Chapter Two – Coraline

"Coraline?" asked Zack. He had just arrived at the skateboard park to find the black-haired beauty at the top of one of the ramps. She was wearing a red tank-top with a Three Days Grace logo, light blue jeans and black converses. "What are you doing here?"

"What does it look like I'm doing?" Coraline asked, laughing. She flipped her long black hair back.

He had to laugh as well. "How long have you been skateboarding?"

"Six years," she replied. She dropped in and skateboarded to one of the rails. She grinded down the rail perfectly and came over to where Zack was standing, stopping about a foot and a half away from him.

"Nice," said Zack, obviously impressed.

"What can you do, Zack?" Coraline, asked, smirking.

"Huh?" Zack said, not entirely paying attention.

"You skateboard, right?" Coraline asked, smiling.

"Yeah, I've been skateboarding for seven years!"

"Alright, then do something! Show me what you've got!"

Zack went down the ramp. He skateboarded around in a circle to gain speed, and then went off the ramp in the center. He spun around, landed on his skateboard and skateboarded over to Coraline.

"Pretty good," Coraline said, smiling.

"How come I haven't seen you at this skateboard park before?"

"This is the second time I've been here. I just moved to Boston in August."

"Oh. Where'd you move from?"

"Grandview Heights, Ohio. It's a suburb of Columbus. You do know where Ohio is, right?"

"Duh. I'm not stupid."

"Could have fooled me."

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"Nothing. You just seem like you don't have a clue in geography."

"Well I do. So what do you think of this skateboard park?"

"It's awesome. Best one I've been to."

"Really?"

"Yeah. It's better than any skatepark in Columbus. Grandview Height's park is a joke. It's a bunch of wooden ramps and steel rails and it's not even permanent. It moves from the pool parking lot to the tennis courts at a local park every year. Hilliard has a little bit better, but horribly simple one. It's good for a beginner, but it was boring for me after about a year and a half. Dublin had a better park, but it wasn't great. Gahanna also had a decent park. This one is better than any of those Columbus parks!"

"That's good."

"So what else can you do on a skateboard?"

"I mostly do jumps and twists and stuff."

"Can you grind?"

"Decently."

"Can you land a jump over that set of stairs?" she asked, pointing at a set of six stairs.

"No. I've been working on being able to do it, though. I work on it every time I come here."

"I see."

"I'm assuming you can do it, since you asked."

"No. Actually, I don't know how to do a jump over a set of six stairs. Dublin and Gahanna only have a set of four stairs."

"Can you jump that?"

"Easily."

"Alright then. Why don't you try the set of six stairs?"

"You first."

"Okay then," Zack said. He got up and went over to the set of six stairs. He started skateboarding about 40 feet before the set of stairs. He gained speed and jumped over the set of stairs. He almost landed it, but he fell over backwards. When he got up and looked over at Coraline, she was laughing at him.

"Nice try, Zack," she said, laughing.

"You try it then," he said.

"Alright," she said, nervously. She went up to the set of stairs, looked at it nervously, and walked over to where Zack had started from. She did not gain as much speed, so when she jumped the skateboard came out from underneath her. She fell as soon as she hit the ground. Zack started laughing, but stopped as soon as he realized that she hadn't gotten up yet.

"Coraline!" he yelled, running over to her. "Are you okay?"

"Yeah," she replied. "I'm fine. Mind helping me get up?"

Zack held out his hand and Coraline took it, getting to her feet. "You sure you're okay?"

"Yeah," she replied.

"You didn't break or sprain anything?" Zack asked, anxiously.

"Nope," she replied, smiling. "I'd know if I had. Trust me! I've broken quite a few bones."

"Oh."

Coraline started walking over to the stairs. "Hold it!" Zack said. "Where are you going?"

"Back over to the stairs," Coraline replied.

"What? But you just fell! Pretty hard, I might add!"

"So?"

"Don't you want to start out small? Do something else?"

"No," Coraline replied, simply. "If you fall, get back up again. Try, try, again!" With that, she walked up to the top of the stairs. She and Zack took turns doing the jump over the stairs. After about 30 minutes, neither of them had actually landed a jump, so they gave up and did some other tricks and stuff.

"I think I'm gunna head off now," Coraline said, after they had been skateboarding for about two hours. "It's been very fun skateboarding with you, though. I look forward to doing it again!"

"Yeah, same here," Zack replied, smiling. "I had a lot of fun, too. Any chance you'd like to sit with my friends and me?"

"Maybe. Would your friends mind?"

"I doubt it. You're a really cool person."

"Thanks!"

"You're welcome."

"Bye. I really do need to get going!"

"Alright. Goodbye, Coraline!" Zack said, and she skateboarded off down the street. Zack left soon after, going the other way down the street.

The next day at lunch… "Hey guys!" Zack said, loudly, walking over to where Cody, Barbara, Max and Tapeworm were sitting. Coraline was following him. Zack sat down next to Cody, and Coraline sat down next to Zack on his other side. Zack began to eat.

"Hi. I'm Coraline," Coraline said, introducing herself. Cody, Barbara, Max and Tapeworm introduced themselves.

"So, how do you know my brother?" Cody asked Coraline.

"She sits in front of me in geography," Zack replied, before Coraline could respond.

"I believe I was supposed to answer, Zack," Coraline said, looking at him.

"Oh," he said, simply.

"Anyways… Yeah, I sit in front of him in geography, but he barely even spoke to me until yesterday, when we were at the skateboard park," Coraline said.

"You skateboard?" Max asked.

"Yeah," Coraline replied.

"She's really good," Zack added.

"Hey," said Seth, suddenly appearing next to Tapeworm.

Tapeworm gasped, slightly startled. "Oh. Hi Seth," he said.

"Sorry to interrupt your conversation, but I wanted to give you Blaine's address," Seth said, handing Zack a piece of paper. "His cell phone number is on there too, in case you get lost."

"I doubt we will," Cody said. "He lives very close to us. But, thanks anyways."

"No problem," Seth said. "See you at 8:00!"

"Bye," Zack said, and Seth walked away.

"What was that about?" Coraline asked.

"Oh. He invited us to a party tonight," Tapeworm said.

"You could probably come if you wanted to," Zack said, hopefully.

"Nah. I've already got plans with my family," Coraline replied.

"Oh," Zack replied.

"Thanks anyways, though," Coraline replied.

"No problem," Zack replied. The group then went back to their usual conversation, until the bell rang, signaling the end of lunch.