New Kid on the Block
It was a nice sunny day at Ocean Shores, when 4 young preteens were skating on the boardwalk. Otto Rocket and Twister Rodriguez were racing to get to the ice cream parlor. A chubby boy with a white blonde buzz cut stopped and heaved.
"Reggie, I can't do this!" He said to the girl who skated behind him. The tall girl stopped skating and crossed her arms on her chest.
"No one said you had to race them, Sammy." Reggie said, while pulling her violet hair into a pony tail. She chuckled; she knew he wanted to show the others he could be like them. She had a strong connection with Sam and sometimes they would sit together and talk, but there were times they didn't need words to communicate.
Reggie and Sam arrived at the ice cream parlor. They sat with Otto and Twister. Otto bragged about winning the race, making Twister roll his eyes. Reggie's brother has always been competitive, in just about everything. Reggie went to buy a cone for her. In front of her stood a person about her age with neck length brown hair. 'I hope it's not Lars', she thought to herself. He turned around, holding his ice cream cone. She had a closer look at him; he did look a lot like Lars, only he had slightly lighter skin and a smaller nose. His eyes widened in shock as he looked at her. 'What a weirdo! Why is he looking at me like that?', she thought instantly.
As if reading her thoughts, he shook his head and apologized "I'm sorry. You looked really familiar to me, but I guess I was mistaken."
Reggie shrugged "It's alright. I'm Reggie by the way."
She held out her hand as he took it "I'm Joaquin." T
here was a slight pause until he said "I better get going. See you around."
"Okay." She said as he left.
She came back to their table when Otto asked, unsure "Was that Lars?"
Reggie shook her head. "New guy in town, I guess." She saw Joaquin skate next to them.
Twister yelled out "Hey, Squid!"
"I thought I was Squid!" Sam said before licking his ice cream. Joaquin turned around to face the gang.
"Come sit with us." Reggie offered.
"You're sure?" Joaquin asked.
"Yeah, man!" Otto grinned. Joaquin mirrored his grin and approached them. He grabbed a chair and sat with them.
"I'm Joaquin Rodriguez."
"Rodriguez? Twist, is your cousin or something?" Otto asked him.
"No, I never saw him before." Twister admitted.
"Anyway, these are Otto, Twister, and Sam." Reggie introduced.
"You look a lot like my brother Lars." Twister said to Joaquin.
Nobody noticed but Joaquin's face paled. "Who's he?" He asked.
"He likes to bully us. Sometimes he whomps us for fun, well expect Reggie; she's my sister." Otto said, angrily.
"We're not too keen on him." Sam muttered. Funny thing is that Reggie hadn't said anything about him.
"Where are you from?" Sam asked.
"I'm from New York." Joaquin replied casually.
Awesome! I want to go there someday!" Twister said enthusiastically.
"Maybe you could visit me there next summer." Joaquin said, smiling. Twister smiled back at him and went to buy a cone. Joaquin joined him, leaving the Rocket siblings and Sam.
"He's cool, I guess." Otto said.
"There's something about him, I don't know." Reggie said; she couldn't put her finger on it. Sam listened to what Reggie had said and looked at Joaquin. He wondered why Reggie would think that, but couldn't understand.
Joaquin and Twister came back with similar cones. "Joaquin gets it! Pistachio, chocolate and raspberry ice cream with syrup on top!" The others thought the combination was weird. Twister had his arm around Joaquin's shoulder, making Otto a little mad.
"So now you're best friends?" Otto spat out, making Twister remove his arm around Joaquin.
"No man, but it's cool that he likes that combo!" Twister exclaimed.
Twist saw he was angry. "Chill, Otto. Joaquin's new here. I just wanted him to feel welcome, that's all." He tried to calm his friend down. The anger subsided; he knew Twist was right.
"I'm sorry, guys." He apologized. Otto wanted a cone too so he went to the parlor to buy one.
Joaquin felt comfortable around the gang. He asked Twister "So, where are you from in Mexico?"
"How did you know my family came from Mexico?" Twister asked suspiciously.
"I guessed." Joaquin answered quickly. His answer had satisfied Twister, as he kept talking him, but it struck a chord for Reggie 'He specifically said Mexico. He could've said a different country. This kid knows something we don't, and I want to find out.'
They finished hanging out in the ice cream parlor and head out to the skating park. Joaquin was the first one to show his moves. As he did, the gang looked at him, stunned; they had never seen stunts like those before.
