Dark Ride Read Free Page B

bittersweet victory. He would go to the park tomorrow. One last glorious night at the Hollow.

Chapter 3
    â€œI saw it, too, Jack. You’re the first person I thought of. I know you’re, like, super bummed. We all are,” says Mason Chick, speaking gravely to his friend.
    Jack had been downright despondent ever since stepping foot into the local swim club. Mason, a taller boy, terrifically tan and built with muscle beyond what a fourteen-year-old’s frame should carry, looks years older than Jack although he’s only a few months his senior. As Jack knows to be his fashion, Mason launches into an inspirational speech.
    â€œJack, look, this is the last weekend of the summer. You have to make a choice. We can either walk around for the next two days like a pack of mope-a-sauruses or you, Scotty, and I can have the time of our lives tomorrow night.”
    â€œCan you believe they’re out of bottle pops?” says another voice coming up from behind the two boys.
    It belongs to the pudgy Scotty Carnahan. Pushing his glasses up from the bridge of his nose, Scotty’s face holds a since of bewilderment. “First the park and, now, no bottle pops. Is there any justice in this world?”
    The smell of chlorine is overwhelmed by the wafting scent of suntan lotion, and Scotty’s pale belly bears the white greasy evidence of a fresh coat.
    Mason playfully punches Scotty in the arm and says, “Look the park is closing, we can’t change that. Take the rest of the day to sulk if you guys want, but I refuse. Tomorrow night I better have the old Jack back, or it’s going to be a waste of time.” Walking away from the others, Mason walks to the steps of the taller of the two springboards.
    â€œHe’s right, you know,” Scotty relents.
    â€œYou always think Mason is right.”
    And, he did: in all the years Jack has known Scotty, he’s hardly ever crossed Mason. While Scotty is Jack’s friend, Scotty worships Mason.
    Jack’s mind is awash with emotion and thinks, How can these two take this so lightly, after all of the good times they have had at the park?
    Splash . A torrent of water drenches the two boys. Mason swims over and tells them, “That was my best splash all day.”
    Ignoring the wall of water that has cascaded over him, Scotty tries to cheer his friend. “If it makes you feel any better, Jack, what if we all got some matching T-shirts at the airbrush stand in the park? They could read something like, ‘The three amigos’ last night in the Hollow.’”
    â€œScotty, that is the single most stupidest idea I’ve ever heard. I wouldn’t be caught dead in an airbrushed T-shirt,” Mason retorts.
    Jack decides not to comment. He agrees with Mason, the suggestion is pure Scotty, who happens to be the shortest of the three and not the most socially gifted. While Mason is always about sports and girls, the heavyset Scotty is a hopeless nerd. He loves to read, but not anything cool like comic books. He has an unnatural fascination with reading and studying about old folk stories and fairy tales. In fact, Scotty is quite the expert on Grimm’s, Hans Christian Anderson, Tolkien, and others—a trait that qualifies him for über-nerd status. Other kids at school tease him relentlessly, unless Mason is around. The fact that Scotty and Mason are friends at all is one of the school’s ongoing mysteries.
    Just then, an idea pops into Jack’s head. “Mason, I think Scotty has a point.”
    â€œAre you kidding me, Jack? Look you two can get your little T-shirts, but I am not making that mistake. Do you have any idea what a babe like Lauren Van Wormer would say if she saw me in something like that?”
    â€œNo, Mason, I have a better idea. What if we grabbed something from the park like a keepsake?”
    â€œGo on, I like the way you’re thinking, Braddock.”
    â€œI remember when they closed