3: Antonio's Party

Jack waited on the corner of the street, and looked up at the sky. It was getting darker now, and colder. The chill was beginning to seep through his shirt, and he wished he'd put something warmer on. Too late for that now, though – Lisa was already coming down the street, looking pretty and well-dressed as always.

"Ready to go?" she said.

"Yeah," said Jack. "Let's go."

Lisa noticed that as they got further away from uptown Raccoon City, Jack appeared to be more comfortable in his surroundings. In uptown he looked tense and ill at ease, and always seemed poised to run away at the very sight of another person. But here, closer to downtown – this was his territory, and he looked relaxed and confident as he walked the streets, knowing that this was where he belonged.

"Nearly there," said Jack, as the scenery gave way to shops instead of houses, and streets that were lined with parked cars instead of trees.

"Where does Antonio live, again?" asked Lisa.

"Corner of Wells an' Hinterland," replied Jack. "Two blocks away."

"Not far, then," she said.

They walked on. Soon the air was ringing with distant laughter, music, a murmur of conversation and the occasional shout.

Jack grinned. "Sounds like the party start already," he said.

And there was indeed a crowd gathering in the street below Antonio's second-floor apartment. Some of them shouted greetings to Jack as he and Lisa came into view. Jack waved by means of reply, and carried on upstairs to Antonio's apartment.

Inside, the party was in full swing. The room was packed and the music was painfully loud, and people were still pouring into the apartment. Antonio, a dapper young man who looked slightly older than his nineteen years, came to greet them.

"Well, look who's here!" Antonio exclaimed. "Good to see you, Jack. And I believe this is the gorgeous uptown girl you've been tellin' us all about," he said, taking Lisa's hand and kissing it theatrically. "Lisa, isn't it? Lisa Hartley?"

"Yeah," said Jack warmly. "An' she may be an uptown girl, but she got a downtown soul. If she got a diff'rent start in life, she be skatin' with the rest of us. I dunt think she really belong in uptown."

"Maybe you're right," conceded Antonio. "Or maybe not. A beer?"

"One for me an' one for Lise," said Jack. "An' can you no turn you music down a little? We all bein' deafened in here."

"Comin' right up," promised Antonio, and he vanished into the mass of people. Almost instantly the sound level dropped by half, and Antonio returned with two opened beer bottles.

"Good turnout," said Lisa, gesturing to the other people in the room.

"Not bad," agreed Antonio. "Not bad at all, considerin' I only invited ten people."

"How many you got here tonight?" asked Jack.

"I'd say forty, maybe forty-five," said Antonio. "Not countin' everyone outside in the street. Good thing my mom's out tonight."

He chuckled, and wandered off to talk to someone else.

"C'mon," said Jack, "I introduce you round. You wanna meet the rest of the Street Rats? I tell 'em all 'bout you; they say you sound real nice, an' they like to meet you sometime. An' there be no time like the present, right?"

"That's true," agreed Lisa. She scanned the room quickly, but couldn't find anyone that looked even remotely like they belonged to a skating gang. Most of the people in here were girls, with Antonio moving from person to person, being the perfect host.

"So where are they?" she said, after a while.

"Outside, I guess," said Jack. "They ain't the type to stand round all night makin' small talk. Yo, Antonio! We goin' outside to see the crew!"

"Sure thing, amigo. I'll catch you later," called Antonio.

xxxxxxxxxx

The people outside were skating when Jack and Lisa went back downstairs and out onto the street. Music pounded from a little CD player on the pavement as the skaters showed off their skills to each other, and Jack had to shout to make himself heard over the noise. When they did eventually hear him, though, they stopped what they were doing and rushed over to greet him.

"Hey, it's Jack!"

"Nice to see ya, man."

"Hey, guys," said Jack, cool as ice now that he was among friends. "You dunt like it inside with Antonio an' the chicas, huh? Dunt blame you. Lise – these be my amigos, the Street Rats."

"Hey," they all chorused. One by one, they introduced themselves to Lisa. There was Alena, a Latina girl with dreadlocks; Marco, a slightly younger, more belligerent version of Antonio; bespectacled former nerd Roland; scarlet-nailed, trashy Tiffany, draped in costume jewellery; diminutive Ritchie in his New York Yankees baseball cap; tall, moody-looking Eduardo; willowy Columbine, with a thick French accent; Almond, a honey-haired beauty with large almond-shaped eyes; Valerio, a grinning, handsome boy with blond hair; Maddy, an Australian girl with frizzy hair and a Billabong t-shirt; spiky-haired punk rocker Mitch; Raphael the surfer dude, and a dark-haired boy who was mysteriously nicknamed "Batman".

"Guys, this be my friend Lisa from uptown," said Jack, gesturing to Lisa. "You remember I tell you 'bout her?"

"Sure do, bro," said the one who'd identified himself as Antonio's little brother, Marco. Like the others, Marco dressed skater-style, with baggy shorts and a hooded sweatshirt, and he carried a skateboard under one arm.

