The day of Preliminaries finally arrived.

Bentley didn’t know exactly what he was feeling. It was a mixture of excitement, nervousness, a little anxiety, confidence, and queasiness. On the one hand, he knew he had what it took to leave the preliminary competition as a qualifier for the Juno Games, but then he had to deal with all the what ifs going through his mind. What if he fell? What if he came in last place? What if he dropped out of school for nothing and had people like Kit and Matthew believing in him for absolutely no reason?

Scariest of all, what if his mother was going to disown him over this decision? Bentley did not want to hear what she was going to have to say when he told her what he’d done, and today was the day he was going to do so. Bentley had it all planned – he was going to call her over the phone and admit that he’d left school, that he was pursuing a career as a freestyle BMX professional, and that her opposing wouldn’t make much of a difference. He was old enough to make his own choices, and right now, Bentley’s choice was to do what he loved.

He stared out the window of the coach bus he rode in; the elderly gentleman beside him snoring softly. If they didn’t hit any morning rush hour traffic, the bus was due to arrive in San Diego at 9 a.m. Bentley took a deep breath and closed his eyes. This was the day. He could do it.

Preliminaries for the Juno Games were simple: each rider was to get two two-minute runs on the obstacle course to show what they could do. The rider with the most points would be the winner of the competition, and the winner would get to advance to the Juno Games with all of the big BMX stars. Bentley needed to win first-place in order to get to compete with the big guys.

In theory, it wouldn’t be too difficult. The preliminary competition was supposed to be the easy part; a bunch of noobs who no one had ever heard of were going to battle it out for a spot in semifinals. No one cared too much for this competition – there was no livestream, no ESPN, no real hype.  But, Bentley knew he had what it took to win. That was only if his nerves let him.

The bus arrived at the depot just after 9:00. Bentley thanked the driver for handing him his bike. He put his cap on backwards, pulled on his backpack, and hopped on his bicycle, following the prompts of Google Maps until he found the competition site.

Bentley wasn’t prepared for what he saw when he pulled up to the skate park 10 minutes later. The crowd waiting out front was much larger than any preliminary crowd he’d ever seen. They had their tickets taken and made their way into the park, grabbing seats on the bleachers. Bentley shook his head. Maybe they were doing some sort of giveaway contest for fans who came. He shrugged, about to make his way over to the registration table when his phone began to ring. When Kit’s face flashed across the screen, Bentley quickly answered the phone call.

“Good morning, Kitten!”

Kit laughed on the other end. “Well, hello there! Happy Competition Day!”

“Thanks.” Bentley sat back on his bike and watched the crowd slowly make their way inside. “I just got to the skate park here in San Diego. It’s crazy. Usually there’s like seventy people who come to watch, tops – but there’s already a couple hundred and we still have over an hour before the competition even begins.”

“Wow. That’s amazing! Do you think someone will film it? I’m so bummed I can’t be there, and even more bummed that it’s not online.”

“Maybe so,” Bentley said. “That’d be cool. So.” He stopped only to smirk to himself. “I guess you’re up getting ready for your brunch with your little lover boy?”

“Oh, shut up. Abel is a nice guy, but it’s not like that.”

“Oh? Abel? So, your ship name would be Kabel? That’s pretty badass.”

“Ignoring you. I’m just going to tell him I have a lot of work to catch up on. I’m sure he’ll understand.”

Bentley licked his lips. “You’ll be cheering for me, right?”

“You don’t even have to ask that,” Kit answered. “I’m going to be thinking of you all day. Just a little disappointed you wouldn’t let me be there…”

“You have classes. I don’t want you to go down the path I did. Your father would murder me.”

Kit laughed. “Well, I’m going to let you get to it. I’m only a phone call away if you need some reassuring, okay?”

Bentley smiled, about to respond when he saw someone rush towards the entrance of the skate park with an I❤︎ Bentley Williams sign. His jaw just about dropped. What the…?

“Bentley?”

“Huh?” he shook his head and snapped out of it. “I’m sorry. Y-Yeah. I’ll give you a shout.”

He could hear the smile on Kit’s lips when he answered. “Good. Best of luck, and I’ll talk to you soon.”

“Later, Cutie.”

“Stop that.”

Bentley smiled and ended the call. He looked up again and saw the person with the huge sign join the back of the line. It was a girl, maybe his age, with her purple hair pulled high into a bun, and a short t-shirt that showed off her stomach. She was Asian-American, and wore rips in her jeans, and a wide smile on her face as she spoke to the guy in front of her.

Bentley rode over.

“Hey,” he said, smiling a little shyly when the end of the line all turned to look at him. “My name is Bentley Williams. I was wondering –”

“Wow. We know who you are,” the girl said. “I’ve been a big fan since you went up against Lox at the beginning of the year!”

“And I remember when you used to go to competitions with your father,” said an older man behind her.

Bentley was starting to put together the pieces. It sounded like maybe – just maybe, this large crowd had gathered here for him. “Wow. Well, thank you all for being here. It means a lot.”

