Slamdown Town by Maxwell Nicoll

Author:Maxwell Nicoll
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Abrams
Published: 2020-01-28T00:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER 24

The following morning, Ollie slept through his alarm. He had stayed up most of the night practicing smack talk and remembered that he had to finish answering his questions for “The Deadliest Pigeon” presentation just as he was getting into bed.

“School waits for no one!” his mom shouted when she found him still fast asleep. He had just enough time to throw on clothes, grab the note cards that he had prepared for his presentation, and sprint to the bus.

At school, he told Tamiko that he had practiced his smack talk all last night. He cleared his throat and, in his deepest voice, said, “You know why they call you Silvertongue? Because second place is all your lil’ smack-talk game is good for.”

She inhaled sharply. “That hurt my emotions and I’m not even Silvertongue.”

“I know, right? It cuts deep. They cut real deep!”

“Hey,” she said. “I’m proud of you! Great work!”

It felt good to impress Tamiko. She had really helped him come up with the best lines. After all, her voice, like Silvertongue’s, was her strongest asset.

She would never turn down an opportunity to yell at the top of her lungs.

Ollie could barely stay awake as the day went on, and by the time he got to math class he was practically asleep at his desk. Being Big Chew and Ollie was hard.

“Just five more minutes,” he muttered when Ms. Glenbottom tried to wake him up.

The only thing keeping him awake at all was the anxiety of having to get up in front of his English class and read his cards. He didn’t like it when all eyes were on him.

And he had read the short story. Well, more like skimmed. But it was really boring and hard to follow. Besides, he was busy worrying about his upcoming match with Silvertongue and how to beat her.

“I’m so nervous I think I might pass out,” he confessed to Tamiko as they walked into Mr. Fitzgerald’s class.

Tamiko rolled her eyes. Whereas Ollie was a mess—Tamiko pointed out that he had put his shirt on inside out—she was beaming with confidence. She’d even tucked her shirt in for the occasion. But then again, talking in front of the class never fazed her at all.

“Dude! You got in the ring in front of an entire arena,” she said.

“But that wasn’t me. That was Big Chew,” he argued. “And besides, that was like, what, five people including you and Hollis?”

“You are Big Chew!”

“It’s not the same,” said Ollie. “When I’m him, I’m huge and awesome and I have long, flowing hair that is always magically conditioned. Big Chew can do or act however I want. It’s like I’m playing a character on television. But when I’m me, I’m, well, just me.”

Tamiko shook her head. “First off, we’re a tag team on this. I got your back up there. And second, Big Chew didn’t collect all the items for his costume. You did. Big Chew didn’t infiltrate Hollis’s room and come up with some awesome smack talk.

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