"Sk8er Boi"
"Shane, is your room clean?" Amy Clarke asked her 12 year old son.
"Yes mom. Perfectly clean." Shane replied.
"Good. Now go shower. Porter will be home any minute now." Amy said.
"Yes ma'am." Shane said going up to his bathroom.
Shane Clarke was less than happy. His older brother, Porter Clarke, was returning from college for spring break. Porter was a 20 year old law student at UCLA on full scholarship. His parents were always bragging about Porter and his straight A's and what promise Porter showed. It was enough to make any kid sick. Shane could never hope to achieve what his brother had and didn't even try half the time. The worst thing was that Shane seemed to keep getting stuck with Porter's old teachers and the pressure that brought with it was intense. The teacher would see the name "Clarke" and expect Shane to be another Porter. Needless to say they were disappointed time and time again.
After Shane's shower he got dressed and went to wait for his brother and father to get home. While he waited his 7 year old sister, Claudia, walked into his room.
"Shane?" Claudia asked.
"Yeah Claud?" Shane replied.
"Why does Mommy love Porter more than us?" she asked.
Shane shrugged. "It's because he is the perfect child. Go get perfect grades and Mom will love you too."
"Why is Porter perfect?" Claudia went on to ask.
"Because he is. Now can you go away? I want to enjoy my room while I can. Porter is invading soon." Shane said.
"But Shane, I just want to talk to someone and Mommy is too busy finishing dinner for Porter to talk to me." Claudia said.
Shane sighed, "Fine, come in and sit down. Touch any of my stuff and you're dead meat."
"Thank you Shane." Claudia said softly.
A few minutes later they heard the front door open.
"Amy, Shane, Claudia…we're home." Brian Clarke said coming in.
Amy ran to the door to greet her husband and oldest son. "Porter, you're home. I've missed you so much."
"I've missed you too Mom." Porter said hugging his mother.
"Shane, Claudia come here, say hello to your brother." Amy said.
Shane walked up to Porter. "Hey." He mumbled.
"Hello Shane. How are you?" Porter asked.
"Eh…fine." Shane said.
"Hi Porter." Claudia said.
"Hey there Claudia. Have you been a good girl?" Porter asked picking her up, speaking to her in a baby voice as if she were 2.
"Yeah, I'm fine. Put me down. I don't need to be carried." She said.
"Oh how cute. You're trying to be a big girl." Porter said.
"Dude, she isn't a baby anymore. She's a little girl that doesn't need to be talked down to." Shane said.
"Dude? I see your English is as bad as ever." Porter said.
"Oh here we go…" Shane mumbled.
"How are your grades? Any improvements or are you still disappointing my ex-teachers?" Porter asked.
"Not to worry. You're still the smart Clarke. The teachers are as disappointed as ever in me." Shane said.
"Boys, come now. I've made your favorite dinner Porter. Let's sit down and you can tell us all about UCLA." Amy said.
"Sounds great, let me just put my bags in my room." Porter said.
"It's my room now." Shane said.
"Boys, you know the rules. When Porter comes to visit you boys have to share the room again." Amy said.
"Fine, I'll make the correction. I will go put my bags in our room. Better Shane?" Porter asked.
"Much." Shane mumbled.
At dinner Porter told, in great detail, about his college life. He bragged about his grades, how much his professors loves him, how wonderful of a student he was, and of course how many friends he had in his academic clubs. Shane tuned out about 75% of what Porter said. He didn't really care that Porter was on the Dean's List or that his advisor thought he could be the next great lawyer. All Shane cared about was finding something…just one single thing…he could do better than Porter.
After dinner the boys cleaned the kitchen and went into the living room.
"Porter, why don't you take your brother to the bowling ally? I'm sure you boys would like some time to catch up." Brian said.
"But he just got home." Amy said.
"Yeah I'm sure Porter would rather be with Mom than me." Shane said.
"Porter has all week to be with us. You boys go have some fun. Claudia can stay here. We need some time with her anyway." Brian said handing Porter the car keys and some money.
"OK, let's go Shane." Porter said.
"Fine." Shane mumbled as he followed his brother.
"But I wanna go." Claudia whined.
"Next time sweetie." Amy said.
"Ugh, not fair." Claudia whined.
"Have fun boys." Amy said as she watched the boys leave.
They got to the bowling ally and got a lane. Porter bowled first and got a strike. Shane sighed. Something else Porter did perfect.
"So what have you been up to?" Porter asked.
"Well, I got a part in the school play." Shane said.
"That's very good. I remember my school play when I was your age. I got the lead. What part did you get?" Porter asked.
"Oh…um….well just an extra." Shane said.
"Oh, well remember there are no small parts." Porter said.
"Yeah…right…" Shane mumbled.
"Anything else going on around here?" Porter asked.
"Not really. Nothing that would interest you." Shane said.
"If it's important to you then it's important to me." Porter said.
"Yeah right. Don't even pretend Porter." Shane said.
"What?" Porter asked.
"I know I'm just a blemish to your reputation. The one thing not perfect in your life. Claudia feels that way too. We know we can never measure up to you. The only bright side is she will have our teachers with them expecting another me so they won't be disappointed that she isn't you. You're so perfect it's disgusting. Well you know what? I'm sick of it. Don't even worry about me anymore. I'm out of here." Shane said putting his shoes on.
"Where are you going Shane?" Porter asked.
"I'm going to try to find something that you don't do perfect. If there is such a thing." Shane said running off before Porter could stop him.
Shane went to the track…then he remembered Porter won gold in his senior track meet. That wouldn't work. After that he went to the golf course…*wait Porter did that perfect too. Ok…next* Shane thought to himself. He headed to the basketball court…but Porter did that well too. Shane was just about to give up hope when he ended up at the skate park *now wait a second. Porter doesn't skate…at all. There's no way he is perfect at this…* Shane thought to himself. He went and rented a board to give it a try. Needless to say he wasn't great at first but he wasn't horrible. After messing around with the board awhile he decided this was something he could really get into. He took his savings and went and bought his own board.
Shane finally headed home. Porter was already in the bedroom that the two boys shared.
"Feeling better?" Porter asked.
"Depends. You never skated right?" Shane asked, he knew the answer but was double checking.
"Me? Skate? Never." Porter said.
"In that case I'm much better." Shane said getting in bed and going to sleep.