Days had turned to weeks, weeks had turned to months and before anyone knew it, summer was already drawing to an end. For the residents of West Chester, Pennsylvania, the late August day was turning out to be an extremely pleasant one. A cool breeze rustled through the trees and took the edge off the intense heat of the sun at its highest point in the sky. In a bid to make the most of the last of the good weather, the inhabitants of the notorious 'Castle Bam' were scattered across the expansive grounds that formed the back garden, partaking in various activities.
Bam Margera was slouched across a deck chair in front of the large swimming pool, cigarette in one hand and beer can in the other, the picture of contentment. It would have been easy to assume he was asleep behind his large, dark sunglasses if it were not for the moments when he periodically came to life to indulge in either the nicotine or alcohol at his disposal. His mother April sat on another deck chair a few metres away, glancing over worriedly at her son whenever he took a gulp of beer and continued to ignore the reassuring comments from her husband Phil as he rubbed sun cream into her back. April stared disapprovingly at the can of beer resting in Bam's hand. She could not recall the last time she had seen him without a beer or glass of wine close at hand and she was starting to get concerned that he had a problem. Since April and Phil's daughter in law had left for LA with their grandson, they had both noticed a change in Bam. He was rarely sober and when he was not drinking he was sleeping off a hangover and bringing women back with him every night. What mother would not be worried?
Strictly speaking however, this was not quite true and no matter how much she wished she could deny it, April had to face the facts. Bam's late nights, multiple women and alcohol abuse were not a result of his wife leaving him, but rather a cause of it and as sad as she was that her grandson was now living on the other side of the country, April could not blame Amelia for moving as far away as possible. Not only had Bam treated Amelia appallingly since they had been married, but he had also cheated on her and in April's mind that was unforgiveable. What was even more unforgiveable to April was the fact that Bam seemed to have forgotten that he even had a wife and child. At first April had assumed that he was simply in denial, but as the months passed by without any action, she was confronted by the possibility that her own son no longer cared that he was a father. She had made her feelings on this very clear to anyone who would listen, but all she had achieved was alienating her son. Bam now refused to have a conversation with his mother, knowing it would only lead to her having a go at him. This did not deter April and she continued to visit as often as possible, knowing that her presence alone would remind Bam of her opinion. During these times they were civil to one another but that was now the extent of their relationship.
Little did April know, Bam had a plan. His mother was right to assume that for the first few months Bam had been in some sort of state of denial, accompanied by the fact that he was enjoying his new found single life and as far as he was concerned he had all the time in the world to sort his domestic situation out. After all, money and time were not an issue for him. For seven months he had no contact with his wife whatsoever and if it wasn't for April's constant interfering he wouldn't even know that she was now living and working in LA and that Brandon was perfectly fine. Now, seven months after Amelia had left him, Bam was ready to do something about it. This motivation had evolved as Bam had grown tired of seeing pictures in magazines and celebrity news shows of his wife and child with another man. A man no less, than his former close friend. Although Bam had not confronted him about it, or spoken to him at all in fact, Bam no longer considered Johnny Knoxville to be a friend and he hope he would never see him again.
Their relationship might not be 'official' but the guy had some nerve, Bam thought angrily. As if it hadn't been enough that throughout the course of Bam's relationship with Amelia, it was glaringly obvious that Knoxville was in love with her, the moment Bam let his guard down Knoxville had pounced and taken what did not belong to him. Bam's friends had tried to talk Bam around, pointing out that this animosity towards Knoxville was not healthy and that it would jeopardise any Jackass projects in the future, Bam did not particularly care. The way he saw it, Amelia and Knoxville had done a perfectly good job of jeopardising the future of Jackass all by themselves. There was no way he would ever be willing to work with the two of them again, and what made it worse was the fact that Tremaine and the others were clearly in support of them. The term 'betrayal' didn't even come close and as the press coverage of Amelia and Knoxville increased, Bam had spoken to his lawyers and was ready to claim what was rightfully his. His son.
Bam's best friend Ryan Dunn and his girlfriend Rose Jones were cooling off in the pool, watching the silent and one sided exchange between mother and son. Despite his allegiance to Bam, Ryan agreed vehemently with April and found it troubling that Bam had made no effort to see his son for over half a year. Ryan recalled Bam vowing that he would fight for Brandon when Amelia left but so far he had not lived up to this promise and Ryan was finding it increasingly difficult to stay loyal to his friend when Bam was acting like such an idiot by drinking too much and sleeping with so many women. Ryan looked over at Rose, who was lying on her back on an inflatable Lilo. Rose had graduated at the start of the summer and had decided to spend the following months in West Chester with Ryan. She and Ryan were still going strong, however, as Amelia's sister, Rose was firmly anti-Bam and this was starting to put a strain on their relationship. Now that she had finished university, Rose was starting to look for a job and Ryan knew that the next few weeks could determine their future together as she would have to make up her mind on where she wanted to live. She had already made it very clear that she would not be following in her older sister's footsteps.
Bam was not the only one with a secret. Rose had already received two job offers, one in England and one in LA. She had not yet told Ryan as she still hadn't made up her mind and she didn't want to upset him unnecessarily. She had known from the start that Ryan would never leave West Chester and she wasn't sure if she wanted to make this her permanent home. She loved Ryan to bits but Rose was too young to settle down yet and the temptation to live closer to her sister and nephew was becoming harder to resist every day.
All of a sudden the sound of a ringtone filled the garden and Bam sat up, pulling his phone from his shorts' pocket. Glancing around at his guests, Bam thought better of taking the call in front of them and made his way inside for some privacy.