Read Online Snowboard Maverick by Matt Christopher - Free Book Online

see you have to have your mommy and daddy watch you while you go boarding,” Rick said, smirking.
    “I notice you didn’t bring your baby-sitter with you today,” Dennis shot back. “Where’s Pat? Did he break his leg or something?”
    “Don’t change the subject, newbie,” Rick insisted.
    “Newbie? What’s that?”
    “An amateur. A beginner. You, O’Malley.”
    “Leave me alone, Hogan, okay?” Dennis said, trying not to sound wimpy.
    “Yeah, right. I notice your friend Tasha almost let you beat her,” Rick laughed. “Gotta baby the newbie.”
    “Shut up, Rick,” Dennis said. “She did not.”
    “Oh, yeah? I’d like to see you race somebody for real. Like me, for instance.”
    “I’m not afraid to race you, or anybody,” Dennis shot back. “I’ll beat you, too.”
    “Uh-oh,” Rick said, a wicked gleam in his eyes. “Now you’ve gone and done it, O’Malley. You challenged me. Well, you’ve got
     yourself a race, big shot.”
    “Fine with me,” Dennis said, fighting the urge to panic. Why,
why
hadn’t he just walked away and kept his mouth shut?
    “Tomorrow?” Rick was grinning now, from ear to ear.
    “Uh, can’t,” Dennis said lamely. “I’m busy. How about next weekend?”
    “Need some time to practice, huh? Okay, fine. Next Saturday.”
    “Eleven o’clock?”
    “You got it.”
    “Here?”
    “Oh, no,” Rick said, rubbing his gloves together hungrily. “Too easy.”
    “The Breakers, then?” Dennis gulped hard. He sensed what was coming.
    “Uh-uh. Ford’s Mountain.”
    “What?!” Dennis exclaimed before he had achance to bite his tongue. Ford’s Mountain was way too hard for a “newbie.” There were trees if you missed a turn, and boulders,
     and moguls, and overhangs …
    “Scared, O’Malley?”
    “No. It’s just… it’s expensive.”
    “My treat,” Rick said, jingling the change in his jacket pocket.
    There was no way out, Dennis knew. Not without looking like a total chicken. “Okay,” he said. They shook on it.
    “See you there, newbie. Ha! This is going to be fun!” Dennis stood there as Rick walked away, laughing as loudly as he could.
    Dennis knew he was in for it now. He had just done possibly the stupidest thing he’d ever done in his entire life.
    What were his parents going to say when they found out? What if he fell and made a total fool of himself? Even worse — what
     if he got badly hurt?
    What a jerk he was! What a total jerk!

11
    D ennis felt his legs go rubbery. What had he done? In an instant, all his old fears of the mountain returned, closing in on
     him. Watching the kids on Schoolhouse Hill made him suddenly sick to his stomach. Incredible that he’d been racing down that
     hill himself only five minutes ago! He couldn’t have done it now if his life depended on it.
    Robbie ran up to him, falling once or twice in the deep snow on his way. “Hey, Dennis, what’s wrong? You look like you swallowed
     a frog or something.”
    “Or something,” Dennis repeated, nodding miserably. “I have to go. My parents are waiting.”
    “But what is it? Tell me!”
    “Oh, nothing. I just made the stupidest move of my life is all. Rick Hogan dared me to race him down Ford’s Mountain.”
    “And you accepted? Are you
nuts?”
Robbie’s brows knitted in concern.
    “Nuts
is a good word,” Dennis agreed. “Don’t say anything to anyone about it, okay?”
    “Not even Tasha?”
    “Yes, you can tell her, but nobody else. I don’t want a crowd around to watch me when I break my neck.” Dennis sighed at the
     thought of it.
    “Tasha! Guess what?” Robbie called out, cupping his hands to his mouth. Tasha came over to them, and Robbie told her what
     Dennis had done.
    “Oh, no!” she said, shaking her head. “Why did you do such a bonehead thing? Dennis, you’re just a beginner!”
    “A newbie? Yeah, I know, I know,” Dennis said. “And I can’t get out of it, either.”
    “Why not?” Tasha asked. “You could just tell him you