Disclamer: I own none of the Rocket Power Characters. But I do own the characters named Jess and Rob.

Chapter 3: Just a Regular Day

Sam woke up to a hand shaking his shoulder gently. He looked up to his mother's smiling face and then looked at his alarm clock to see that it wouldn't go off for another 30 minutes.

"Mom why'd you wake me so early?" he asked sleepily.

"Good morning to you too Sammy. I saw the results of last night's meet in the paper, you did very well! Not that that's any different from usual."(This was true, for Sam was one of the top runners on his cross country team,which was one of the top teams in the state)"I'm sorry I couldn't be there, but Tom made reservations weeks ago for the resturant we went to." Paula said.

"Thats okay, the weather was miserable. And I know how hard it is for Tom to afford dinner at a fancy resturant." Sam replied. Tom had started dating his mother six months ago and he was very different from her ex-husband. Unlike Doug, the successful advertiser for a big company whom drove a luxury car; Tom was a mechanic who's only mode of transpertation besides the auto shop's tow truck was a used Honda that he bought from a friend.

However, Tom was a kind, humorous, skinny man. Unlike his father who was overweight and was a bit "pushy" at times. Sam liked Tom, and Tom treated Sam like his own son. Whether it was going to his sporting events or teaching him how to drive and take care of a car.

"Thanks for being so understanding Sammy. I'll be working late tonight and Tom said he'll treat you to dinner since there's no food in the house." Paula said. "Have a nice day at school, I'm going to work." And she exited his room.

Sam was now fully awake and could not get back to sleep. He remembered his fight with Reggie and decided he should make peace with her before school started,he did not want a repeat of yesterday. Knowing very well that she would be at "The Shack" for breakfast like any other day, Sam got dressed. He hastily pulled on a pair of black Dickies pants and black t-shirt that read-"Hurley International" in red letters. He then ran into his bathroom.

"Shit!" he said after picking up an empty bottle of hair gel. He made a mental note to pick up more after school and brushed his teeth. After making sure that his spiked bracelets covered up last night's damage that he had done; Sam grabbed his backpack and skateboard and ran upstairs.

Once he was outside he jumped onto his skateboard and started riding down hill towards the pier at full speed. For with the teen years came carelessness, even for a boy whom once freaked out over the slightest scrape or bruise. Which explained why the only protection he wore for skateboarding this morning was a black beanie. Nowadays, Sam never only wore safety equipment when he was playing goalie in street hockey games with the Rockets and Twister or to compete in a street skatebaording competition. He wouldn't even go into Mad Town since he was not only required to wear pads but also pay a fee. Instead he just shredded up and down the streets of Ocean Shores- grinding rails and performing tricks over garbage cans, boxes, and sometimes even small children!

Yes, Sam had become quite good at skateboarding and considered by many of his peers to be able to win a street skateboarding competition with ease. Otto of course, disagreed with these people, but would never enter a street competition if he knew Sam was in it. Sam had proven these people right by placing first in several street skating competitions, but would only enter the event if there was a cash prize. 'Why bother otherwise?' Sam always thought to himself.

Continuing down the hill, Sam swerved around (and barely missed hitting) an old man whom was retreiving his morning paper. Sam could only laugh to himself as the elderly man yelled at him as sped away. "Damn teenagers!" the old man said to himself while turning away from Sam's retreating figure and walking back towards his house.

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17 year old Reggie Rocket sat by herself at the counter of The Shore Shack, picking at her un-eaten toast and reflecting back on yesterdays fight with Sam. Reggie was not at all freaked out by Sam's drastic change in his wardrobe and overall appearence. (No one was really, many adults, including Sam's mother, just thought of the whole thing as a phase that he would eventually grow out of. Reggie thought it suited him well, given that he was a fan of punk rock music; as for the lip ring, well she thought it made him look rather... seductive whenever he grinned mischeiviously or glared.

