Chapter 9 The Skateboard Girl Who Broke Into Nathan’s World
He found that spending time with Chloe was surprisingly effortless.
Having skipped grades since primary school, Nathan was used to walking into new classrooms where everyone was older, taller, and already locked into tight-knit social circles. No one ever made the effort to include him.
And he had no idea how to fit in with them, either.
He had tried once, a long time ago, but eventually he had just given up. Now, it didn’t matter. If he couldn’t fit in, so be it. He had already taught himself the entire middle school curriculum in his spare time and was preparing an application to skip straight to high school the following year.
During form time, the teacher praised Nathan and the ten other students who had made the honor roll, encouraging the rest of the class to aim higher on the final exams.
Chloe spent the rest of the day practically bouncing in her seat, desperate for the bell to ring so she could go home and show off to her parents.
Alvin and Carol Frost were, naturally, delighted. That evening, they prepared a massive feast and carried it out to the garden, eating under the wide branches of the sugar maple tree to celebrate.
Alvin beamed at his daughter, his smile crinkling the corners of his eyes. “My little angel is amazing!”
Carol teased, pouring him a drink. “Don’t praise her too much, Alvin, or she’ll fall straight back off the list next term.”
“You have to encourage children,” Alvin corrected her self-importantly. “Negative reinforcement is the wrong approach entirely.”
“I suppose you’re right. But this is only her first time making the bottom of the list, and look how excited the two of you are! If she ever brings home a Presidential Award, we’ll have to shut down the street and invite the whole neighbourhood to a parade!” her mother laughed.
“Honor roll progress happens one step at a time. Honey, do you think you can move up a few spots by the end of the semester?” Alvin asked, slapping his palm proudly on the table.
Chloe wasn’t so sure about that.
Honestly, making the list this time had mostly been a fluke of good luck. Normally, she floated comfortably right in the middle of the pack. Who knew what would happen on the final exams?
But she couldn’t bear to let her father down. “I can do it! I can!”
She quickly made a deal with herself: if she bombed the next test, she would simply blame the teacher for setting impossible questions.
“Brilliant! If your final grades land in the top tier, I’ll give you a fifty-dollar bonus!” Alvin declared.
“Fifty dollars!” Chloe’s eyes widened instantly. In that exact second, she resolved to study like her life depended on it.
The meal ended in soaring spirits.
The next morning, Chloe was riding her skateboard to school when she spotted Nathan waiting at the bus stop up ahead.
He was holding a small stack of flashcards, silently reciting vocabulary while sipping from a carton of milk. He was wearing an oversized hoodie that completely swallowed his small frame, the shadow of the hood hiding his face.
Even though he was tiny, he stood there radiating a quiet, intense focus.
No wonder he topped the honor roll—just look at how hard he worked!
He was so deeply buried in his flashcards that he didn’t even notice the bus pulling up. And he certainly didn’t notice it pulling away.
He didn’t look up until the roar of the engine was fading down the street.
Chloe couldn’t help it. She burst out laughing.
She kicked the tail of her board, skidding to a sharp stop right in front of him. “Hey, Nathan! Two buses have already left!”
Nathan finally dragged his eyes away from the flashcards and looked at her, his expression perfectly blank. “They left?”
Chloe nodded, pointing down the empty road. “The next one won’t be here for fifteen minutes. You’re definitely going to be late. And today is the all-school assembly—aren’t you supposed to go up on stage to receive the Presidential Honor Award?”
“Oh. Right.” Nathan finally snapped out of his trance. “Then I’ll run.”
Without another word, he shoved the flashcards into his pocket, hiked his heavy backpack up his shoulder, and started sprinting down the pavement.
Chloe cruised effortlessly alongside him on her skateboard, laughing. “Run faster, Nathan! Go, go!”
After half a block, Nathan was already panting.
“Want a ride?” Chloe offered kindly, taking pity on him.
“Sure.” Nathan didn’t even try to refuse. He had zero stamina and was already struggling to keep up with her walking pace.
She hadn’t actually expected him to say yes, but it didn’t matter. Helping a classmate out was normal. She slowed down, letting Nathan hop onto the back half of the grip tape.
