What Jude Did on His Summer Vacation
Wearing the same outfit for days in a row really cut down on the amount of luggage one needed. So Jude jauntily bypassed the baggage carousel at Pearson International and was immediately plowed over by a high-speed blonde. Jude's butt hit the ground and he let out an 'oof!' as all the air left his lungs and he was left weakly chuckling as he hugged Caitlin back.
"Hey, bra."
"JUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUDE!" she squealed into his midriff.
"Juuuuuuuuuuude!" Jen crowed, joining the pile.
"Dude!" Jonesy bounced over, draping himself over the girls.
"Jude," Wyatt chuckled, recognising Jude's flail as a plea for help and extending a hand to haul him to his feet. Nikki helped with this by picking up his backpack and slinging it over her shoulder, grinning.
"We missed you," she said.
"Yeah, bra, kinda gettin' that," Jude wheezed, rubbing at his chest with a mellow smile. "Hey, guys."
"We missed you!" Caitlin squealed, clinging to his arm. "Are you here to stay? You're registered and everything."
"Yeah, yeah, I know," Jude said, looking bummed. "Nah, I'm not here to stay. I gotta bunch of stuff for my parents, letters from teachers and stuff. Hopefully they'll let me go back. I told Setsuna I'd be back."
"The girlfriend," Nikki nodded. "So, when are we going to meet her? Scared of facing us?"
"Scared? Setsuna? Nah, bra, you got it twisted. 'Suna's the one doin' the scaring most of the time." It was hard to take him seriously with the fond, sappy smile on his face that elicited a loud "Awwwwwwwwwww!" from Caitlin.
Jonesy draped an arm around his neck. "So did you bring some of those brochures for me?" he asked, half-serious. "I mean, dude, the girls at your school are smokin'."
"Yeah, and they'll probably break your arm if you go near 'em with that look on your face," Jude chuckled, elbowing him.
Jonesy looked wounded while everyone laughed. "Dude, that was harsh."
"Speaking of harsh," Jen broke in, looking serious, "Jude, do you have any idea what you're getting into? Mike Dint has been training all summer. He's gotten really good."
"And I've gotten better," Jude said, uncharacteristically flat. As they wandered through the airport to Jude's waiting parents, he outlined his week's training program and that led into talking about Fandom in general, which led him to talking about his field trip to another planet, which led to digging in his backpack for souveniers - nothing so expensive or shiny as the necklace he gave Setsuna, but suitably weird and space-y - which led to sharing of the scrapbook on the drive home, which led to squealing over the pictures of him and Setsuna, which led to a necessary visit to the mall for the rest of open hours, where Jude boarded slowly behind them as they dragged him from store to store for the tearful reunions.
Hiro approved of Setsuna on sight and description.
Ron the Rent-a-cop tried to cite Jude for disturbing the peace with his triumphant return.
And . . .
Mike Dint.
While Caitlin wasn't wearing her lemon, they were still relaxing at their usual table in the food court and Jude was in the middle of reenacting the attack of the Jell-o dragons when a familiar grating voice cut through the piped-in Muzak and the mall chatter.
"Hey, Lose-owksi."
Jude's eyes went flat and he turned around. "Dint."
"I'd heard you were back in town," Mike Dint said, swaggering closer with his skateboard and parachute under his arm. "Hope it's not for the curbjam. It'd be just too embarrassing for you."
"Whatever, bro," Jude said, taking the high road and just shaking his head as he turned away.
Dint wasn't done. "Didn't like it down at your little private school? Oh, let me guess. You got dumped by that boyfriend of yours. Sorry, girlfriend. Bad memory, bra. Was probably a total cow anyways."
Jude was out of his seat and halfway across the table before Jonesy, Wyatt, and Nikki grabbed him and hauled him back with various mutters of "Dude, it's not worth it."
Dint jeered from the safety of a few feet away. "Yeah, bra, totally not worth it. I'm gonna wipe the floor with you."
"You are going down," Jude said flatly, narrowing his eyes and still straining against the restraining hands of his friends. "And don't ever talk about Setsuna ever again."
"Or you're going to do what?"
"Dint, stop being such a jerk," Jen put in, scowling.
"Nah, it's cool," Jude said flatly. "Just ignore him. Dint, I'm going to skate in that curbjam and I'm going to win."
"You wanna put your money where your mouth is?"
Jude's eyes narrowed. "What do you mean?"
"Winner takes the loser's board."
Jude went very, very quiet while his friends erupted around him
"Dude, you can't -" "Jude, not your board -" "You can't let him -"
"Deal," Jude said forcefully.