"He's doing the impossible!" Otto said in awe. Joaquin finished and received applause from the gang.
"Where did you learn to do that?!" Twister asked as he watched Joaquin's moves on his camcorder.
"Thanks guys. I learned from my family. I also hang out with friends who skate." Joaquin said, blushing slightly.
"Your family? They do sports?" Reggie asked.
He nodded and added "Not as they used to, but yeah."
After that, they are hanging out at the Rocket's house. The boys were outside while Joaquin excused himself and went to the bathroom. He walked in the corridors and saw that Reggie's door was open and she was sitting with her laptop. He wondered if he could enter, but before he could ask, Reggie said "Come in.", not looking at him.
He sat beside her on her bed and asked "Why aren't you sitting outside with us?"
She pointed to her laptop "That's why."
They shared a look as she said "You can read it." His eyes peered to the open document: it was an article written by her. As he read it, he discovered it was about him and his moves he pulled back at the skating park.
"Like it?" Reggie asked and he nodded "You're a great writer."
"Thanks. You probably haven't heard about my magazine."
"Actually I have. My friend was here and got a hold of your 'Zine." Joaquin lied, and had a reason why he did so.
"Awesome!" She glowed.
"I do have a few suggestions though-"
"Did you come to diss my 'Zine?" She cut him off.
"No, but from what I heard, you want to give it up."
"I was considering it, but how did you know?" She inquired.
"It looks like it from the way you're writing nowadays. You had better articles."
"But I never told anyone about that. How did you know?" Reggie was starting to get angry. 'Was he some kind of a mind reader?' Reggie had thought of such a possibility. First he knew about Twister's nationality, then Reggie's deepest thought.
"Crap." She heard him mutter under his breath. "Can we just forget about his?" Joaquin begged her. Reggie quickly placed her laptop on the table and locked the door.
"No. You're not going anywhere until you tell me. This has been driving me crazy all day. How did you know about Twist's family and my choice of stopping writing?" Her tan face reddened in anger. Joaquin was starting to be frightened; he knew she had a temper and that he had dug a hole for himself.
"I'll tell you, but promise not to freak out or tell anyone."
Reggie rolled her eyes "Fine, just tell me already."
"That's what I'm planning on doing, Mom."
His last word caught her off by guard. 'Is he joking? What the…?' She covered her mouth with her hand to keep herself from laughing. It got to a point when she couldn't hold it in anymore and burst into laughter. It seemed forever for Joaquin; he knew she would take it like this. He knew she would keep an eye on him.
"I'm s-sorry." She tried to utter while laughing. Her laughter died, and she said "I thought you said Mom."
"That's exactly what I said." He said confidently.
"Yeah, right." She rolled her eyes; she couldn't believe it, not for one second. She thought she was crazy when she said the following thing "Prove it."
"You have a scar on your left hip from falling from a skate park. You have a locket with a picture of your mother." He said, as she shook her head and fiddled with her necklace.
"You probably saw me looking at it. How did you know about the scar?" She asked.
Joaquin shrugged and said "You told me a few days ago." She was definitely confused as she dropped her hands from her necklace.
After an awkward pause, he said "Look, I'm not supposed to do this, but I'll do it." He pulled a picture out of his pocket and showed it to her. Reggie looked older in the photo, and was expecting another child. Her hair was longer and she was hugging a younger Joaquin.
Reggie looked to the left side of the picture and gasped "That's-"
"My dad, yeah." Joaquin finished the sentence. Reggie inspected the man and immediately recognized him; an older Lars Rodriguez wrapped his arm around Reggie's waist and was laughing at something. His hair was in a faux hawk and a beard was beginning to form on his face.
"Jesus." Reggie said in awe. She flipped the photo and saw a date written on the back: August 15th, 2016.
"That means, I'm 29 in this picture. How old are you here?"
"I was 6." There was an uncomfortable pause between them.
"I was forbidden to tell you, but I had to. Seeing you made me excited, I guess that's why I freaked out when I first saw you." He chuckled.
"How did you get here? Is there a time machine or something?" Reggie asked. He laughed; he knew his mother loved fantasy stories.
