5 Painful Reminder

I wasn’t even back in line before Jayden was hovering. He was like a wasp ready to strike. I could feel him lurking. He’d come into my view, then slip out of sight again.

I didn’t need reminders of how badly I had bailed off the vault. But Jayden was reminding everyone. Coach met me at the back of the line again.

“Better. But jump forward more,” he said. Then he turned to the group. “Okay, everyone. Take a break.”

The class shifted to grab their phones or get water. Jayden grabbed his bottle. He drank it like it was champagne and he had just won a big race.

“Hey, Tricky, I should get your number,” he shouted as he clicked on his phone. “We should train together.”

All of Jayden’s buddies were laughing. They knew I didn’t have a phone.

I needed to get away or I would swat him. So I wandered to the water fountains. I had to wait behind little kids who were more interested in pushing the button than in drinking. They’d hit the button and water would shoot up high. Then they’d let go of the button and the water would stop. Their mouths would hang open, dry. And they couldn’t figure out what had happened. Finally, I just reached over and held the button for them.

“Can you lift me?” a little girl asked.

I picked her up with one hand and pressed the button with the other. She stuck her mouth into the water so far I thought she might drown.

“That’s enough,” I said. “Who’s next?”

“I am.”

It was Parker. I stepped out of the way. I could feel my face getting red.

“Wait, aren’t you going to push the button for me?” she asked.

I laughed. But just a little. “You’re a big girl.”

She smiled. But I felt like a moron. I didn’t know what to say.

“Do you have little sisters, Tricky?”

“Nah,” I said. “We had Teen Club back home. I’d go there early and play floor hockey with the little kids’ group that met ahead of the club.”

Parker smiled again. This time she showed off more teeth. “That’s so awesome. Were you like a camp counsellor?”

“They asked me to be one. But I didn’t have the time.”

Well, that was almost true. I had tried it a couple of times. But I didn’t want to always have to be there. I hadn’t even been paid once before I just stopped going. I felt bad about it after. It had been kind of fun to play with the kids.

Parker bent to take a drink. She even made drinking from a water fountain look cool.

“Your second roll was good,” she said. “You’ll get the hang of it.”

“Thanks, I guess.”

“You don’t say much, do you?”

“I dunno.”

She took another drink. She wiped away water running down her chin. “I think you’re a natural,” she said, looking at me. “When you have too much time to think about your moves, you hesitate. Maybe you just need to go for it. I think you’re more a traceur than a freerunner.”

I had no idea what that meant. “A what?”

“Oh, sorry. A traceur does parkour and doesn’t worry about fancy kicks. You know, like Jayden does,” she said. “Jayden probably does freerunning, not parkour.”

“There’re two things?”

“Freerunning has more moves — almost like dancing. Parkour is more, I don’t know, ‘serious,’ maybe. Traceurs want to get from here to there in the fastest way possible. Freerunning is more artistic. You can go back over something two or three times just for fun. But that’s just my definition. Some people say there’s no difference.”

I still wasn’t sure I understood. It must have shown in my face.

“Well, we better get back,” Parker said. “Jayden was telling everyone you’re lucky to be alive.”

Why couldn’t Jayden shut up about my lousy rolls? My face was still red, but now it was from anger.

“Hey, Parker,” Jayden shouted to us as we approached. “Have you tried this one?”

He ran at the wall and planted his left foot against it, about a metre high. He jumped and latched onto a vault, pulling himself onto it. It was like he had springs for arms. He dove off it and landed a perfect roll in our direction.

Then he stood up right in front of us.

“We should try that next time at the Bank,” he said. “Those statues are perfect for it. Hey, Tricky, how’s your neck?” He said my name with a sneer.

“It’s good.”

We were nose to nose. I wanted to push him out of my face. But I knew Coach Jack was watching. I couldn’t figure out why Jayden wanted to bug me so much. It felt like a set-up. He seemed to have it all ready for when people were watching him, especially Parker. I’m not sure why I cared, but I did. It bothered me so much. I had to figure out some way to get back my pride.

Coach called us to the mini-city. We gathered around him. Our class was shoulder to shoulder, and Coach patrolled us like we were an army unit ready for a mission.

Without saying anything, he turned and ran at a wall. He planted his foot and lunged high for the ledge. It was three metres up, but he grabbed it with both hands. In one motion, he pulled himself onto it like he was pulling himself out of a swimming pool.

His arm muscles rippled. He was fluid and fast.

“It’s a wall climb. It looks impressive to your friends,” Coach said from up high. “But it’s not hard if you have the upper body strength and technique.” He sat down and let himself slide down the wall. “But three metres is too high for you. We’ll start here.”

The wall in front of us was shorter. It was a little higher than I could stretch and touch with the tips of my fingers. It looked easy enough.

Jayden was first, of course. He sprinted, planted his foot and leaped for the ledge. He whiffed. Instead of springing up, he pushed himself backward and landed back on the floor.

Everyone laughed. Jayden threw his hands up and made a joke.

Parker was next. She wasn’t running as fast. She planted her foot and jumped high. She grabbed the ledge, but she didn’t have a good grip. She had to slide back down.

A few other kids tried after that. They either didn’t get high enough or didn’t have enough strength to pull themselves on top.

I didn’t know what to expect on my first try. But I remembered what Parker had told me: “Don’t think too much.”

When everyone cleared a path for my turn, I didn’t wait. I just bolted for the wall, planted my foot and jumped. I grabbed the ledge and felt my fingers burn under my weight. I wasn’t about to let go, though. I was stuck for half a second. But then I used my feet to keep kicking.

Struggling under my weight, I finally pulled myself up and onto the block. I was the only one to make it on my first try. I stood up. I turned and looked down at the class. I felt like king of the castle. And Jayden was a rascal who could only look up at me.