Into the Danger Zone

by Matt Christopher

  Text copyright © 2005 by Matt Christopher Royalties, Inc. Illustrations copyright © 2005 by Michael Koelsch

  All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without permission in writing from the publisher, except by a reviewer who may quote brief passages in a review.

  Little, Brown and Company

  Time Warner Book Group

  Hachette Book Group

  237 Park Avenue

  New York, NY 10017

  Visit our Web site at www.HachetteBookGroup.com

  First eBook Edition: October 2007

  The Little, Brown and Company Publishing name and logo is a trademark of Hachette Book Group, Inc.

  The characters and events portrayed in this book are fictitious. Any similarity to real persons, living or dead, is coincidental and not intended by the author.

  Matt Christopher® is a registered trademark of Catherine M. Christopher.

  ISBN: 978-0-316-03032-8

  Contents

  CHAPTER ONE

  CHAPTER TWO

  CHAPTER THREE

  CHAPTER FOUR

  CHAPTER FIVE

  CHAPTER SIX

  CHAPTER SEVEN

  CHAPTER EIGHT

  CHAPTER NINE

  CHAPTER TEN

  A SHORT HISTORY OF SKATEBOARDING

  CHAPTER ONE

  “Man, I can almost taste the warm weather, can’t you?”

  Charlie Abbott spun around on his skateboard and grinned at Jonas Malloy. “I hear you, dude. I like snowboarding and all, but it’s been a long winter. I’m craving some action on the half-pipe and rails!” He pushed off and started moving down the sidewalk again. “How many more weeks until the skatepark reopens?”

  Jonas groaned. “Alison said at least three. No exceptions.” Alison Lee was the teenager who ran the local skatepark and the snowboarding slope behind it. She set the rules for both and made sure everyone followed them.

  “That means mid-April at the earliest,” Charlie said. He dodged around a dirty pile of old snow. “I’m not sure I’ll be able to wait that long!”

  “No kidding. But what can you do? Rules are rules.” Charlie heard someone shout his name. He and Jonas both stopped as Xavier “X” McSweeney boarded up beside them. He was clutching a newspaper.

  “You will not believe this!” he cried. He thrust the paper into Jonas’s hands and pointed to an advertisement.

  Jonas’s jaw dropped. “No way! ” he exclaimed. He handed the paper to Charlie and double high-fived X.

  Charlie read the ad out loud. “‘Rocket Robert and the Shred Devils to appear one night only!’” He gave the paper back to Jonas. “Who’s Rocket Robert, and what’s a Shred Devil?”

  Jonas and X stared at him in amazement. “Have you been living in a cave?” X said. “Rocket Robert is only the best skateboarder in the country! He and the Shred Devils — the other boarders and inline skaters in his group — are on a worldwide tour. They’re going to put on a show here!” He turned to Jonas. “Remember when we saw Rocket Robert two years ago?”

  Jonas grinned. “You and me and Bizz were just getting good at boarding,” he said. Belicia “Bizz” Juarez was another friend who loved skateboarding. “We kept doing our moves in the stadium parking lot, hoping Rocket would see us and ask us to be in the show!”

  X cracked up. “Yeah! And we had that one move we thought was killer, where we did that thing with our arms —”

  “— and that other thing with our legs!” Jonas finished. He flailed his limbs, laughing so hard he almost lost his balance. “Mark and Savannah thought we were crazy!” he added, referring to their pals Mark Goldstein and Savannah Smith.

  Charlie couldn’t help smiling with them, even though he had no idea what they were talking about. He had moved into town less than a year ago. He was still getting to know X and Jonas and the others, while they had known each other almost their entire lives. Sometimes he envied them their long friendships.

  “So when is this Rocket Robert show, anyway?” he asked.

  “Next Saturday,” X answered, “so we gotta get our tickets soon!”

  “Next Saturday? I don’t know if I can go!” Jonas and X looked at Charlie questioningly. “My old friend Patrick is coming to visit next Friday after school. His mom just got remarried, and my parents are going to meet her new husband for the first time. They’re staying the whole weekend.”

