Page 9

The moving trucks had just finished dropping off his family's stuff two days before from Boston and he had been dreading the first day of school for the past month. School was bad enough, but a new school was ten times worse...make that a hundred times worse!

The sidewalk in front of him began to slope downwards, and soon Jonas was bombing down a hill at a breakneck speed. It felt like he was surfing as he rolled out into the middle of the street, bending his knees deeply, carving up the pavement, weaving back and forth in wide arcs. Every now and then he quickly slid out his back wheels to check his speed. The last thing Jonas wanted was to get speed-wobbles, bail off his board and crack his head open on the unforgiving concrete. The speed was just enough to make him nervous.

Jonas was sick of moving around, especially during high school. He had already moved from New York to Boston, and now he had been forced to leave his friends once again. After all of this moving, he could sum his feelings in two words: it sucked. Saying good-bye to his friends back in Boston sucked. Feeling like a loner at a school because he was new and didn't fit into the social system sucked. Jonas had experienced the same feeling many times, too many times in his opinion. Frequently, he told his mom and dad that changing schools sucked, but they didn't seem to understand what he was trying to say. The only people who understood were those who had gone through the same experiences he had at fitting in at school, especially high school.

As he approached a bus stop along his way to school, Jonas caught a glimpse of a steel bench. He loved how everyday objects