Joey Powers’ day started at six thirty in the morning. That was when he dragged himself out of bed, and did his morning yoga. Deep down, Joey P wasn’t sure why
everyone didn’t start their day with this. It was the best way to wake up and start your day! Yoga warmed the body up and prepared the mind for the day to come. Plus, it was like, a great way to stay in shape.
The next step was to head to the kitchen at around six thirty, where he saw his mom every morning. Without fail, for as long as Joey P could remember, his mother was always doing the same thing in the morning… cooking breakfast. Unfortunately, ever since high school had started, Joey P and his mom had a problem: Joey P just didn’t have time to sit and eat breakfast nowadays. He was too busy!
“Are you leaving already?” She asked, as Joey ducked underneath her arm to get to the toaster, catching the Poptart that hopped into the air (cinnamon brown sugar, to be specific). Watching her son take his first bite of the ever tasty treat, she sighed. The lack of answer was all the answer in the world.
“Just remember that thing I told you.”Joey P paused mid chew, to stare at his mother.
“Uhm, which thing? You’ve told me like… so many things, Moms.” Joey spoke with a mouthful of deliciously sugary Poptart, waiting patiently for an answer. Maybe this was easier for other people, but for Joey? Remembering things extracted a heavy toll, as far as brain power went. Maybe it was the weed — but who didn’t wake and bake in 2019? For fuck’s sake, it wasn’t like he was some kind of… some kind of genius. In fact, he was barely getting straight C’s!
Joey P was inching toward the door, the whole time. A man on a mission; he liked to skate early in the morning, it was when he hit some of his best lines!
“Uhm, look both ways before crossing the street?” He offered with a cheesy grin, grabbing his hat off of its hanger near the front door, and tugging it down on his head, spinning it so it was backwards as he waited for his mom to answer.
“...yeah, sure. Just don’t die, okay? It’s your last year.”Joey P gave his mom a thumbs up, slinging his backpack over his back (Joey was a two strapper — one strappers were so twenty twelve), and popping his headphones in. Finally free, Joey stepped out into suburbia, and once again wondered why they lived in Columbus, and not somewhere like LA. He’d never get to skate Venice Beach at this rate, which was a tragedy in its own right.
With a quick glance down to his watch, Joey had a reckoning of how much time he had to skate before he needed to do the only thing required of a guy his age, and go to school. He grabbed his skateboard from its spot on his front porch, and with a running start, he began his trip.
With the soothing sounds of
Guerilla Radio, blasting on his ears, Joey P was on the fast track to tinnitus, but it wasn’t like it mattered. The music helped him hit sweet lines! Without it, he wasn’t sure he could do things he was able to do. Maybe he was weird, but hearing the blaring guitar made him feel more confident that he could things like…
Joey shifted his weight and feet so that he could ollie the board up, and grind across a bench near a bus stop, before jumping again and kickflipping, smoothly landing it. Things like that. Or even less technically impressive things, like kicking the tail end of the board up so he was riding on two wheels across the sidewalk. Then, he pivoted so he was riding backwards, and slid his feet as if he were moonwalking across the street, with both hands in his pockets.
Sure it wasn’t particularly hard, and he couldn’t do it for a long time… but it sure as hell looked cool. It was doing that kind of stuff which made the risk of tinnitus all too worth it. Besides, it couldn’t be
that bad, right? It was just ringing in the ears!
Joey P was finding his groove as he cruised toward the school, but it all came crashing to a halt when he had to stop very suddenly, when something flew in front of him. Having almost died, it took Joey a moment to collect himself and look at the offending object in front of him: a football. Joey pulled one of his earbuds out, and bent down to pick the ball up.
“Yo! Joey P!”earlier…
Arthur Constantine’s day started at six in the morning, when it was damn near still dark out there. He’d rather sleep until he
had to get up, but unfortunately these were the hazards that came with the job. If he didn’t get up this early, then he wouldn’t have time to do all the things required and expected of him. First thing’s first.
Grumbling, Artie pulled himself out of bed and rubbed at his eyes. He made his way to his dresser and pulled open the gym drawer, digging around until he found a compression shirt. He lifted it up to his nose and sniffed.
Yeah, okay… that’ll do. He thought to himself, before tugging it down over his body. Stretching his arms over his head, Artie found the remaining parts of his morning outfit: a pair of boxers, and a pair of running shorts. Stretching as he went, Artie headed toward the door.
The only good part about being up this early was pretty simple for him: at least everyone else was asleep and it was quiet. Artie liked the quiet, that’s why he didn’t run with earbuds in. Besides, he definitely didn’t want to get tinnitus. Constant ringing in the ears? That sounded like hell itself.
For the first hour or so of his day, Artie liked to run. It was a good way to warm himself up and get ready for the
real workout, which would come later. He had a pretty simple loop he liked to run — it wasn’t like there were many options. Around the neighborhood a couple of times and he was done, and back in the house. The next part of his day was arguably the hardest. Before he could shower, or even complete his workout, he had to do the job of an older brother.
Lance would find his way to school, he always did, but unfortunately, the same couldn’t be said about his younger siblings, Tristan and Morgana. Luckily for Artie, at least their rooms were next to each other. Artie knocked lightly to announce his presence, before he opened the doors,
“Morg, Tris, roll call. You got twenty minutes to get ready. We leave in thirty.” Artie was a professional, he’d done this a hundred times by now. They tended to listen to him, or at least Tristan did. Morgana was a bit harder to work with, but at least in the mornings, she seemed willing to comply.
Artie had one last obligation to do before he could take a shower that was way too hot and get on with his day. Snatching his water bottle from its place in the fridge, Artie was on the way to the backyard. He took a sip from the water bottle, swished it around in his mouth and spat it out as he passed through the door.
