Author's Note: Sorry bout the lack of updates. I have company over.
Anyways, this is chapter three, and I'm at a major roadblock in my story.
So, chapter . . . whatever . . . . won't be up for a while until I at least
get some more chapter's up. No sneak peeks either. ^_^
Please read and review so I can figure out where to go from where I'm at in
my story. Thanks so much!
~*~*~
Kyle was doing his homework in his room. His radio was tuned into the local rock alternative station, blaring the song 'Crawling in the Dark'.
"Kyle!! Kyle, can you get the door? I'm busy right now." his mom cried out to him.
"Yeah, well, I'm busy too. I've got homework ya know!"
"You can take three seconds of your time to get the door!" she argued. Growling, Kyle rolled off his bed and walked to the door. He looked through the peephole and smiled at the sight of Mac. Maybe he can get him away from his homework for a while to play some basketball or listen to music for a while.
Kyle opened it and his face fell when he saw three uniformed men accompanying Mac. "Can I help you?" he raised an eyebrow as he spoke.
"Yes. Can we have a word with your mom? Little situation. Not to be alarmed."
Kyle moved aside and called out to his mom. "Hey mom! Got some visitors. Say they wanna talk to ya about something."
Mac turned to the men and smiled. "Hey, can I talk to my dawg for now? Until you get that slip thing filled out?"
"Sure. Doesn't bother us." and they filed over to Kyle's mom, who was wiping her hands with a towel.
Kyle's puzzled expression made Mac smirk triumphantly. "You won't believe who those guys are. Take a wild guess."
"Uh, have no clue. It can't be social services because you're too ecstatic about all this."
"THE SSX OFFICIALS!" Mac shouted, jumping up and down.
"Whoa, you're joking. Those same guys I were talking to earlier were SSX officials? Oh sweet! Uh . . . what do they want with my mom?"
"Oh, just her signature that I can join the SSX World Circuit. I had to have a parent's permission to enter." he replied casually.
"You mean to say . . . you can hang out with all the SSX boarders?! Like Marisol and JP?!"
"Yup! I get to be part of the action!" he paused. "No, wait! I'll be the action! Can you believe this?!"
"Macster, this is awesome! We'll see ya on TV. Just, when you give your speech at some fancy, smancy award ceremony, don't forget us little people."
"Ah, bro. Don't worry about that. You'll be the first I thank."
They both shuffled their feet nervously. "So, what's next? Are you leaving immediately after you leave here?"
"Yeah. They don't want me to be alone like this, so they're taking me to the hotel where everyone else is staying at. Afterwards, we're practicing our moves on some private course."
"You think they have Internet? Maybe you can e-mail me while you're gone and all."
"Kyle, I'm not moving. I'll be back for summer. Snowboarding has the word 'snow' in it for a reason. But I'm almost positive they'll have Internet. They're going to make me do schoolwork, since I'm still officially supposed to be in school."
Kyle's mom came out from the kitchen, followed by the SSX officials, smiling broadly. "Finally, Mac. Your hard work is paying off. I signed the permission slip. You're officially in the SSX."
"Alright. Finally, I get to be in the limelight." he muttered to himself.
"Mac, bro. You take care of yourself. And I'll be here when you want any tips from the master. Aight?" Kyle nodded.
Mac couldn't help but smile and gave his friend a high-five. "Aight." he turned to Kyle's mom. "Thanks for everything this past two years. And a special thanks for the signature."
"No problem Mac. Please, have a good time." she nodded, embracing him in a hug as well.
"C'mon Mac. We still gotta get you to the hotel and assign you a roommate." one SSX official interrupted.
"See ya guys later!" he waved as he ran outside the door and to the parking lot, next to the car that he arrived in.
Leaning against it, he smiled and looking into the azure sky. For the first time in three years, he felt like the storm clouds were breaking apart and revealing the rays of the sun. And happiness actually seemed like more than a dream. It was a reality.
~*~*~
With his bags in his hands, Mac was lead to a meeting room, where all the rest of the SSX boarders were already. His palms were sweating and he didn't even notice his knuckles were white from gripping the bags so hard.