“It’s good you’re finally riding! Your father would have wanted this,” another fan told him.

“I sure hope so. I have to go sign-in and get ready, but again, thanks so much.”

They wished him good luck and cheered as he rode off. Bentley took a moment to process that as he rode into the park. He couldn’t believe that an underground video from months ago, and the video he did with Ride BMX earlier in the week already had people showing interest.

This was putting such a huge weight on his shoulders.

He approached the registration table and looked around at the other newbies signing up. A couple of them glanced back at him before rolling their eyes away. Bentley didn’t care. He didn’t come here to make friends. As he stepped up, he smiled at the lady who’d be giving him his registration info and signed all the documents necessary.

“You’ll be going seventh,” she explained with a smile. “Best of luck!”

Bentley smiled back. “Thanks.”

“Oh? You’re the Bentley Williams I’ve heard so much about? Brian’s boy…”

“I am.”

“Your uncle, Donald, is here. He told me to let you know he’s waiting for you over by the sidelines.”

Bentley felt his heart drop a little. “He is?”

“Yes. Now, go make your old man proud.” She urged him aside and let the next guy put down his information. Bentley picked up his helmet and turned around to look for Donny, finding him almost immediately. It wasn’t hard to miss the look of pure disappointment and rage coming from such a small man.

Fuck.

Bentley got back on his bike and rode past a group of his competitors – some of which he was certain were having a conversation about him – and went over to his uncle. He stopped a few feet away and stood up straight.

“Hey. What are you doing here?”

Donald smirked. “Me? What am I doing here? Am I the one who’s supposed to be in college classes right now?”

Bentley looked past him and at the crowd. There was so much diversity; young, old, varying races, genders, and Bentley honestly believed that he was doing the right thing when he looked out at every one of them.

“I dropped out.”

Donald shook his head and looked away. “Wow. I’m guessing your mother has no clue about this.”

Bentley took a deep breath. That meant that Donny hadn’t said anything. “She doesn’t. I was going to call her before the competition and come clean.”

“Bentley… are you joking right now?”

“I’m not. I want to pursue a career here. I want to be a Freestyle BMX star like you and my father were. I don’t care about the risks. It’s what I want.”

“You’re 19, Bentley. You don’t know what you want.”

“That’s where you’re wrong.” Bentley sat down on the bike, pulling tiredly at his ballcap. “I know what everyone wants for me, and I honestly tried it that way. I was miserable in my freshman year, Unc. If it wasn’t for Zoey, I probably would’ve gone crazy. But now, because I want this, she doesn’t want me.”

Donald shook his head again. “You realize that your father finished school, right? He had something to fall back on. This career… who knows if you’ll be able to support yourself, and one day, your children, if you’re doing this for a living?”

Bentley smiled. “I guess I better be the best then, huh? If you’ll excuse me…” he got off his bike and pedaled it over to the other riders. There was no way he was listening to any of the naysayers, even if he knew the biggest ones would be the ones he cared about most. Bentley made his decision. If all this backfired, he’d do what it took to deal with the consequences.

“Wait!”

Bentley slowed down, turning around to look at Donny. “What?”

“Don’t you want to know how I found out you were doing this in the first place?”

Bentley looked around. “I just assumed maybe Jonah or Noah told you so I’d have someone here in case I fucked it up.”

“First, watch your language.”

“Sorry.”

“Red Bull reached out to me, saying they saw a video of you on Ride BMX and wanted to know if I could help them get in touch with you.”

Bentley’s eyes went wide. “Wait. What? Why would Red Bull want to contact me?”

“Well, why else would a large extreme-sports organization want to contact an athlete after seeing them perform?”

Bentley ignored the eyes on him from his competition as it dawned on him. If Red Bull already wanted to sponsor him, and he hadn’t even won a competition yet, then this was major. He’d make some cash, get to travel, and get to really make a career out of this. “I’m at a loss for words.”

“I told them I’d talk to you about it, but I guarantee you if you don’t qualify for Juno next week, they’ll rescind whatever offer they were considering.”

Bentley nodded. “I know. I have every intention of winning this.”

His uncle smiled. “Well, you shouldn’t have to be here alone. But, you do need to have a clean conscience when you go on those ramps, so I suggest you call Clarissa. Now.”

The smile fell from Bentley’s face. Donny was right. As grateful as he was to have the man here in his corner, he did have to talk to his mother. He had every intention of doing so, too, but his mother wasn’t going to be as supportive of this as Donny had been. Still, Bentley nodded and dug his phone out his pocket.

“Be right back.”

Donald patted him on the back. “I’ll be on the sidelines waiting for you. And, if I’m going to help you out with this, no more lies. Okay?”

Bentley took a deep breath. “Okay. I promise.”

He watched Donny walk off with his bike. Bentley dragged a hand down his face as he scrolled through his contacts for his mother’s number. This was going to be one of the hardest conversations he’d ever had – not quite as hard as the one when he found out his father was gone, but hard knowing that he was going to let his mother down in a big way.

