Snowboard Maverick (8 page)

A
fter a few minutes of this, Dennis had succeeded in making himself feel at least a little better. Then the phone rang.

It was Rick Hogan. “How’re ya feeling, O’Malley?” he asked. “Got rubber legs? Are your hands shaking yet? Ha, ha, ha!”

Dennis could hear Pat laughing in the background. He wished he could punch them both, right over the phone, even though he
had never really punched anyone in his life and probably never would.

“I haven’t seen you around Schoolhouse Hill lately,” Rick went on. “Are you gonna chicken out? Or are we still on for Saturday?”

It was a golden opportunity, Dennis knew. Here was the moment to back out of this whole stupid thing. All he had to do was
say the word… and listen
to Rick and Pat laugh at him the rest of the winter.

“Yeah, we’re still on. Of course. I’m going to beat you, too.”

“Right. Okay, I’ll see you there, at eleven o’clock Saturday. Intermediate slope.”

“Intermediate?” Dennis tried to hide the panic in his voice, but it leapt out of his throat, making his voice squeak horribly.

“Yeah, intermediate,” Rick repeated, mimicking the squeak and howling with laughter.

“No way,” Dennis held firm. “That’s not what we agreed on.”

“Awww, baby wants to go down the bunny slope,” Rick mocked.

“I’ve only been doing this for a couple of weeks,” Dennis correctly pointed out. “You’ve been snow-boarding a lot longer than
that.”

“So you admit I’m better than you,” Rick said in a self-satisfied tone.

“I didn’t say that.”

“You can’t beat me. You just admitted it.”

“I did not!” Dennis felt the blood rush to his cheeks. “Okay, intermediate slope it is. Just lay off me, Hogan.”

“All right!” Rick crowed in triumph. “You’re goin’ down, O’Malley!” He hung up, and Dennis let out a mournful sigh.

The intermediate slope? “I am such an
idiot!”
he muttered under his breath.

The next day after school something seemed to come over Dennis. His boarding skills deserted him along with his courage. Every
run down the Breakers seemed to result either in a fall or in Dennis sideslipping himself to a stop every few yards to
avoid
a fall.

“I don’t know what it is,” he told a concerned Robbie and Tasha. “I keep freezing up. It’s like a twitch or something. I can’t
get through a run.”

He sat in the snow, exhausted and miserable. Somehow, he had to find a way out of this nightmare. He had to find an excuse
for not showing up on Saturday.

“Come on, Dennis!” Robbie urged him. “Get up and try again. It’s the only way to get over it!”

“He’s right,” Tasha agreed.

“I’m exhausted,” Dennis told them, not moving. “Snowboarding really takes it out of you.”

“It does,” Tasha said, nodding, “but you never let that stop you till now.”

“I’m just not having any fun at it,” Dennis confessed. “I really didn’t want to come out here today and practice.”

“You’ll get over that as soon as you beat Rick Hogan,” Robbie assured him.

“And if I don’t beat him? If I wipe out and hurt myself or if he makes a fool of me? I’ll be lucky to make it halfway down
the intermediate slope!”

“What?” Tasha gasped. “You’re not racing on the beginners’ slope?” Her jaw hung open. Robbie, too, was speechless.

“He cornered me into it,” Dennis explained lamely.

“Dennis, I don’t think you understand what you got yourself into,” Tasha said. “The intermediate slope is steep and narrow,
and it’s got moguls all over the place, and trees, and lots of people in the way. You could hurt yourself unless you’re really
ready for it!”

“Tell me about it,” Dennis agreed.

“What are you going to tell your parents?” Tasha asked. She knew how concerned Dennis’s mom and dad were about his safety
— and that his history
with Ford’s Mountain would only add to their concern.

“I’ll tell them the truth,” Dennis said. “Afterward.”

“But that’s lying!” she blurted out.

Dennis just looked at her. Robbie broke the silence.

“Listen, Tasha, he’s got to do it. If anyone can show up that loudmouth bully Rick, it’s Dennis. Right, Dennis?”

Dennis was quiet for a moment. “I — I don’t know, Robbie. Maybe Tasha’s right. I’m probably not ready for the intermediate
slope, and even if I was, racing and not telling my parents would be wrong. I think maybe I just better tell Rick the race
is off.”

