Alex Ryan, Stop That! by Claudia Mills

Author:Claudia Mills
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Farrar, Straus and Giroux (BYR)
Published: 2011-05-19T04:00:00+00:00

9

OUT ON THE TRAIL, Alex managed to forget his latest runin with Marcia. The clouds that had seemed so threatening had lifted, and the sunshine was warm on his back and shoulders. Alex loved bike riding almost as much as he loved running.

His dad chose to go mountain biking, too, though most of the parents and teachers had stayed behind at the lodge, leaving the kids to the supervision of the ranch’s trained guides. Passing Alex and Dave on an open part of the trail, his dad flashed them a grin. “Forget the law firm!” he called to Alex. “This is the life!”

His dad looked good on his bike. He didn’t have a bulgy stomach, like Julius’s dad, or a receding hairline, like Ethan’s. For a fleeting moment Alex felt proud of his dad for being cooler than the other dads. Smarter and more successful, too. His dad was the only one who was a hot-shot lawyer. Ethan’s dad cleaned carpets for a living; Julius’s dad was some kind of boring accountant. And Dave, of course, didn’t have a dad at all.

“Come on, you two!” his dad yelled back over his shoulder. “Don’t wuss out on me!”

The moment faded. Alex was torn between pedaling harder, to try to keep up, and just admitting defeat. He chose defeat.

When the mountain-biking excursion was over, Alex felt tired and sore, but in a good way. Now they had free time for the hour before dinner, to settle into their rooms, shower, play some pool or Ping-Pong in the lodge rec room.

“This would be a good time to take a short walk and get started on your nature journals,” Ms. S. suggested. Alex knew that exactly one person would take her up on that idea: Lizzie Archer. Though perhaps Lizzie had already crammed her journal full of poems while everyone else had been out biking. Unless she had spent the whole time talking with Marcia about how terrible Alex was.

Alex was sharing his room with Dave and two guys he didn’t know very well. You were guaranteed one friend from your request list; for the rest, you had to put up with whomever you got. But his other two roommates weren’t bad.

He took a long shower. The water felt good on his aching muscles. Then he and Dave shot some pool until it was time to eat. Although dinner was served cafeteria style, the food was several notches above the West Creek Middle School fare. Alex went back for seconds on the barbecued pork, baked beans, home-style fries, and apple cobbler. He even felt cheerful enough to speak to his dad when they met at the bussing station with their trays.

“Don’t tell Mom how good the food was,” he said.

“We want to keep her on her toes, don’t we?” his dad replied. “Maybe we can get the cobbler recipe from the chef before we go.”

“And the barbecue recipe, too.”

His dad gave him a wink, and they both smacked their lips.

The first after-dinner activity was

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