CHAPTER 8
Before Evan knew it, Saturday had arrived. The Skate-Off was that afternoon. Luckily, he’d had a chance to practice with his new skateboard a few times after sneaking it out of his room. He’d even landed the eggplant a few times. It wasn’t perfect, but it wasn’t bad, either.
After lunch, Evan and Ryan rode their bikes all the way to Shaffer Skate Park. Their backpacks were full of skating gear.
The park was busy. “Are you nervous, Evan?” Ryan asked. He kickflipped his board while he waited for his turn.
“A little bit,” Evan admitted. In truth, he was more worried about getting caught. “I don’t know how this works.”
“It’s simple,” Ryan said. “You get three two-minute runs. Do all your best tricks, and the judges will pick your best session. The highest score wins.”
“Wow,” Evan said, laughing. “You make it sound so easy.”
“I’m up,” Ryan said. He headed to the top of the halfpipe to start his first run.
Evan watched Ryan on the halfpipe. He did a lip grind, then reverted, putting one foot on the nose of the board while keeping the other in the middle for balance.
Ryan lifted the tail of the board up slightly before turning it to face the other side. Then he skated back down the slope.
As Ryan headed toward the pyramid, Evan looked into the crowd. A lot of people gathered around the skate park to watch. Most of the spectators were younger kids, but Evan spotted a few adults.
An air horn signaled the end of Ryan’s first run. He hopped off the deck and flipped it up into his hand.
“I didn’t do so well,” Ryan said when he walked back to where Evan stood. “I’m not used to the ramps here.”
“I probably won’t do much better,” Evan said. He and Ryan stood on the sidelines watching a few more skaters take their turns. Then it was Evan’s turn.
“Are you ready?” Ryan asked. He clapped Evan on the back. “Your first competition on your new board. This is going to be awesome!”
“Right,” Evan said. He laughed. “Probably awesomely bad.”
The air horn sounded, and Evan was off. He crouched low to build up speed off of the halfpipe.
He did a varial kickflip, making the board spin around and flip over at the same time. Evan landed on the deck perfectly, just as he reached the other side of the halfpipe.
Not bad so far, Evan thought. He reverted to turn back the other way and did a manual toward the funboxes with rails bolted to them.
Evan ollied up onto the rail. Keeping his feet connected to the board, he did a nose-grind halfway down the pipe. When his balance was shaky, he jumped off and rolled down the ramp.
After a handful of some of his easier tricks, Evan heard the air horn. His session was over.
As he kicked his board up and waved to the clapping crowd, Evan looked around. He saw a group of spectators that made him lose his breath. Standing at the edge of the skate park were five people he recognized.
Oh no, Evan thought.
In the crowd, he saw Chris, Grandma Narita, and . . .
“Mom and Dad,” Evan whispered.