  “So bring ol’ Pat along, dude. You can’t miss Rocket Robert!” Jonas cried.

  X echoed Jonas. “Yeah, it won’t be as much fun if you’re not there!”

  Charlie’s heart warmed. So what if he hadn’t known them all his life? He was still their good friend.

  CHAPTER TWO

  “So who is this guy Patrick, anyway?” X asked as they continued boarding down the sidewalk.

  Charlie popped his board into the air, did a kick flip, and landed safely back on the board again. “I hung out with him a few years ago,” he replied. “He’s a good guy. Went through a pretty tough time when his parents got divorced.”

  Jonas nodded as if he understood, and Charlie remembered that his parents, too, were divorced.

  “Anyway, I haven’t seen him since we moved away a year and a half ago. We kept in touch through e-mails and were going to get together, but then my family moved again, to this town. I haven’t heard from him lately. Guess he’s been busy with his mom’s wedding and the new stepdad and all.”

  “Is he into extreme?” Jonas wanted to know. “Way into it. In fact, he and his dad taught me a lot about boarding, like riding the rails and stuff.” He zigzagged onto the road, then jumped his board back up to the sidewalk. “That’s why I wish the skatepark was going to be open when he’s here. He’d love it. Think Alison would let us in, just for a day?”

  “Doubt it,” came X’s immediate reply. “She told me the equipment has to be checked out first. She was worried the half-pipe might have been damaged over the winter or something.”

  Charlie was disappointed, but he understood. Alison had to make sure the park was safe, after all. If she didn’t, and someone got hurt, she’d be in major trouble.

  The boys boarded in silence for a while, popping wheelies and ollies and practicing their kick flips. They were so intent on what they were doing, they didn’t notice that dark clouds had rolled in and the temperature had dropped. Only when Jonas’s teeth started chattering did they realize it was about to snow.

  “C’mon, my house is right around the corner!” Jonas cried as the first flakes fell. Laughing, the three boys picked up their boards and ran as fast as they could to the Malloys’.

  “Dad!” Jonas bellowed as he burst through the kitchen door. “Rocket Robert is coming to town! Can we get tickets? If we can, I promise I’ll shovel the driveway and the sidewalk and —”

  Mr. Malloy emerged from his office. He worked at home, creating and designing video games. Charlie and his friends thought it was the coolest job ever.

  “I’m one step ahead of you,” Mr. Malloy said. He dug a hand into his shirt pocket and pulled out an envelope. Inside were twelve tickets to the Rocket Robert show. He handed X and Charlie two tickets each. “One for you, and one for one of your parents,” he explained. “Your folks can fight over which parent gets to go. I’ll give the other tickets to Bizz, Mark, and Savannah later today.”

  X and Jonas whooped. “Thanks, Dad!” Jonas cried. Mr. Malloy smiled. “You can still do the shoveling, though,” he said to Jonas as he disappeared back into his office.

  Charlie stared at the tickets in his hand and sighed. “I sure hope I get to use these,” he said.<
br />
  During dinner that night, Charlie’s mother turned to him and said, “Oh, by the way, Jonas’s father called earlier to make sure it was okay to buy us tickets for the Rocket Robert show. Sounds like fun to me.”

  “Um, but Mom, what about Pat?” Charlie said. To his relief, she started laughing. “Well, for heaven’s sake, he can use my ticket! I’m sure Mr. Malloy or one of the other parents won’t mind looking out for you boys that night. Your father and I will have a nice visit with Pat’s folks instead.”

  “Hold on a second.” Mr. Abbott was frowning. “You seem to be forgetting something, my dear.”

  Charlie held his breath.

  “That ticket was supposed to go to you or to me,” Mr. Abbott continued solemnly. “What makes you so sure I don’t want to use it to see Rocket Robert?”

  CHAPTER THREE

  It took Charlie a split second to realize that his father was joking. His mother threw a balled-up napkin at her husband and the three of them started laughing.

  “Had you going there for a moment, didn’t I?” his father chortled.

  Just then, the phone rang. Mrs. Abbott excused herself and answered it. She spoke to the caller for a few minutes, then hung up and returned to the table.

