Snowboard Champ by Matt Christopher, Paul Mantell

around, sneaked outside.
    It was a warm day for January, but Matt didn’t have his jacket, and the cold air cut right through the thin fabric of his shirt. Why had she insisted on meeting him outside? And where
was
she, anyway?
    He was already shivering. He wished he’d stopped at his locker to grab his coat first. He tried the door, but it was locked from the inside! Great. He’d have to go all the way around to the front and hope no one saw him coming back in. Being outside during school was strictly against the rules, he knew.
    The door opened suddenly, and Matt felt a wave of relief come over him. But it wasn’t Melissa. It was Spengler. “Hey, mon!” he greeted Matt. “Wuzzup? You look like you just saw a ghost.”
    “I thought you were someone else,” Matt confessed. “I was supposed to meet her out here.”
    “Her?”
    “Melissa McCarthney.”
    “Oh, man! She’s a babe. You two going out?”
    “Not really. She wanted to tell me something, that’s all.”
    “Man, she went home after second period.”
    “What?”
    “Yeah, she had a fever or something. She went to the nurse’s office, and they sent her home.” He laughed. “That stinks for you.”
    “Yeah.” Matt was really shivering now. “What are
you
doing out here?” he asked.
    “I needed a mental-health break,” Spengler said, sitting on the top step and fishing in his backpack for something. “Ah, here we go.” To Matt’s astonishment, he pulled out a pack of cigarettes. “Want one?”
    “No way,” Matt said, waving him off. “That stuff’ll kill you.”
    “Yeah. well, we’re all gonna die someday,” Spengler said, trying to take a cigarette out of the pack with his one good hand. “Hey, help me out here, would you?”
    Matt felt guilty helping Spengler damage his health, but he didn’t want to make an issue of it. With shivering hands, he took the pack from him and removed a cigarette.
    Spengler had fished a lighter out of his pocket in the meantime. “Here, would you light me up?”
    “No, dude,” Matt said. “I’m not gonna be a part of you messing up your health.” He stuck the pack back in Spengler’s book bag. A bunch of quarters and dimes spilled out, and Matt started picking them up and stuffing them back in. Then he handed Spengler the cigarette. “You ought to quit, man.”
    “I’ve tried,” Spengler said. “But it’s really hard to. Stay away from tobacco, man, I’m telling you.”
    Matt didn’t need to be told. He watched, wincing as Spengler lit up. Then his gaze turned to the window behind them, and he froze.
    There was Abby, her eyes wide with shock and surprise — and something else, too. She looked distinctly
happy.
Like a cat that had just spotted a wounded bird.
    Matt knew right away there would be trouble. But he could never have guessed how much.
    No one saw Matt and Spengler sneak back into the school building. But it seemed like everybody instantly knew Matt had been out there. Kids were whispering about him again. And the compliments and friendliness had stopped. Not one other kid talked to him all afternoon, but he knew everyone was talking
about
him.
    When he got home, he called Melissa, but her mother picked up. She said Melissa had a fever and was sleeping. Matt did his homework, watched TV, and waited for Uncle Clayton to come home from work.
    Clay was late today. Maybe he had a big meeting or something. Matt decided to amuse himself by going on the Web and looking for local chat rooms. He found one called Dragontalk. Sure enough, it was a site for kids in the area to talk about whatever was new and exciting.
    His name was all over it. “I saw Matt Harper outside school today, smoking with Spengler,” said Chikadee23. Matt knew that had to be Abby.
    “Word!?!?!?” said Ugogirl.
    “I hear he does drugs,” said Perkomeister. Perkins, Matt guessed. His “good buddy” from this morning.
    “Did you know Harper’s mother is doing time in prison for drug dealing?” said