It was a short walk from the park to reach where the Gang lived. Velma paced herself so the shorter legged Marcie could keep up with her longer paces. It felt a bit funny to Velma that for once she was the taller one, since it didn't happen to often. She was more used to having to walk faster to keep up. But ever with the self-conscious Velma trying to pace herself, Marcie was struggling a bit. She didn't want to show it though, since she wanted to impress Velma as much as she could.
When they reached the house, Marcie was surprised at its size and how simple it looked. Not that she had though Velma would live in something bad, but being famous people were usually flashier about it.
The house she was looking at looked rather plain, and normal. It was a three-story house, painted a light blue color. The side paneling was all wood, and the roof was shingled. The large lawn was split down the middle by the stone walk, made up of embedded stepping-stones that reached the front. Wrapping around most of the front and part of the left side of the house, was a white painted porch. It had a railing that followed with it and at the end of the left side was a hanging swing. It had room enough for two people, and it looked well used. The cushions were indented from where people had sat over many summers of reading, lemonade drinking and stargazing. The front of the house was dominated by two long bow windows. Between the two windows was a pair of plastic lawn chairs and a short table for putting things on. Also wrapping the length of the house was a small, cute flower garden. Colorful flowers and bits of shrubbery made it up to give color to the house. Along the side of the house was a rather long driveway, with a fence on one side to separate it from the neighbors. The driveway could fit about three vans comfortably before ending at a double-doored garage.
Velma watched as Marcie took in the house. Giving it a look herself, she remembered the long days it had taken her and the gang to repair and update the house to code. Not that Miss Snowlark had taken poor care of the house, but as she got older, it became harder to maintain the outside as much as she did the inside. Once Marcie had gotten a good enough look around, Velma moved towards the backyard, waving for her to follow.
"Come on, we will start in the backyard."
Shaking her head, Marcie pulled herself away from looking at the house. Trotting to catch up, she followed after Velma towards the backyard. She fought back the glee that had finally caught up to her, being able to finally learn how to skateboard and then show those stupid boys that a girl like her could learn too! And from what little Marcie had seen of Velma, she really knew what she was doing. Marcie bet that the woman could show her all these cool tricks to show off to her brother and his snotty friends. This was going to be GREAT! Or so she thought.
"So! So! What do we do first?" Chirped Marcie as she clutched her skateboard to herself cheerfully.
"Well first, I want us to stretch out." Velma said as she put her board off to the side and sat on the grass in the back yard. An 'awwwww' came from Marcie as she crossed her arms in grumpiness.
"I thought we were going to learn skateboarding, not PE class." She pouted. All of her grand dreams dissolving into just another phys ed class.
"Well, stretching is very important." Velma commented. "At times the board might slide out from under you and a foot might get stuck on it and follow. Would you want to pull your hip and not be able to ride because you didn't stretch out before? Stretching helps prevent accidents. If your body is all loose and ready for an activity, you tend to get hurt less." Stretching might have saved her and the gang a few injuries on the go. But then again, it's a bit hard to ask the monster to wait while you stretched before a chase scene.
With a sigh, Marcie sat down and copied the stretching Velma had started to do. She didn't fully get why she should be doing it, but the sooner they did it, the sooner she would be able to ride. Though, a few times when she had tried to learn she had experienced a hurt leg or two. Maybe the stretching might help. Though she was hoping Velma would teach her to ride, since if she was able to ride well, then she wouldn't even have to worry about falling and getting hurt.
Velma put Marcie through a few stretches before she felt the girl was ok enough to get on the board. All right, that s enough for now.
Marcie was more than ready to stop, itching to get on the board. She let out a groan as she watched Velma pull out a helmet and other protective gear. Velma looked over as Marcie groaned, and she shook her head.
"I know you don t seem to like protective gear. But it's really important. Your skating career could be cut short if you end up getting hurt. So protecting yourself is important."
Velma tried to emphasize. She loved her gear since it had saved her on a few occasions from getting really hurt. And she had seen one too many people get hurt without it. Looking over at Marcie she made motions for her to get out her gear. Grudgingly, Marcie complied and pulled out her gear from her backpack. She looked at the gear with distaste and then back up to the urging Velma. Well, Velma was wearing hers, so she looked dorkier then Marcie would since Velma is an adult and still wearing the knee and elbow pads. Marcie just hoped no one would be watching them from the backyard.
Marcie's fears would come true as a set of eyes had locked on the two of them. Watching carefully at what was unfolding in the backyard.
"Ok, so we stretched and got our gear on. Now, take your board and place it on the grass here." Velma said pointing to the grass in front of her.
Marcie yipped a hooray since she was finally going to learn something on the skateboard. Though she wondered why she wanted it on the grass, she didn't question it since she was going to actually learn something. Placing the board in front of Velma, Marcie looked up at the older woman and waited for her next instructions, though she wanted to just jump on the board and skate.