  “That was Pat’s mother. She wanted to know if she should bring his skateboard, his snowboard, his inline skates, or all three. I told her just the snow-board since it’s snowing again. That okay, Charlie?”

  He nodded. “If it sticks to the ground, the slope should be good for boarding.”

  He hoped it would be. Otherwise, he wasn’t sure what he was going to do with Pat for two whole days. They had been good friends a couple of years earlier. But Charlie had moved twice since then, and they’d lost touch. He didn’t want to admit it, but he was a little nervous about seeing Pat again. What if they didn’t have anything in common anymore? He figured snowboarding together would help them get reacquainted.

  Luckily, the snow didn’t melt. In fact, every day after school that week Charlie met his friends at the top of the slope. The conditions were mint.

  “Ya-HOO!” Bizz shouted as she started her first run on Thursday afternoon. She crisscrossed the hill smoothly, leaving winding lines in the snow behind her. Leaning over the nose of his board to make himself go faster, Jonas followed her.

  “I’m looking forward to meeting your friend,” Savannah said as she waited her turn. When Jonas was halfway down, she took off. Savannah moved more slowly and cautiously than either Jonas or Bizz. She was still learning to snowboard, and even though she’d improved a lot since the beginning of the winter, she wasn’t one hundred percent confident yet. Still, she enjoyed boarding and wasn’t afraid to try new things. Charlie admired her for that.

  Then it was his turn. After adjusting his goggles and hat, he stepped into his bindings and snapped them on tight. Then he gave a little hop and started down the slope. The hill wasn’t that long but it was plenty steep. Charlie picked up speed, zigzagging in quick turns, making sure to keep an eye out for any other boarders or sledders. The last thing he wanted was a collision!

  He made it to the end and stopped himself with a sharp twist that sent a spray of snow into the air. Then he unsnapped his bindings, picked up his board, and joined other kids making their way up the side of the hill. He caught up with Savannah.

  “So, what’s your friend like?” she asked.

  “When I last saw him he was kind of short and skinny,” Charlie answered.

  “Like me, you mean?” Jonas joined them. “I like the guy already.”

  Charlie grinned. “Yeah, and I remember he was fearless, too, but he knew how to keep it real, you know?”

  “Again, like me!”

  Savannah rolled her eyes. “Just what we don’t need — two Jonases!”

  Laughing, the three friends made their way to the top of the hill. One after another, they took off again. Charlie was feeling great. The snowboarding was awesome, and his friends were talking about Pat as if he were one of them. If things kept going this well, the weekend visit was going to be a breeze.

  Unfortunately, the next afternoon, it felt more like a tornado.

  CHAPTER FOUR

  Charlie stood next to his parents in the driveway. Patrick and his mother and stepfather had just driven up. Pat was the first one out of the car.

  “Yo, dude, how’s it going?”

  Charlie couldn’t answer at first. He was too busy staring at his friend.

  “My goodness,” he heard his mother murmur, “Patrick certainly has sprouted!”

  “Sprouted” wasn’t exactly how Charlie would have described the change in his friend. “Doubled in size” was more like it.

  When Charlie had last seen him, the top of Pat’s head had barely reached Charlie’s shoulder. Now he stood a full half-head taller than Charlie! He’d gained weight, too. Next to him, Charlie felt like a Chihuahua in the presence of a Saint Bernard.

  “H-hey there, bro,” he finally stammered. “Long time no see.”

  Pat socked him in the shoulder so hard that Charlie’s eyes watered. As Charlie rubbed the sore spot, Pat’s mother called over to them.

  “Rick, why don’t you and Charlie bring your things into the house?”

  “Rick”? Charlie thought. Since when is he called “Rick”?

  “C’mon, man,” Pat — Rick — said. “Help me get my stuff.”

  Happy to be doing something, Charlie hurried to the car. Rick’s mother popped the trunk and Rick pulled out a duffel bag. Underneath it was a gleaming snowboard.

  “Wow, that’s a beauty!” Charlie said with admiration as he carefully took it from the trunk.

  “Pretty slick, huh? Too bad I couldn’t bring my skateboard and blades, but Joe said I had to leave them at home.”

