Chapter 1:
She walked along the sunlit sidewalk idly wondering at how a place could be so sunny and yet so grey and dingy at the same time. Snap out of it, Alex! her inner monologue warned. What did you expect from some place even the locals call Dogtown. She turned the corner and there down the hill was her first glimpse of the Pacific Ocean. She stopped and took it in for a moment realizing, whoa, you're really not in New York City anymore.
Well at least all her touristy thoughts were keeping her nerves from overwhelming her. Alex started hearing the distinctive whooshing/grinding sound of skateboard wheels on concrete. Looking down the block she could just make out the sign – "Zephyr Surf Shop". She'd been sent 3000 miles across the country to get here and so much was riding on this trip. She took a minute to psyche herself up: Perfectly fitting tight jeans (pinching a little but it's better to look good than feel good she reminded herself), wooden platform Candies sandals with ankle strap and 4 inch heels (making her tall enough to look these Dogtowners in the eye, maybe even to glare down on them a little if need be), buttery short black leather jacket zipped up over lacy lingerie (looking good all under and all over). Courage built up, she continued sauntering towards the group of teens skating around the Zephyr shop.
The skating sounds slowed up and the catcalls and whistles started as she got in front of the shop. "Hey, good lookin' come on over here" shouted a curly haired boy as he did a slick move on his skateboard right in front of her. A cute blond guy jumped off his board and got right in her face with "hello hot stuff, I'm Jay what's your name?" She gave him a little push away from her and said "My name's Alex and welcome to my personal space." "Ooh, baby looks like a girl, has a boy's name and likes to play rough" he laughed. The curly haired boy turned to a boy with great long straight blond hair standing off to one side and said "Hey Stacy maybe you two should swap names" " No, no me and Alex should swap spit" said Jay, not liking the focus taken off him. This is really not going well thought Alex and spoke in Stacy's general direction since he hadn't given her a hard time yet. "I'm supposed to see a Skip Engblom about some business, is he around?"
Stacy led her into the shop and pointed out a disheveled looking man behind the counter. "Peralta, I hope you're bringing in people with money to spend, not just pretty girls" Skip drawled. "This is Alex and she says she's here to do business with you" Stacy introduced. "Well, Alex you don't look like anyone I've done business with before, in fact you don't even look like any Alex I've seen before – what you got?" Taking a deep breath, Alex launched into her reason for coming: I'm Alex – Alexandra- Boylan from NYC and Teddy from Cadillac Wheels asked me to come out west and show you these. Skip and the skaters crowded around looking at the wheels Alex pulled out of her purse. "They're made from urethane and they grip-latest thing on the East Coast" "Well, Alex Alexandra-Boylan –if that's true, I think I just might be as happy as the boys to meet you" Skip exhaled the words
with a cloud of cigarette smoke.