Chapter 1 Skater Boy Takes a Swim
Jake Baker groaned as his mom, Kate, burst into his room. She sighed when she saw Jake was still in bed.
"Dude, three words: knock first," said Jake.
"Dude, two words: time for school," said Kate.
"Oh, can't I stay home today?" asked Jake.
"Are you sick?" asked Kate.
"No. I just don't want to go to school," said Jake.
"OK. No skateboarding for a month if you stay home though," said Kate.
"I'm up," said Jake, getting out of bed. Kate smiled and went to deal with the rest of her kids.
"Sara, stop bugging Lorraine," said Kate, walking down the hall.
"She's hogging the bathroom again," said Sara. Jake slowly got dressed. He hated mornings.
When he got downstairs, the kitchen was already in chaos. Someone had spilled milk and Gunner had slipped on it. He had crashed into the kitchen table and the Baker's breakfast had gone everywhere.
"Someone get a mop," yelled Tom Baker. Jake went to grab one out of the kitchen closet. He grabbed it and threw it to Tom.
"Thanks, Jake," said Tom. It took several minutes to clean up. Afterwards, there wasn't much left to eat. Jake grabbed a piece of toast and headed out the door. His best friend, Ryan Connors, and his mom, Joan, were waiting for him Jake outside.
"Come on, Jake. We're going to be late," said Ryan.
"I'm coming," said Jake. He hopped in Joan's mini-van.
"Morning, Jake," said Joan, pulling out of Jake's driveway.
"Hey, Mrs. Connors," said Jake.
"So are we on for tonight?" asked Ryan.
"Of course. I just got my new board yesterday," said Jake.
"Where are you guys skating tonight?" asked Joan.
"The new skate park that just opened called Skate Zone," said Jake.
"Woah. Isn't that the place where that kid got shot last week?" asked Joan.
"That was the midnight crowd. We're going at seven or eight," said Ryan.
"I don't know," said Joan.
"Dad said it was OK," said Ryan.
"What about your parents Jake?" asked Joan.
"They're cool with it. Just as long as I don't make stupid choices," said Jake. Joan sighed and then reluctantly said that Ryan could go.
Jake and Ryan both sighed as their math teacher, Mr. Crawford, who was at least eighty, continued to babble on. Ryan looked at Jake. I hate math, he mouthed. Jake nodded. The class dragged on for another forty minutes. Afterwards, Jake and Ryan met their friends Jeremy and Seth at lunch.
"You guys ready for an awesome night?" asked Jeremy.
"Yep," said Ryan.
"Claire Warner said she might be going. Huh, Jake? Claire Warner," said Seth.
"Shut up," said Jake. Seth laughed. All of his friends knew that Jake had a crush on Claire.
"I hear she's been talking with Todd Rogers," said Jeremy.
"Great. That kid hates me. If he catches me talking with Claire, he'll kill me," said Jake.
"Not if we're there. Bring her over to us tonight and start chatting her up. Todd won't start a fight if we're all there," said Ryan.
"Yeah," said Jake.
"Mom, where's my skateboard?" asked Jake.
"Your old or your new one?" asked Kate.
"My new one," said Jake, walking downstairs.
"I'm surprised you can find anything in that mess of a room," said Lorraine, walking by.
"Not talking to you," said Jake.
"I put it on the porch," said Kate. Jake found it leaning against the wall on the porch. He smiled as he looked at it. It was the best skateboard in the world. He loved it. It had been a birthday present from Kate. He had turned twelve a month earlier and hadn't been expecting much. But he had woken up to find a brand new skateboard leaning against the door of his room.
"Jake, dinner. You can't go unless you eat," said Kate.
"Ok, Mom," said Jake. He put down his skateboard and went inside for dinner.
Ryan showed about ten minutes later. Jake said goodbye to his family and ran to Ryan's car.
"Come on. Come on," said Ryan. It took twenty minutes to drive to the skate park. It was already a full house.
"Be safe. Ryan, I'll be back at ten to pick you up. Jake, you sure your mom is coming?" asked Joan.
"Yeah, at ten-thirty," said Jake.
"OK. Bye boys. Have fun," said Joan. Jake and Ryan skated off to go find Jeremy and Seth. They were already hanging out with a bunch of kids. One of them was Claire Warner. Jake and Claire spent a long time talking. Jake was quickly falling in love. Finally, after some taking and a lot of skating, he asked Claire out.
"Um, Claire, tomorrow, of you're not doing anything, would you like to go see a movie or something?" asked Jake. Claire thought about it for a moment.
"Yeah. Sure. That sounds great," said Claire.
"Great. Great. I'll pick you up at eight," said Jake. Claire stood up.
"OK. I've got to go but I'll see you tomorrow," said Claire. She ran off. Jake grinned at Ryan.
"You the man," said Ryan.
Ryan said goodbye to Jake at ten as he and his mom pulled away in their mini-van. Jake had a half hour to spare. He skated around the parking lot for about twenty minutes before someone ran out of the shadows.
"Talking to my girl, Baker," said a sinister voice.
"I was just talking," said Jake. Todd Rogers narrowed his eyes and then punched Jake in the face.
"I don't want you talking to her," said Todd. Two of Todd's friends walked up and together the trio gave Jake a beating. After they stopped, Todd picked up Jake's skateboard.
"This is nice," said Todd. He slammed the skateboard against a nearby fence. The board broke in two.
"Nice, Todd," said Bruce, one of Todd's friends.
"Throw him in the water," said Todd. The two goons picked up Jake and carried him over to a nasty canal near the park. The water was black and full of muck. Jake gagged as he was thrown in. His head went under and he swallowed some water. Todd and his friends laughed and walked away. Jake tried not to throw up as swam over to dry land. Jake crawled up the small hill leading up to the parking lot. He went over to his broken skateboard and sat down. He started to cry. After a few seconds, the nasty water got to him and he threw up. Kate was pulling up just as he threw up.
"Oh my God," said Kate. She got out of the car and ran over to Jake.
"Jake, baby, what happened?" asked Kate. She winced when she saw his face. His nose was bleeding and his bottom lip was wide open.
"They broke my board," said Jake through his tears. Kate helped him up.
"Let's go home," said Kate. She helped Jake to the car and threw the broken skateboard in the trunk. Jake felt miserable.
"It's OK, honey. I'll get you a new one," said Kate, getting in the car. Jake nodded. Kate sighed as she pulled away. If she had looked in the canal, she would have seen something that would indicate to her how much danger Jake was in. She would have seen that the canal was also full of toxic waste.