From the time he left Kyle's house to now had been total chaos. He hadn't known what to pack, and when he had everything put in his first bag, it ripped in the bottom. So he had to quickly find another bag to put half the stuff in it. Then traffic held them up for at least a half-hour. And conversation wasn't exactly great.
"Mac, please walk faster. We're ten minutes late already. The boarders won't be too pleased."
"Yeah, yeah. I'm going as fast as I can with these." Mac held up the baggage he held, struggling desperately.
"Don't worry. It's not that far. Right down the hallway."
And they were right, because at the end of the hallway, the very end of the hallway, was the door to the boardroom. Trembling, he tiptoed inside with the officials right behind. Everyone stopped their chatting and bickering immediately. All eyes were drawn to the new kid.
Mac walked up to the man in the front of the room. He nodded and turned to everyone else. "I've called you all here because we have a new boarder who will be joining you all. His name is Mackenzie Fraser."A few people snickered at his name.
Mac corrected him. "Actually, I go by Mac. I haven't been called Mackenzie since the second grade."
A rather fat man on his right side laughed again. "Still a lame name."
"Luther . . ." a Japanese girl opposite of him warned in a strong Japanese accent. She looked back at Mac and smiled, causing him to blush a light tint of pink.
"Thank you Kaori. Now, if we may continue. Mac, you may take your seat somewhere. And place your bags over there. We'll have someone come by and put them in your room. Now . . ."
Mac put his bags by the door and looked for a spot to sit. The only chair was by the wall, away from the others. He walked over to it and sat in it quietly, crossing his arms across his chest. While the officials were talking, he was sizing everyone up. There was Luther, the fat guy, sitting next to some boy-band look-alike. A rather intimidating guy with many tattoos and piercings and brown hair clumped and spiked up. Next to him was a girl with purple hair and a few tattoos on her arms. A darker skinned guy looked laid back and cool. He had goggles with the British flag on them and one or two tattoos and tons of piercings.
A blonde, Spanish-looking girl was sitting next to a bald, African-American woman. Both were whispering and giggling excitedly, with a girl who looked like the Spanish chick's sister and a seventies hippie rolling their eyes at their conversation.
And a tall, blonde, surfer dude paid close attention to the officials, Kaori sitting next to him.
"Mac? Are you with us?" the man asked, snapping Mac back to reality.
"Uh, yeah. I was just . . . uh . . . thinking of the pressure ahead."
"Well, anyway. As I was saying. In two months is the World Circuit. We will first go to Elysium Alps, then over to Snowdream and Tokyo Megaplex. Around to Aloha Ice Jam in Hawaii, then to Mesablanca in southern United States. Then we fly north to Alaska. There, we will do a showoff at the nearby Untracked. Any questions?"
Everyone stared in awe. The boy-band looking kid raised one eyebrow. "Ah Rahzell . . . isn't that a lot for this year? We only five last year, including the showoff." he said in a rich, French accent that was rather hard to understand, taking off his Fendi sunglasses and leaning back in his chair.
"Yes, JP. But this year, we were able to reserve more slopes and cities."
"Alright with me. Means more money." said the girl with the purple hair. The two guys next to her laughed.
Mac had the greatest look of confusion on his face. Because he didn't know anyone or their names, it was hard to keep up. Rahzell took notice, because he spoke up immediatly. "Oh Mac. Seems you haven't been introduced to everyone. Alright. Starting from my right is Luther, JP, Psymon, Zoe, Moby, Marisol, Seeiah, Eddie, Elise, Brodi, and Kaori."
Everyone said hi, or waved, depending on their personality. Mac was too shy to say anything back, only bowing his head.
"Well, now that everything's settled, I guess you should all head back to your rooms. And I'll see you tomorrow at the slopes," Everyone stood up and filed from the room. "Ahh . . . Moby, can I see you for a moment? And you too, Mac."
Both stood at the podium where Rahzell smiled at them. "Look, if it's about that party that we had last week, I had nothing to do with it." Moby bit his lower lip nervously and spoke in an English accent.