"Something like that. In our neighborhood lives a professor named Dr. Tillman. He loves experimenting and is obsessed with the idea of time travel. He thought he had discovered something and I love going by his house to check out his new toys. Anyway, it backfired and sent me here. He contacted me last night and told me that I can't tell anyone anything, but obviously I didn't follow that order. We still live in Ocean Shores, and Grandpa Ray is fine, don't worry. I knew about your 'Zine because you used to tell me stories about it. Eventually, you would stop writing about sports and focus on a different topic." As he finished what he had to say, Reggie got up and unlocked the door. In the meantime, he put the picture back in his pocket. She took a deep breath; this was too much for her, but she was curious.
"Do you have siblings?"
"A sister. Danielle, after your mother."
Reggie gasped; Danielle Rocket had passed away when Reggie was 4 years old.
"So it's true." Reggie said in a small voice.
Joaquin nodded. "Would you like to know why you named me Joaquin?"
"Yes."
"Your favorite actor was River Phoenix, but dad wanted a different name, a Latin one. So, my name came up. Funny, Joaquin is River's brother." Reggie chuckled; River Phoenix was indeed her favorite actor.
"How the hell did I get to marry Lars, out of all people?" She asked; this idea wasn't what she had expected. Sure, she and Lars were on speaking terms, but she thought of him as a bully, never more.
Joaquin laughed. "Yeah, Dad isn't an easy person to be with, but you aren't either. I can't tell you how it got to be, unfortunately. What I can tell you is that Uncle Otto and Twister are fine and happily married." He flashed a grin. Reggie smiled at him.
Joaquin took this chance and held his mother's hands. "You have to promise me something."
"Hmm…? What's that?"
"Promise me you won't tell anyone. It could really have serious repercussions. I told you because I know I can trust you and you wouldn't tell anyone." Reggie released one of her hands out of his grip and placed it on his cheek.
"I promise." She vowed. They spent the following minute looking in each other's eyes, in silence.
The silence was broken when she said "You look a lot like him. I hope you don't beat up people for fun."
Joaquin suppressed a grin and shook his head "No way." Little did Joaquin know, Reggie and Lars were close friends and met secretly so their siblings wouldn't get upset. They have grown fond of each other, but she would never have considered dating him in the future.
"This is crazy." Reggie said as she ran her fingers through her hair.
"Yeah. You know what? I think I have a picture for Danielle here. Let me see…" He dug in his pockets and pulled out a folded picture.
He opened it and smiled "That's her, alright." Reggie peered over to see and gasped. A little girl with violet hair and a pink dress grinned in the photo.
"She's a little menace! I love her to death, but she always wants to come with me and my friends when we're going out skating." He groaned.
"She's stubborn!" Reggie shook her head. They shared a laugh.
As they sat together, they heard noise coming from Reggie's balcony. Reggie quickly opened the large slide window to reveal an old man with a white robe. He had a red bicycle with many machines on it.
"Joaquin? Is this Dr. Tillman?" Reggie asked, not removing her eyes from the elder man. Joaquin approached her and looked at where she was looking.
"Doc!" He exclaimed.
"I told you not to say anything about yourself or what happens in the future! This could have dangerous outcomes! We might need to erase your mother's memory!" Dr. Tillman warned Joaquin.
"You won't want to do that. I won't say anything, I promise. I might as well forget it even happened." Reggie gave Joaquin a 'trust me' look.
"How did you find me, Doc?" Joaquin asked him.
"It was obvious that you would run into your family. So I got help from a big Hawaiian man." Reggie smiled; it was Tito, Ray's old time friend.
"Anyway, I would love to stay and chat, but we have to get out of here!" Dr. Tillman was about to drag Joaquin away but Reggie stopped them "Can I at least say goodbye?"
The doctor sighed and let go of Joaquin. "You have a few minutes. I'll go set up a few things.", and went to his bicycle.
There was a slight pause until Joaquin piped out "It was nice to see you, to see the younger version of my mom."
Reggie grinned "It was great meeting you! I will ever forget you."
"We'll meet again in the future, and this time we'll stay together forever." They shared a quick grin before she pulled him into a tight hug.
After they disconnected, Joaquin said "Go easy on dad."
Reggie smirked "I'll try."
"It's time!" Dr. Tillman announced. Joaquin and Reggie hugged quickly again before he ran to the bicycle. The doctor pedaled, which made the bicycle fly in the sky and with that it disappeared. Reggie looked up at the sky for a few minutes, closed the slide window and noticed something on her bed: Danielle's picture. She picked it up and looked at it. She whispered "Danielle", and placed it in one of her drawers beside her bed.