy's doing- his search for a skateboarding crew.

Herron's grandma stands there, reading it through.

'Longboarders would also be valued, if anyone has such skills and would be interested in joining?' The promotion danced in pretty fonts and pictures.

'Could he be interested?! is that why he kept it?' Delight crept across her face. 'Perhaps he just needs a little more encouragement...'

"Dominic, you said you wanted to help Ronnie, right?"

"Yes."

"Brilliant,

because I have a plan."

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Author's Note:

Okay, so I'm super sorry that it took me so long to upload this! ˃̣̣̥᷄⌓˂̣̣̥᷅

But, I just wanted to say that I love Herron's grandma 😂 She has a beautiful heart and yet, quite a mischievous side to her too heheh!!

I'm really struggling to choose my favourite character now... It's between Ruffcut, Rudy and Herron's grandma for me lol. It'll probably change as the story moves on and the characters develop though haha!

Anyway, I hope it was somewhat enjoyable and worth the wait¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Thank you guys!! Please anticipate the next chapter heheh!!