“You were right, Freddy. This really is awesome,” Josh shouted as he raced through the fresh snow.

“Wait for me!” I called after him.

Josh stopped, picked up some snow, and threw it in the air. “It’s so light and fluffy.”

I finally caught up with him. “Isn’t it great? I knew you would love it.”

Just then Robbie came running up. “Hey, guys, what’s up?”

“Guess what?” I said.

“What?” said Robbie.

“Josh has never seen snow before.”

“No way!” said Robbie.

“Yep. It’s true,” said Josh. “It never snowed where I lived in California.”

“So what do you think?” asked Robbie.

“I think it’s really sweet,” said Josh.

“Sweet?” I repeated. “What do you mean? You’re not eating it, are you?”

Josh laughed. “Oh, in California that means the same as awesome.”

“Then I agree,” I said. “The snow is sweet.” We high-fived each other.

“Let’s teach Josh how to make snow angels,” said Robbie.

“Great idea!” I said. “Come here, Josh. Watch me.”

I lay down in the snow and started sweeping my arms and legs up and down. “You just have to move your arms and legs like this.”

Josh lay down in the snow next to me and did exactly what I was doing. He laughed. “This is fun!” he said.

“Now stick your tongue out and try to catch some snowflakes on it,” I said.

“Okay,” said Josh. He stuck his tongue out into the frozen air.

“Did you catch any?” I asked.

Just as I said that, I heard the voice. “Hey, what are you babies doing?”

I would know that voice anywhere. It was Max. Why did he always have to spoil our fun?

“I said, what are you babies doing?” he asked again.

“Go away,” I mumbled into my scarf.

“What did you say, wimp?” Max asked as he pulled me up off the snow by my jacket.

“Nothing,” I whispered.

“What? I can’t hear you,” Max said, tightening his grip on my collar.

Josh jumped up and came over to Max. “I’ll tell you what he said. He said, go away.”

I gulped. I couldn’t believe Josh was taking on the biggest bully in the whole second grade.

“Oh really?” said Max, shaking a fist. “Is that what he said?”

Josh grabbed Max’s hand.

“What are you doing?” Robbie whispered.

“I know what I’m doing,” said Josh. “Max, let go of Freddy’s jacket.”

“Why should I?”

“Because I said so,” said Josh. “You might scare other kids, but you don’t scare me. Now let go of Freddy’s jacket.”

My heart was beating so fast I thought it was going to pop right out of my chest.

Max looked at me. Then he looked at Josh. Then back at me. Finally, he let go of my jacket.

“Whatever,” he said.

I let out a big sigh. “Thank you,” I mouthed to Josh.

“Max, no one is afraid of you,” said Josh.

“That’s not true,” said Max. “Freddy’s afraid of me.”

“No, he’s not.”

“Oh yes, he is,” said Max. “Freddy is just a little baby who is afraid of everything.”

“Really?” said Josh. “I don’t think Freddy is afraid of anything.”

“Well, why don’t you ask him about Cherry Hill?” said Max.

“Cherry Hill?” said Josh. “What’s Cherry Hill?”

“It’s the best sledding hill ever,” said Max.

Josh laughed. “I don’t think Freddy is afraid of a little hill.”

“It’s not a little hill,” Max said, smiling. “It’s a really big hill … the biggest hill around. And every year when we have a snow day, everyone goes sledding on Cherry Hill except for Freddy. The little baby is too afraid to go.”

Josh looked at me. “I’m sure Freddy has gone down Cherry Hill a bunch of times.”

I shook my head.

“See,” said Max, flapping his elbows like a chicken. “Freddy’s a chicken. Cluck, cluck, cluck. A big, fat chicken.”

“Not this year,” said Josh.

Max stopped clucking. “What do you mean?”

Yeah, I thought to myself. What do you mean?

“This year Freddy is going to go down Cherry Hill,” said Josh.

“Is he crazy?” Robbie whispered to me.

“Uh-huh,” I whispered back.

“Yeah, right,” Max said, snickering. “I’ll believe it when I see it.”

“Well you’d better believe it, because you’re going to see it,” said Josh. “Right, Freddy?”

I stood there, frozen.

“Right, Freddy?” Josh said again.

“Right,” I squeaked.

Max turned to me and smiled. “Freddy, I dare you to race me down Cherry Hill. What do you say?”

I opened my mouth, but no words came out.

“He’ll be there. When’s the race?” asked Josh.

“Tomorrow,” said Max. “I heard it’s supposed to be a snow day.”

“Then we’ll see you on Cherry Hill tomorrow,” said Josh.

“Be prepared to lose,” Max said, and started to walk away.

“Oh, Freddy won’t lose,” Josh called after Max. “You’ll be the big loser. Just wait and see!”