Mountain Bike Mania (7 page)

“Yeah!” Mitch and Steve both chimed in.

“I don’t know,” Candy said, biting her lip. “That sounds kind of extreme.”

“Yeah,” Juliette agreed. “We don’t want to prove them right, whatever we do.”

“Absolutely!” Gail agreed.

“Hey, we’re not taking this lying down, no matter what you say!” Ace told Gail, shaking a finger in her face. “All right,
look — tomorrow, everyone be here half an hour before school, on your bikes, with whatever you can find that will make a lot
of noise. Make up some slogans to chant, and tell everyone you
know who bikes to come, too. We want to show strength in numbers.”

“Hey,” Gail protested, as the other members of the club all nodded in agreement with Ace’s proposal. “Wait a minute. I’m the
president of the club, and if we’re going to do something like that, we have to have a vote!”

Ace scowled and shook his head. “The vote’s already been taken, in case you haven’t noticed,” he told her. “Be there.” Having
silenced Gail, Ace turned to the others and grinned nastily. “Okay, everybody, no ride this afternoon. Go home and get your
stuff together. Tomorrow,” he said, “is Biker Pride Day.”

The next day was Thursday. It was a beautiful, sunny, early October day, and at recess, everyone in the whole school headed
out onto the school campus to enjoy the weather.

What greeted them there was a circling group of about two dozen mountain bikers, in full gear, blowing on noisemakers and
chanting slogans at the top of their lungs.

“Biking beats hiking! Biking beats hiking!”

“Be like Mike! Get on a bike!”

“Bikers have rights, too!”

“Stay out of our way, and we’ll stay out of yours!”

Ace led the cheers and made sure all the others yelled as loudly as he did. Not all of them were in the club — most had been
drafted by club members to beef up the ranks. But all of them followed Ace’s directions. As Will had learned, Ace was the
kind of person who, when he said to do something, you didn’t argue. You just did it.

Only Gail did not join in the chanting. In fact, after a minute or two, she stopped riding in the circle, too. “This is totally
stupid,” she said, taking off her helmet and shaking her head in disgust. “We’re just making a spectacle of ourselves. I’m
outta here.” She walked her bike away.

“Ignore her,” Ace ordered the rest of them. “She’s just bugged because I thought of this idea, not her. But who needs her?”

He started another chant. By this time, a crowd of onlookers had gathered. Most of them just laughed or shook their heads.
Some applauded the bikers and cheered them on. Will wondered if they really
meant it or if they were just having a good time at the bikers’ expense.

He realized that he sort of felt the way Gail did. All this attention made him very uncomfortable, and he was afraid the club
might get in trouble for it. Worse, he could sense that they were just turning more people against them with their annoying
tactics.

Still, Will figured, he was in it this far, and he might as well go with it all the way. He opened his mouth and chanted along
with the others, trying to ignore his sense of impending doom.

The protest was the talk of the school all afternoon. When classes let out, Will got his book bag and started off to the library
as usual. Then something stopped him in his tracks. It was the image of Danny’s face in his mind. Danny, who would surely
be sitting there at his usual table, doing his homework or studying up on something he was interested in. Danny, who obviously
hated his guts by now.

Will retreated back onto the sidewalk. No, he didn’t have the nerve, or the desire, to face Danny. Not right now. Not today.

Instead, he headed over to the bike racks. Maybe he’d take a little ride around town himself, just for the fun of it. He knew
better than to head for woodland trails on his own, but on-road biking was another matter.

As he walked over, he spotted Ace talking to Candy and Mitch. The twins looked upset.

“Hey, Will!” Mitch called out. “Guess what?”

“What?” Will asked.

“The principal read the petition, saw our demonstration, and decided to review the club’s status,” Ace explained calmly. “No
meetings until further notice.”

“What?” Will gasped. “That stinks!”

“Ace says it isn’t really that bad,” Candy said.

Ace jumped in to explain. “It just means Mr. Rivera’s listening to both sides. Once he looks at the facts, he’ll let us ride,
and then there won’t be any more petitions.”

When nobody responded, Ace went on. “We sure got his attention!” he said, nodding in satisfaction. “We showed him there are
two sides to the story.”

