Chapter Text
It was Alix’s 6th birthday, and she was miserable.
All she wanted was a skateboard, like all the cool big kids at the park! Was that too much to ask for? She wasn’t a little baby anymore, she could totally handle it. Jalil had promised he would buy one for her birthday, having saved up his pocket money practically all year, and she had been looking forward to it. It would have been so awesome.
But her father had denied the request point blank. Apparently skateboarding was too “dangerous” for a young child, even though she wasn’t that young anymore, and he had forbidden Jalil from buying one. Of course, Jalil had then thought about buying one for himself and sneakily letting Alix use it too, but their father had forbidden that as well. No skateboards allowed whatsoever.
So it was with a heavy heart that Alix awoke on her 6th birthday, expecting the worst. How long she had watched the kids at the park skateboarding around in total freedom, wishing she could join them! And what kind of lame present would she get instead? Probably some boring history textbook or something. Her family were like that.
“Cheer up!” her father said, noticing her dejected face as she sat in front of the pile of birthday presents awaiting her. “You can have a skateboard when you’re older.”
“But I am older!” she said, pouting.
“Wait until you’re at least 12 years old.”
12 years old? Double her current age?! There was no way she could wait that long!
“And when you’re 15,” her father continued quickly, seeing that she was about to shed some rather angry tears, “I’ll give you the best present you’ll ever get. You’ll see.”
Well, if her father was saying it was the “best”, it was probably going to be the opposite. Like a dusty old manuscript or a fancy dress. Her mood sank even further.
Jalil sat down beside her and put an arm around her. “Hey, I think you should open your presents now. It’ll cheer you up. Mine first!”
She sniffed and wiped her eyes with her sleeve. Hopefully Jalil would have got her something nice anyway, even if nothing else could fill the void that the lack of skateboards had left. He was thoughtful like that. And if her dad really had got her a history textbook, she could always just give it to Jalil so he could be all nerdy and studious like he wanted to be.
Reluctantly, she tore the wrapping paper off his present. It was some kind of box… a board game maybe? There was writing on it but the words were too long for her to bother trying to read right now, so she took a look at the picture on the side of the box to see…
No way – these were a thousand times cooler than a skateboard –!
“ROLLERBLADES!!!” she yelled, leaping to her feet.
“Yeah! Do you like them?”
Alix was already hugging the box, a huge smile on her face. “I love them! These are so COOL! Thank you thank you thank you!”
“I got a helmet and knee pads and stuff too, so you have to wear those, okay? And I’ll help teach you how to do it, so don’t try it without my help, and…”
He trailed off, noticing the expression on their father’s face. Alix quickly put the box back down, hoping Jalil wasn’t going to get into trouble, and especially hoping her wonderful new skates wouldn’t be taken away from her before she even got a chance to try them out and brag at the other kids how much cooler than them she was now.
Their dad sighed. “Jalil…”
“Well I didn’t buy her a skateboard so I didn’t do anything wrong,” he mumbled.
There was a long silence before their father finally replied. “I suppose that’s true. Fine.” A rather unexpected smile appeared on his face. “Alix can keep the rollerblades. But no skating without my permission, alright?”
Alix nodded, fully expecting to break that promise at some point. She had rollerblades now, actual, real rollerblades! Who cared about skateboards when these existed? From now on it didn’t matter how small she was – she was going to be the fastest kid alive, and no one would be able to stop her!