Trent Reedy - Stealing Air

“Absolutely,” Max said. “Secrecy is paramount. My parents have often warned me about the problems associated with discussing results before adequate experiments have been conducted.”

Brian held his hand up. “So, until we’ve had our first successful test run, we work on this in secret. Nobody, not our parents, and especially not my grandfather, can ever find out about our workshop here.”

“Awesome! Boys…” Alex rubbed his knuckles against his chin. “We’ll make so much money. This is seriously great. We are going to fly.”

After they crawled out of the Eagle’s Nest, Alex and Max headed home. Grandpa drove Brian around town, going past the school and some other places to help him get acquainted with Riverside. Brian tried to be polite and interested in whatever Grandpa was telling him, but all he could think about was the chance to be up in the sky again.

When he finally walked into the living room at home, he was relieved to find the meeting was over. He sat down on the couch, still thinking about the flyer.

“Brian?” Dad spoke loudly.

“What?” Brian hadn’t even noticed his father standing in the doorway of his office off the living room.

“I asked if you had a good time tonight. Didn’t you hear me?”

“Sorry, Dad.” Brian stood and followed his father into the office. “I guess I was distracted. Yeah, it was fun tonight. You were right about this being a chance to make new friends. I think I’ve already made two.”

“Thattaboy!” Dad tipped back a glass of something bubbly and yellow, drinking it all down. “That’s what I like to hear.”

“How’d the meeting with the rich lady go?”

Dad shrugged. “Not as well as I had hoped.”

“She’s not going to invest?”

“She hasn’t said yes yet ,” Dad said. “Just because someone says no one time doesn’t mean the answer will always be no.” He sat on the end of his desk. “Mrs. Douglas wants some flashy demonstration, but right now it will take us two months to make more Plastisteel. We’re working on faster ways to manufacture it, but… Well, don’t worry about it.” He smiled. “I’ll work it all out. No problem.”

“I know you will.” But Brian frowned. If Plastisteel took so long to make, how did Max get enough of it to make a plane? Maybe his Plastisteel was an early batch, some sort of prototype that wasn’t up to Dad and Dr. Warrender’s standards? It wouldn’t matter after tomorrow night. Brian wished he could tell his father about how the flyer would prove Plastisteel’s awesomeness to Mrs. Douglas, but he’d just made a promise of secrecy to the guys.

“I’m just glad to know you’re off to a good start here in Riverside.” Dad stood up off the desk and hugged him, patting him on the back. “You better get some sleep. Big day tomorrow.”

A few minutes later, up in his bedroom, Brian tried to focus on his Star Trek book, but he kept remembering the way Alex had made fun of the show. He couldn’t concentrate on a story set hundreds of years in the future when he was mainly concerned about tomorrow, his first day at a new school.

So far, things were going pretty great here. Max was a little nerdy, but crazy smart. Alex had seemed like he’d never get along with Max at first, but he was coming around. Two friends. The three of them almost made a decent group. He was still nervous — so nervous his stomach felt wrung out — but Brian figured his dad had the right attitude. He kept a positive outlook and kept trying even when he was challenged. That would be Brian’s model for tomorrow. He hoped it would work.

Brian had given skateboarding a lot of thought over the years. It was not like riding in a car or on a bicycle. A bike was out in the open like a board, but you didn’t feel the ride enough. On Spitfire , Brian felt like there was no vehicle carrying him at all, as if he simply glided down the streets and sidewalk on his own two feet. If he had to stop for traffic, he’d whip a tight kickturn with only his back wheels on the ground while the front end of his board spun around. Then he’d kick the board straight up in an ollie, jumping with the deck still pressed to his feet. If he could, he went for a slide, letting the bottom of his deck ride the edge of every bench. That’s how he usually rolled, never passing up the chance for a trick. If he wanted a normal ride, he would ask his mom to drive him. Instead he skated it out. He wanted to fly.

This morning, however, he might as well have asked for a ride. As he rolled toward his first day at Riverside Elementary, his stomach still felt hollow and twisted with nerves. Even the Beatles playing on his iPod couldn’t get him going. He took an easy, wide, slow curve around the corner onto Lincoln Street.

A block and a half ahead, he saw the tough guy from the skate park, Frankie, walking with Wendy, the angel girl. She was wearing jeans and a gray shirt with some kind of white net shawl thing over it. Brian didn’t feel like risking another round with Frankie this morning. He jumped off his board so they wouldn’t hear him, then plucked out his earbuds and shut off his music.

Frankie put his arm around Wendy’s shoulders and leaned over to say something close to her ear. “Frankie!” She laughed and pushed him away.

Brian watched in horror. How could an amazing girl like Wendy possibly be dating a guy like Frankie?

Frankie reached over and tickled her. She gasped in laughter and spun away from him. When she did, she spotted Brian, smiled, and waved. Brian weakly waved back. Frankie turned to see what Wendy was looking at. When he saw Brian, he stopped and stood straight up, his arms cocking back a little. Wendy started in Brian’s direction, but Frankie grabbed her wrist and pulled her back. She twisted out of his grip, and the two of them argued quietly for a moment.

“Fine,” Frankie said loudly. “See if I care.” He stormed off ahead toward school.

Wendy shrugged and sort of skipped back to Brian. “Hey, it’s the awesome skater! Ready for the first day? Are you nervous?”

“No, I’m cool,” Brian lied. He had been a little nervous about starting a new school, and then Wendy had ditched her psychopath boyfriend to come talk to him. Now he was close to freaking out. He wiped his forehead and swallowed. “No big deal.” This was already the longest outside-of-school conversation he’d ever had with a girl anywhere near this beautiful. The skateboard stunt must have done the trick.

They started walking again. “Sorry about yesterday with Frankie,” Wendy said. “And for today too. He doesn’t like me talking to guys.”

“Yeah,” he said. What was he supposed to say? “Some boyfriends are like—”

“Wait a minute,” she said. “What did you say?”

“Nothing. Um… just that Frankie seems like one of those types of boyfriends who—”

“Gross!” Wendy shouted. She took two steps back from him and acted like she was going to throw up in the middle of the street. “I can not believe you!”

“What?” Brian worried for a moment that stuff was hanging out of his nose or something. “What did I say? Nothing. I’m sorry.”

“Frankie is not, not, not, not my boyfriend!” She laughed. “He’s my brother ! I don’t have a boyfriend.”

“Oh.” For a moment Brian was thrilled. Then he realized what a huge mistake he’d made, and he wished Max had built a time machine so that he could go back in time and avoid saying something so stupid.

She chuckled. “No, it’s fine. He did put his arm around me, I guess. Ugh.” Wendy stood straight. “Nice to meet you. I’m Wendy Heller.”