"There was a party last week?" Rahzell raised one eyebrow and pursed his lips. There was a strong rule against parties during the practice months. Somehow, though, they managed to sneak a get together in once in a while.
"What? Did I say party? My bad, I meant something else. What did you want to say?"
"Actually, Moby. Seeing as you're the only person without a roommate, I thought maybe you'd let Mac be your roomie."
Moby looked down at Mac, who was staring around the room but still listening. He turned back to the official. "Look, I can't. I mean, this little guy? Heck no, mate." he stepped back in disgust.
" I'd stick him with someone else. But JP is paying good money to keep his room down to two people and Psymon, Eddie and Brodi have enough trouble with just the three of them. We've tried to follow your wishes, but we're at a loss. If you don't take this, you'll sleep in the hallway."
"Fine by me." Moby agreed, his arms crossed triumphantly.
"In nothing but your birthday suit."
He widened his eyes. "You've gotta be kidding! You can't do that! That's blackmail!"
"No, son. It's called 'getting-my-way'. Now what's your answer?" he leered.
"Rahzell . . . I hate you. Blackmailin' me . . . you've gotta be kidding."
"Mac?" Rahzell called. "Moby will help you move in. You're rooming with him. Have any problems or questions, call me." he explained while leaving the room.
Moby glared at Mac angrily. "Let's get one thing straight. I don't take orders from you, and I'm in charge. I don't like roommates."
"I never said you had to like me. Now help me get this stuff upstairs." Mac muttered, handing a bag over to him. Moby took it and dropped it to the ground at it's weight.
"Hey! There's some fragile stuff in there." Mac exclaimed.
"Dang, boy! What do ya keep in here? Bricks?" Moby grunted.
"Got alotta my board stuff in there. And a few pictures. That's all."
"Pictures of what? Your stupid family?" He tried putting Mac down.
"Something like that." he whispered, shifting his bag over to his other shoulder.
Author's Note: Hey, so, how was it? Well . . . uh . . . I'll try and get another chapter up by Tuesday. But, school starts Wednesday and I'm gonna have less time doing this. But I'll still try. Review now! Ciao!
~*~*~
Kyle was doing his homework in his room. His radio was tuned into the local rock alternative station, blaring the song 'Crawling in the Dark'.
"Kyle!! Kyle, can you get the door? I'm busy right now." his mom cried out to him.
"Yeah, well, I'm busy too. I've got homework ya know!"
"You can take three seconds of your time to get the door!" she argued. Growling, Kyle rolled off his bed and walked to the door. He looked through the peephole and smiled at the sight of Mac. Maybe he can get him away from his homework for a while to play some basketball or listen to music for a while.
Kyle opened it and his face fell when he saw three uniformed men accompanying Mac. "Can I help you?" he raised an eyebrow as he spoke.
"Yes. Can we have a word with your mom? Little situation. Not to be alarmed."
Kyle moved aside and called out to his mom. "Hey mom! Got some visitors. Say they wanna talk to ya about something."
Mac turned to the men and smiled. "Hey, can I talk to my dawg for now? Until you get that slip thing filled out?"
"Sure. Doesn't bother us." and they filed over to Kyle's mom, who was wiping her hands with a towel.
Kyle's puzzled expression made Mac smirk triumphantly. "You won't believe who those guys are. Take a wild guess."
"Uh, have no clue. It can't be social services because you're too ecstatic about all this."
"THE SSX OFFICIALS!" Mac shouted, jumping up and down.
"Whoa, you're joking. Those same guys I were talking to earlier were SSX officials? Oh sweet! Uh . . . what do they want with my mom?"
"Oh, just her signature that I can join the SSX World Circuit. I had to have a parent's permission to enter." he replied casually.
"You mean to say . . . you can hang out with all the SSX boarders?! Like Marisol and JP?!"
"Yup! I get to be part of the action!" he paused. "No, wait! I'll be the action! Can you believe this?!"
