Wild Ride by Matt Christopher, Stephanie Peters Read Free Book Online Page B

replied. “What’s with the buddy-friend-pal stuff? You must want something.”
    Jonas filled him in. X readily agreed to help with the cleanup.
    “I’ll ask my mom, too. She loves all that outdoorsy stuff.”
    “Excellent! And call Savannah and Charlie, would you?” Jonas said. Their friends Savannah Smith and Charlie Abbott were also into extreme sports. “I’ll call Bizz and Mark.”
    Belicia “Bizz” Juarez and Mark Goldstein promised to lend a hand that Sunday. Both said they’d ask their parents to join them. Jonas left a message at the Community Center telling Alison he’d rounded up a crew. He was still smiling when he hung up the phone.
    Now if I can just put mountain biking out of my mind for the next week, I’ll be all set!

CHAPTER FOUR
    Luckily, the following week was a busy one for Jonas. Besides going to school every day and doing his homework at night, he had to get his inline skates and skateboard ready for the grand reopening of the skatepark on Saturday.
    Good thing I already took care of my bike!
he thought as he tightened the trucks on his board with a wrench.
    Saturday morning was bright and sunny. Jonas hurried through breakfast, filled a water bottle, grabbed some snacks, then found his father to tell him he was heading for the skatepark.
    Mr. Malloy swiveled around in his office chair. “I’ll be out most of the day. Can you fix your own lunch?” When Jonas nodded, he added, “Oh, I’m going to leave you a list of chores to do when you get back. I’ll be home by three. Have them done by then, okay?”
    “You bet!”
    In the garage, Jonas debated whether to skate or board to the park. When a shaft of sunlight glinted off his bike, however, he decided to ride instead.
    “I should take it for another test drive to be absolutely, positively certain it’s all in order,” he said to himself. He shoved his water bottle into its carrier on the bike’s frame and put his inline skates and safety gear into his backpack.
    The pavement zipped along beneath him as his legs pumped the pedals. At the end of his street, he gave the hand brakes a gentle squeeze. To his left was the road that would take him to the skatepark. If he went right, he’d be on the road to the mountain trails.
    He looked up the right side of the street wistfully.
Soon,
he reminded himself, and turned toward the skatepark.
    When he arrived, a small crowd had gathered at the front entrance. Jonas was locking up his bike when a hand slapped him on the back.
    “Your ride is looking primo, Jo!” X said, eyeing the bike. “Maybe a little cleaner than I’m used to seeing it, though.”
    Jonas grinned. “No kidding. If that bike doesn’t see mud soon, it’s going to go crazy!”
    Mark, Bizz, and Charlie appeared a moment later. Charlie and Bizz were wearing their inlines. Mark was carrying his and rubbing his elbow.
    “Why don’t you put those on?” X asked, pointing to his skates.
    “I did have them on,” Mark admitted. “But I took a little spill, so I figured I had better take them off until I got here.”
    “Where’d you fall?” Bizz wanted to know.
    Mark looked sheepish. “In my driveway. Guess I’m a little rusty.”

    X threw an arm around his shoulders. “Don’t worry, it’ll all come back to you. Once you know how, inline skating is as easy as falling off a log!”
    Mark winced. “Did you have to mention ‘falling’?” Their laughter was interrupted by the sound of Alison’s voice. “Okay, everybody, this is it. The moment you’ve been waiting all winter for!” She unlocked the skatepark gate and swung the door wide open. “Let the extreme sports of spring begin!”
    Jonas and the others gave a
whoop.
With one last glance at his bike to make sure it was locked tight, he made his way to a bench and took his pads and skates out of his backpack. He quickly traded his sneakers for his inlines, strapped the pads over his elbows and knees, and pulled on his safety gloves. He could hardly wait to