Free Skateboard Tough by Matt Christopher

much? It’s just a number,” Johnee said.
    “It’s more than just a number to me,” Brett admitted, though he felt foolish doing so. “It’s my lucky number. It was the number Lance Hawker wore.”
    “And you think that’s a
lucky
number?” Johnee scoffed.
    Brett didn’t have time to explain. “Just give it to me, okay?” And with that he grabbed Johnee’s number off his back and started taping it on his own shirt.
    “Hey!” cried Johnee. He tried to grab the paper back, but Brett had already moved out of reach. “You’re weird, Thyson, you know that?” Johnee called after him.
    Brett asked W.E. to inform the announcer of the change, and then he turned to watch the next performer: Kyle Robinson. His attention was riveted on Kyle’s feet as he started off with a Kick Turn, skating swiftly up a ramp. At the last moment, just as the
    nose of the board was ready to leave the ramp, Kyle put his weight on his rear foot, twisted around, and skated back down.
    The crowd applauded.
    Kyle did a Tail Wheelie, putting both feet on the rear of the board and skating on just the rear wheels. Then he did a Nose Wheelie, which was just the opposite of the Tail Wheelie, followed by a Judo Air, in which one foot stayed on the board and the other did a karate kick forward.
    He did this trick several times, alternating the kicks from one foot to the other, and never losing his balance. The crowd cheered. Brett didn’t clap. He just watched, wondering if he could copy those moves. He felt sure he could.
    Kyle performed other tricks, including a handstand with both hands, and finally — just as the whistle blew — a fantastic jump off the top of a ramp, over a three-foot-high horizontal pole with his feet free of the board, and then landing on the board as it skimmed underneath the pole.
    The crowd applauded like crazy, and Brett wondered if he could outdo that. Those last two tricks, no doubt, were Kyle’s best.
    Then, “Our next contestant, Brett Thy- son!” came the announcement over the PA system.
    Brett caught his breath and held it. The moment had come. He could hardly believe it. For the first time in his life, he was going to compete in a skateboarding contest.
    He stood up as a round of applause greeted him. He put on his helmet, put his foot on the skateboard, and was ready to go.

13
    H e started off with some easy tricks first: a Tail Wheelie, a Hang Ten (hanging the toes of both feet over the nose of the skateboard with the rear of the board off the pavement), a Judo Air, and a few others that Kyle and the other contestants had done. Next he did a handstand, using both hands,
then let- ting go of the board with one hand and standing straight up on the other.
    “Hey, look at that, will you? A Gymnast Plant!” the announcer yelled, surprised and obviously enthusiastic. “Young Brett’s the only one who has done that trick so far!”
    The crowd showed its surprise and pleasure too, cheering and applauding.
So far, so good,
Brett thought, as he looked forward to other moves he expected to do. He was confident now that he was going to skate the best he had ever skated in his life. Better than anyone else. He was sure he could. That was a promise to himself.
    He did a couple of Hippy Twists, 360s, then a 540 — a one-and-a-half twist, landing backwards on the board and not losing his balance one bit.
    After taking just a few seconds to catch his breath, he skated down the arena several yards, crouched down on the board, grabbed its ends, and stretched his body out horizontally while the board rolled down the pavement. He had worked on this move dozens of times, but never on a skateboard. It had been on his bedroom floor. It was his first time on a skateboard, and it worked.
    He raced up another ramp, and, as he reached the top, grabbed an edge of the skateboard with one hand and the edge of the ramp with the other, and
somersaulted back onto the pavement.
    The announcer whistled his surprise and awe as the crowd