Her Last Memory

with short boards. Her second day at the new house, she had watched him from the living room window, practicing tricks on his skateboard. He was trying to learn an ollie. He had the popping down, but when he attempted the jump, his feet were too flat, and he wasn't really sliding his front foot far enough up the board to pull off the trick. A few times, Serene had seen him talking and laughing with a young blond girl outside his house, the comfortableness they exhibited in each other's company indicating that they were probably siblings. She'd been too shy to even wave when he looked her way, and mostly he'd just glanced in her direction. She wasn't sure if he noticed her anyway. But now, here he stood in front of her, smiling shyly, his eyes the green you see in nature after a good rain.

"I live across the street from you," he said when she failed to respond.

Serene nodded. "Yeah, I know. I've seen you around."

He tossed his hair from his face and smiled again, a bit unsure this time. He had his skateboard under his arm, a Quicksilver board. He set it on the ground and placed his right foot down as if he were about to push off.

"I saw you trying to do one ollie the other day," Serene said before he could take off.

He paused, his grin flickering. "You skate?"

"Yeah, brah." Serene lapsed into the Hawaiian pigeon she used when she hung around a bunch of guys, which was most of the time. She had a whole crew she went around with back home. There was Pono Boy, Haku, Kahale and Ikaia. Her best girl was Kanani, though, she was every much a tita as Serene. There were others, of course––island life was small-town life and everyone knew everyone, but those kids were her main hoaloha.

 "You have kind of an accent. You're from Hawaii, right?"

"Maui." Serene lifted her chin slightly, wondering how he knew where she was from.

Kids streamed out around them from the high school as he assessed her. "So you know how to do an ollie?"

Serene shrugged.

"Do you?"

"I can."

"Show me." He gave her a cocky grin and nudged his skateboard toward her with his foot. She stopped it with her own and hopped on, did a quick pop and then a jump that cleared three feet, her puff of hair pulled back in the ponytail she always wore flying up as well. The trick stopped several boys and a few girls in their tracks.

"Whoa! That was awesome."

She gave him a crooked grin and nudged the skateboard back to him.

He held up his hands. "No, no. What else can you do?"

She gave another small shrug. "Lots of stuff."

"You ever go to Rucker's park?" One of the boys in the small crowd gathered around them asked.

"No. I don't have a skateboard anymore, anyway," Serene said with another small shrug and slipped her hands in her shorts pockets for something to do. Having everyone's eyes on her was beginning to make her feel uncomfortable. She had never been someone who liked to be the center of attention.

"I've got an extra board," the boy from the crowd said. "That was hella unreal, that ollie you pulled off."

"Oh, this is Dylan, by the way," the boy from across the street said.

Serene shoved her hands deeper, as deep as they could go, into the shallow pockets of her jean shorts. "Sup," she said to Dylan, her eyes cast at the ground.

"And I'm Steve," her neighbor added. She looked back up at the two boys.

"Serene," she mumbled. The three began walking in a northerly direction that would lead them back to Jackson Avenue, which was only a mile and a half away. Serene walked to and from school every day. She noticed that Steve and his sister were driven to school in the mornings by their mother and that he often skated home with the other boy, Dylan.

"Where are you from?" Dylan asked and then stumbled forward. A girl with white-blond hair styled in a shag cut and features that warranted second glances had pushed him. She sidled up next to Steve, falling into step with them.

"What's up, loser?" She said to Dylan and then grabbed Steve's hand possessively, pulling him closer to her while giving Serene a side glance.

"This is Serene," Steve said. "She lives across the street from me."

"And she can do a wicked ollie," Dylan piped up, grinning.

"Ah, the girl from across the street," the blond said, and flashed Serene a smile of white teeth, her incisors slightly pointy.

"Taylor," Dylan said of the blond with an eye roll. "Later." He sent his board crashing to the sidewalk and pushed off, weaving along the sidewalk as he whizzed away.

"Did Steve tell you he's been stalking you?" Taylor said and then threw back her head and laughed as if it was the funniest thing in the world. Serene felt her face grow warm and Steve dropped Taylor's hand.

"Don't be a dick."

"Chill. You've been curious about her. He's been curious about you," Taylor turned to Serene. "Apparently, he and your grandma were like this." She intertwined her first two fingers, holding them up, and smacked her lips. "Besties." She laughed again. Her laugh had a high, slightly shrill sound. A fake laugh, a mocking laugh, cloaked as friendly teasing.

"You don't even know if Barbara was her grandma." Steve shook his head.

"Oh. You're right." Taylor tapped at her teeth as if giving his words some thought and then widened her blue eyes at Serene. "So was Barbara your grandma?"

Serene nodded, assessing Taylor. A haole bitch like her wouldn't have survived the day at Maui High.

"Well, whatta you know, she is Barbara's granddaughter." Taylor grabbed Steve's hand again and interlaced her fingers through his. "Now that you two have met, you can actually, like, talk to her instead of just watching her." She held up her other hand in the form of binoculars, which she pretended to look through, then winked at