Chapter 20

Fifteen minutes later everyone had reconvened in the playground of Mar Vista Elementary, which was located just to the north of Venice. The playground was surrounded on three sides by sloping asphalt embankments that ran for many yards. The girls climbed under a broken section of the chain link fence that bordered the schoolyard while the guys showed off by climbing over it. Once inside the boys grabbed their boards and immediately began skating hard, pushing off from the top of the highest point and making long runs that took them down the face of the bank, over the transition to the flat, then back up to the top of the bank. There seemed to be an impromptu unspoken competition over who could make the longest, fastest run. The girls watched the action from a pair of picnic tables over in the flat area, next to one of the buildings. Jess sat atop the table closest to the banks while the other three girls chose the table behind her. None of them made any attempt to address Jess at all, which both relieved and disconcerted her. She had no idea what the other girls were thinking and hoped they would just lay off her today.

After a short time TA began to throw in little tricks such as walking the length of his board to the nose and back to regular riding position, all while the board was zipping up the bank and down again. Then Wentzle yelled "EVERYBODY BERT!" and all four guys immediately crouched down and performed large arcing turns using their outflung arms as pivots to rotate their near-prone bodies around. For the most part their feet never left their boards, leaving Jess to wonder how they managed to keep such control. A few minutes later Nathan racked up the first injury of the session as he went to make a hard turn, lost his balance and failed to bail cleanly, sending his board spinning directly up into his jean clad crotch. As howls of mirth issued from his teammates, poor Nathan had to go lean on the chain link fence that bordered the playground.

"Hey guys, now Nathan has what it takes to start a farm!" Wentzle shouted with glee.

Red Dog took the bait. "Oh yeah, what's that?"

"Two acres!" Wentzle cried out, nearly doubled over with laughter. Everyone else saw the humor except of course for Nathan, who was still hunched over for another reason. "As soon as I can walk again," the dark-haired skater growled, white teeth showing under his thick moustache, "you are in for a major ass-kicking, Rum."

Wentzle hopped on his orange Zephyr board and skated off at high speed. "Ya gotta catch me first, Farmer Nate!" Everyone, skaters and observers alike, fell over laughing again.

"Farmer Nate!" Muir hooted. "Oh, that's priceless."

Nathan glared at him. "Well if 'two acres' is all it takes to start a farm then you'd have a fuckin' ranch by now, Red Dog!"

In response to that Red Dog merely chuckled and skated away. A moment later Wentzle, ever the clown, skated near Jess' table, pulling a goofy face and pretending to almost skate into the building before changing course at the last second. "PSYCH!" he yelled as he disappeared around the corner. Jess couldn't help but giggle. And that's when the mumbling behind her began, just loud enough to be audible to her alone:

"Ay buey, don't tell me he's after that."

"Pff. Like she can handle any of them. Little kook."

"Chica's way uptight. Homie'll need a crowbar to break into that shit."

"I bet she gags when she pours the conditioner!"

Jess felt first her ears, then her entire face burning. It took every ounce of willpower she had to keep her back to the now-sniggering girls and not show what she felt, namely confusion, frustration and rising anger. Confronting them will do no good, she thought. In fact I bet that's just what they want me to do. It'll give them an excuse to kick my ass and I have a feeling they won't hesitate to go three on one, the ghetto trash whores. Well, two on one, anyway. I don't think Allie is saying any of that crap but she's not exactly defending me, either.

As she mused and tried to tune out the venomous voices – now speculating on what kind of diseases Philly people might carry – Wentzle skated past again, intent on some other nutball prank. He slowed down and did a tail stop when he saw the look on Jess' still-crimson face, then skated over to stand in front of her. "Everything cool?" he asked casually, but with a hint of concern that he couldn't quite mask.

"Yeah, of course," Jess replied without hesitation, but rolled her eyes hard so he'd get the message.

Wentzle flicked an annoyed glance at the other girls, who were now perfectly silent. And probably wearing shit-eating grins to boot, Jess mused sardonically. "Hey, c'mere for a minute," he told Jess as he reached down and took one hand, pulling her off the picnic table. She went with him willingly and didn't dare look back as he led her around the corner and alongside the building for a good 20 yards.