With an approving nod, Velma waved at the board.
"All right, hop on it and try to stay on. Find a comfortable spot on the board and feel it out. Rock yourself back and forth and keep on the board. You need to get used to your board and have a feel for all of its quirks. Shift to the middle, to the front and back. Get a good idea of all the aspects of the skateboard. The more you know and the more comfortable you are with your board the better."
Marcie looked at Velma oddly but then shrugged. Hopping on the board, she noticed right away it wasn't as solid as she thought it might. The slight sinking in the grass and the natural movement of the board almost made her fall off. A flail motion of her arms had righted herself from falling off. She did as she was told, shifting and getting a feel for the board, a bit of arm waving kept her on. While Marcie did this, Velma circled the young girl. Her form wasn't bad for someone starting out, but there was a lot of different with a stationary board and a moving one. But knowing your skateboard was important.
Setting up her board, Velma moved close to Marcie. The younger girl eyed her as she got on her board and wobbled a bit. It had been a long time since she had been on her own board so she was a bit rusty. The eager young girl watched as Velma did similar to herself and moved about the board. It was obvious after a minute that Velma wasn't as rusty as she thought.
"Alright, now the next lesson is really important, fall forward off the board." The girl looked skeptically up at Velma as she nodded towards her. Shrugging her shoulders, she fell forward off the board and caught herself by her hands. Marcie winced a bit as she hit the ground, but ignored it.
"Now while that kind of landing seems to make sense. It's not really good to land like that when you are on a skateboard. When you are traveling at a fast speed, if you land like that you can hurt your wrists. There are gloves that have a metal brace that can take the impact. The best thing is to catch yourself with your knees or elbows. The pads are there for protection from impacts. If you continue to catch yourself with your hands, you will most likely break your wrists. And trust me it's not a fun thing to go through.
Velma had it happen, though not from skateboarding, but it wasn't pleasant either way. Marcie s expression faded a bit on its intensity at Velma. Her wrists did hurt a bit from the sudden stop. And that was standing still, so she figured that it would hurt a lot more moving. With a brow furrowed, she understood Velma s meaning. Velma smiled and showed her how to land, moving forward and using her body to roll from her knee pads to her side and then into an elbow.
Marcie nodded as she watched Velma do it. She had seen some of the boys do that as well, but she never really understood why they were. She just thought it looked silly. Velma walked over as Marcie unconsciously rubbed her wrists. Gently, Velma went down on her knees and pulled one of Marcie's wrists towards her. On one side was a fading mark of a bruise, most likely from what she was just explaining about. Marcie looked down at her confused. Standing up, Velma guided Marcie to sit down on her board and then pulled her own closer.
"I know you are not interested in the helmets and pads. But you need to make sure you take care of yourself."
Marcie hmphed and turned away again, but eventually looked back at the staring Velma, who had not look away. She was serious.
"I know you really want to show off to your brother, but you want to be in one piece as well. The knee pads save your knees, preventing the cement from cutting them up and making bruises, same for the elbow pads." As Velma spoke, she tapped the gear she was speaking of. Trying to get the importance of safety to the younger girl. "If your head gets hurt, that can end up really bad. Safety is not a stupid idea. I know the boys think they are so cool copying the guys on the TV or video games that have no padding, but if you look at the official competitions they are all wearing pads. From Skateboarding to the fancy BMX bike tricks. The professionals even use them."
Marcie's expression softened, but then as she looked down at her gear, it went sour again.
"But... But they look so ugly..."
Velma opened her mouth but didn't get the chance to say anything when the pair of eyes that had been watching, came out into the open and revealed themselves.
"We can fix that."
"Oh no..." Velma groaned. The voice alone was enough to tell her who had been spying.
Marcie looked up in awe as the prettiest lady she had ever seen seemed to float into the backyard. She gracefully flowed into the yard and came over to stand behind the sitting Velma. It looked like so much of a contrast between Velma and this new woman. While Velma was dressed simple, in red, and in dorky protective gear. The woman standing above her seemed classy and more noble looking. Like a princess. Dressed in Purple and green, and looking cleaner against the paint splatter that Velma had been wearing.
Leaning her head back, Velma looked up and saw what she was expecting. Daphne. And the smile on her face meant she was up to no good.
"I don't like that grin. What are you thinking Blake?" Velma said flatly, as Marcie was still in awe. Daphne just smiled sweetly down at Velma.
"Oh, the usual. If she doesn't like the gear, we just have to find some that fit her. Pink is not her color anyway."
"Yes! Someone who understands!" Marcie finally chirped in, immediately liking the new woman. Velma drooped her head and placed a palm against her forehead with a groan, knowing what was coming next.
"... Shopping?"
"But of course!"
