Free Rock On by Matt Christopher, Stephanie Peters Page A

eyebrow. “Wanna bet?”
    Those were the same words Frank had used to trap Bizz. Before Mark made the same mistake, X stopped him. “No bets,” he said.
    “Too chicken?” Frank and his friends flapped their arms and clucked. “I dare you to race me down the hill!”
    X narrowed his eyes. He’d seen Frank snowboard a few times before; he was pretty sure he could take him. “You’re on!” he said.
    They climbed to the top of the slope and met Alison Lee, the teenager who oversaw the skatepark and the hill. X explained Frank’s challenge and asked for her help in clearing the hill for a few minutes.
    Alison shook her head. “X, you know you’re a good snowboarder. You don’t have to race to prove it.”
    “I know,” said X. He lowered his voice. “But he dared me. If I didn’t race, he’d think I was a coward.”
    “So why do you care what he thinks?”
    X didn’t answer. Alison rolled her eyes, but she helped clear the hill. As she did, a small crowd gathered at the top.
    “Hey, what’s the holdup?” Jonas Malloy pushed through to where X and Mark were standing.
    “Yo, Jonas, you’re just in time. X is going to race Frank down the hill,” Mark said.
    “No way!” Jonas threw an arm around X’s shoulders. “Doesn’t Frank know that X is the best boarder around?”
    “Well, I wouldn’t say —,” X began.
    “And not just the best boarder,” Jonas continued in a loud voice. “He can ride anything on wheels, he rocks in the half-pipe
and
on the rails, and when it comes to jammin’ down a mountain on a bike, he’s the boss! You look up
extreme sports
in the dictionary, you’ll find a picture of X!” Jonas and Mark high-fived each other. Some of the kids in the crowd cheered. Frank and his buddies frowned.
    X felt his face turn red. He wished Jonas hadn’t said all those things. Now if he lost, he’d look like a total idiot!

CHAPTER THREE
    It was too late to back out of the race — not that X wanted to. He crouched down, eyes glued to Alison.
    “On your mark, get set, go,” Alison said — and the race was on!
    X launched himself into a straight downhill ride. His arms were low and forward, steadying him as he shot past the onlookers. His back foot worked to keep the board in line. He didn’t look to see where Frank was. He focused on staying in control and making it down the hill as fast as he could.
    Suddenly, a mound of snow appeared in front of him. X didn’t have time to go around it. Instead, he bent his knees and hit the mound at full speed. Airborne, he grabbed his board with one hand. As he started to fall, he let go and shifted his weight to his back foot. The last thing he wanted was for the nose of the board to dig into the snow and send him flying.

    Thud!
His landing was hard but clean. Seconds later, he skidded to a stop at the bottom of the hill. Panting, he turned just in time to see Frank finish his run. X gave a
whoop
and pumped his fist in the air. He’d won!
    Frank shot X a mean look, unsnapped his bindings, and stalked away. His friends joined him. The girl tried to put an arm around his shoulders, but Frank shook it off angrily.
    A spray of snow showered X in the back as first Jonas, then Mark boarded up beside him.
    “That was the most beautiful run this hill has ever seen,” Mark said solemnly.
    “I could not
believe
how you stuck that jump!” Jonas cried. “I thought for sure you were going to crater. But no, you boosted about five feet into the air instead!”
    X grinned. “Thanks, guys. It felt pretty good, I gotta admit. But now that the excitement’s over, let’s go back to normal, okay?”
    “I don’t think it’s going to be that easy.” Alison joined them. She jerked her thumb at Frank and his friends. “You’ve just made yourself a real enemy, X. And it’s my guess that he’s going to try to find a way to get back at you.” She picked up her board and started up the slope. Then she stopped.
    “Hey, I almost forgot. There’s a new