Eight-year-old Virgil glared at the ground and huffed. He was tired of being here. This place was too loud and had too many neon colors. The music wasn't even that good. He didn't understand why Sharon wanted to have her birthday party here anyway. "It's a lot more fun if you, ya know, skate."
Virgil looked up at the person who had spoken. It was a blonde boy around his age. Virgil didn't recognize him. "Yeah? Well, I don't wanna skate, so there."
"You wanna play air hockey? I have fifty cents," the strange boy beamed at him, and Virgil felt compelled to go with him.
"Okay," he left the skates he hadn't bothered to put on by the neon green chair he had been sitting in without a second glance.
"I'm Richie."
"Virgil," he replied as they moved to their respective sides. As he and Richie played, Virgil got several pleasant surprises. The first was that Richie was really good at air hockey; the challenge was nice. Another was that he and the blonde boy apparently had the same taste in music. Richie would scrunch up his nose when he didn't like a song, and Virgil would laugh at him. The best, though, was the fact that Richie was a comic book fan. True, Spiderman was his favorite, but Virgil figured he could win him over to the Green Lantern side if given the chance.
When the game was done (Virgil would later claim he had purposely missed the last shot, letting Richie win by a point.), the duo moved back to the seat Virgil had vacated earlier. They talked enthusiastically for a while. Then, unexpectedly, Richie said, "Let's skate!"
"I can't," Virgil replied without thinking.
"Why not?"
"I don't know how," he wondered if Richie could tell he was blushing.
"Oh, is that all? I'll show you," Virgil felt himself return Richie's smile. Within minutes, Richie was showing Virgil how to move his feet so he wouldn't fall. Virgil clung to his new friend as he lowered himself onto the slick floor of the rink. He would never say it, but he was glad when Richie took his hand to guide him. He didn't even care that some of the older kids snickered at them.
Sometime after he had started skating on his own, Pops came to take Virgil to the back room for the cake and ice cream portion of Sharon's birthday party. Richie's mom showed up at almost the same moment and said that she and her son had to get home. Virgil wondered for the rest of the weekend if he would ever see the blonde boy again.
Monday morning when Richard ("Call me Richie.") Foley was introduced to his second grade class, Virgil was surprised but very happy.