Jonathan and Liz were enjoying a hot, summer day in San Diego, California. They were at Liz’s backyard, where Liz had her own mini skate park, with their friends Josh, Alex, Pierre, Alexi, Clouie and Ashley. Skating in August was an exhausting thing to do. All of them were in a skate crew called Plan X. Everyone called Jonathan “Jono”. He and Liz were the best at skating in the whole crew. They loved skating everyday and did not care if they fell or got hurt.
“Hey are we going to go skate today at the Circa Skate Park”, asked Pierre.
“Yeah. We always do” replied Lexi.
“Oh yeah, I’m going to go grab my board. See you guys at the park” said Alex.

About ten minutes later, they all left Liz’s house to go to the Circa Skate Park. It was on 23rd street on Avenue C. when they arrived, they saw many known skaters all crowded by the entrance.
“Dude, what’s going on?” asked Clouie.
“I don’t know, lets go check it out”, answered Jono.

At the entrance, the National Skate League of San Diego’s president, Johnny Szeto, was there. He was driven in his limousine that read “NSLSD” indicating
“National Skate League of San Diego”. He was giving a speech that seemed to excite the audience.
“Hey everybody, what’s up? Well I have a great announcement to make. The NSLSD will have a competition of the best skate crew in San Diego. The winners will get to meet a pro skater, Ryan Sheckler. You’ll also get a signed skateboard by Ryan plus fifty thousand dollars in cash”, said Johnny.

Everyone in the crowd started to scream.
“Now don’t get too excited. The crews will be allowed to have approximately eight members.. Not one more not one less. You have to practice a whole week before the competition. Now I should go. I hope you all join this competition. It’s better to try than to not try at all”, Johnny said.

Everyone watched as Johnny Szeto got seated in his limousine and waved at them all. They all started cheering and looking for their crew members.
“Oh my gosh, this is like an once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. Are we going to join or what?” asked Ashley.
“Yeah, we sure are” said Josh.
“Dude, I don’t think we should join. We’d probably fail. You guys suck. In a nice way, I don’t think we should even try”, said Jono.
“It’s better to try than to not try at all, right?” said Lexi.
“No Lexi, just leave him alone. It’s just him trying to act all pro”, said Liz. “Let’s go”.
“Dude, Liz, seriously, Lexi and Clouie don’t even know how to Ollie”, said Jonathan.
“At least they can lean from their mistakes, right?” asked Liz.

After a long day of disputes, Jonathan went up to Plan-X to apologize for acting like a jerk. They all forgave him and told him to be more respectful the next time.

The next day, Liz, Lexi, Clouie and Ashley went walking to school together. They were in 7th grade and attended San Diego Middle School.

When Jonathan arrived, a girl named Dana went up to him.
“Hey Jono, you know about the crew competition and all? Well we wanted to know if you could be in our crew. It’s called America G. Were offering you one thousand dollars for you to be in our crew. You could buy like a lot of skateboards with that. So could you join our crew?” asked Dana.
“Maybe I will. I’m not sure, though. I might be in your crew or in Plan X”, replied Jonathan.
“Dude, were offering you one thousand dollars” said Dana.
“I’ll think about it”, Said Jono.
“O.K, call me”, said Dana.

After Dana left, Liz and Lexi went to him.
“So are you in our crew or theirs?” asked Lexi.
“If I join their crew, they’re going to give me one thousand dollars” said Jonathan.
“Dude, friendship is more important than money” said Liz
“Hey maybe you’re right. I guess I’ll have to forget about that money. I’ll be in Plan X but we’ll need a lot of practice”, said Jono.

After school had ended that day, Plan X gathered at the Circa Skate Park to practice for the big day which was just 2 days away. Lexi and Clouie eventually learned how to Ollie. They had much fun together and they all practiced hard.

The next day, everyone around the town was talking about the famous skate crew competition that was to be held at the Circa Skate Park.
“Hey Jonathan, so are you going to be in our crew?” asked Dana.
“I don’t think so. I’m going to be in Plan X”, replied Jono.
“What? Dude, you were going to get one thousand dollars”, declared Dana.
“Money is not all in life. Besides, having my friends is more that enough”, said Jonathan.
“Fine, I don’t really care anyways, you guys are going to lose”, said Dana.
“O.K, see you tomorrow” said Jono and left.

Finally, the bug day came. Plan X had a healthy breakfast for energy to waste.

When they arrived at the Circa Skate Park, they saw about five skate crews getting ready to compete.
“Attention crews, this competition will be based on tricks and solidarity of the crews. Angels and Ramp will compete now” said the voice in the intercom.

After several games, there were only three crews left: PZ, America G and Plan X. The next game was going to be PB verses America G. The judges gave a total of 73 points to PZ and 86 points to America G. America G were very glad and were being mean to PZ.

Now it was the last and final game: America G verses Plan X. Lexi and Dana were up next. Unfortunately, Dana took the victory. They had many ties and were in an intense situation.

The judges took a long time to choose the winners of the competition. They thought both teams had the ability to be champions.
“Our decision was a very hard choice to make. Both of you crews did a very proficient job. The winners are the crew of America G.” said one of the judges.
“I told you Jono. You guys are losers. We paid that money to Keith. We didn’t know him but our friend recommended him to us. And he barely showed up now! We didn’t even know how he skated! I’m sorry for you”, said Dana.
“Hey…..” one of the judges interrupted what Jonathan was about to say.
“There is a change. America G, we said the competition would be based on tricks and solidarity, and to what I heard, you did not know Keith and you’ve never seen him before until now, am I right?” asked a judge.
“Yes sir. But we did learn about him and he’s our friend now”, replied Dana.
“Do you know what solidarity means? Well it means unity. And unity is working together. We said that you had to practice one whole week together right?” said a judge.
“The winners of this years competition is the crew Plan X”, said the judge, making his final decision. And that was that.

The next week after the competition, Plan X got to meet Ryan Sheckler and got a signed skateboard by Ryan. Ryan enraptured them and made them very happy.
“Friendship is more important than money”, said Jonathan.
“That’s true. We could’ve never done it without one another”, said Clouie.
“This is the best day in my whole life”, Liz said.

That day, they all learned a powerful message: Friendship last longer than anything such as money. After the long day, they all went home and went to bed.