“You can’t do that!” Robbie insisted. “You could win this race! If you cop out now, Rick will tell everyone that you’re too
scared to face him because you’re a lousy snowboarder. You’ll never be able to show your face at the Breakers or Schoolhouse
Hill again after that. So you’ll have to quit snowboarding just like you quit skiing.”

“Robbie,” Tasha cautioned, “that’s not fair and you know it.” She turned to Dennis. “Listen, Dennis, if you don’t want to
race, you don’t have to. But if you
want my opinion, you could beat that guy if you put your mind to it. It’s only when you hesitate that you freeze up and fall.”

Dennis sighed. “I know,” he said. “Trouble is, I don’t know if I can stop hesitating.” He undid his straps and stood up. “That’s
it for me today, guys. I’m heading home.”

Robbie called out after him, “But what about the race? Are you going through with it?”

Dennis didn’t turn around. He just kept walking with Gizmo under one arm.

At school the next day, Dennis avoided Robbie and Tasha as best he could. He steered clear of Rick Hogan and Pat Kunkel, too.
He still hadn’t made up his mind whether or not to call off the race.

Between classes, he stopped at his locker to drop off one book and collect another. When he pulled the door open, a sheet
of paper with a single word written on it fluttered out.
Chicken!
it said in a simple, scrawled handwriting.

Dennis glanced around to see if there was anyone suspicious lurking near his locker. But the hall was practically empty. Not
that it mattered; he was pretty
sure he knew who had put the note there. It had to have been Rick or Pat. They were trying to rattle him. But how had they
gotten the combination to his locker?

Well, I’m not rattled, Dennis said to himself. He balled the piece of paper up and crushed it in his fist before slam-dunking
it into a nearby trash can.

But it didn’t end there. At the end of day, there was another note, this time taped to the inside of his locker. This one
was a newspaper photograph from an old issue of the
Moorsville Gazette.
It showed Dennis in traction, and the caption underneath read,
OOPS! Local boy suffers multiple fractures in Ford’s Mountain accident.

Dennis ripped it down and stared at it, frowning. He felt a slow anger burning in his stomach. The first note he could shrug
off as a joke. But this one was more serious. Rick and Pat were trying to intimidate him by reminding him of his last trip
down the intermediate slope.

The trouble was, it was working. Dennis s mind was flooded with memories of his accident. Against his will, fear took a place
beside his anger in his stomach. He tried to quell it by wadding up the newspaper
clipping and sending it into the same trash can as the first note.

It seemed to help. On the bus ride home, he had managed to put both the fear and anger aside.

When he got home, there was an envelope with his name on it waiting for him. Instantly suspicious, Dennis took the letter
into the bathroom and closed the door, locking it behind him. Only then did he open the letter. Inside was a crude cartoon
drawing showing Dennis, in pieces, littered all over a ski slope.
History will repeat itself!
read the caption beneath.

Furious, Dennis crumpled it up and flushed it down the toilet.

That’s, it! he thought, staring at himself in the mirror. If Rick and Pat want a fight, they’ve got one! I’m going to race,
no matter what. Even though it means lying to Mom and Dad. I can’t let that bully Rick Hogan think his dirty tricks worked!
I’ll show him who’s a chicken and who isn’t!

T
he next day in school, Dennis told Tasha and Robbie about his decision. They both said they were behind him one hundred percent.

The following morning, Robbie and Tasha came over while Dennis was still eating breakfast. Robbie seemed excited. He kept
hopping up and down in his chair while he waited for Dennis to finish eating, and his eyes darted this way and that impatiently.

“Are you done yet?” he asked Dennis three times.

“Let him eat,” Tasha told him.

“Mphgmph,” Dennis agreed, swallowing a mouthful of oatmeal.

Dennis could tell that it was hard for Robbie not to say anything about the race in front of Dennis’s parents. As far as they
knew, the three friends were just
going out to Ford’s Mountain for a day of practice on the bunny slope.

“Come on, let’s go get out your board!” Robbie said as Dennis got up from the table and led them outside. It was a perfect
day for a race. Brisk, but not too windy, with a thin layer of clouds overhead to blunt the glare of the sun. Felix barked
excitedly and followed them into the garage.

Dennis’s snowboard was against the wall. He picked it up, turned it to face him — and gasped in horror.

Spray-painted in red, all across the face of his beautiful snowboard, were the words NEWBIE CHICKEN!

