One Smooth Move (2 page)

“You catch some good air, kid,” Alison said. “Can you do street and vert skating?”

“I’m better at the rails than the ramps,” Charlie admitted. “I can grind and slide, but I’m still working on doing spins and
grabs off the ramps.”

“Okay, you’re in,” Alison said. She held up a warning finger. “But I’ll be keeping my eye on you. If I see you trying something
you can’t handle, I’ll throw you out faster than you can say Tony Hawk. Got it?”

“Got it!”

Charlie headed straight for his favorite piece of equipment, the rails. Remembering Alison’s warning, he decided to do his
first grind on a low one.

He pushed off and skated toward the rail. When he was close enough, he popped an ollie. He and his skateboard jumped into
the air. Both the skateboard’s trucks landed cleanly on the higher end of the rail. Holding his arms out for balance, he slid
from one end of the rail to the other. Then the rail ended, and Charlie and the board dropped safely to the ground.

“Nice fifty-fifty grind!” Charlie looked up to see X grinning at him. “Wanna trade boards for a while?”

Charlie eyed X’s board. Compared to his own
gleaming black-and-red one, X’s looked shabby. The grip tape on top was worn and there was a small nick on the nose.

“It’s got a couple of battle wounds,” X admitted, “but it still works. C’mon, let’s trade!”

“Okay,” Charlie said reluctantly. He took the board from X and flipped it over to examine it more closely. The blue-and-orange
paint on the bottom deck was scratched in places. He put it on the ground and took a few practice rides. His own board felt
smoother.

Meanwhile, X was testing Charlie’s board. “This is so totally rad,” he said. “Can I try jumping over a rail with it?” X looked
so hopeful, Charlie didn’t have the heart to say no.

X chose a rail of medium height. He backed up until he was the right distance away. Then he rode at the rail. When he was
close enough, he popped an ollie, sailed high over the rail, and landed hard with both feet still on the board. He let out
a
whoop
and then called out, “Your turn!”

Charlie copied X’s move. He didn’t catch as much air as X had, but he still cleared the rail with inches to spare.

They took turns jumping, then switched to grinds. X wasn’t quite as good at these. He’d land on the rail okay, but he would
wobble off halfway down. Each time his board clattered to the ground, Charlie hoped it wasn’t getting nicked.

Finally, after an hour, the boys traded boards back. “I gotta get this thing in shape,” X said, taking his board from Charlie.
“Yours is awesome. Totally awesome.”

“Thanks,” said Charlie. Suddenly, his cell phone chirped. It was his mother calling, telling him to come home. “I gotta go.”

“Yeah, me too,” said X. “So, see you here tomorrow?”

Charlie knew his mother probably had “new house” stuff for him to do the next day, so he answered, “Yeah, maybe, maybe not.”

X looked at him funny, then kicked off and
coasted to the park entrance. He and Charlie parted at the gate.

When Charlie got home, he stowed his skateboard in the garage. “Well, Charlie, you disappeared today!” his mother said when
he came into the kitchen.

Charlie told her about the skatepark and about meeting X.

“Xavier McSweeney?” she asked. “His mother stopped by today with this pie. She told me about X. He’s your age. Maybe he’ll
be in your class. Which reminds me, we’re visiting your new school tomorrow morning.”

Charlie sighed. He’d hoped to go to the skatepark in the morning. Now it would have to wait.

After dinner, his father asked him to help flatten and carry empty packing boxes to the garage. They worked for half an hour
and built up a tall stack in one corner of the garage. When Charlie tried to toss his last boxes on top of the stack, the
stack toppled over. Boxes landed everywhere.

“I’ll take care of this mess,” his father said kindly. “You look done in. Go on inside and relax.”

Charlie yawned. “I guess I am a little tired.” He dragged up to his bedroom, changed into his pajamas, and crawled into his
bed. He read two pages in his book, then fell fast asleep.

The next morning, Charlie put on a T-shirt and shorts. He wanted to take a quick ride down to the skate-park to see what time
it opened. Maybe, if his appointment at school went fast enough, he’d be able to get in some boarding before lunch.

But when he looked for his skateboard in the garage, he couldn’t find it. He searched high and low. It was nowhere to be found.
Puzzled, Charlie returned to the kitchen to ask his mother if she or his dad had moved it. He didn’t get a chance.

“We’re due at the school in ten minutes!” his mother said. “Hurry and get changed.”

Charlie reappeared a minute later wearing his usual “school enrollment” outfit: a navy blue shirt with a collar tucked into
khaki pants. His dark hair was neatly combed. On his feet were brown loafers instead of sneakers.

“Oh, don’t you look nice!” his mother exclaimed. Charlie thought he looked like a dork, but he knew better than to say so.

The rest of the morning was spent answering questions and filling out papers. Charlie saw his homeroom and met his new teacher,
Mrs. Palmer. She and his mother got into a discussion. Charlie sat down and waited for them to finish.

“Hi there!”

A girl with wavy brown-black hair and skin the color of peanuts plopped down next to him. “Are you new?” she asked.

