and smack-talking his brother They were supposed to be spent watching wrestling Real wrestling Something he and his broth er used to watch together all the time If he didn’t find a way out of this grapple soon he might miss the first match said a familiar voice And he hadn’t ever missed a match Why don’t you pick on someone your own size Hollis Finally Ollie turned an eighth of an inch it was all he could muster under the circumstances to find Tamiko stand ing over them Her hair was a familiar tangled mess She wore her wrinkled Slamdown Town official tee And she had only one sock on with a big hole that went from her ankle all the way up to her kneecap He wondered if she always had only one sock on Ollie hadn’t seen his friend from this angle before You know Like a hippo Tamiko went on her voice casual Or a baby giraffe Those things are bigger than you think In her right arm she held a stack of sour strips a super slushie brimming with sugar and nachos doused in cheese In her other hand as always she held her phone Tamiko was always playing games on her phone Last month it was Ninja Kitten and before that Postcard Detective This month’s mobile game was Jewel Heist an addictive-but simple game where you tap-tap-tapped away to uncover hidden treasure In every game she played Tamiko held the first second and third highest scores She could play and win while carrying on a conversation or taking a math exam or in this case bal ancing a tower of snacks 3
She was that good By the way Ollie I think I got enough snacks to get us through the first match She cradled her armful of food to her chest a strand of cheese marring the white of her tee with a vivid orange stripe But we’ll definitely need to make another run at intermission Oh joy grunted Hollis pulling his torso off Ollie at the sound of the word snacks Ollie seized the opportunity to roll out from under him It’s the second member of the baby bri gade What’s on today’s agenda Let me guess Naptime and sippy cups Ollie stood carefully and checked his shins for bruising I’m free he gasped How long were you under asked Tamiko ignoring Hollis Too long Ollie took several deep breaths to regulate his breathing as recommended by his favorite online video series on calming meditation And too close to Hollis’s butt it looked like Tamiko’s up per lip quivered in distaste I’m shocked you held on to your sanity Hey Tamiko Those nachos look heavy said Hollis as he lumbered toward her and grabbed a chip right out of the tray Lemme help you make it a little easier to carry Hollis popped the best saltiest most cheese-drenched chip entirely in his mouth Hey Get your sweaty paws off my snacks yelled Tamiko pulling the chips away as fast as she could Her sudden move ment sent a blob of gooey cheese soaring into the air It hovered 4
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
ninety-nine boss She was referring to their favorite fantasy ad venture co-op computer game Revenge of Kragthar Hey Hollis called Tamiko over to Hollis Tamiko pointed to his shirt Say cheese She snapped a photo with her phone Ollie almost fell over laughing You just wish you were half as sophisticated as I am said Hollis With that he lumbered off in the direction of the rest rooms exhibiting all the dignity he could muster with a blob of cheese on his shirt Ollie knew that Hollis would find some way to spin this he’d probably say that cheesy-blob shirts were in and that Ollie just didn’t understand Ollie dove forward onto the sticky lobby floor and reached for the crumpled flyer just as a passerby oblivious to Ollie’s plight ground into it with his heel nearly smashing Ollie’s fingers in the process It was not Ollie’s day Dude Not worth it Tamiko told him We can just get you another one Ollie smoothed out the gooey dirty foot-printed flyer No I won’t let Hollis win he said folding the paper gently into a square and pocketing it This one is fine And besides it’s printed on Slamdown Town letterhead Do you even know how much this thing will be worth someday Just as much as this one without any gross slime on it said Tamiko waving her own cheese-free flyer But Tamiko didn’t understand Sure they were identical flyers But keeping the one he’d chosen meant Hollis’s blundering attempt to steal it had failed And that made this flyer a trophy of sorts one worth holding on to 6