The phone rang four and a half times before his mother’s soft voice answered the phone. Bentley could hear the racket in the background before she’d even spoken, and he knew she was at work.

“Hey, sweetie! What’s up?”

Bentley shoved a hand in his pocket as the other held his phone tightly against his face.

“Ben?”

“Yeah.” He swallowed hard. “Hey, Mom.”

“Good morning! You’re checking in rather early today. Class cancelled?”

He looked around the skate park and took a deep breath. “I have something to tell you.”

“Is it super important? Mr. Johnson needs his bedpan changed and you know the old frog doesn’t like to be kept waiting.”

“It’s kind of important,” Bentley said. “I’m sorry. I thought you got off work at seven this morning.”

“Got stuck with another double,” she answered. “What’s bugging you? Spit it out.”

“I dropped out of UCLA.”

The other line was quiet, minus the sound of Mr. Johnson shouting in the background. Bentley looked up at the bright blue sky before closing his eyes.

“And, I uh. I’m at a competition right now. I’m trying to qualify for the Juno Games next weekend.”

Still silence.

“Because I want to pursue BMX like Dad did, and I know that you told me several times that you’re not a fan of the idea –”

“No.”

Bentley stopped momentarily just to gather his thoughts. “I’m not asking, Mom. I’m letting you know that this is what I’ve decided to do. In no way would I ever, ever want to disrespect you. I love you. But, I can’t continue to be unhappy, or feel stuck. I’m sorry that you don’t like the idea, but I can’t help how I feel about the sport. I want to be a professional BMX rider. I want to go on tour – to travel. To film like my father did. School just isn’t for me right now.”

“Bentley. You’re not just going to lay this on me over a phone conversation…”

This was going exactly how he expected it to. His mother sounded pissed and like she was never going to be okay with this. That wasn’t going to change Bentley’s mind at all, though.

“We’ll talk about this in person, Bentley. And we’ll figure out how to get you back into school in the time being.”

He shook his head. “That’s over with, Mom –”

“I’ll see you in person,” she reiterated. “Goodbye, Bentley.”

Bentley stood there for a moment before even lowering the phone from his face. He knew that would happen. He knew his mother would never go for it. That didn’t make it hurt any less.

But, it was time for Bentley to prove who he was. He was his father’s son, and he was going to be the next King of BMX. Trying to mentally pump himself up was proving to be a little harder than he thought it’d be, so Bentley started walking towards his uncle, stopping short when someone cut him off.

“Williams. You’re taking the leap to mainstream. I knew after that whole Lox battle in Tucson that you’d attempt this. It’s foolish of you.”

Bentley looked up to see none other than Gary Lipton in front of him. Gary was one of those BMX stars that didn’t have to do competitions like preliminaries to qualify. His name alone got him an invite to the Juno Games. Bentley put his phone away and shrugged. “Foolish? I don’t think so, Gary. You were hiding in the corner when I slaughtered Lox. I’m ready to go mainstream. Make a little room at the top for me.”

Gary smiled. “I don’t know if that’s such a good idea, kid. You see, these people may be here holding up signs for you because you’re Brian Williams’ son, but that won’t help you out in the real world. Competitions like the Juno Games aren’t just for anyone.”

Bentley stared at him.

“You might’ve been able to beat Lox, but that’s nothing. We’ll eat you alive out here.”

“If this is to psych me out so that I fail, you’re wasting your time, Lipton.” Bentley stepped closer to him. “I’m going to win this comp, and then I’ll be able to compete against you next weekend. Maybe you should go and get ready for that instead of hanging around here scoping out the competition…”

Gary took a step back and smiled. “Hm. Break a leg, then, Williams.”

Bentley watched him walk off. Maybe it was a scare tactic, but he wasn’t falling for it. Not after everything he sacrificed. He looked out at the growing audience and took a deep breath before joining his uncle.

??

Annoyed wasn’t strong enough a word. Bentley knew he wasn’t imagining this. Maybe it was because there was a crowd full of people who’d come out just to see him ride, but that wasn’t his fault. He couldn’t help that he was Donald Kinsella’s nephew, or Brian Williams’ son. He also didn’t force any of the fans to show up and hold up signs in support of him. The jealousy from the other competitors, and even from Gary Lipton, was driving him insane.

Bentley was itching to get up on the ramps and show off. He wanted to show these assholes that he was the real deal and put the fear of God in everyone competing in the Juno Games next weekend. Bentley Williams was here, and he didn’t have time for bullshit. As the dude before him finished with a mere score of 79.43, Bentley fixed his knee pads, tightened his helmet, and mounted his bike. Uncle Don encouragingly rubbed his shoulders, and Bentley nodded to him before waving at the screaming fans. As the announcer called his name, Bentley played at Kit’s beaded-bracelet around his wrist. His adrenaline was rushing, he could hear his heartbeat pattering in his ears, and his palms began to sweat. He looked out over the obstacle course with a smirk.

This had to be what love felt like.

He came to conquer, and he was ready to do just that.