To our mothers who shared their love of storytelling and taught us to be good brothers
Chapter 1 IF you want it so bad mocked Hollis why don’t you take it Ollie Evander couldn’t believe his rotten luck For starters Hollis had stolen his flyer Ollie had jumped up and down try ing to grab it back from him but every time he got close Hollis yanked it away As if that weren’t bad enough Hollis had pinned him to the sticky popcorn-covered floor of Slamdown Town Arena Ollie struggled to speak under his annoying scratch that infuriating older brother’s girth Can’t you just go get your own he groaned Ollie had first noticed the stack of neon-blue flyers on the side of the ticket counter slamdown town arena new wrestler tryouts this week only two enter the ring only one exits
He had pointed them out to his best friend Tamiko Tanaka who immediately dared him to try out A dare was a dare So he snagged one off the pile and pinky-promised that he’d be first in line and the first one signed to Slamdown Town But then Tamiko had run off to grab snacks from the concession counter and Ollie’s jerkface brother had swooped in and started well being a jerkface brother Go get my own But I want this one And you were so nice to hand-deliver it to me Besides they wouldn’t let some ten year-old kid wrestle anyway said Hollis Especially not one as pea-size as you First off I’ll be eleven in two days grunted Ollie And secondly at least I’m not pea-brained Ollie’s blond shaggy hair fell over his eyes He tried to push Hollis off him but failed He didn’t know how much more he could take You know I think I’ll take this flyer for myself Who knows Maybe I’ll try out Sure They won’t hire an eleven-year-old but a thirteen year-old with a disgusting hair monster above his lip totally stands a chance said Ollie still straining to speak Hollis smiled and stroked his patchy lip hair I think it makes me look cultured No It makes you look like a But Ollie’s mind blanked He had never been great when it came to comebacks Smack talk was more Tamiko’s thing What’s taking her so long thought Ollie He mustered all his strength to push Hollis off him again but failed again Well he guessed strength wasn’t really his thing either Saturdays weren’t supposed to be spent wrestling 2