As she pushed off again, the board felt incredibly steady, almost weightless. “Wow, Nathan, you’re so light!”
“I am not. I’m almost ninety pounds,” Nathan muttered defensively.
“You’re still lighter than me!” Chloe laughed, kicking harder against the pavement to pick up speed.
Nathan didn’t argue. He just pulled his flashcards out of his pocket and started reading again.
“Hey, read them out loud so I can hear too,” Chloe suggested over her shoulder. “Maybe memorising together will be more efficient!”
Nathan sounded highly skeptical. “How is that going to work?”
“Just try it!” Chloe was currently burning with a fiery passion for studying—specifically, for fifty dollars’ worth of studying. She desperately wanted to use her commute to memorise vocabulary, but she needed her eyes to steer the skateboard.
“Fine.” Trapped on the back of her board, Nathan couldn’t exactly refuse. He raised his voice over the rattle of the wheels and started reading the words aloud.
Listening to him, Chloe quickly realised that Nathan’s method for memorising vocabulary was completely different to hers. Instead of grinding through them alphabetically, he grouped words with the same Latin or Greek root together, explaining the connections as he went.
By the end of the twenty-minute ride to school, Chloe had memorised a dozen new words and learned an entirely new studying technique.
She decided right then and there that picking him up was the best investment she had ever made. Having the top student in the school act as her personal audio-dictionary was fantastic!
That afternoon, during an unannounced English Literature pop quiz, she got every single vocabulary question right. She was thrilled.
After that, whenever she saw Nathan waiting at the bus stop in the mornings, she invited him to catch a ride with her.
She would skateboard in front, steering them through the streets, while he stood behind her and ran through his review notes.
Sometimes, she would make demands. “Nathan! We have a character analysis test on Romeo and Juliet today. Give me the summary!”
“I’ve analysed Romeo and Juliet countless times already,” Nathan would sigh.
“But I haven’t! Please, just walk me through it once. Hearing you explain it is way faster than reading it ten times!”
It was the truth. Chloe genuinely found Nathan’s explanations brilliant. Hearing him break down complex concepts made them instantly click in her brain.
“You’re exaggerating.”
“No, I’m not! Please, just tell me,” Chloe pleaded enthusiastically.
“Fine.” Entirely unaccustomed to such direct praise—or such shameless begging—Nathan would hide a small, pleased smirk and begin outlining the character dynamics, key themes, and tragic irony of the play as they rolled toward school.
The result of that day’s quiz? Chloe aced it. Again.
From then on, Chloe treated Nathan like a sacred academic deity, bringing him snacks every single day as an offering.
She quickly discovered that Nathan only seemed cold and aloof from a distance. In reality, he was just painfully introverted and had absolutely no idea how to start a conversation. If someone actually asked him a question, he would always answer patiently.
Naturally, Chloe took him under her wing.
She brought him little treats and small gifts. During group projects, when Nathan inevitably ended up sitting alone while the others paired off, she would march over and drag him into her group. When the rest of the class planned weekend trips to the cinema or the mall, she made sure he was invited too.
Chloe was easily the most popular girl in their year—she was pretty, loud, fiercely loyal, and generous to a fault. Both the boys and the girls loved her.
With Chloe leading the way and loudly claiming him as a friend, Nathan was seamlessly absorbed into the social hierarchy of the class.
Even his mother, Susan, noticed the change. Kids from the neighbourhood actually started calling at the front door to ask if Nathan could come out and play, and her son was visibly brighter and more relaxed than he had ever been.
Chloe was equally delighted.
With the school’s resident genius personally tutoring her every morning, her final grades actually did hit the top tier! She got her fifty dollars, and she resolved to keep Nathan as her best friend for the rest of her academic life.
But on the first day of the second semester, a terrible rumour reached her ears. Nathan was applying to finish middle school early so he could take the high school entrance exams that summer.
Chloe immediately marched over to his locker, leaned against the metal door, and looked at him with pitiful, wide eyes.
“Are you skipping grades again?”