Drowning

Skater Hater

Long shadows cast over the paved walkway that meandered through the park. The tall oak trees' leaves gently danced in the wind, a few surrendering to the circle of life and falling to their deaths. The squeals of kids playing tag on the playground reminded Finley of when she used to play there. Back then it had been a wooden pirate ship and not a safe, plastic jungle gym. But then again, back then people didn't care if you got a splinter from a piece of wood that needed replaced, or a burned butt from a metal slide, or a broken arm jumping off the merry go round thing. Those things didn't matter back in the day... back when she still had a shot with Hawk.

A sigh escaped her lips, causing the dog walking beside her to look up at her briefly before going back to watching the squirrel that was taunting him to chase it. She gently ruffled the fur between his ears.

"Boys are stupid, huh Koda?"

The German Shepherd's ears twitched at his name, but the squirrel kept his gaze. Finley was just on a casual walk through the park with him, trying to clear her mind from the event earlier that day at school. Sure her heart ached a little at the knowledge that Hawk wasn't into her and that her pining after him for 2 years had been for nothing. But it was the weekend. Which meant she had all weekend to clear her head and get over him. She could do that in 2 days.

Her brown eyes latched onto Koda who was no longer watching the squirrel. His behavior had completely changed and as she took in his body language she glanced around for what was making him so uneasy.

A skateboarder.

He was still a good distance away, but he was quickly coming towards them. The board was making a loud roaring sound as the wheels churned over the pavement, and had clearly put Koda on edge. Finley focused solely on her dog, voicing encouragement and praising him as they continued walking. But once the board was 10 yards away from them, Koda backed away, pressing 90 pounds of dog into her legs as he tried to move away from the terrifying object.

And just like that he was past them, Koda's eyes still locked on it as it roared away. Finley once again encouraged him to walk forward and after a few seconds Koda complied and began walking, casting glances over his shoulder a few times before he relaxed. They continued their walk and were passing the duck pond when once again Koda's body language changed from relaxed to highly alert. Finley followed his attention and noticed the skateboarder coming towards them once again. She did her best encouraging Koda along, but she could tell he was still way too freaked out about it- at least more so than she would prefer. This time when the skater was within 10 yards she began waving her hand to get his attention.

"Hey!" She yelled out, hoping to be loud enough for him to hear over the roar of the churning wheels.

The boy's head shot up and saw her. He dropped one of his feet from the board and hopped to a stop a few feet after he had passed her. His black converse stepped on the edge of the board and he grabbed the popped up skateboard, carrying it over to the girl. His face was furrowed in confusion as he looked at the girl and the very intimidating dog sitting next to her.

"Would you mind if my dog just like, sniffed your skateboard? He's kinda freaked out by it and I want him to see it's okay." Finley said, offering a small smile at the boy.

"Uh... sure?" He hesitantly placed his board on the ground at her odd request and stepped slightly back.

After mumbling a quick thanks, Finley crouched between the dog and the skateboard, completely ignoring the skater. She gently tapped on the skateboard, but didn't move it, as Koda stretched his head out like a giraffe in an attempt to investigate it without moving closer towards it.

"That's it buddy. Good job. This is good. Yes very good boy. Nice job."

Finally Koda's nose made contact with the board and his tail wagged slightly as Finley continued to praise him and he realized it wasn't going to hurt him. Slowly, Finley used her hand and pushed the board ever so slightly. Koda immediately jumped back in an almost comical manner, unsure of how the board had suddenly come to life.