Free Mountain Bike Mania by Matt Christopher

couldn’t just
     play and ignore us.”
    “And spray graffiti on the school walls?” his mother added pointedly.
    “What? We did not! That’s a lie!”
    “Well, someone did,” she shot back. “Someone sprayed ‘Mountain Bike Mania,’ in big red letters. It’s going to cost the school
     quite a bit to get it cleaned, too. Mr. Rivera warned me that if you were found to have done it, or even knew about it, you’d
     be suspended. So I want the truth, and I want it now.”
    She sat there across from him, her arms crossed. Will found himself fuming. “I didn’t do it, Mom, and neither did any of the
     others!” he said hotly. Almost as soon as the words were out of his mouth, though, the image of the object Ace had tossed
     into the garbage can came back to him. Could it have been a can of spray paint? Will wouldn’t have put it past Ace to have
     snuck outside during lunch period to spray the message.
    “All right,” his mother said. “But I don’t want you going off on your mountain bike until this whole thing has been settled.”
    “What?!”
    “Look, I can see that you’ve been out biking this afternoon. And don’t try to tell me you haven’t. I can tell by the dirt
     on your shoes.”
    “Okay, so I did. I didn’t feel like going to the library today.”
    “Oh, you didn’t feel like it? What about your agreement with us? Doesn’t that mean anything to you?”
    Will gave a shrug.
    “I suppose you’ve already heard that your biking club is under temporary suspension.”
    “No, duh,” Will said, rolling his eyes.
    “Will Matthews! Are you mocking me?” his mother asked incredulously. “What’s gotten into you, young man?”
    “Nothing,” Will said, getting up off the stool to get away from her. He felt like she could see right through him, and he
     didn’t want her to. “I’m just sticking up for myself, that’s all. Just like you and Dad always do.”
    “What do you mean by that?” his mom asked. “And please turn around and look at me when we talk.”
    Will turned around, sighing deeply. “I mean, you wanted to make more money, even though we’re not poor, so you went and got
     a job, even though we have to eat Chinese food every single night now. But that’s okay, because it made you happy. Well, what
     about me? I finally found something that makes me happy, and now you won’t let me do it!”
    “Will, of course I want you to be happy!” she protested. “But I also expect you to act like a responsible person. If you expect
     to be allowed to go off mountain biking, you’ve got to abide by your agreements and stay out of trouble!” Her lower lip began
     to tremble. “And I’m sorry if I’ve been selfish, but having a career happens to mean a lot to me.”
    Will was torn between his anger and the shame he felt at upsetting his mother. He stormed out of the room, ran up the stairs,
     and slammed his bedroom door behind him. Collapsing onto the bed, he felt hot tears sting his cheeks.
    His life was a total wreck! His best friend hated him, the principal thought he was a juveniledelinquent, he’d driven his own mother to near tears, and worst of all, his parents were never going to let him go mountain
     biking again!
    Will and his parents didn’t talk much for the next couple of days. A few times, Will was about to apologize, but just as he
     was about to say he was sorry, his dad or his mom would say something to get him all angry again. The family barely managed
     to have meals together, and the tension was so thick you could cut it with a knife.
    The worst time was Friday after school. With no biking club, there was nothing to do except read and watch TV. Will didn’t
     feel like reading today — it was something his parents would have approved of — so he just watched TV nonstop, before dinner
     and after, until he fell asleep in front of the tube around midnight.
    The next morning, he had just eaten breakfast and was about to go flip on the TV again, when he saw