Into the Danger Zone Read Online Free

straps on his inline skates and kicked his feet free.
    I’ve got to go after him!
he thought frantically.
But he’s bigger than you,
a voice inside him argued.
How will you stop him?
    Meanwhile, Rick had made it to the bottom of the half-pipe. Suddenly, something X had said came into Charlie’s mind.
    The half-pipe might have been damaged over the winter.
    Panic rising, Charlie vaulted the fence, landing hard on the other side in his stocking feet. As he started to run toward the half-pipe, he remembered the cell phone his parents always made him take along when he went out. He dug it out of his coat pocket and started to dial his home number.
    Then he stopped and hit the hang-up button. If he told his parents what was happening, they’d tell Rick’s mother and Joe. Somehow, Charlie didn’t think having Joe here would help matters. He dialed the number of the Community Center instead. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Rick reach the deck of the half-pipe.
    Please be there,
he prayed as the phone rang. When Alison picked up, his heart leaped. He hurriedly explained what was happening.
    “I’ll be right there,” she said. “Do what you can to stop him!”
    Splashing through puddles from the previous night’s rain, Charlie ran as quickly as he could to the half-pipe. He was too late. Rick had started his run. Charlie could only hope that X had been wrong, that the half-pipe was fine.
    At first, it seemed that everything would be okay. Rick zipped down one side of the pipe and up the other, caught good air, turned, and zoomed down again toward the other side.
    Then something happened. At the bottom of the half-pipe, the skateboard suddenly gave a jerk. As Charlie watched helplessly, Rick was hurled into the air. He smacked against the incline in front of him and slid to a stop at the bottom. The skateboard came to a rest next to him, its wheels spinning.
    Charlie raced to his friend’s side.
    “Rick? Rick!” he cried. “Can you hear me?”
    For a moment there was no reply. Then Rick groaned and opened his eyes.
    “Wha— what happened?” he said groggily.
    “You wiped out, man,” Charlie answered, relief washing through his body.
    Rick sat up slowly. “No way, bro, I never wipe out. There’s something wrong with your board.” He sounded stronger with every word. “A loose wheel or something. I felt it give.”
    Charlie grabbed his board and carefully spun the wheels. “They seem fine to me,” he said, puzzled. “So what happened?”

    “Maybe this has something to do with it.” It was Alison. She picked up a rock from the bottom of the pipe. Images of Rick throwing rocks into the skatepark — of one of the rocks bouncing near the half-pipe— flashed across Charlie’s brain.
    “It must have landed
in
the pipe after Rick threw it. Then my skateboard hit it and threw him,” he mused.
    Alison had been inspecting Rick for any injuries. Satisfied that he was okay, she helped him to his feet. “Well,” she said, “that answers the question of how the rock got into the half-pipe. But what I really want to know” — she looked from one boy to the other, then settled her gaze on Rick — “is what
you
were doing in the half-pipe?”

CHAPTER TEN
    It was Charlie who answered. “I — I think maybe I know.” He turned to Rick. “From that wild run you took down the slopes yesterday — sorry, Alison, I should have told you about that — and from the way you were acting during dinner last night, I thought you’d turned into a real jerk.”
    Rick didn’t say anything.
    “But you know what I think now?” Charlie continued. “I think you’re just angry — at your mom, at Joe, and especially at your dad. And you’re taking it out on anyone you can. Me, the kids at the slope, even my mom’s lasagna!”
    Rick managed a small smile. But the smile faded when Charlie added, “And today, you took it out on yourself.”
    Rick was silent for a few moments. “I just can’t believe my mom married