It was almost like a uniform, thought Lisa. A rainbow of t-shirts and hooded tops; jeans, shorts or cargo pants; old sneakers in varying stages of disintegration. But although the Street Rats all dressed the same way, they managed to retain individuality – each person had a unique and distinctive style. This cheered Lisa up; the girls in her class all dressed the same way too, but with virtually no room for innovation. Every one of them wore the latest designer clothes and shoes and whatever accessories were in vogue that season, and any deviation from the approved formula was greeted with derision and ridicule. Jack scornfully referred to the girls as "the Calvin Klones", and now Lisa understood what he meant. The Street Rats acknowledged their similarities, but they also celebrated their differences; the girls in her class merely tried to look identical. Lisa knew which group she preferred.

"Nice to meet you, Marco," said Lisa.

"Same here," said Marco.

"We've heard a lot about you," added Tiffany.

"I hope it was all good," said Lisa.

"Mais bien sûr!" said Columbine, smiling. "Il pensait que vous êtes un vrai ange, et il vous aime beaucoup. Il parle toujours au sujet de vous. "Lisa," il dit, "elle est si belle, je l'aime!" Et je pense qu'il a raison – vous êtes très jolie!"

"Uh, my French is a little rusty," said Lisa, bewildered. "Can someone translate?"

"My pardon to you," said Columbine, in broken English. "My English, he is not so good like yours. I say that Jack, he is thinking that you are beautiful, a real angel, and he is talking about you all the times."

"He does?" said Lisa.

"Oh yeah, you bet," said Roland fervently. "Jack, uh… thinks very highly of you."

"He sure does," agreed Mitch. "Well, guys, we gonna hang round here doin' nothin', or are we gonna skate till our feet drop right off? C'mon, let's impress the uptown girl!"

"Yeah!"

And they did. Lisa watched in fascination as the Street Rats tried out their favourite skate tricks, riding rails and walls, jumping over fire hydrants and bins, weaving in and out of traffic cones, and grinding everything in sight. They were leaping, grinding, spinning, speeding away, swerving and dodging and curving smoothly around, never so much as brushing each other. It was like an extremely well choreographed dance; it was a joy to watch, and Lisa couldn't take her eyes off the skaters' graceful, practised movements. One in particular caught her eye.

Jack saw her watching him, and grinned.

"You like it, Lise?" he said.

"Absolutely brilliant," said Lisa. "But I bet none of you could jump all the way over a car."

"You got yourself a Doubting Thomas there, mate," laughed Maddy.

"What? An unbeliever?" said Valerio, feigning shock. "Show her, Jack!"

"Okay," said Jack, picking up his skateboard and walking over to the nearest car, a dull red saloon with several large dents in the side. He took up a position about ten feet away from the rear bumper, and then he backed away.

"You watch this," said Alena to Lisa. "He's the best. Just watch this."

Lisa watched as Jack placed his skateboard carefully on the ground. He stared at the car for a second; suddenly he jumped onto the skateboard and started moving towards the saloon at full speed.

"He's going to run straight into that," said Lisa, faintly alarmed.

"Nah," said Alena. "He won't. Watch."

Sure enough, Jack jumped up, and he and the skateboard lifted right off the ground as if by magic. The whole world seemed to slow down as boy and board soared high above the battered old car.

"Long live the Street Rats!" shouted Jack triumphantly, punching the air with his fist, and as she looked up, Lisa was suddenly filled with admiration and wonder for Jack, the skating hero of her daydreams.

It was, she thought, the perfect moment. Jack hung in the air, suspended in hang-time, a magnificent young prince in a lumberjack shirt and ripped jeans, shining in the pale glow of the streetlights.

Then time and speed rushed back into the world again, and Jack landed smoothly on the ground, a few feet ahead of the car's front bumper. He grinned from ear to ear as the Street Rats whooped and cheered.

"Didja see that?" exclaimed Maddy. "Didja? Good on ya, Jack!"

"Woohoo! You rock, man!" said Valerio, slapping him on the back.

"Way to go, amigo!" called Marco, as he and Jack high-fived.

"Absolument fabuleux," agreed Columbine.

"Like, totally neat," said Raphael. "Good one, Jack dude."

"Encore!" shouted Ritchie.

"Gracias, guys," said Jack. "So, we gonna go inside an' wreck Antonio's flirt-fest, or we gonna stay out here all night? 's gettin' pretty cold now."

"Yeah, let's go," said Almond. "It's freezing out here."

One by one, they started to drift back inside, heading for the light, warmth and noise of Antonio's apartment. Soon only Jack and Lisa were left outside.

Jack was leaning against a streetlight, his eyes closed, and he was smiling like someone who'd just found out all the secrets of the universe.

"You were really great, Jack," said Lisa.

"Really?" said Jack, opening his eyes and looking straight at her. "You think so?"

"Would I have said it if I didn't mean it?" said Lisa.

"Course not," said Jack. "What'm I, stupid or somethin'?"

"No," said Lisa. "You're not stupid. You're wonderful."

Jack went pink with pleasure.

"Lise?" he said.

"Yes, Jack?"

"I think you be wonderful too."

Lisa smiled at this. She couldn't help it; he looked so adorable with his big blue eyes and his fringe all messed up, and his smile was bordering on the angelic.

"Come on inside, Jack," she said, tugging him by the arm. "You're going to freeze if you stay out here much longer."

"Okay," said Jack, and he followed her obediently inside.