Snowboard Showdown Read Online Free PDF Page A

sudden inspiration, but it didn't
     really matter. The important thing was the contest—and Clarissa.
    “You're afraid I could beat you,” Freddie said. “You know I can. I always do.”
    “A few stupid games of Pig. And if I remember correctly, we never finished the last game,” Dondi reminded him. “Besides, I
     go easy on you because you're smaller.”
    “Yeah, right,” Freddie said. “I can beat you anytime I want.”
    “Cannot.”
    “Oh, yeah?” Freddie said, pouncing. “There's a contest a week from Saturday. I'm in it. Are you?”
    “What contest?” Dondi asked, suddenly alert and suspicious. “I never heard about any contest.”
    “That's because it just got announced.”
    “When?”
    “Today.”
    Dondi looked searchingly at him. “You made it up yourself,” he said, seeing right through Freddie.
    “No, I didn't,” Freddie insisted, ready for this. “Steve Myers set it up.”
    “Myers? That dweeb? Ha!”
    “He is not a dweeb,” Freddie said. “He's a better boarder than you.”
    Dondi guffawed. “That kid can't board for beans. Everybody knows it.”
    “They only think it because you told them,” Freddie said sharply. “Are you in or not? If you're too chicken then the whole
     school is going to know about it. And I won't even have to tell them. There are plenty of other contestants.”
    “Yeah? Who?”
    Freddie reeled off a few of the names.
    “What about Forest and Sherman?”
    “Uh, no… they couldn't make it.” Freddie didn't volunteer that he and his friends had decided not to invite the pair.
    “I don't know why
I
should, then,” Dondi said. “Sounds like a contest for sixth- and seventh-grade dweebs only.”
    “You are chicken,” Freddie taunted. “You're afraid you'll come in dead last. I see it in your eyes, you wimp.”
    “I'll bust your nose if you don't quit it,” Dondi threatened.
    “You don't want people to see me beat you,” Freddie continued. “You're afraid I'll make you look bad.”
    Suddenly, a grin spread across Dondi's face—a confident grin that made Freddie nervous. “We'll see about that,” he said. “I've
     got some new tricks up my sleeve.”
    Freddie blinked, taken by surprise by Dondi's sudden eagerness to be in the contest. Was Dondi just bluffing? Or did he really
     have some reason for his swagger?
    “So, you want to be in the contest?” Freddie said. “Okay, you're in.”
    “You bet I am, squirt,” Dondi said, shaking Freddie's hand extra hard. “And I'm in it to win it.”
    Freddie pulled his hand away. “Okay. So now you can tell me. What's the big secret, huh?”
    “You'll find out soon enough,” Dondi said, enjoying himself greatly. “Ooh, you're so curious! You're just dying to know. Get
     down and beg, and maybe I'll tell you.” He gave Freddie a smug smile. “I almost told Clarissa over ice cream the other day.”
    That did it. Freddie roared and launched himself at Dondi. Caught off guard, the bigger boy landed with a thud on the bed.
     Immediately, the two brothers began pummeling each other, screaming insults at the top of their lungs.
    Only their father's shouts, and his strong arms prying them apart, got through to Freddie and Dondi. Esteban shoved Freddie
     backward while holding Dondi off with his other hand. “Boys!” he barked commandingly. “Stop it right now!”
    There was a long silence. Freddie caught his breath and waited for the pounding of his heart to slow down.
    Esteban's jaw was tense, and his eyes gleamed like black coals. “You know, boys,” he said in a half whisper, “how do you think
     your mother would feel if she came home to see somebody with a bloody nose?”
    Dondi and Freddie glanced at each other then looked down at the floor guiltily.
    Esteban continued, launching into his now familiar lecture about good sportsmanship. “When I was your age,” he began, “I used
     to think winning was everything, that I always had to be better than everybody else. You have to learn to lose