Skateboard Tough Read Online Free PDF Page B

on his bike and headed for home.
    When he reached his block, something caught his attention. Shannon was whizzing around the corner on a skateboard. He watched in disbelief — and then horror — as she bumped into another kid riding his skateboard just as a blue truck blazed around the corner.

7
    S hannon!” Brett screamed. “Oh, no!”
    Shannon fell off her board as it hit the other kid’s. The truck nearly hit them both, then swerved at the last minute and continued on, its horn blaring.
    Brett’s heart plunged to the bottom of his feet as he ran over to Shannon. The kid who had collided with her was none other than Kyle Robinson.
Figures,
Brett thought.
where there’s trouble, there’s kyle.
Brett noticed that Kyle hadn’t even lost his balance during the incident, and now he just stood there, looking helplessly at Shannon.
    Brett raced up to her side, laid his bike on the curb, and knelt down beside her. “Shannon! You hurt?”
    “No, I’m … I’m all right,” she said, gingerly lifting herself to her feet.
    “She ran into me,” Kyle broke in before Brett could say anything. “She was coming around the corner. I saw her, but not in time. And that truck …”
    Brett glanced down the street in the direction Kyle was pointing, but the truck was already out of sight.
    Once Brett realized that Shannon wasn’t hurt, he took a closer look at the board she had been riding. The Lizard! “Who told you you could borrow The Lizard?” he yelled at Shannon.
“Nobody
borrows The Lizard! Do you understand that? Nobody!”
    She shrank back from him as if afraid he was going to strike her. And he felt like striking her, too. She had no business …
    From the corner of his eye he saw Kyle skate off down the street, glancing nervously over his shoulder.
Chicken,
Brett thought.
    “I’m sorry,” Shannon apologized. “I didn’t think you’d mind.”
    “Well, I do mind,” Brett said. “I don’t want anybody to ride The Lizard but me! Understand?”
    He picked up the bike. “Here. You take the bike,” he said. “I’ll take The Lizard.”
    She looked so apologetic that Brett almost felt sorry for her. But he couldn’t let her know that. He wanted to make sure she would never borrow The Lizard again.
    She took the bike and got on it.
    Then her eyes darted past his shoulders, and at the same time Brett heard someone behind him.
    He whirled, and saw Johnee and W.E. running toward them.
    “You okay, Shan?” Johnee asked.
    “I’m fine,” Shannon said.
    “We saw the accident,” W.E. said.
    Brett frowned. “So?”
    “Shannon ran into Kyle, but it wasn’t her fault,” W.E. said.
    “Look,” Brett said, “I know what you’re thinking, and I don’t want to hear it.”
    “I’m going to say it anyway, Brett, because it’s true. It’s the skateboard. It’s The Lizard.”
    “No, it isn’t! You’re crazy! The Lizard has nothing to do with it!”
    “What are you guys talking about?” Shannon asked.
    “Oh,” Brett said impatiently, “W.E. seems to think that this board is haunted.”
    Brett expected his sister to laugh at the idea, but she just stared at the board as though it were the first time she had ever laid eyes on it.
    “
You
don’t believe him, do you, Johnee?” Brett cried, anger reddening his cheeks and neck. “You don’t believe that crock, do you?”
    Johnee met his eyes, but he said nothing. He seemed puzzled, uncertain.
    “Okay! Okay!” Brett yelled hotly, skating away. “The heck with you guys! Believe what you want! It’s not The Lizard! That’s dumb!
Dumb!
Come on, Shan! Let’s get out of here!”
    He headed for home on The Lizard and Shannon followed him on the bike.
    I can’t believe those guys,
Brett thought bitterly.
Especially W.E., spreading crazy stories about me. Why can’t he just face facts? The Lizard isn’t hexed, it’s just a fantastic board. After all, it
did
belong to a champion …
    The thought of Lance Hawker — and how he died — sent chills up