Yes, Reggie did have a small, unspoken of crush on Sam; as did a few other girls, but they were not kept as secrets like Reggie's. But unlike Reggie's they had started when Sam lost his baby fat. Reggie's crush on Sam started when she had gotten to know him a little better as a kid, and he was a kind of cute for a computer geek. But she hid these feelings well, unlike her crush on Trent; whom she had dated for a few months last year until she dumped him when he forbid her from having male friends.

Sam was Reggie's best friend of the opposite sex, possibly even the best friend she had ever had. He helped her with the 'Zine, never treated her differently because of her gender, and always seemed to be able to read her mood. They never fought.

Sherry always said they would make a great couple, despite that she too had a crush on Sam and once cornered him to ask him out, but she never got to ask him because he made up an excuse about being late for something and left. He avoided her for a week until she finally gave up.

"Weird" Reggie said to herself as she thought back to that day when Sherry told her what happened when she tried to ask Sam out. This happened to every girl that tried to ask him out. Reggie once considered that he might be gay, but that idea was quickly destroyed the next day when she caught him looking at some girls sunbathing.

"Hey Reg." A voice interupted Reggie's train of thought. She looked up to see a skinny young man dressed in black looking at her rather nervously.

"Hello Sam." she replied sourly.

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Sam was a bit taken back by Reggie's bad mood. He started talking anyway. "I-uh, thought we could talk about what happened yesterday. You know, with me snappping at you everything."

"What's there to talk about?" she replied coldly.

Sam sighed and said-"You have every right to be mad at me. I was an asshole for yelling at you...you were right, I should have just ignored that guy who made fun of me. I'm sorry Reg, I was just in a bad mood yesterday."

Reggie was a bit stunned, she was expecting Sam to try and convince her that he had good reasons for fighting. But with his constant mood swings that Reggie had noticed that he was displaying lately (although they had been going on for several years), it was hard for anyone to predict what Sam's mood would be like for a day.

"Um...apology accepted Sammy. I'm sorry for yelling too, I noticed you weren't yourself yesterday. I saw the race results in the paper though, good job!" Sam mumbled a thanks. Reggie continued "hey, why don't we go surfing afterschool today, after your cross country practice and my surf team workout, of course." Reggie, Otto, and Twister were all on the school surf team (hey, they are in California afterall).

"You sure? Going surfing after two hours of swimming drills and being critcized about your surfing abilities by some old, washed-up, ex-pro surfer?" Sam asked in mock disbelief. "Sure why not? I could use some waves." He added. Reggie laughed.

"Hey, my coach isn't that bad, at least he doesn't make me run up hills that are at a ninety degree angle!" She joked. "Besides its been like, forever since we had a surf session together ya know?"

Sam gave her a smile that made her weak in the the knees. "You're right Reg, so I'll meet you at the beach around say, 5:30?" He asked.

Reggie nodded and without another word she strapped her helmet on and both teens skated towards the school, chatting along the way about un-important topics to keep from having an awkward silence.

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In front of the entrance of Ocean Shores High, stood two deeply tanned boys dubbed in baggy shorts and t-shirts with skateboard company logos on them. The shorter one stood tall at a height of 6 feet, with red dreadlocks that reached his shoulders. His body was grossly muscular; and he considered himself to be god's gift to women. If you haven't guessed it yet, his name was Otto Rocket.

The other boy was three inches taller and had messy auburn hair that he hid under a backwards red baseball cap with an "Element Skateboards" logo sewn in on the front. He was fumbling with his trusty camcorder, needless to say this was Twister Rodrigez.

"Dude, do you think Reg and Sam will actually talk to eachother today." Otto asked his best friend. Twister looked up and saw the two friends skating towards them in the distance.

"It looks like they already have, O-man." he said while pointing to the two approaching figures.

"Hey guys" Sam greeted the two boys when they finally reached them.

"Looks like you two are talking again there, Shady." Otto replied. Six years after Sam had moved to Ocean Shores, it seemed stupid to refer to him as "the squid"; When Sam had changed his look a few years ago, Otto and Twist started calling him "Shady" for his dark apppearence. Thus he earned himself a new nickname.