Charlie nodded. “You, too?”

“Naw, the school lost my paperwork, so we had to come in to do it again.” She stuck out her hand. “My name’s Bizz. That’s
short for Belicia.”

Does everyone in this town have a nickname?
Charlie wondered.

“Only my
abuela
calls me that,” Bizz added. She narrowed her eyes at him. “You know what
abuela
means, right?”

He nodded. “It’s Spanish for grandmother.” Bizz grinned. Apparently, Charlie had passed some test of hers.

Charlie’s mom beckoned him. “See you later, uh, Bizz,” he said, standing up. She waved.

As they left the building, his mother said, “There’s a restaurant downtown your grandmother used to like. Let’s eat there,
okay?” Charlie didn’t argue.

In the restaurant, they sat near a big picture window. “I better make sure I have enough cash to pay for this,” his mother
said. She took out her wallet and opened it. Something fluttered out. She picked it up—and gasped.

Charlie looked up to see what was wrong. His mom was gripping a picture of Grandma Beth.

Her eyes filled with tears as she looked at the
photo. “I—I forgot I still had this in my wallet,” she said. “Excuse me a sec, honey.” She stood up and disappeared into the
ladies’ room.

Charlie sat frowning at his placemat, trying to think of a way to cheer up his mother when she returned. A movement outside
the window caught his attention. Still frowning, he turned to see what it was.

X was walking by. Under his arm was a skateboard. But it wasn’t the same beat-up skateboard he’d ridden the day before. This
skateboard was black with red designs!

Charlie and X stared at each other. Then X blinked, turned away, and hurried quickly down the sidewalk. In a flash, he had
disappeared around a corner.

Charlie couldn’t believe it.
X had stolen his skateboard!

Neither Charlie nor his mother ate much lunch. The car ride back to the house was silent, each of them lost in their own thoughts.

X stole my skateboard!
The same sentence spun through Charlie’s mind over and over.

Then Charlie shook himself.
Before I call him a thief, I better be sure.

So he asked his mom if she had moved his skateboard. She hadn’t. Neither had his dad. Charlie checked the garage again. He
saw garbage cans, lawn equipment, and the stack of flattened boxes. No skateboard.

Charlie returned to the house and climbed the
stairs to his bedroom. He pulled out a box from his closet. Inside were his inline skates. Charlie sat holding the skates
in his lap thinking,
I can blade to the park. See if X is there.
Exactly what he’d do if he found X with his board, he didn’t know.

He carried the skates outside and snapped them on. He tugged his helmet into place and took off, skating slowly toward the
park. He was halfway there when he heard someone call his name. He turned and saw Bizz skating toward him. Another girl —
possibly the most beautiful girl Charlie had ever seen—was skating with her.

“Hey, Charlie!” Bizz said. “Are you heading to the skatepark?”

Charlie nodded. He tried not to stare at Bizz’s friend.

“Savannah and I are going there too,” Bizz said. “C’mon, let’s race!” She took off, her feet a blur of movement. Savannah
smiled at Charlie and hurried after Bizz.

Charlie scrambled to catch up. Savannah wasn’t very fast, but Bizz was a blur of motion.
Man,
he thought,
that girl can
skate!

Alison was at the park entrance again.

“So, the new kid can inline too, I see!” She waved the threesome through.

“Um, Alison? Have you seen X here?” Charlie asked after he’d caught his breath.

Bizz gave a little shout. “You know X? How crazy! We’re meeting him and some other guys here!”

“He’s over at the rails,” Alison said. “He couldn’t wait to get to them today.”

Sure enough, when Charlie looked, X was flying over a high rail. Bizz and Savannah hurried to join him. Two other boys were
there, too. Charlie hung back, watching. But his eyes weren’t on any of the kids. They were on the board X was riding. As
X popped an ollie, Charlie saw a flash of black and red. His heart sank.

He
did
steal it,
he thought miserably. Until that moment, he hadn’t wanted to believe it was true.

Further proof came seconds later. Bizz was talking
with X. She pointed in Charlie’s direction, and X looked over. As soon as Charlie made eye contact with him, X quickly rode
away, leaving through the park’s back entrance.

Bizz skated back to Charlie. She looked puzzled.

“That’s weird. He just took off,” she said. “I don’t get it.”

“Well, I do,” Charlie burst out. “He stole my board—and he knows I saw him with it!”

Bizz gaped at him. She seemed incapable of speaking. Alison, on the other hand, spoke right up.

“Those are pretty strong words,” she said, frowning. “What proof do you have?”

Before Charlie could reply, Bizz found her voice. “I don’t care what proof he
thinks
he has,” she thundered. “If he thinks X stole his board, he’s
crazy!
X is one of the nicest, friendliest, most honest boys I know! He would
never
take something that didn’t belong to him!”

Her fury was so intense that Charlie took a step backward before speaking.

“Look, all I know is, yesterday, X couldn’t get
enough of my board. My
black-and-red
board,” he added pointedly. “Yesterday, X’s board was blue and orange. Today, I can’t find my board—and X shows up riding
a black-and-red one!”