Read Online Roller Hockey Radicals by Matt Christopher - Free Book Online Page A

Lainie said, flicking a finger at his sling strap. “Thanks, anyway. Come on, Kirby.”
    As she skated and Kirby rode toward Bates Avenue, Kirby looked over at Lainie. “You’re really not scared?” he asked her.
    “’Course I am. Are you crazy?” she replied. “Aren’t you?”
    “Yup.”
    “Well, do your best to hide it, because here we are,” Lainie said. “Follow me.”
    The Bad Boys were practicing as usual. As Lainie and Kirby approached, one of them delivered an illegal body check to another.
     The second boy slammed into a parked car, denting it a little.
    “Yeah! Yeah! I decked you, Slater!” Killer’s voice rang out. “In your face!”
    Slater dragged himself back up and shook himself off. “Hey,” he said, “look who’s here.”
    “Whoa, it’s the geek and his girlfriend! Wanna play a pickup game? No adults around to protect you now!”
    “We’ve got something more important to talk about,” Lainie said simply.
    “Oh, yeah? Like what?” All the Bad Boys were gathering around now. Lainie handed Killer a copy of the petition.
    “This,” Lainie said. “We’re circulating a petition to hand in to the mayor, to get him to pave the parking lot and let us
     skate there again.”
    Killer stared at the page and nodded. “‘We, the people…’ Not bad. You make this up?” he asked.
    “Uh-huh. We need your help getting signatures. At least a thousand by next week.”
    Killer spit on the ground. “No problem,” hesaid. “We’re gonna get way more signatures than you losers.”
    “In your dreams,” Lainie said, tossing her hair back off her forehead.
    “We’ll see,” Killer said. “Hey, guys, go get everyone you see to sign one of these papers. If they won’t sign, break their
     necks.” He grinned and looked at Lainie. “Salesmanship,” he said. “Now, get out of here, and take your geek boyfriend with
     you. Got it?”
    Lainie narrowed her eyes dangerously but didn’t answer. Instead, she said, “Come on, Kirby,” and started skating away. Kirby
     followed her before the Bad Boys decided to chase them.
    “That was cool!” he said. “You were so awesome, Lainie!”
    Lainie grinned. “Thanks,” she said. “I thought I was pretty good, too. Now let’s see if those jerks manage to get any signatures.
     They’re not going to get more than us, that’s for sure. Not if I have to spend every last minute this week on it.”
    “Me, too!” Kirby said. He really admired Lainie. She sure was brave. Even though she’d admitted to him that she was afraid,
     she never let the Bad Boys know it. Kirby was sure his own teeth had been chattering the whole time.
    Kirby was shy at first about ringing the doorbells of people he didn’t know. And when they opened their doors, he stumbled
     on the speech he’d prepared. But after Marty called him and it turned out that he was having the same problem, Kirby didn’t
     feel so bad. At least he wasn’t the only one.
    So the two boys worked out a plan. They would set up a table outside Reilly’s Sporting Goods, downtown. Lots of people came
     by there, and the ones who went into Reilly’s were already interested in sports. There would be a poster asking people to
     sign the petition, so all he and Marty would have to do would be to answer questions.
    This plan turned out to be a big success. Afteronly fifteen minutes, they had gathered twenty signatures! Seeing the crowd gathering in front of his store, Mr. Reilly came
     out to see what was happening.
    “What’s this you’re up to?” he asked, looking over the poster they’d hand-painted. “‘Help make the roller hockey rink a reality’?
     What roller hockey rink?”
    “The parking lot at the old cardboard box factory,” Marty explained. “We want the town to pave it and insure it so that kids
     can play there.”
    “Well, I think that’s a great idea!” Mr. Reilly said. “This town doesn’t pay enough attention to recreation for kids, if you
     ask me! Besides, it’ll