"Macster, this is awesome! We'll see ya on TV. Just, when you give your speech at some fancy, smancy award ceremony, don't forget us little people."
"Ah, bro. Don't worry about that. You'll be the first I thank."
They both shuffled their feet nervously. "So, what's next? Are you leaving immediately after you leave here?"
"Yeah. They don't want me to be alone like this, so they're taking me to the hotel where everyone else is staying at. Afterwards, we're practicing our moves on some private course."
"You think they have Internet? Maybe you can e-mail me while you're gone and all."
"Kyle, I'm not moving. I'll be back for summer. Snowboarding has the word 'snow' in it for a reason. But I'm almost positive they'll have Internet. They're going to make me do schoolwork, since I'm still officially supposed to be in school."
Kyle's mom came out from the kitchen, followed by the SSX officials, smiling broadly. "Finally, Mac. Your hard work is paying off. I signed the permission slip. You're officially in the SSX."
"Alright. Finally, I get to be in the limelight." he muttered to himself.
"Mac, bro. You take care of yourself. And I'll be here when you want any tips from the master. Aight?" Kyle nodded.
Mac couldn't help but smile and gave his friend a high-five. "Aight." he turned to Kyle's mom. "Thanks for everything this past two years. And a special thanks for the signature."
"No problem Mac. Please, have a good time." she nodded, embracing him in a hug as well.
"C'mon Mac. We still gotta get you to the hotel and assign you a roommate." one SSX official interrupted.
"See ya guys later!" he waved as he ran outside the door and to the parking lot, next to the car that he arrived in.
Leaning against it, he smiled and looking into the azure sky. For the first time in three years, he felt like the storm clouds were breaking apart and revealing the rays of the sun. And happiness actually seemed like more than a dream. It was a reality.
~*~*~
With his bags in his hands, Mac was lead to a meeting room, where all the rest of the SSX boarders were already. His palms were sweating and he didn't even notice his knuckles were white from gripping the bags so hard.
From the time he left Kyle's house to now had been total chaos. He hadn't known what to pack, and when he had everything put in his first bag, it ripped in the bottom. So he had to quickly find another bag to put half the stuff in it. Then traffic held them up for at least a half-hour. And conversation wasn't exactly great.
"Mac, please walk faster. We're ten minutes late already. The boarders won't be too pleased."
"Yeah, yeah. I'm going as fast as I can with these." Mac held up the baggage he held, struggling desperately.
"Don't worry. It's not that far. Right down the hallway."
And they were right, because at the end of the hallway, the very end of the hallway, was the door to the boardroom. Trembling, he tiptoed inside with the officials right behind. Everyone stopped their chatting and bickering immediately. All eyes were drawn to the new kid.
Mac walked up to the man in the front of the room. He nodded and turned to everyone else. "I've called you all here because we have a new boarder who will be joining you all. His name is Mackenzie Fraser."A few people snickered at his name.
Mac corrected him. "Actually, I go by Mac. I haven't been called Mackenzie since the second grade."
A rather fat man on his right side laughed again. "Still a lame name."
"Luther . . ." a Japanese girl opposite of him warned in a strong Japanese accent. She looked back at Mac and smiled, causing him to blush a light tint of pink.
"Thank you Kaori. Now, if we may continue. Mac, you may take your seat somewhere. And place your bags over there. We'll have someone come by and put them in your room. Now . . ."
Mac put his bags by the door and looked for a spot to sit. The only chair was by the wall, away from the others. He walked over to it and sat in it quietly, crossing his arms across his chest. While the officials were talking, he was sizing everyone up. There was Luther, the fat guy, sitting next to some boy-band look-alike. A rather intimidating guy with many tattoos and piercings and brown hair clumped and spiked up. Next to him was a girl with purple hair and a few tattoos on her arms. A darker skinned guy looked laid back and cool. He had goggles with the British flag on them and one or two tattoos and tons of piercings.
A blonde, Spanish-looking girl was sitting next to a bald, African-American woman. Both were whispering and giggling excitedly, with a girl who looked like the Spanish chick's sister and a seventies hippie rolling their eyes at their conversation.
