Free Snowboard Maverick by Matt Christopher Page A

combination to his locker?
    Well, I’m not rattled, Dennis said to himself. He balled the piece of paper up and crushed it in his fist before slam-dunking
     it into a nearby trash can.
    But it didn’t end there. At the end of day, there was another note, this time taped to the inside of his locker. This one
     was a newspaper photograph from an old issue of the
Moorsville Gazette.
It showed Dennis in traction, and the caption underneath read,
OOPS! Local boy suffers multiple fractures in Ford’s Mountain accident.
    Dennis ripped it down and stared at it, frowning. He felt a slow anger burning in his stomach. The first note he could shrug
     off as a joke. But this one was more serious. Rick and Pat were trying to intimidate him by reminding him of his last trip
     down the intermediate slope.
    The trouble was, it was working. Dennis s mind was flooded with memories of his accident. Against his will, fear took a place
     beside his anger in his stomach. He tried to quell it by wadding up the newspaperclipping and sending it into the same trash can as the first note.
    It seemed to help. On the bus ride home, he had managed to put both the fear and anger aside.
    When he got home, there was an envelope with his name on it waiting for him. Instantly suspicious, Dennis took the letter
     into the bathroom and closed the door, locking it behind him. Only then did he open the letter. Inside was a crude cartoon
     drawing showing Dennis, in pieces, littered all over a ski slope.
History will repeat itself!
read the caption beneath.
    Furious, Dennis crumpled it up and flushed it down the toilet.
    That’s, it! he thought, staring at himself in the mirror. If Rick and Pat want a fight, they’ve got one! I’m going to race,
     no matter what. Even though it means lying to Mom and Dad. I can’t let that bully Rick Hogan think his dirty tricks worked!
     I’ll show him who’s a chicken and who isn’t!

13
    T he next day in school, Dennis told Tasha and Robbie about his decision. They both said they were behind him one hundred percent.
    The following morning, Robbie and Tasha came over while Dennis was still eating breakfast. Robbie seemed excited. He kept
     hopping up and down in his chair while he waited for Dennis to finish eating, and his eyes darted this way and that impatiently.
    “Are you done yet?” he asked Dennis three times.
    “Let him eat,” Tasha told him.
    “Mphgmph,” Dennis agreed, swallowing a mouthful of oatmeal.
    Dennis could tell that it was hard for Robbie not to say anything about the race in front of Dennis’s parents. As far as they
     knew, the three friends were justgoing out to Ford’s Mountain for a day of practice on the bunny slope.
    “Come on, let’s go get out your board!” Robbie said as Dennis got up from the table and led them outside. It was a perfect
     day for a race. Brisk, but not too windy, with a thin layer of clouds overhead to blunt the glare of the sun. Felix barked
     excitedly and followed them into the garage.
    Dennis’s snowboard was against the wall. He picked it up, turned it to face him — and gasped in horror.
    Spray-painted in red, all across the face of his beautiful snowboard, were the words NEWBIE CHICKEN!
    “I’m gonna kill you, Hogan!” Dennis said furiously. Hot tears of fury stung his eyes, and his heart hammered in his chest.
    “I can’t believe it,” Tasha said under her breath. “Are you sure it was Rick?”
    “Of course it was!” Dennis said. “Who else?” He told them about the notes.
    “But I mean, how did he get into your garage?” Tasha persisted. “He lives clear across town. And how’d he get into your locker
     those times?”
    “I don’t know,” Dennis said, frowning. “But it had to be him. Who else would do a dirty thing like this?”
    “I guess you’re right,” Tasha admitted. “What a jerk. That is so totally mean!”
    “I bet it’ll wash off,” Robbie said.
    “It better,” Dennis said, steaming. He took the board over to the