“I’m gonna kill you, Hogan!” Dennis said furiously. Hot tears of fury stung his eyes, and his heart hammered in his chest.

“I can’t believe it,” Tasha said under her breath. “Are you sure it was Rick?”

“Of course it was!” Dennis said. “Who else?” He told them about the notes.

“But I mean, how did he get into your garage?” Tasha persisted. “He lives clear across town. And how’d he get into your locker
those times?”

“I don’t know,” Dennis said, frowning. “But it had to be him. Who else would do a dirty thing like this?”

“I guess you’re right,” Tasha admitted. “What a jerk. That is so totally mean!”

“I bet it’ll wash off,” Robbie said.

“It better,” Dennis said, steaming. He took the board over to the laundry sink on the opposite side of the garage and ran
the water till it was warm. Then he took a scrub brush and some soap and tried to get the paint off.

Luckily it seemed to wash away easily, and when it was all gone, there was no damage at all to Gizmo.

“I hate that Rick Hogan,” Dennis said. “Pat Kunkel, too. They are such sneaks.”

“Rick’s just trying to scare you,” Robbie said. “Are you gonna let him?”

“No way!” Dennis retorted. “Come on, you guys. Let’s get over there right now. Rick Hogan is about to receive major payback.”

“Dennis, you’re not going to fight with him, are you?” Tasha asked anxiously.

“No,” Dennis said, staring out into the distance. “I’m just going to beat the snow pants off him.”

They went to the corner of Main Street and hopped on the bus to the ski area. Rick and Pat were waiting for them in the lodge
at Ford’s Mountain.

“Okay, Hogan,” Dennis said. “What’s the big idea of messing up my board?”

“Huh?” Rick Hogan’s thick jaw dropped, and he blinked in confusion. “What are you talking about, O’Malley?”

“Somebody messed up my board,” Dennis repeated. “If it wasn’t you, then it had to be Pat!”

“Don’t look at me,” Pat said, holding up both his stubby hands. “I didn’t do anything, okay? So lay off.”

“Yeah, right,” Dennis said.

“Hey, are you trying to back out?” Rick asked. “Because if you are, everyone’s going to know. Roll the tape, Pat.”

At Rick’s command, Pat whipped out a camcorder and started taping the conversation. “Pat’s going to tape the whole race, just
so everyone can watch you go down,” Rick told Dennis. “I’m gonna sell tickets and hand out popcorn!” He laughed, and Pat guffawed
along with him from behind the camera.

“Then I guess they’ll all want to hear about the
notes you left in my locker and the letter you sent to my house,” Dennis said, looking right at the lens. “And he spray-painted
graffiti on my snowboard, too!”

“Yeah?” Rick retorted. “Where is it?”

“I washed it off, wise guy,” Dennis said. “Tasha and Robbie are my witnesses.”

“Look, are we gonna race, or what?” Rick demanded. "I’ve got my board; you’ve got yours. It’s not broken, as far as I can
see. So, are you ready?”

“I’m ready,” Dennis said.

“Then let’s go.” Rick led him to the ticket window, where he bought their lift tickets. Pat, Robbie, and Tasha took their
positions at the bottom of the run, where they could watch the whole race.

Several other kids gathered around to watch, too. Dennis recognized most of them. He knew Rick had brought them along, hoping
to humiliate Dennis in front of them.

Dennis didn’t care anymore. When he’d found that message scrawled across his brand-new snowboard, he’d seen red. At this moment,
he didn’t care if he wound up in traction again. He was going to beat Rick Hogan if it was the last thing he ever did!

The two of them rode up on the lift, side by side. They were alone now, without all their friends close by. Dennis could feel
Rick’s confident, mocking gaze on him, but he stared straight ahead. No matter what, he was not going to allow Rick to intimidate
him.

It seemed to take forever for the lift chairs to reach the top of the slope. They hopped off and trudged over to the trailhead.
There were several skiers ahead of them, and they needed a clear slope to hold their contest. So they waited silently, each
thinking his own thoughts.

Dennis tried to keep all doubts out of his mind. He did not look down the slope, lest his old fears return. He did not think
about his lack of experience snowboarding. He thought only of the notes in his locker and mailbox, and the red paint sprayed
across his new board. He thought only of getting even with Rick Hogan.

Finally it was their turn. They stood about fifteen feet apart as the skiers and boarders behind them looked on. Dennis tried
to breathe through the lump in his throat.