And a tall, blonde, surfer dude paid close attention to the officials, Kaori sitting next to him.
"Mac? Are you with us?" the man asked, snapping Mac back to reality.
"Uh, yeah. I was just . . . uh . . . thinking of the pressure ahead."
"Well, anyway. As I was saying. In two months is the World Circuit. We will first go to Elysium Alps, then over to Snowdream and Tokyo Megaplex. Around to Aloha Ice Jam in Hawaii, then to Mesablanca in southern United States. Then we fly north to Alaska. There, we will do a showoff at the nearby Untracked. Any questions?"
Everyone stared in awe. The boy-band looking kid raised one eyebrow. "Ah Rahzell . . . isn't that a lot for this year? We only five last year, including the showoff." he said in a rich, French accent that was rather hard to understand, taking off his Fendi sunglasses and leaning back in his chair.
"Yes, JP. But this year, we were able to reserve more slopes and cities."
"Alright with me. Means more money." said the girl with the purple hair. The two guys next to her laughed.
Mac had the greatest look of confusion on his face. Because he didn't know anyone or their names, it was hard to keep up. Rahzell took notice, because he spoke up immediatly. "Oh Mac. Seems you haven't been introduced to everyone. Alright. Starting from my right is Luther, JP, Psymon, Zoe, Moby, Marisol, Seeiah, Eddie, Elise, Brodi, and Kaori."
Everyone said hi, or waved, depending on their personality. Mac was too shy to say anything back, only bowing his head.
"Well, now that everything's settled, I guess you should all head back to your rooms. And I'll see you tomorrow at the slopes," Everyone stood up and filed from the room. "Ahh . . . Moby, can I see you for a moment? And you too, Mac."
Both stood at the podium where Rahzell smiled at them. "Look, if it's about that party that we had last week, I had nothing to do with it." Moby bit his lower lip nervously and spoke in an English accent.
"There was a party last week?" Rahzell raised one eyebrow and pursed his lips. There was a strong rule against parties during the practice months. Somehow, though, they managed to sneak a get together in once in a while.
"What? Did I say party? My bad, I meant something else. What did you want to say?"
"Actually, Moby. Seeing as you're the only person without a roommate, I thought maybe you'd let Mac be your roomie."
Moby looked down at Mac, who was staring around the room but still listening. He turned back to the official. "Look, I can't. I mean, this little guy? Heck no, mate." he stepped back in disgust.
" I'd stick him with someone else. But JP is paying good money to keep his room down to two people and Psymon, Eddie and Brodi have enough trouble with just the three of them. We've tried to follow your wishes, but we're at a loss. If you don't take this, you'll sleep in the hallway."
"Fine by me." Moby agreed, his arms crossed triumphantly.
"In nothing but your birthday suit."
He widened his eyes. "You've gotta be kidding! You can't do that! That's blackmail!"
"No, son. It's called 'getting-my-way'. Now what's your answer?" he leered.
"Rahzell . . . I hate you. Blackmailin' me . . . you've gotta be kidding."
"Mac?" Rahzell called. "Moby will help you move in. You're rooming with him. Have any problems or questions, call me." he explained while leaving the room.
Moby glared at Mac angrily. "Let's get one thing straight. I don't take orders from you, and I'm in charge. I don't like roommates."
"I never said you had to like me. Now help me get this stuff upstairs." Mac muttered, handing a bag over to him. Moby took it and dropped it to the ground at it's weight.
"Hey! There's some fragile stuff in there." Mac exclaimed.
"Dang, boy! What do ya keep in here? Bricks?" Moby grunted.
"Got alotta my board stuff in there. And a few pictures. That's all."
"Pictures of what? Your stupid family?" He tried putting Mac down.
"Something like that." he whispered, shifting his bag over to his other shoulder.
Author's Note: Hey, so, how was it? Well . . . uh . . . I'll try and get another chapter up by Tuesday. But, school starts Wednesday and I'm gonna have less time doing this. But I'll still try. Review now! Ciao!