Mike Dint looked surprised. "Alright, deal. I'll see you there."
Jude watched him exit the food court with narrow eyes before shooting out of his seat. "Come on, I've gotta get to the skatepark. Curbjam's the day after tomorrow." Labour Day, day before school started. If he wasn't successful in convincing his parents to let him return to Fandom, he would be shuffling through the front doors of Michael Powers Secondary School with the rest of them the day afterwards.
***
Sunday wasn't looking good. Whenever he mentioned Fandom, his parents got that tight look in their eyes and began speaking rapidly in Polish at him. If he brought up staying now, he would get shot down. Hard. So he kept quiet and played the good son and picked out his courses for Michael Powers.
***
Morning of the curbjam dawn overcast and drizzly, the tail end of Ernesto having finally made it north to play with the weather and delay the mun's flight. Skating hopefuls from all over southern Ontario and beyond had congregated in the skatepark of the Hershey Centre - which, sadly, produced not chocolate but OHL hockey players. Wyatt, Jen, and Caitlin had all arranged for time off work to huddle on the sidelines in jackets that did not belong in the opening days of September and Jonesy, conveniently, had been fired the day before so was free as a bird. And they were almost the only spectators - aside from a gaggle of screaming prepubescent girls who seemed to be a certain jerk's fanbase.
"Ignore them," Jude said to his friends, shaking his head as he pulled up the hood of his suit, a more than slightly dorky-looking modified speedskater's singlet. "First event. Looks like it's time to get to work."
Jude went to work, leaving behind a field of competitors who didn't have the experience of more falls than Niagara to cure them of the fear of it. Jude could take more risks because he wasn't worried about a faceful of pavement, and it paid off. He was faster, more agile, and more creative. He also seemed unable to quite beat Mike Dint. They placed first or second to each other in every event as the day wore on, finally ending up dead event in points.
The final event was the speed trials. Each skater was timed individually over a hundred metres, and then was placed in one of three heats for the two hundred metre final race. Jude's time came in exactly 1.3 seconds behind Mike's.
"Hey Lose-owksi, I'm looking forward to having a back-up board. Might make a good doorstop."
"Shove it, Dint."
Jude's 1.3 seconds was still almost five seconds ahead of the next contender. There were five skaters in their heat. One was a short girl from London, one a six-foot-seven longboarder wearing a fedora from Mississauga, and the other, a mohawked punk from downtown Toronto. But from the very beginning it was a race between Jude and Dint. They pulled ahead of the others, neck and neck. Dint leapt ahead, pulling with powerful strokes. Jude zipped behind him. Training with Setsuna really had helped, but it looked like Dint hadn't been slacking himself.
They hit the hundred metre mark with Dint still in the lead, but Jude wasn't done yet. He pulled ahead, matching him for speed for a moment, and then Dint . . . began to fall back. He had been relying on a strong start to coast him through the race and had once again underestimated Jude's staying power. With a determined look that slowly became a grin, Jude pulled ahead. And ahead. And ahead. And broke the tape to cheers from his friends and cursing from Mike Dint, a full three feet behind him.
Jude pumped his fists in the air, popping a wheelie in victorious celebration. His friends descended on him in a cheering mass and tried to lift him on their shoulders, but the longboarder was there first and did it for them, his fedora askew as he lifted Jude into the air and threw up the horns.
"Dude, you totally rocked that race! Awesome!" he crowed, and Jude couldn't do anything but let out another victory yell.
Dint was turning purple as the curbjam coordinator hefted the huge gold trophy - complete with golden skateboard affixed to the top - in the air to hand it to Jude. With a growl, he almost flung his board at him, almost catching the fedora-wearing longboarder in the solar plexus. "Take it, Lizowski," he glowered. "I'll see you at school."
"Not if I can help it, bro!" Jude couldn't help but laugh.
***
Jude wasn't doing much laughing the next day. Mainly because he was at school. More specifically, a school that wasn't Fandom. He told all of his teachers not to give him any materials as he probably wouldn't be staying after that day. He informed the office that he wouldn't be filling out any of his paperwork. And then the miracle happened.
Well, a miracle for Jude anyways. He was pretty sure that the school board wouldn't be too happy about a drive-by paintballing of the school, plastering the entire front with multicoloured paint droplets.
Jude's mother was pinch-faced and raging in Polish, but it wasn't about him and Fandom. It was more along the lines of 'What if next time it's real guns?'
Jude waited until his father got home and his mother had calmed down slightly. He presented them with all of his pro-Fandom propoganda, the letters, the scrapbook, and made his presentation calmly, logically, and in Polish for the extra brownie points. And then he sat in his room for an hour and a half, obsessively polishing his skateboard while his parents Had a Talk.