  “Joe?”

  Rick jerked a thumb behind him. Only then did Charlie notice the tall man standing with Rick’s mother.

  “Oh, so that’s your new dad?” Charlie asked. “No!” The sudden anger in Rick’s voice surprised Charlie. “He’s my mom’s new husband, not my dad.”

  “Oh, right.” Embarrassed, Charlie tried to think of something to say. His mother saved him.

  “After you get Pat — er, Rick — settled in, maybe you can take him to the slope, Charlie,” she suggested. “Then tomorrow you can bring him to the skatepark.”

  Rick looked at Joe accusingly. “I thought you said the skatepark was closed!”

  “It is,” Mrs. Abbott hastened to say, looking from Rick to Joe and back again, “but that doesn’t mean you can’t take a look at it, right?”

  Charlie held his breath as Rick glared at Joe a moment longer. Then suddenly the anger melted from Rick’s face and he turned to Mrs. Abbott with an angelic smile.

  “You’re absolutely right, Mrs. Abbott,” he said politely. He hoisted his duffel onto his shoulder. “Charlie, can you show me your room now?” He gave the four adults one more smile, then turned to walk inside.

  As Charlie fell in next to Rick, his old friend nudged him in the ribs.

  “Maybe we’ll find a way to check out that park for real, huh, bro?” he whispered. With a sly grin, he hoisted his duffel bag higher on his shoulder and opened the front door to the house.

  Charlie stared after him. What does he mean, “for real”? he wondered. Suddenly, he had a sneaking suspicion that Patrick, or Rick, or whatever he called himself, had changed more than his size in the last two years.

  CHAPTER FIVE

  An hour later, Charlie and Rick climbed into the back of Mrs. Abbott’s car. As Mrs. Abbott started the engine, Joe opened a door and stuck his head inside.

  “You be careful out there,” he said to Rick, “okay?” He straightened up and slammed the door shut.

  Rick rolled his eyes and stared out the window. He didn’t move from that position until they reached the slope.

  Charlie looked around for his friends. When he didn’t see any of them, he breathed a sigh of relief. He realized that he’d been hoping h
e wouldn’t have to introduce Rick to them. Not yet, anyway.

  Rick took a look around. “This is where you board?” he said with disdain. “Man, you barely start down when you run out of hill!”

  Charlie swallowed an angry reply. “Actually, I’ve had some sweet runs here. And it’s a good hill if you want to practice tricks and stuff.”

  Rick looked unconvinced. “Well, compared to the slopes I’ve been on, this one is really lame. And crowded, too, which is hard to believe given its total lameness. But I’ll give it a try, I guess.”

  Don’t do me any favors, Charlie felt like saying. But he didn’t. Stunned as he was by Rick’s rudeness, he knew it would be a very long and uncomfortable weekend if he challenged him. So instead of replying, he trudged up the hill behind Rick.

  Alison Lee was monitoring the slope as usual. Praying that Rick didn’t repeat his opinion of the hill, Charlie introduced them to each other.

  “Rick, this is Alison. She’s in charge of the slope and the skatepark. Rick’s visiting for the weekend.”

  Before his eyes, Rick’s attitude changed dramatically. “Nice to meet you,” he said, his voice oily smooth. “This hill looks very challenging. I can tell you do a good job keeping everyone safe.”

  Alison glanced at Charlie, then replied in an equally polite voice, “Thank you, Rick. I hope you enjoy your stay here.”

  “I’m sure I will,” Rick replied. “Is it okay for me to try going down now?”

  Alison nodded. Rick strapped on his board and, with a little wave, began his run. He moved slowly, almost cautiously, swooping right and left with neat little turns.

  “Interesting friend you have there,” Alison murmured to Charlie. Just then, her walkie-talkie gave a beep. She unhooked it from her belt and spoke into it.

  “Go ahead. Over.” A voice crackled back. Alison listened intently, then said, “On my way. Over and out,” and clicked off.

  “They need me at the Community Center,” she said, fastening on her board. “A pipe burst in the women’s bathroom. I have to cover the front desk while they clean up the mess.”