“I don’t know… ,” Will said, shaking his head. He didn’t finish, but inside, he was thinking, If the
principal was so impressed with their protest, why was he suspending the club until further notice?

“Come on,” Ace said. “I say we just go riding. So what if we can’t have a club? They can’t stop us from biking!”

“Yeah!” Mitch agreed.

“Wait, though,” Candy said. “We have to go home, Mitch. We’re going to the dentist, remember?”

“Oh, yeah. Right. Oh, well, see you tomorrow,” Mitch told Ace and Will. “Or whenever we get to meet again, that is.”

He and Candy biked away, waving good-bye. Ace turned to Will. “Wanna go ride someplace?” he asked with a mischievous grin.

“I’m supposed to stay at the library this afternoon,” Will said truthfully.

“You know,” Ace said, making a face, “that is the dumbest deal I have ever heard of. I mean, what do your folks think, that
you’re going to magically fall in love with reading all of a sudden if they force you to go to the library? That is so lame!”

“Yeah,” Will said, just to avoid talking about it. He didn’t want to tell Ace he was reading his third book in the past two
weeks. In fact, ever since he’d been
hanging out at the library, Will had been reading every night for at least half an hour before bed. His grades had improved
a bit, too. Getting a head start on his homework didn’t hurt, and neither did the extra studying he’d started doing.

“You wouldn’t catch me in there unless I absolutely
had
to be. I wouldn’t care what my parents said.” Ace snorted in disgust. “Look, let’s just go for a ride, huh? Just you and me.
The two latchkey kids. Rebels, that’s us! Come on. Your parents don’t have to know.”

“Okay… I guess… ,” Will agreed tentatively. “As long as I’m back home by six.”

“Sure, I’ll get you back by then,” Ace said, strapping on his helmet. “Hey, I’ve never shown you the ramps! Follow me!”

“The ramps? What are they?” Will called after him, hopping on his bike and taking off in pursuit.

Ace headed straight for Brookfield Park. It was a big county park, with ball fields, tennis courts, playgrounds, and wooded
areas with picnic tables and horse trails. Ace sped straight down the paved pedestrian paths. He slowed at one point, pulled
something out of his backpack, and launched it into
a garbage can. Will passed the same can a moment later, and tried to see what it was Ace had thrown out. But he only caught
a glimpse of red and something that looked like a can.

Musta been soda pop or a sport drink, Will figured as he pedaled harder to try to catch up with the speedy Ace.

“Beep! Beep!” Ace called out.

Ace shot past two startled mothers, who whisked their toddlers out of harm’s way. When Will rode by a moment later, they yelled
some nasty things at him.

Will barely had time to say “Sorry!” to the women, because Ace was already racing toward the wooded part of the park, and
Will didn’t want to lose sight of him.

Will felt a prickle of annoyance at Ace. Why did he have to do the things he did? If he hadn’t made such a fuss about “Biker
Pride Day,” the petition thing probably would have just blown over. And why did he have to litter and scare walkers? It was
people like Ace who gave mountain biking a bad reputation, Will was beginning to realize.

Still, Ace had clearly accepted Will as his new,
close friend. And Ace was popular. Will didn’t feel like he could afford to refuse that friendship. If he did, he could kiss
his new status at school good-bye. And besides, now that Danny, his ex–best friend, hated his guts, Will didn’t have anyone
to hang out with. Since joining the bike club, he hadn’t spent much time with his few other pals. If he made Ace angry at
him, too, he was sure he’d lose all his friends in the club. Then where would he be? In a social loser land — that’s where.

Ace led him to a path that was hidden from the rest of the park by low-hanging branches of the surrounding trees. Here, a
series of natural ramps had been worn into the ground by mountain bikers over the years. There were bumps, jumps, ruts, and
dangerous turns — a great practice course!

“Follow me!” Ace told him. “And watch out for the first turn — it’s a killer!” Ace took the ramp at full speed, and Will followed
at a more cautious pace.

The ramp was really fun — just hard enough to provide some good thrills without actually endangering your health. It was the
kind of place where
you could become a really good mountain biker without risk of running into nonbikers. Right now, that was important to Will.

