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I really didn’t mean to do that. It was the first thing that came to mind, so I did it impulsively. Please don’t hate me, Reki.
A clattering sound came from the skate park. It sounded like wood scraping against concrete, then a rotating sound from the wheels as the skateboard rolled further away. A soft grunt and shuffling noises.
Gently rubbing his thumb against the grazes on his knee, Reki turned his hand over and saw a little amount of blood there. In some other places, there was more blood. He sighed deeply, frustrated with himself; every time he tried, he failed. It was as if he was destined to be good at skateboarding, but not good enough.
The other day, Langa showed Reki a trick that he thought was super cool. Determined to do the same thing, he practiced, but he was never as good as Langa. He had only been skateboarding for a while, and he was already better than Reki.
Reki smeared the blood from his knee and stood up, his eyebrows furrowed and jaw clenched. It was late, and he knew that if he kept on practicing, he would get even more annoyed and end up failing, once again. Walking over to his skateboard, he put one foot on the deck and turned it around, skating out of the skate park.
As he skated, he glared at the ground, frustrated with himself. Why wasn’t he good enough? Was it that he was so fixated on doing better than Langa, and that was the thing that was stopping him from actually becoming better? A soft huff escaped his lips, and before he knew it, he had crashed into someone while staring at the ground.
Reki fell to the ground once again, yelping as his backside hit the floor. Another sound—a groan—came from the other person. Looking up and still glaring, Reki saw that it was Langa that he had crashed into. Immediately, he went to apologise, but stopped himself, averting his gaze.
Langa lifted one hand from the ground, where he had pushed his hand against the concrete, looking at it. There was a small graze on his skin. “Reki,” he started, glancing up. “Are you okay? You were glaring at the ground…” Langa’s voice was soft and concerned, his eyebrows furrowed. It seemed he didn’t care about his cut hand.
Saying nothing, Reki stood up and finally looked at Langa, an intense look in his eyes. Langa had never seen that kind of expression on his face before, but it made him more worried. “Reki?” Before he could speak any longer, Reki lifted his foot and pressed it against Langa’s hand that he was still holding up, forcing him to grind his skin against the rough concrete.
A hiss escaped Langa’s lips, his eyes narrowing and crinkling at the corners. What was this sudden aggression from Reki? Langa tried to talk to Reki again despite the pain. “Reki, what’s wrong? Why’re you—” Reki forced his foot onto Langa’s hand again, making him wince. When he spoke, his voice was lower, and he clearly wasn’t into the mood for conversation.
“Langa, I don’t wanna talk to you. Maybe try figuring that out next time.” Reki commented, the tone of his voice unusually harsh. Langa didn’t say another word, waiting until he took his foot off of his hand. Slowly, he placed his other foot onto the deck of the skateboard and began to skate away. Not even an apology from Reki—that’s pretty cruel.
Langa sat there on the floor, dumbfounded by what had just happened. He tried his best to think about what he could have done wrong, but nothing came to mind. Was he really mad at Langa, or was he jealous?
When Reki got home, he totally regretted what he just did. He didn’t want to admit it, but he was jealous. So jealous. Langa was amazing at skateboarding, and Reki was proud of him for learning so quickly. But another part of him envied that, and he wanted to overtake him. He knew it was selfish, but it felt like his feelings had a mind of its own.
The door slid open to his house, and Reki’s mom, Masae, greeted him with a smile. “Welcome home, Reki! You’re a bit…” She trailed off as she saw the annoyed look on Reki’s face, but she didn’t ask, letting him walk to his room in silence. He had lost his appetite because of what he said to Langa. He regretted it so much, but even if he tried to apologise tomorrow, his pride would hold him back.
Reki stepped into his room and shut the door behind him, then leaned against it, a heavy sigh escaping his lips. Guilt washed over him; Langa didn’t deserve to be spoken to like that. He was determined to apologise, but he had this doubt in the back of his mind that he wouldn’t be able to do it.