Touchdown Tony Crowne and the Mystery of the Missing Cheerleader Read Free Page A

coulda squished you like an ant! Get it? An ant! Haw-har-haw-har!”
    As Tony laid on the floor and regained his senses, a crowd began to gather around them, first a couple of boys, then a trio of girls, more boys and more girls sidled up to the scene, until it seemed like the whole school was surrounding Judd and Tony, waiting to see what would happen between the new kid and “Ant.”
    Tony shook the cobwebs out of his head in time to hear Judd’s remark about squishin’ him like an ant. Hearing Judd laughing at him also made his blood boil. Tony, without thinking, rolled over, wiped the shank of curly black hair out from his eyes, rose to one knee and catapulted himself in a classic tackling mode toward Judd’s towering figure. Judd, grinning from ear to ear, deftly sidestepped Tony’s attempt to tackle him, with Tony grabbing nothing but air and he went sailing past Judd and into the locker behind him. Tony cushioned himself for the impact with his outstretched arms, but the force of his body hitting the locker knocked him down to one knee.
    “Hey, little buddy you better be more careful, you might hurt yourself,” a still smiling Judd said. “Here, lemme help you up,” Judd said as he leaned toward Tony and stuck his meaty hand out to him.
    A collection of “O-o-o-h’s!” and “Ah-h-h’s” emanated from the crowd along with a few “Fight!, Fight!” yells after Tony banged into the steel locker door and a big “WHAM!” echoed throughout the hallway. Tony, now more embarrassed than angry, began to use his mind to size up the situation between him and Judd.
    As Judd’s right hand floated before his eyes, Tony recalled a wrestling move that his Dad had taught him. He remembered his Dad specifically telling him that no matter what size the person is, if you get them off balance, then half the war is won. Okay Dad, he thought, here goes nothing.
    With a feigned look of resignation, Tony looked down at the floor and said, “Aw, okay, I’m finished.” Then he grabbed Judd’s hand to help himself up.
    As soon as Tony stood up, he swung his left hand around, latched onto Judd’s wrist and with both hands jerked down as hard as he could. Judd couldn’t help but take a baby step towards Tony and that was all the opening that Tony needed. In a move his Father would be proud of, Tony lunged forward and grabbed Judd’s right leg with both arms, brought Judd’s leg up into his chest, bumped Judd again and stood straight up. Now, Tony was in command. He had his left arm tightly wound around Judd’s left leg with his foot securely stuck in his armpit and had him hopping around on his right leg like he was on a pogo stick.
    Judd wasn’t smiling anymore. He was completely surprised and in between his short hops, uttered a quick and high-pitched, “Hey, what’re ya doin’, Ant?” Tony, seeing how successful he had been so far, decided it was time to finish off his Dad’s wrestling move, before Judd could do anything about it.
    Tony, tightly pinching Judd’s heel with his elbow so he can’t turn away from him, straightens up as high as he can, swings his right arm down into Judd’s inner thigh and with a slight slapping noise, is able to pull and twist Judd’s knee towards him. Since Judd is so off balance, Tony easily spins Judd’s entire body around and plants him into the hallway floor with a resounding “THWACK!” Judd lands on his hands and one knee, while Tony still has control over him by keeping his left leg up in the air.
    Once again, more “O-o-o-h’s” and “A-a-a-h’s” from the crowd rained down upon Tony’s ears, yet this time, he was glad to hear them and raised the corners of his mouth in a slight smile as he looked around at the faces of the boys and girls like the winning gladiator in the Roman coliseum.
    At this point, Tony’s father would have driven his shoulder into his opponent’s backside and flattened him on the wrestling mat, but Tony wasn’t about to do that. Oh no,