Trent Reedy - Stealing Air

“Oh, you have to be kidding me,” Brian said quietly.

“Brian, please don’t—”

“I can’t just let him keep picking on me and my friends.” He sprinted off toward the crowd.

Frankie slammed his hands into Max’s chest. “You’re such a loser, Mad Max. With your dorky Star Trek books and those idiot glasses.” He pushed him again. David, Red, and some of the fourth and fifth grade boys laughed. Alex was watching too. He didn’t cheer Frankie on like the other guys did, but he didn’t do anything to stop it either.

Brian elbowed his way through the group, knocking David to the side. Alex spotted him and moved to the back of the crowd.

Frankie slapped Max in the head and knocked his glasses off. “Maybe you can have your Star Trek ship beam you up, dork.”

“Leave him alone, Frankie.” Brian stepped into the middle of the circle. He clenched his fists.

Frankie moved closer. That scary twitch was back in his eye. “What’s it to you?”

“Max is my friend.” He was in it this far. He might as well keep going. “And there’s nothing wrong with Star Trek ! I even have The Next Generation Season Four DVD set.”

Max had picked up his glasses and was putting them back on. “That’s a good one,” he said quietly. “The episode ‘The Best of Both Worlds’ with the Borg and everything. Captain Picard—”

“Max,” Brian said. “Later.”

Wendy pushed through to join them. “Guys, knock it off. This is stupid.”

Frankie held his hands up. “Looks like I’m going to have to beat you both down again.”

Great success through great risk. Brian’s heart pounded, and he was shaking all over. Now was the time. “No, Frankie. You’re done. You leave me and my friends alone. This is your last chance.”

Frankie looked at the other guys with an expression that seemed to say, Can you believe this guy? Then he stood up straight and flexed his muscles. “What are you gonna do? You want to fight right here? I’ll break your face.”

Brian didn’t flinch. “You just want to fight here in front of the school so some teacher will run to your rescue.” He took a step forward, hoping he looked tough. “No. When I beat you, I’m going to beat you completely.”

“Nobody is beating anybody, you guys! Just stop it!” Wendy said.

Nobody else said anything. Nobody even seemed to move. They were like vultures, waiting to see who would fall.

“Okay, freak! Right here!” Frankie took a swing but Brian ducked and jumped back. He was so scared that he wanted to throw up, but he also had an idea.

“If you’re so sure you can beat me up,” he said, “then you can do it just as easily tomorrow down at the skate park.” He forced himself to keep his glare fixed on Frankie. “That way no teachers can stop me from finishing you.”

Frankie’s shoulders heaved up and down as he made a big show of loud breathing through his nose. His eye twitched.

“What’s it going to be, tough guy?” Brian said. Then he spoke loudly so everyone could hear. “I tell you what. I’ll be at the skate park tomorrow at four thirty, waiting to humiliate you. If you don’t show up, everyone will know you’re a pathetic coward. It’s your choice.”

Brian turned away. He paused for a moment when he saw the tears in Wendy’s eyes. “I’m sorry,” he said. Then he grabbed Max by the arm and pulled him over to Alex. “Eagle’s Nest. Right away,” he said before leaving the silent crowd, trying not to think about the hurt look on Wendy’s face.

The phone was ringing when he made it home. “Hello?” he said, trying to control his breathing so he didn’t seem like he had just run into the house.

“Brian, are you okay? You sound out of breath,” Mom said.

So much for sounding normal. “I was just… um… upstairs doing my homework, and I couldn’t find the phone.”

“Oh,” Mom paused for a long time. Did she think he was lying? “Well, just stay in and work. I should get there about six.”

“Sure,” Brian said. “I have a lot to do anyway. This whole story about Icarus trying to fly.”

Mom wished him luck, said good-bye, and hung up. As soon as he was off the phone, Brian grabbed Spitfire and set out for the Eagle’s Nest as fast as he could.

When he came up out of the tunnel, he found Max and Alex sitting at the table behind Blackbird . They just sipped Mountain Dews and stared at him.

“What?” Brian said.

Alex put his can down with a thud. “Dude, what was that all about?”

Max nodded. “I’m grateful for your help, Brian, but I think it is possible you might have an even bigger problem now.”

“Possible?” Alex said. “Frankie is going to crush you if you show up to the park tomorrow.”

“Whoa, I never said I would fight him,” Brian said.

“You said you were going to finish him. Humiliate him. How are you going to do that? It’s not like he’s just going to stand there and let you—”

“He’s not going to be able to do anything.” Brian reached into the box and pulled out a Mountain Dew. He popped the top and took a drink. “Boys, let’s prep Blackbird . She flies tomorrow.”

“What are you talking about?” Alex said.

Max frowned. “Brian, I do not believe Blackbird is ready. It doesn’t have enough power to take off on its own.”

“She may have a little trouble taking off, but I’ve been thinking about our first flight attempt that night, and I bet moving the seats back a bit might shift the weight to put us at a better angle for takeoff. It’s a good design, Max. Once she’s airborne, she’ll fly great.”

“But what does Blackbird have to do with Frankie Heller?” Alex said.

“Relax,” Brian said. “I have a plan.”

“Your Mr. Piggly plan nearly got us killed,” Alex pointed out.

“I suppose it wouldn’t be too difficult to install seat belts,” Max said.

Alex ignored Max. “How do you know this idea will work?”

That was a good question. “I don’t.” Brian shrugged. “But we’re going to take our best shot.”

Everyone went silent as soon as Brian walked into homeroom the next day. Abbie, Heather, and Jess shot him murderous glares. Wendy wouldn’t even look at him. B.A., Red, and Dakota all backed out of his way as he went to his desk and sat down.

“I stayed late making the final arrangements,” Max said quietly from the seat behind him.

“Don’t call them final arrangements, Max. You’re not preparing for a funeral,” Brian whispered.

Max nodded. “We should be go to throttle up for tonight’s mission.”

Brian gave him a high five. “Warp speed, Max.”

“Hey, Alex, put me down for five bucks,” Travis said. “Five on Frankie.” He shrugged. “Sorry, Brian.”

“I’m sorry too,” Brian said. “Sorry you’re going to be out five bucks!”

“Okay,” Alex said. “I have Travis in for five dollars on Frankie in this evening’s confrontation. Loser is whoever leaves the park first, right?”

“Yeah, if the loser can even get up to run away,” said Red. “Once I was on vacation with my family at this campground in Oklahoma, and there was this big cowboy guy from Texas with boots, hat, spurs, the whole thing. Anyway, this cowboy guy kept bugging my cousin. So I told him if he didn’t leave her alone, I’d have to fight him. The cowboy just says, ‘Don’t mess with Texas.’ So I punched him.” He brought his fist up. “Bam! Uppercut! I hit him so hard the guy actually came off his feet up in the air. He fell back and hit the ground. Out cold.” Red shook his head. “I’m just real lucky he didn’t die.”