One Smooth Move (3 page)

“It’s true, Bizz,” Alison said reluctantly. “X was riding a different board this morning.”

“That doesn’t mean anything,” Bizz said. Her lips were tight with anger.

“Oh, yeah?” Charlie replied. “If he didn’t steal it, how come he took off the minute he saw me?”

“That does seem a little weird,” Alison admitted.

Bizz adjusted her helmet. “Still doesn’t mean anything,” she muttered. With one last sour look at Charlie, she spun and skated
quickly back to her friends. When she reached them, she started talking and waving her arms around wildly. At one point, all
four looked over at him.

Charlie hadn’t thought he could feel any worse. But that look made his toes curl inside his skates. He turned to leave.

“You know, there is one way you can find out
for sure if X took your board,” Alison said thoughtfully.

“How?” Charlie asked.

Alison looked him straight in the eye. “Ask him.”

Charlie thought about Alison’s suggestion the whole way home. Could he just flat out ask X if he’d taken his board?

He shook his head. No, he couldn’t. What if he was wrong? He’d already made an enemy out of Bizz. Her friends, too, probably.
Asking X about his board would just make X hate him too. There had to be another way. But what?

“Everything okay, Charlie?” his father asked after dinner. “Your lips have been zipped all night. Here, open ’em up and have
some of this pie Mrs. McSweeney made.”

Charlie looked away. Even though the pie smelled delicious, his stomach churned. There was no way he could eat even a bite
of pie made by X’s mother.

“That reminds me,” Charlie’s mom said. “I should get that pie plate back to Mrs. McSweeney. Charlie, could you take it to her? They live just a few blocks away.”

Going to X’s house was the
last
thing Charlie wanted to do. But he couldn’t think of a way out of it. So ten minutes later, he was ringing the McSweeneys’
doorbell.

There was the sound of a dog barking and a chorus of voices. X’s voice called out above the others. “I’ll get it!”

Charlie’s heart knocked inside his chest. He wanted to put the pie plate down and run away. He didn’t have the chance. The
door opened — and the two boys were standing face to face.

Charlie spoke first. “Here,” he said, thrusting the pie plate at X. “My mom says thanks for the pie.”

“Okay,” X mumbled. He didn’t look directly at Charlie, but he didn’t close the door, either.

Suddenly, Charlie had an inspiration. Instead of accusing X of stealing his skateboard, he’d give X the chance to confess
— or to return the board, no questions asked.

“So, you wanna meet at the skatepark tomorrow morning, do some more boarding?” Charlie asked.

X looked up, his face full of surprise. Then he broke out in a huge grin. “Sure, that’d be cool!” he said.

“The only thing is, I’ll have to share your board with you,” Charlie continued. “Mine’s missing.” He watched X’s face very
carefully for any sign of guilt. But X’s expression didn’t change.

Charlie felt a bubble of hope rise in his chest.
Maybe I
am
wrong!
he thought. Then X said something that popped the bubble.

“No prob. My board is your board.” X started to shut the door. “Come around nine-thirty. That’s when the kids I hang with
show up.”

Charlie walked home, more confused than ever. X hadn’t seemed like he was hiding anything. In fact, he’d seemed relieved,
even eager to go boarding with Charlie! Yet, what did he mean by “my board is your board”? Was that a confession? Or did it
just mean that X didn’t mind sharing his board?

“Oh, brother.” Charlie groaned to himself. “My brain hurts.”

His brain was still hurting the next morning. He snapped on his inline skates and made his way to the
park. He was the first one there when Alison unlocked the gate at 9:30. He wasn’t alone for long.

Next to arrive was Bizz. She frowned at Charlie and headed straight to the half pipe without saying a word. Charlie sighed
and skated to the rails. He planned to practice jumping over them until X showed up.

Half an hour later, he was still practicing. Many more kids had come to the park, including some of the kids he’d seen with
Bizz and X the day before. But there was no sign of X.

Should I try calling him?
he wondered. He pulled out his cell phone, then realized he didn’t know X’s number. Besides, the phone was for emergencies
only. He tucked the phone back into his pocket.

X still hadn’t shown up by 10:20. Charlie had been skating alone for almost an hour. He was tired of jumping — and fed up
with waiting.

“That’s it. I’m outta here,” he said to the empty air.

X must be some kind of actor.
He
sure had me fooled,
he thought.
I really believed he wanted to meet me here today. That he wanted to be friends.

Head down, Charlie skated toward the gate. His mood was as sour as a lemon. He didn’t see X until he slammed right into him.

“You’re still here!” X exclaimed.

“Surprised to see me?” Charlie sneered. “Well, take a good look, because the next thing you’ll see is my back!” He shoved
X aside and skated as fast as he could away from the skatepark.

