CHAPTER 1
Dylan Marshall stood on top of the skate ramp at Iron Valley Skate Park. He balanced on his skates and looked down at the pavement six feet below him.
His best friends, Nick Shaw and Tommy Reyes, stood on the sidelines, cheering.
“Come on, Dylan!” Nick yelled. “You can do it, man!”
Dylan wiped the sweat from his forehead.
Then, taking a deep breath, he used his back skate to push off. He shot down the ramp, picking up major speed. He reached the bottom of the ramp and flew across the pavement.
The wheels on his skates rotated rapidly as Dylan hit the next ramp. He kept his knees bent. As he reached the top of the ramp, he straightened his legs and jumped.
Dylan was flying. He kicked both feet to the right and reached down to grab his skates. His body whipped around in a complete circle. Then he released the grip on his skates and landed smoothly on the pavement. He skidded to a perfect stop.
“That was awesome!” Tommy yelled, skating over to Dylan.
“Thanks,” said Dylan.
The boys skated over to a picnic table at the edge of the skate park and sat down.
“Can you believe school starts next week?” asked Dylan. He took a long sip from his water bottle.
“Ugh! Did you have to bring that up?” asked Tommy. He groaned.
“But if school starts soon, hockey season is just a few weeks away,” Nick pointed out.
“I guess that makes me feel a little better,” Tommy muttered.
“We’re going to dominate this season,” said Nick.
“Do you think we can win the Midwinter Meltdown Tournament?” asked Tommy.
“I know we can,” Dylan said. “Nick can skate a lot faster than he could last year.”
“And Tommy, you’ve been working on your backhand shot a lot, right?” asked Nick.
“It’s golden,” said Tommy. “And don’t forget about Dylan’s slap shot.”
“His slap shot was already great,” Nick said.
“Yeah, but it’s even faster now,” said Dylan. “I can’t wait to get on the ice and knock a few shots into the back of the net.”
“There’s nothing better than firing a slap shot past the goalie,” said Tommy.
“Nothing better,” Dylan agreed. He jumped up from the table. “Except for maybe landing a 720. Watch this.”
Dylan raced across the skate park. He skated back to the top of the tall ramp. Tommy and Nick both skated after him.
“Have you ever tried a 720 before?” asked Tommy. He sounded a little nervous.
“I don’t know, man,” Nick said. “Maybe this isn’t such a good idea.”
“I’ll be fine,” Dylan said. “Piece of cake.”
With that, Dylan pushed himself down the ramp. He flew across the ground, up the smaller ramp, and into the air. He turned his body. He needed to do two full revolutions before landing on his skates.
The first spin was perfect, but the second one was sloppy. Dylan couldn’t keep his body tucked in tight enough to complete the rotation. He was falling too quickly. The spin was going to be short.
At the last second, Dylan tried to rotate his upper body to finish the spin. Instead, the move threw him totally off-balance.
He crashed to the ground, landing hard on his right arm. Dylan hollered in pain. Tommy and Nick quickly skated over.
“Are you okay?” Nick asked. He crouched down beside Dylan.
“My arm hurts,” Dylan said.
“Can you lift it?” asked Tommy.
Dylan tried to raise his right arm into the air. Pain immediately shot from his wrist to his elbow. “No, I can’t,” he said.
“I think it’s broken,” Nick said.
“It can’t be broken,” Dylan insisted. “What about hockey season?”
“Let’s get you to a hospital,” said Nick. “We can worry about hockey later.”
“I can’t believe it,” said Dylan, flopping onto his back. “I just can’t believe it.”