“Everybody wants to be a bodybuilder, but ain’t nobody wanna lift these heavy ass weights.” Artie rolled his neck and sat down on the bench and situated his elbows for preacher curls.
“I’ll do it though.” The wisdom of Ronnie Coleman. The dude had a point.
While Artie lifted the weights, he took careful care to make sure to keep his wrists straight. That was an old tip he’d picked up from YouTube videos — not the same ones he’d gotten the thing about lifting heavy ass weights. The straight wrists he’d gotten from none other than the Terminator himself. There was an older interview from Arnie where he claimed that keeping your wrists straight would help you get bigger biceps.
Of course, Artie had also once seen a video where Arnie had claimed that lifting weights and getting the pump was better than cumming, so Artie wasn’t sure that there was scientific evidence to backup the claim of straight wrists helping you build better biceps…
Still, Arnie had made a living out of it, and Artie sure as hell hadn’t done that. He wasn’t about to question god himself on whether or not his methods works. Arthur was jacked anyway, a tip from Arnold wasn’t gonna hurt. Quietly pumping his arms, Arthur only stopped when he heard the sound of a skateboard approaching.
He stood up from his bench, and peered over the short chain link fence in his backyard, before finding the source of the noise: the ever focused Joey Powers.
“Hey, Joey.” Artie said, trying to get his attention, but he found himself completely ignored.
“Earth to Joey… are you there?” Arthur frowned, before stepping off of the bench and toward the fence. Why was he being ignored?
It was then that he noticed the headphones in Joey’s ears. That explained it then — Joey listened to music louder than anyone else that he knew, so it wasn’t too surprising if he was blasting music. Artie bent down to grab the football he tossed around with his siblings, and casually tossed it in Joey’s direction. With the expert precision of someone who’d spent the majority of their life throwing a football, Arthur was able to direct the ball to land square in front of Joey, who came to a stop and then pulled an earbud out…
“Yo! Joey P!”“Artie? What’s going on, dude?” Joey P was glad it was someone he knew, and just… like, some kind of random person throwing a ball at him. That sort of thing would be awkward… He’d have to give the ball back, and say it was no big deal, and all kinds of other stuff… Stuff he really didn’t want to do. But this, this was super easy. He grabbed the ball from the ground, and casually popped it back over to Artie — or at least as best he could. It kind of floundered and flopped through the air.
Nonetheless, it was easy for Artie to snatch it out of the air. He was the franchise player for the Knights, after all.
“Not much, getting ready for the last first day… What are you doing? Shredding before school, right? Jesus, dude, turn that music down. You’re gonna get tinnitus.” Artie suggested as Joey approached, and Joey just kind of stared at him for a moment before pausing the song. Artie rolled his eyes, before pressing on.
“You want a ride to school? If you wait a minute, we’re about to leave —”“Nah, it’s cool. I’m just gonna keep doin’ what I’m doin’. I’ll get there, ya know?” Joey P said with a grin and a casual shrug of his shoulders. He didn’t care. He wasn’t going to be late, he’d be fine. Joey stretched his arms side to side, as he headed back to his board. He was ready to hit the grind again.
“I’ll be seein’ ya around, right?” He asked, glancing over his shoulder as he got back to the skateboard, seeing Artie nod and give a thumbs up.
“Do a flip.” Artie suggested, but he had a feeling Joey P couldn’t hear him. The earbuds were back in, and he was sure that the music was kicked back on. As Joey P began to push off, Artie got ready to turn around, but Joey P hopped the board and flipped it, before heading off. Artie smiled and laughed, heading into the house.
some time later
Before long, Arthur was showered and in the van, having collected his younger siblings. As he dropped them off at the primary school, Artie saw a face from before: Joey P was there again, casually hitting the stairs. With only a few minutes left before they’d be late, Artie leaned out the driver’s window.
“You want a ride now?” He asked, and Joey P nodded his head, skating over and hopping into the passenger’s seat.
“Thanks, dude. I kinda lost track of time… it happens to me, sometimes. Ya know? I just kinda… skate. It is what it is.” Joey shrugged his shoulders, as Artie drove them toward the high school. Joey looked out the window, casually adding.
“If I messed around any longer, I probably would have been later than the twins… They’re probably not even out of the house yet, huh?” He said, and Artie chuckled.
“You’re not wrong, that’s for sure. Hey, weren’t you dating one of the twins?” He asked, and Joey nodded his head.
“Daze, right — well, that’s a pointless question. It has to be her. Jules would never.” That was a definite, there was no way that Juliet would date anyone — let alone someone that smelled like weed like Joey P did. Joey nodded again though, giving confirmation.
“Yeah, we broke up though.” Joey P replied with a shrug.
“Aw, dude, that sucks. Why?”“I dunno. These things happen for a reason. I’m sure she’ll find someone better for her than me. A lot of people break up and they’re like ‘oh no I’m so sad, I got dumped,’ and it’s like don’t be all like ‘they’re gonna find someone better than me,’ and it’s like… nah, dude. Stop being so negative, and like, self-deprecating, ya know? Just be positive… they ain’t gonna find someone better than you, they’ll just find someone better for them.” Joey P shrugged as they pulled into the parking spot in the senior parking lot.
“Thanks for the ride, dude.” “You’re a weird guy, Joey P.”“Thanks, dude.” And with that, Joey P was out of Artie’s car and on his way to the mandatory auditorium, skating toward the door, with Artie walking casually behind him.
“A real weird dude…” As he headed toward the auditorium, King Arthur finally reached into his pocket and withdrew his phone to text his friends.
red leader signing ini’ll be there in a second, save me a seat, okay?
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