Jay's Guide to Crushing It (eBook) by Ruby Clyde

Author:Ruby Clyde
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Scholastic
Published: 2023-03-15T00:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER 13

THE TOP FIVE REASONS THIS CHRISTMAS IS TERRIBLE

1. Jamie is angry at me.

2. Mum is sad.

3. That’s my whole family out of sorts.

4. Mum gets Jamie a pair of trainers that I asked her for last year. She gets me a turquoise bodycon dress.

5. Jamie opens the cream Quiksilver hoodie and the video game he’s wanted for months that I’ve got him, nods once and says, “Thanks.” That’s it. He gets me a book of historic photos of Hatch Heath. I know he can’t give me anything related to my real hobbies in front of Mum, but it still feels weirdly impersonal.

On Boxing Day morning, I head for the skatepark. Alex is already there, riding what looks like a new board.

“Hey!” I say as I ride up. “Let me see.”

He grins and pushes the board across the ground to me so I can check it out.

“Nice,” I say appreciatively. “Who gave you this?”

“My dad.”

“Seriously?”

He blushes and goes quiet, but I know his dad giving him this is a big deal.

“Alex, that’s great. Is he being nicer to you?”

“Um, actually, yeah.”

“Well, come on, tell me more,” I say, sitting down on my board to listen to him.

“OK … so, I came home a few weeks back, and he was on my laptop.”

“That’s normally a very bad sign.”

“I know, right? But he was watching videos I have of me skating. When I came in, he said, ‘You’re really good at this, aren’t you?’ And since then … I don’t know, it’s like he suddenly gets it. He says he’s proud of me for being so ‘dedicated’.”

“That’s amazing!” I jump up and give him a hug. It’s the first time I’ve done that, and while I’m doing it, I realize it’s more something Mina’s-friend-Jay would do than something Alex’s-friend-Jay would do. But he puts his arms around me straight away. I can feel his bicep on my shoulder and smell a new body spray he’s wearing. He must have got it for Christmas.

“Yeah, it’s cool,” he says as we break apart. “Next thing I knew he was letting me pick out a skateboard for Christmas.”

“You’re living the dream, my man.”

He blushes again (he’s really blushing a lot today), then starts rummaging in his backpack.

“He actually let me get something extra,” he says, “and I didn’t want it, so, like, you can have it.”

He takes out a box of new wheels and hands them to me. I know as soon as I see them that he bought them for me himself. I mentioned that I needed new ones, like, a month ago, and told him my favourite wheels were from the company Alien Workshop. These are a new model and I know they weren’t cheap.

“Alex. Oh my god.”

“If you don’t want them I’ll take them,” he says quickly.

“This is the best Christmas present anybody’s given me this year.”

He grins, looking adorably sheepish, kicking his feet against the ground and taking his hands in and out of his pockets. “Oh. Well. Good.”

“I can’t believe I didn’t get you anything!”

“Nah, it’s not like that.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.