The next day, he got on the plane back to the States.
"Hey, bra."
"JUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUDE!" she squealed into his midriff.
"Juuuuuuuuuuude!" Jen crowed, joining the pile.
"Dude!" Jonesy bounced over, draping himself over the girls.
"Jude," Wyatt chuckled, recognising Jude's flail as a plea for help and extending a hand to haul him to his feet. Nikki helped with this by picking up his backpack and slinging it over her shoulder, grinning.
"We missed you," she said.
"Yeah, bra, kinda gettin' that," Jude wheezed, rubbing at his chest with a mellow smile. "Hey, guys."
"We missed you!" Caitlin squealed, clinging to his arm. "Are you here to stay? You're registered and everything."
"Yeah, yeah, I know," Jude said, looking bummed. "Nah, I'm not here to stay. I gotta bunch of stuff for my parents, letters from teachers and stuff. Hopefully they'll let me go back. I told Setsuna I'd be back."
"The girlfriend," Nikki nodded. "So, when are we going to meet her? Scared of facing us?"
"Scared? Setsuna? Nah, bra, you got it twisted. 'Suna's the one doin' the scaring most of the time." It was hard to take him seriously with the fond, sappy smile on his face that elicited a loud "Awwwwwwwwwww!" from Caitlin.
Jonesy draped an arm around his neck. "So did you bring some of those brochures for me?" he asked, half-serious. "I mean, dude, the girls at your school are smokin'."
"Yeah, and they'll probably break your arm if you go near 'em with that look on your face," Jude chuckled, elbowing him.
Jonesy looked wounded while everyone laughed. "Dude, that was harsh."
"Speaking of harsh," Jen broke in, looking serious, "Jude, do you have any idea what you're getting into? Mike Dint has been training all summer. He's gotten really good."
"And I've gotten better," Jude said, uncharacteristically flat. As they wandered through the airport to Jude's waiting parents, he outlined his week's training program and that led into talking about Fandom in general, which led him to talking about his field trip to another planet, which led to digging in his backpack for souveniers - nothing so expensive or shiny as the necklace he gave Setsuna, but suitably weird and space-y - which led to sharing of the scrapbook on the drive home, which led to squealing over the pictures of him and Setsuna, which led to a necessary visit to the mall for the rest of open hours, where Jude boarded slowly behind them as they dragged him from store to store for the tearful reunions.
Hiro approved of Setsuna on sight and description.
Ron the Rent-a-cop tried to cite Jude for disturbing the peace with his triumphant return.
And . . .
Mike Dint.
While Caitlin wasn't wearing her lemon, they were still relaxing at their usual table in the food court and Jude was in the middle of reenacting the attack of the Jell-o dragons when a familiar grating voice cut through the piped-in Muzak and the mall chatter.
"Hey, Lose-owksi."
Jude's eyes went flat and he turned around. "Dint."
"I'd heard you were back in town," Mike Dint said, swaggering closer with his skateboard and parachute under his arm. "Hope it's not for the curbjam. It'd be just too embarrassing for you."
"Whatever, bro," Jude said, taking the high road and just shaking his head as he turned away.
Dint wasn't done. "Didn't like it down at your little private school? Oh, let me guess. You got dumped by that boyfriend of yours. Sorry, girlfriend. Bad memory, bra. Was probably a total cow anyways."
Jude was out of his seat and halfway across the table before Jonesy, Wyatt, and Nikki grabbed him and hauled him back with various mutters of "Dude, it's not worth it."
Dint jeered from the safety of a few feet away. "Yeah, bra, totally not worth it. I'm gonna wipe the floor with you."
"You are going down," Jude said flatly, narrowing his eyes and still straining against the restraining hands of his friends. "And don't ever talk about Setsuna ever again."
"Or you're going to do what?"
"Dint, stop being such a jerk," Jen put in, scowling.
"Nah, it's cool," Jude said flatly. "Just ignore him. Dint, I'm going to skate in that curbjam and I'm going to win."
"You wanna put your money where your mouth is?"
Jude's eyes narrowed. "What do you mean?"
"Winner takes the loser's board."
Jude went very, very quiet while his friends erupted around him
"Dude, you can't -" "Jude, not your board -" "You can't let him -"
"Deal," Jude said forcefully.
Mike Dint looked surprised. "Alright, deal. I'll see you there."