Charlie didn’t slow down until he got to his house. His breathing was ragged and his heart was hammering. Without bothering
to take off his skates, he clumped across the lawn to a tree. He sat down heavily, drew his knees up, and rested his head
on his arms.

I won’t cry! I won’t cry!
he thought fiercely. But still his eyes welled up with tears.

Suddenly, he heard a shout.

“There he is! Under that tree!” Charlie didn’t recognize the voice. He raised his head and looked around.

A young boy with dark skin and a flattop haircut
was pointing at him. A moment later, X joined him, followed closely by Bizz, Savannah, and another boy. All started toward
him.

Charlie braced himself. Much as he wanted to run away, he couldn’t get up easily because he still had his skates on. The last
thing he wanted to do was fall on his face in front of them!

X was the first one to speak.

“Charlie, I think there’s been a massive mix-up. Look.” He thrust his skateboard into Charlie’s hands. Charlie had no choice
but to take it. He was certain he was holding his missing skateboard.

Then he looked at it more closely. True, this skateboard was shiny black with red designs, just like his.
But it wasn’t his skateboard.
The designs were completely different. And this skateboard had a nick in the nose.

He stared up at X, speechless.

“I didn’t steal your board, Charlie,” X said quietly. “Your board looked so cool, I tried fixing up mine to look like it.
But I didn’t steal it.”

Charlie wished the ground would swallow him up. He wanted to apologize to X, but all he could say was, “Oh.”

Then something occurred to him. “Why did you take off when you saw me at the park the other day?”

Now it was X’s turn to look uncomfortable. “Um, I, uh,” he stammered.

“Oh, for Pete’s sake, spit it out!” Bizz cried.

X nodded. “I felt bad for what I said about your grandmother. You know, making out like I was her dead body and all. I was
trying to be funny.” He kicked at the grass. “I didn’t know she was your grandmother. My mom told me later that night, after
she met your mom. So, um, sorry about that.” Bizz nudged him. “Oh, yeah. Sorry about being so late this morning, too. I overslept.”

Charlie thought about how X had changed his board to look like his. He thought about how much more fun he’d had jumping the
rails with X than boarding by himself. He thought about how much he
wanted to change Bizz’s angry look to a friendly one. At last, he unsnapped his skates and stood up.

“And I’m sorry I thought you stole my board. So let’s forget both things ever happened. Now,” he added, “there are two last
mysteries that need to be cleared up.”

“What?” X asked.

“Number one, where is my skateboard? And number two,” Charlie said, jerking a thumb at the two other boys, “who are these
guys and do they have crazy nicknames too?”

The two other boys were introduced as Mark Goldstein and Jonas Malloy. “But you can call me Jonas,” the kid with the flattop
joked. “My bud X here tells me you can surf the pavement with the best of them. That grinding the rails is as easy for you
as blowing a nostril slug into a tissue.”

“Blowing a
what?”

“Nostril slug.” Bizz rolled her eyes. “That’s Jonas’s term for ‘booger.’ He likes to make up things like that. He thinks he’s
being creative.”

“I
am
being creative!” Jonas shouted.

“Gross is more like it,” Savannah murmured.

Laughing, X held up a hand. “Listen, it’s time to take off our helmets and put on our detective hats,” he said. He turned
to Charlie. “Where’s the last place you saw your board?”

“I put it in the garage the night we boarded together. In the morning it was gone.”

“To the garage then, men!”

Bizz cleared her throat and Savannah raised an eyebrow.

“And women too, of course,” X added hurriedly.

One by one they filed through the side door into the garage. Charlie flicked the light on. A quick look revealed the same
stuff he’d seen the morning before: garbage cans, boxes, and lawn equipment. No skateboard.

Charlie sighed and reached over to flick the light off again. His hand accidentally hit the button for the garage door opener
instead. The sudden sound and movement of the door opening startled Jonas. He jumped backward and bumped into the stack of
moving boxes.

“Look out!” Charlie shouted. The whole stack came tumbling down, burying Jonas underneath.

Charlie and the others quickly pushed the boxes aside. Jonas stood up, rubbing his head. “Man, what are those things made
of? Bricks?”

“Don’t be such a baby,” Bizz scoffed. “It’s just cardboard.”

“Yeah, well, something hard hit me, and it wasn’t just cardboard’!”

“Wait a minute.” X waded into the sea of boxes and started to feel around. Suddenly, he broke into a huge smile. From beneath
the cardboard, he withdrew Charlie’s skateboard!

“I don’t believe it!” Charlie grabbed the board and hugged it to his chest. “How did it get stuck in there?”

“I think I can answer that question.” The children turned to see Charlie’s father enter the garage.

“Remember when all the boxes fell over the other night?” he asked. “When I cleaned them up, I just sort of shoved them into
a stack. I guess I shoved your skateboard in with them. Er, sorry. Hope it didn’t cause any problems.”