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
Ollie’s room contained many treasures from his wrestling adventures The ticket stub from his first-ever match where Mini Fridge defeated Rick Rodgers A first-place ribbon that he and Hollis had won for best tag-team outfits at fan costume night back when they still got along The photo of him and Ta miko with huge smiles as they sat in the stands cheeks stuffed with kettle corn But none held a candle to the signed poster of Professor Pain Ollie’s favorite wrestler which his mom had gotten him for his birthday a few years back He was certain no other future gift would come within a mile of topping that one Even so the cheese-stained flyer would fit nicely into the tableau Ladies and gentlemen boys and girls Please take your seats said a crazed voice over the Slamdown Town speakers The matches are about to begin The hairs on Ollie’s arms stood straight up A surge of energy shot through his body Come on He tugged on Tamiko’s wrist Let’s get to our seats Hollis forgotten the two dashed through the buzzing fluorescent archways and into the belly of the arena 7
Chapter 2 WRESTLING was exactly what Ollie needed to get over Hol lis Their mom said Hollis’s behavior of late was all part of get ting older but if that were the case would his brother ever not be terrible As much as Ollie wished he could take Hollis down a peg or two he knew he was too small to kick his brother’s butt and that his brother’s ego was too big to reason with So instead he’d watch other people kick each other’s butts which usually ended with a chair to the gut Let’s do this yelled Tamiko freeing her hand from a bag of sour strips to give Ollie a high five The friends marched across the sticky unwashed lobby floors Ollie had entered the arena more times than he could count But he still felt goose bumps travel up his arms the moment he entered the belly of the arena and saw the wrestling ring in all its glory far below in the center of the room Above the ring a flickering worn marquee displayed the following message