When they were well out of earshot of the rest, Wentzle stopped and turned to face her. "For real, do you want me to tell those chicks to fuck off? I know they were talking shit to you, don't try to tell me otherwise."

"Ahh, you're a sweetie, Wentzle. But it's cool, I'm just ignoring them," Jess assured him with a smile.

"You shouldn't have to take any crap from them for hanging around us, though," Wentz argued. "They're just petty little bitches and someone needs to put them in their place. I'll be glad to do it, believe me." The fiery look he had in his light eyes made Jess feel literally light headed. This total fox is willing to stand up for me, how cool is that? She thought delightedly. But outwardly she betrayed no strong feelings at all.

"Really, it's ok. I was kinda thinking of taking off anyway."

Wentzle looked hurt. "Already? We hardly got here! A lot of the time we session this place until it's too dark to see. And more guys will probably show up soon. Seriously, you should stick around. Nobody who's anybody has a problem with you, Jess."

At the sound of the sincerity in Wentzle's voice, Jess looked up at him earnestly. "Really?"

"Really. I swear." He gave her a wicked grin. "Well, I want you around anyway. And I'm the baddest motherfucker here," he added with a slow wink.

Jess began to relax a little bit. "Oh yeah? I don't know if the other guys would agree with that last part," she teased.

"I'M THE BADDEST MOTHERFUCKER HERE!" Wentzle immediately shouted, his classic Cali accent echoing against the butter-colored walls of the building and the tall bank opposite them. From around the corner Jess heard derisive male laughter, but nobody came over to challenge Wentzle's claim. He shot her a smug grin. "So ya gonna stay or what?"

Despite his reassurances Jess still didn't know how to answer. When she hesitated Wentz stepped closer and slipped one arm around her waist. "What's it gonna take to convince you, huh?" he murmured softly as he tilted his face toward hers. "Maybe a little of this…?" His voice trailed off as he gave her a soft kiss, pulled back a bit, then leaned in and gave her another. Jess felt her mood lift instantly, all thought of the Dogtown girls vanishing rapidly as she returned his third kiss. Their lips lingered together for an extended moment, then Wentzle broke the spell, taking a step back and shaking his blonde head as though he was slightly abashed by his behavior. "Heh, sorry if I…"

"No, it's cool," Jess hastily assured him. "I kinda liked it, actually."

Wentz smiled slyly at her, regaining a bit of his strut. "Howzabout one more?"

Without waiting for a reply he planted another long smooch on Jess' lips while she tried not to giggle too much for him to be successful.

Then from outside the fence a young male voice rang out: "Ewww, grrosss!" Wentzle abruptly broke off the kiss and spun around to confront the newcomer, who turned out to be a grinning Baby Paul straddling a dark blue Huffy, the even younger Arthur Lake at his side. Both of them had skateboards and were wearing smaller versions of the blue Vans that the older Zephyr guys wore.

"Get outta here before I knock your blocks off, ya little runts. Vamoose!" Wentz commanded. The kids did as they were told, but not before Paul cried out in sing-song fashion, "I'm gonna te-eell!"

"Umm, I think everyone already knows we're back here," Jess drawled sarcastically.

Wentz just rolled his eyes and shook his head as the kids took off for the other side of the playground where everyone else was skating. Then two older guys Jess didn't recognize skated by, calling out encouragement and borderline obscene suggestions about the things that Wentzle and Jess could do with the wall as support. When the blonde skater flipped them the bird, they laughed and skated off in the same direction the kids had.

"Fuckin' assholes. Well, guess we'd better get back out there. I don't like makin' out with an audience, ya know?" Wentzle sighed reluctantly.

Jess really didn't want to lay eyes on the Dogtown girls again, but she also wasn't quite ready to leave, either. So once again she followed Wentzle as he led her back to the large open area of the playground. By now all three banked sides were dotted with swooping and weaving skaters. A bad collision is just waiting to happen, Jess thought. Hope there's no blood involved 'cause I'd hate to faint in front of these people. She cautiously looked to her right as the picnic tables came into view, but only Allie was still sitting there. As soon as she caught sight of Jess she simply turned her head away without speaking. Angel and Karen were over at the fence where it bordered the narrow farther end of the playground, talking to two guys who looked to be in their early 20s.

