Slamdown Town

Slamdown Town — page 7
above them for one deliciously cheesy moment before falling and landing directly on Hollis’s oversize belly My shirt yelled Hollis like a screeching monkey who just dropped his lunch Hollis used the flyer to wipe the cheese from his shirt Under other circumstances Ollie might have tried to stop him But the damage was done Hollis wiped himself clean with the flyer Ollie’s flyer then crumpled it up without a sec ond thought He tossed it to the ground Really After all that Ollie cringed at the sound of his own squeak You got cheese all over my most photogenic shirt groaned Hollis Now I gotta teach you a lesson He pointed and lunged toward Ollie who squeaked again despite himself and leapt out of the way causing Hollis to double over in laughter Ollie rolled his eyes at Hollis’s use of the word photogenic Using big words was clearly a part of his unending desire to prove he was more mature than he actually was Hollis was taking this whole newly thirteen-year-old thing very seriously He was older than Ollie yes Hollis was in eighth grade barf and Ollie was in sixth but he certainly wasn’t more mature If anything Ollie thought that Hollis had become less so Let’s go Ollie You know your bro is way out of your weight class Tamiko said nudging Ollie in the rib cage with her el bow Ollie would have squeaked again Tamiko’s elbows were sharp but he had his pride to consider But pleaded Ollie I can’t just let him get away with it Oh he won’t There’s more than one way to beat a level 5