After about twenty minutes, the two boys paused to drink some water and catch their breath.

“Great place!” Will commented truthfully. “It’s cool to have a spot just for mountain bikers.”

Ace shook his head. “Mountain bikers can go anywhere, kiddo — that’s what these babies are built for!” He patted his bike.

“Yeah, but Ace, you nearly killed those ladies and their kids back there. You really ought to watch out.”

“Get real,” Ace said, scowling. “Those people ought to pay attention to the world around them. It’s like, wake up!” He laughed,
then took a long gulp of water.

“Yeah, but that’s what gets people mad at bikers,” Will said, trying not to sound argumentative.

But Ace’s mind was on something else. “Do you realize,” he said, “that those mothers do not go to work? There they are, spending
their whole entire day with their kids. All day, every day.”

“Yeah, well, those kids are little,” Will pointed out.

“My mom went back to work eight weeks after I was born,” Ace said grimly. “My real mother was the TV”

Will swallowed hard, not sure how to react. “My mom just went back to work full-time last summer,” he ventured. “I watched
a lot of TV, too, for a while. Till I started mountain biking.”

Ace emptied his water bottle slowly onto the ground. “I’m telling you, if your mother really cared about you, she wouldn’t
work full-time. It’s totally selfish.”

“Well —”

“It’s all about ‘me, me, me and how much money can I make,’ right?” Ace demanded.

“I guess —”

“Do your parents really need all that money?” Ace asked. “Tell the truth. I mean, you’re the one who told me your dad works
till eight at night.”

“Seven, actually,” Will corrected him.

“Seven, eight, whatever.” Ace waved him off. “And he drives a nice car, right? And look at the house you live in. Your parents
have plenty of money, but your mom would rather work than be
with you.” He poked a finger at Will’s bike. “And to top it all off, they were too cheap to spend some of that dough on new
goods for you.” He shook his head. “Take it from me, kid. It’s pure selfishness.”

Will didn’t say anything. Part of him felt like sticking up for his mom. Yet another, angry part of him suddenly realized
that what Ace was saying was something he himself had been feeling for months. It came as a big shock to Will to realize that
he had such feelings. But he knew it was true, and the knowledge left him feeling hollow.

They rode some more, but Will’s heart wasn’t in it. He mostly kept silent, thinking back again and again to the day in June
when his mom had first told him about her new job. And he felt his anger rising inside him, like a great, hot, black blob
that had been kept down too long.

Will checked his watch. Dang! He was late for dinner. And he still had to stop at school to pick up his backpack. His mother
was going to be mad. She knew the library closed at five-thirty. It was already six-thirty. She was going to let him have
it, all right.

Well, so what if she’s mad? Will asked himself.
He was mad, too! He was madder than her, and had been for a long time. She and his father didn’t care about him. So why should
he obey their rules? And if they wanted to fight about it, that was fine with him!

B
y the time Will came home, he was steaming mad. He came in, slammed the door behind him, and dropped his backpack right there
in the front hall, where he knew he wasn’t supposed to leave it.

He could hear his mom in the kitchen, taking out plates to set the table. Even from here, he could smell the Chinese food.
He remembered when she used to cook meals, back before she went to work full-time. It seemed like years ago. The good old
days.

“Will? Is that you?” she called. When he didn’t answer, she repeated, “Will? Come in here, please. I want to talk with you
about something.”

Great. Just great. Now what? Was she going to tell him she was working late at the office all next
month? He shuffled off to the kitchen with a big chip on his shoulder.

“Yeah? What is it?” he asked in a sour tone of voice as he entered the room and sat down on one of the breakfast stools.

What she said took him totally by surprise. “I just got a call from Mr. Rivera,” she said. “He said you were involved in some
trouble today. Do you want to tell me about it?”

Will couldn’t believe it! If the principal had called his house, he must also have called the houses of all the other club
members. This was not good news. It meant that Mr. Rivera felt they had done something really bad.

“What did he say?” Will asked.

“Never mind that,” his mother said. “I want your version first.”

“Well,” Will began, shifting uncomfortably in his chair, “these other kids were having a petition to ban mountain biking around
Montwood and disband the mountain biking club, so we all thought we’d fight back.”