Chapter 9

Stacy eased the car into traffic heading out of Dogtown and headed north on I-10 towards Los Angeles.

Alex was intently looking around, this being new territory to her. "Thanks, Stacy for inviting me to this concert, it really means a lot to me. Umm, I mean being new here and not knowing how you're going to fit in and stuff like that…" she realized she didn't want to sound too needy.

"No problem, have you lived in New York all your life?" asked Stacy.

"Well, born and schooled there, yeah." affirmed Alex, "but my mother was Irish and my father British and then their jobs took my brothers and I to Europe and generally traveling around a lot -especially all summer vacations."

"What, were you like an Army brat or something?" Stacy wondered. "My family pretty much always lived right in the vicinity of Dogtown; better houses/worse houses depending on where or whether my Dad was working."

"It must have been nice to always belong to one place, you know, never be out of the loop on what's going around town?" questioned Alex, turning in her seat to study her date. She thought she detected a touch of disagreement when she saw Stacy's small shrug at her statement.

"I wouldn't think everyone in Dogtown would say I was 'in the loop'" Stacy claimed.

"But you're on the Zephyr Surf Team and seem to be tight with all the Z-Boys" Alex said gently, a little confused on where the disconnect was.

"Yeah, but as Jay was good enough to mention, I didn't get on the skate team; I'm the only one of my friends with a job and apparently I'm not a pirate, at least according to Skip."

"Pirate? You want to be a pirate?" Alex half laughed half questioned.

"Nah" even Stacy had to chuckle at her obvious confusion. "Not being a pirate was just a comment from Skip about me having a job and I guess my having some other interests and commitments besides skating for his team."

Even though Stacy had answered with a chuckle, Alex could see the comment hit a nerve with him. "I see you as the one of the only boyz with a car, college ahead and some thoughts about where to go - maybe even outside of Dogtown."

"And a watch, see I have a watch too!" Stacy stated with surprising vehemence.

"Nicetimepiece there,Stacy, Looks like quality Swiss craftsmanship." Alex answered warily not sure where the conversation had drifted this time. "Have weset sailon the good ship Pirate Metaphor again?

"Sorryabout the unexpected departure.WhatI mean isthanks for the rah-rah speech, coach," Stacy smiled sideways at her, "But it kinda sucks the fun right out of skating when I see my buddies getting all ready to go to this contest they're having at Del Mar and I'm not invited."

"What do mean not invited, like how do these contests work, who has to invite you?" queried Alex, having zero knowledge of So-Cal skate culture to draw on.

"No one really has to invite you; teams and individuals just sign up and pay the entry fee. I meant that being with the Zephyr team it's like road trip!" Stacy chanted, pounding his fists rhythmically on the dashboard. "You know, ya make special mix tapes for the drive and then when you skate you're still having fun but it's you and all of your bros against everybody else." Stacy's expressive face went from excited party boy out for the adventure to disappointment at being seemingly excluded from the gang.

Alex hated to see Stacy's exuberance for skating dampened by what seemed to be just Skip's judgment of Stacy's lifestyle. "Ok, so if (A) anyone can sign up (B) you want to go and (C) you are as good, if not better, than many of your Z-Boy friends- why don't you just go? The way it looks to me, from the outside, is that your friends support you and want to skate with you, they seem to think you are part of their pirate crew."

"I was thinking about doing just that, going as an independent" Stacy replied seriously.

"I'll think up another 'rah-rah' speech and ride along as cheerleader if you want some back up" Alex said brightly.

"Ooh, will you wear one of those short little cheerleader uniforms?" teased Stacy.

"Let's see how good you really are before we negotiate that hmm, but you know what I can promise you? If the independent entry thing doesn't make you happy ….I'll get ya a parrot for your shoulder."

"Yo-ho-ho" Stacy laughed, the mood back on track. "Here we are" pulling into a parking lot.

"Oh cool, I've been really looking forward this concert, to this night." Alex looked up into Stacy's eyes as he helped her out of the car. "And Stacy - watch who you callin' a ho!" she winked as she grabbed his hand and they made their way to the gate.