Jude watched him exit the food court with narrow eyes before shooting out of his seat. "Come on, I've gotta get to the skatepark. Curbjam's the day after tomorrow." Labour Day, day before school started. If he wasn't successful in convincing his parents to let him return to Fandom, he would be shuffling through the front doors of Michael Powers Secondary School with the rest of them the day afterwards.
***
Sunday wasn't looking good. Whenever he mentioned Fandom, his parents got that tight look in their eyes and began speaking rapidly in Polish at him. If he brought up staying now, he would get shot down. Hard. So he kept quiet and played the good son and picked out his courses for Michael Powers.
***
Morning of the curbjam dawn overcast and drizzly, the tail end of Ernesto having finally made it north to play with the weather and delay the mun's flight. Skating hopefuls from all over southern Ontario and beyond had congregated in the skatepark of the Hershey Centre - which, sadly, produced not chocolate but OHL hockey players. Wyatt, Jen, and Caitlin had all arranged for time off work to huddle on the sidelines in jackets that did not belong in the opening days of September and Jonesy, conveniently, had been fired the day before so was free as a bird. And they were almost the only spectators - aside from a gaggle of screaming prepubescent girls who seemed to be a certain jerk's fanbase.
"Ignore them," Jude said to his friends, shaking his head as he pulled up the hood of his suit, a more than slightly dorky-looking modified speedskater's singlet. "First event. Looks like it's time to get to work."
Jude went to work, leaving behind a field of competitors who didn't have the experience of more falls than Niagara to cure them of the fear of it. Jude could take more risks because he wasn't worried about a faceful of pavement, and it paid off. He was faster, more agile, and more creative. He also seemed unable to quite beat Mike Dint. They placed first or second to each other in every event as the day wore on, finally ending up dead event in points.
The final event was the speed trials. Each skater was timed individually over a hundred metres, and then was placed in one of three heats for the two hundred metre final race. Jude's time came in exactly 1.3 seconds behind Mike's.
"Hey Lose-owksi, I'm looking forward to having a back-up board. Might make a good doorstop."
"Shove it, Dint."
Jude's 1.3 seconds was still almost five seconds ahead of the next contender. There were five skaters in their heat. One was a short girl from London, one a six-foot-seven longboarder wearing a fedora from Mississauga, and the other, a mohawked punk from downtown Toronto. But from the very beginning it was a race between Jude and Dint. They pulled ahead of the others, neck and neck. Dint leapt ahead, pulling with powerful strokes. Jude zipped behind him. Training with Setsuna really had helped, but it looked like Dint hadn't been slacking himself.
They hit the hundred metre mark with Dint still in the lead, but Jude wasn't done yet. He pulled ahead, matching him for speed for a moment, and then Dint . . . began to fall back. He had been relying on a strong start to coast him through the race and had once again underestimated Jude's staying power. With a determined look that slowly became a grin, Jude pulled ahead. And ahead. And ahead. And broke the tape to cheers from his friends and cursing from Mike Dint, a full three feet behind him.
Jude pumped his fists in the air, popping a wheelie in victorious celebration. His friends descended on him in a cheering mass and tried to lift him on their shoulders, but the longboarder was there first and did it for them, his fedora askew as he lifted Jude into the air and threw up the horns.
"Dude, you totally rocked that race! Awesome!" he crowed, and Jude couldn't do anything but let out another victory yell.
Dint was turning purple as the curbjam coordinator hefted the huge gold trophy - complete with golden skateboard affixed to the top - in the air to hand it to Jude. With a growl, he almost flung his board at him, almost catching the fedora-wearing longboarder in the solar plexus. "Take it, Lizowski," he glowered. "I'll see you at school."
"Not if I can help it, bro!" Jude couldn't help but laugh.
***
Jude wasn't doing much laughing the next day. Mainly because he was at school. More specifically, a school that wasn't Fandom. He told all of his teachers not to give him any materials as he probably wouldn't be staying after that day. He informed the office that he wouldn't be filling out any of his paperwork. And then the miracle happened.
Well, a miracle for Jude anyways. He was pretty sure that the school board wouldn't be too happy about a drive-by paintballing of the school, plastering the entire front with multicoloured paint droplets.
Jude's mother was pinch-faced and raging in Polish, but it wasn't about him and Fandom. It was more along the lines of 'What if next time it's real guns?'
Jude waited until his father got home and his mother had calmed down slightly. He presented them with all of his pro-Fandom propoganda, the letters, the scrapbook, and made his presentation calmly, logically, and in Polish for the extra brownie points. And then he sat in his room for an hour and a half, obsessively polishing his skateboard while his parents Had a Talk.
The next day, he got on the plane back to the States.