Free No Second Chances by Malín Alegría Page A

off.” Chubs nodded, timidly removing his robe and hanging it over the rope. “Now remember,” Santiago lowered his voice. “You have to makeit look real. I don’t want you to hold back.” Chubs nodded, lowering his eyes. “Just do it like how we used to wrestle when we were kids,” Santiago reminded him. “But remember, after the second bell, I’ll take a drink from the Leafy Valley Mojo and you’re gonna have to fall KO style. I’ll try not to hurt you.” He shrugged. “But I can’t make any promises.” Suddenly, the bell interrupted him, announcing the start of the match.
    Santiago bobbed back and forth as he’d seen luchadores do on TV. Chubs may be as big as a refrigerator, but Santiago was quick. His cousin made a move and lurched for him. Santiago swiveled out of reach and raced to the opposite side of the arena. Cheers erupted from the crowd. Santiago turned and pounded his chest like a gorilla as he yelled out his wrestler name: El Puma. Then shouts for El Puma filled the air and Santiago’s heart swelled. The cheers felt good, but he was supposed to be losing. Santiago didn’t have long to worryabout that, however, because a heavy weight crashed into him, knocking the wind out of his lungs.
    It took Santiago a minute to realize what had happened. He was on his belly. The right side of his face was squashed down into the mat and he couldn’t move his arms. All he could hear was the voice of the referee counting off. No! Santiago’s eyes shot open. This was not how they had planned it. Santiago thrashed and squirmed under his cousin’s enormous weight. “Get off me, you muck.”
    â€œSorry,” Chubs mumbled, rolling quickly to the right. Whoa, that was close , Santiago thought, eyeing Chubs angrily — too close. Santiago’s heart was pounding and there were beads of sweat dripping down his shoulder blades. He glanced around, trying to orient himself. Out of the corner of his eye he saw Chubs rush toward him again like a swarm of yellow jackets. Santiago dodged him just in the nick of time. Santiago was going to crack a joke when aheavy hand grabbed his collar and tossed him back like a rag doll into the ropes. Santiago wanted to call a time-out, but the crowd was ablaze. People were out of their seats and crying out to him to fight back. He had them right where he wanted. If only he could keep his cousin from beating him to a pulp.
    This was the moment to introduce the drink, he thought. Santiago glanced at the referee, willing him to call time. Chubs had other ideas, however, and tackled him to the mat. Santiago tried to pull himself up to no avail. Chubs was taking his part of the act a little too seriously.
    Out of the corner of his eye, Santiago saw Fabi waving frantically to him from the side-line. She had a cup of the Leafy Valley Mojo in her hand with a straw dangling out. If only he could get his lips to the drink. Santiago tried to claw his way out from under Chubs and toward Fabi. But his cousin weighed a ton. Then the bell rang. It was the end of round one and Chubssprang up and off his legs. Santiago rolled over and sighed with relief.
    When he had regained a little strength, Santiago crawled over to Fabi. She was stammering about what a stupid idea this was. Milo had the sense to get a cold wet rag to help wipe the sweat from under Santiago’s mask.
    Santiago could barely keep his head up. He glanced over in Chubs’s direction. Chubs was laughing with his head thrown back as some girls giggled in his ear. It took Santiago a full second to realize that those were the same girls who were supposed to be rooting for him. What backstabbers! he thought. Then he noticed El Payaso Diamante reach out to shake his cousin’s hand. What’s he doing? Oh, no , Santiago thought, feeling his insides knot up. El Payaso leaned in to Chubs’s ear. He said something that made Chubs gasp in surprise.