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Murray
Age Sixteen
The summer was so fucking boring. I failed my driver’s test for the second time, so my only mode of transportation was my board. Considering we lived in the middle of the ’burbs and nowhere near anything even moderately cool, I was pretty much stuck on my street, riding up and down.
How screwed up was it that I was counting down the days until school started? It wasn’t like cruising the halls of my high school was a cakewalk. Too many rich, pretty-boy prepsters who took being different as a direct insult to them.
“Don’t wanna cut your hair, boy? How does that long hair feel when I slam your head into your locker?”
“You’d rather skate than play a real man’s sport like soccer or football? How do you like wearing clothes soaked in piss after PE?”
“Spend all your time in the band room? What do you think about your guitar now that all the strings are missing?”
Yeah, that’s what I was looking forward to going back to. Just went to show how goddamn bored I was.
“Murr!”
One-eightying on my board, I faced my dad standing at the end of our driveway, his feet bare.
“Yeah?” I called.
“Go check out the new neighbors. I saw a moving truck drive up the road when I was out for my run a while ago. Maybe that’ll entertain you.” He shoved his hands in his pockets and shot me a grin and an eyebrow waggle.
“Or…” I flipped my board up into my hand, “you could take me to the skate park. We haven’t skated together in months.”
My dad had mad skills. At forty, he could out-skate all the punks at the skate park. He’d gone pro back in the day and had made a name for himself, even medaled at the X Games. He was basically my hero.
“I would, kid, but I’ve got a radio interview in an hour. Plus, my knee feels like the bones are grinding today. I need to rest it, but tomorrow, I’m there. It’s you and me doing the grinding.” He canted his head to the right. “Think I saw a teenage girl getting out of a car. Might be worth checking out.”
With a groan, I dropped my board on the road. “All right, old man. I’ll go, but I’m not expecting much.”
The new neighbors were four houses down from us, but in this neighborhood, four houses was something like half a mile. The yards were expansive, as were the houses—or the estates, as people around here called them.
The sun baked down on me as I pushed my foot along the pavement, stopping in front of the Sterns’ house—former Sterns’ house. The moving truck was in the driveway with men carrying heavy-looking furniture out the back.
“Boo.”
My head jerked to the left, and my mouth almost gaped. A girl leaned her elbow on the stone surround of a mailbox. I couldn’t speak. When my dad mentioned a teenage girl moving in, I hadn’t expected...this. Her.
“Are you looking for my brother?” she asked.
Her mouth was wide, forming words more gracefully than her soft New York accent should have allowed. She was lanky, all long, pale limbs and sharp elbows. Her collarbone stood out in stark relief beneath smooth, porcelain skin, left bare except for the thin straps of her light pink tank top.
“I don’t know your brother.”
It was impossible for me to meet her eyes. I was stuck on the dip of her clavicle, though she probably thought I was checking out her tits. I had, believe me. They were small and high, and I wondered what they’d feel like in my hands. They’d probably disappear, and I liked that idea.
Fuck, I was going to get a boner in front of the new girl, thenI’dhave to move.
“Why are you looking at me like that?” she asked, like she was genuinely curious.
“Oh.” I shook my head, attempting to clear my addled mind. “Yeah, I was blind until yesterday, so everything’s really new. My doctors say I’m probably going to stare at things for a while and people should just roll with it.”
She actually laughed, which might have been harder for me to handle than how pretty she was. It was rare someone laughed at my skewed sense of humor.
“Ah, a medical miracle. How nice for you.” She straightened and took a step toward me on the longest legs I’d ever seen on a girl. “Well, since sight is new to you, I’ll inform you of a few things you might not know. First, the sky is blue during the day, but don’t waste your time looking at it. It’s subpar. Nighttime is when you want to gaze upon it. There are little twinkling lights and everything.”
I raised my eyebrows like this was brand new information. “Are they...stars?”