Suddenly Muir came rocketing past, coming from the same direction that Jess and Wentzle had just come from. He must have skated completely around the building, Jess mused as he skidded to a stop beside Allie's table. "There you are," he addressed Jess with a little grin. "I was gonna skate around and surprise you guys," the redhead admitted.

"What a shame you missed us then," Jess replied in a fake-sweet tone, giving him a little grin of her own. In reply Muir poked his tongue out brattishly, causing Allie to break her silence: "Hey man, don't stick that out unless you're gonna use it!"

Muir turned to her and gave her a long, appraising look. "Hey Allie, do you have any Scottish in you?"

"No," the younger girl replied without hesitation.

"Well, would you like to have some in you?"

Upon hearing this juvenile gem Jess' jaw dropped just a fraction, then she joined Allie in guffawing openly at Muir, who skated off grinning like a nutcase. For a moment the two girls' eyes met as they laughed together, but each looked away at the same time and let the silence return. Back to our respective corners again, Jess thought ruefully.

Across the playground the two older guys were climbing the fence as Angel and Karen held their boards for them. Jess was at a loss about what to do. In a minute the Dogtown girls would be back and all the guys would be distracted with their skating. She would be on her own and unfortunately she had a feeling the girls were just getting started.

Then she saw Wentzle skating toward her and got an idea. Quickly she flagged him down as the other girls began walking toward the tables. "Hey Wentzle, I really do have to go. Will you walk me out?"

"Aww man," Wentz protested, but obliged her wish. When they reached the hole in the bottom of the fence Jess paused before crawling under. "You still remember where I live, right?" she queried sweetly giving him what she hoped was a promising look.

"Corner of Altadena and Wayne," he confirmed.

"Well, maybe when you get finished here you can drop by, if you want?"

Wentzle raised his eyebrows for a second and gave her a quasi-smirky smile. "I'll try. Depends on who I get a ride with. But I'll do my best. You gonna be home alone?" he asked hopefully.

Actually there was a good chance her mother would be home, but she told him otherwise, fearing the truth would keep Wentz away. If her mom was home when he visited then there was a quiet and safe little park a block away that they could go to instead. She was bound and determined to have a nice makeout session with her now #1 Hot Guy (Sorry Stacy, but until you dump your chick and kiss me like that, you're going to have to settle for the #2 spot, she thought with a suppressed smirk).

"Ok, maybe see ya later, then," Jess said as she started to climb under the fence.

"Hey, one for the road?" Wentzle requested as he quickly crouched down and gave her a last quick kiss on the lips. Jess gave him a warm smile as she crawled through the opening and stood up, dusting off her jeans. She went to her bicycle and started to unchain it from the fence. On the other side Muir skated up to her. "Hey, ya takin' off?"

Slightly surprised that anyone would notice her departure, Jess looked up briefly before continuing to work the lock. "Yeah, I have to make dinner for my mom tonight." Not entirely true since I'm not obligated to cook per se, but since mother dearest is about to drop serious bucks on a new car then the gesture would certainly be appropriate, Jess thought to herself.

"Well hey, I'm having a party at my house this Wednesday 'cause a lot of people are out of school. And uh, my parents are out of town, too. You're welcome to come but you gotta B.Y.O.B."

Jess was touched by the redheaded skater's invitation. Maybe Wentzle was right when he said that the other guys didn't mind me being around. Sure, why not? "Right on, I'll be there. What time will people be getting there?"

Muir shrugged. "I guess anytime from nightfall onward. Ok, maybe see ya then." He jumped on his board and took off down the bank toward Allie and the other girls, who were fortunately sitting out of earshot of that little exchange. Allie may not hate me now, but she'd go apeshit if she heard her love – or is that lust? – interest invite me to his party, Jess thought with a private smirk. She finally freed her bike, wrapped the chain around the frame and pedaled off for home, which she estimated was about a twenty minute ride away. Time enough to reflect on what had been a long and unexpectedly interesting day.