Dodger for President by Jordan Sonnenblick Read Free Book Online Page B

laugh. And once I started laughing, I couldn’t stop. Dodger was laughing, too, so hard that I could feel his whole body shaking. “Hold on, dude,” he said. “It’s time for some advanced maneuvers!”
    Let me tell you, if you’ve ever gone flying off a skateboard ramp, you might have some starting point for understanding Dodger’s advanced maneuvers. Just picture that, but upside down, with some loop-de-loops thrown in. And you’re invisible, fifty feet up, holding on desperately to an invisible chimp. Jeepers. I wasn’t sure if I should have a heart attack or let go of Dodger, pound on my chest like King Kong, and shout my war cry to the skies.
    I settled for laughing some more. In fact, I didn’t stop until Dodger said, “Sssshhhhh! We have to be quiet now! Look!”
    I hadn’t really been paying attention to the view below me, especially since Dodger had told me specifically not to look down. But when I did, I couldn’t believe it. We were over the school playground. Directly below us, James Beeks and CraigFlynn were sitting on the swing set, having an argument. Dodger drifted lower and lower until we were hovering between two sets of tube slides, maybe twenty feet away from the swings. I could hear James saying: “We have to win. Ryan and Barrett embarrassed me publicly. They challenged me. Dude, they challenged
us.
”
    Flynn nodded. “That’s true,” he said. “But you were getting in their faces first. Besides, what do you have against them anyway?”
    â€œI just hate the way stupid Ryan ruined my whole baseball season.”
    Craig frowned. “How did he ruin your season? He got the big game-tying hit in the championship, right?”
    James snarled, “But then we lost anyway in extra innings. And I made the last out! All season long, I got the big hits. All season long, Willie Ryan struck out. I mean, come on—there’s a reason why we called him Wimpy all year. Then the one time he gets a hit, my dad is there, and—”
    Craig said, “I still don’t get it. What does his hit have to do with you?”
    James said, “Duh. You know my dad only cameto that one game all stupid season, right? And I had to blow the game in front of him. And then when I got off the field, Ryan was standing right next to us, and
both
of his parents were giving him a hug. Then that ugly Lizzie gave him a high five. Meanwhile my father looked over at Wimpy and said, ‘Too bad you’re not a clutch hitter like that kid James!’ ”
    Neither one of them said anything for a while. Then Craig said, “I’m sorry that happened to you, but I still don’t see the big deal about the election.”
    â€œCraig, this is my big chance to show my dad I’m a winner again. And that’s why we have to sneak back into that school and—”
    â€œI won’t do it, James. I won’t cheat!”
    â€œWhat are you talking about, Craig? You cheat all the time. Remember when you got busted for copying off Wimpy’s spelling test? What was that, an accident?”
    â€œNo, but that was different. If I had gotten a better grade on that, it wouldn’t have made someone else get a lower grade. But if we cheat on this and win, it hurts Lizzie and Willie.”
    â€œAnd what do you care?”
    â€œUmm . . . well . . . I don’t know. But there’s another thing, too. My mom said if I get in trouble at school one more time, she’s going to take away my cell phone.”
    â€œAnd?’
    â€œJames, you know this. Don’t you even listen when I tell you stuff?”
    â€œKind of.”
    Craig snorted. “You know my mom’s been divorced twice. And you know my ex-stepdad has custody of my little half brother every other week.”
    â€œYeah, and?”
    â€œWell, my brother, Tyler, gets nightmares. So I sleep with my cell phone on vibrate under my pillow.