"Yeah, so me and Sam are going surfing after practice, tou guys wanna come?" Reggie asked.

"Reg, are you crazy?!! Going surfing after two solid hours of it! I'll pass." Twister relpied hysterically.

"I'm with Twist, but good luck not falling asleep Reg." Otto added.

"Whatever, you lame-o." Reggie said, but inside she breathed a sigh of relief. 'I really need to talk to Sam' she thought to herself.

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After parting with the Rocket crew, Sam walked into his first period art class and sat down at his usual seat in the corner of the room. Class didn't start for another five minutes, so he took out his sketchbook and started drawing. A few minutes later, a wad of paper hit him in the head. He annoyingly looked up to see a girl with black hair grinning at him.

"What up loser?" she said in a joking manner. Her smooth dark hair reached the small of her back, her clothes were as dark as her hair. Like Sam, she also had a face piercing except hers was located on her left eyebrow.

"Nice to see you too Jess." Sam replied. Jessica Stone moved to Ocean Shores a few years ago, and had quickly become friends with Sam because of their similar tastes in music.

"Hey! A dragon!" Jess said excitidly, refering to Sam's drawing. "That is so cool! Is it another design for a skateboard deck?"

"Yep, Raymundo said my last design sold so well, that he wanted another one!" Sam said. Sam had always been rather artistic, but only recently had he started coming up with designs for skateboard decks for Rocket Boards(Ray Rocket's small surf and skate company). He also did some illustrations for Reggie's 'Zine and was considering going into graphic design.

"Guys! You will never guess what's happening this weekend!" a voice from behind said. The two "punks" turned around to see a tall boy dressed in baggy black bondage pants and a tight red t-shirt. His brown hair was spiked up and was dyed purple on the tips.

"Oh my god Rob! Are you gonna do your laundry for a change?" Jess asked sarcastically. Rob gave her an annoyed look and said.

"No you dumb bitch! And for your information I wash my clothes after I wear them twice, whether they need it or not. Oh, and 'Rebellious Lawn Gnomes' are playing at "The Mourge" on Saturday night and I have three tickets to see them!!"

"No Way!" Sam and Jess said at the same time. 'Rebellious Lawn Gnomes' was the name of a local punk rock band that Sam, Jess, and Rob had seen several times and admired greatly. "The Mourge" was the name of a small, seedy club where various unknown rock bands played. It only allowed people over twenty one, but the security was so poor, that the three teens had went in several times and no one seemed to care.(Sam, of course never mentioned it to his "old" friends)

"So, you guys in?" Rob asked.

"Hell yeah!" Sam said loudly. Jess gave a loud screech of joy which caused other people to look at the trio more oddly than usual. They spent the rest of the period talking about the weekend, not bothering with doing any real work.

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That afternoon, Sam and Rob went to cross country practice. Since they had a big meet the next day, their coach only made them for thirty minutes to save their legs for the race.

Sam and Rob entered the boy's locker room and Sam started to hurridly pull off his t-shirt.

"Yo dude, where's the fire?" Rob asked jokingly.

"I'm going surfing with Reggie in half an hour, and I still have to run home to change and get my board." Sam said while stuffing his gym clothes into his locker.

"Oh." He replied in a slighty hurt voice. "I was hoping you could come with me and Jess to listen to CD's in the record store until we get kicked out. But if you already have plans-"

"You guys can come too if you want, I'm sure Reggie won't mind." Sam interupted, noticing the rejection in his voice.

"Nah, that's okay. Have a good time." He replied quickly. Sam grabbed his backpack and turned towards Rob to say goodbye; Rob's face showed a mixture of hurt, loneliness, and betrayl. Sam stared confusingly at him but quickly shrugged it off. "See yah." he said

Rob merely nodded quickly and tried to avoid his eyes. Sam exited the school skated on home as fast as he could, trying to figure out what was wrong with Rob.

Next Chapter: Sam and Reg surf, talk, and more of Sam's past is revealed.