CHAPTER 9
"The Wipeouters?" Jimmy was asking.
They were sitting in the corner booth at Fancy Freeze, next to the jukebox.
"No," said Bo.
"The Beach Rappers?"
"We don't rap. We're not even singing anything Saturday."
"The Elephant Seals,"
"What?"
"Elephant seals are tough," Jimmy said.
"Terrible name," Bo said. "Keep thinking."
"I'm using up all my thinking," Jimmy said. "Where's Mackie? I told him to meet us here and give us a hand."
"Chess club, I think," said Bo.
"Oh boy," said Jimmy.
"You know who's in the chess club?"
"Who?"
"Total of two people: Mackie and Adler. Get this, dudes have been playing each other every Wednesday since sixth grade! Mr. Heffenstern stands there supervising the games."
"Who wins?" Jimmy asked.
"Pretty even, I think. They have some serious battles. Thrown pieces at each other a couple times."
" 'Band' ," said Jimmy.
"Huh?"
" 'Band', that'll work," Jimmy said.
"Dude, you're getting on my nerves--speak English!"
"We'll just call ourselves 'Band'," Jimmy said.
" 'THE Band?' " Bo said.
"No, B-dog--'Band'!" Jimmy said. "Dominate the thing with one word."
"That's your dumbest idea yet," Bo said. "But let's go with it."
"What time you got?" Jimmy said.
"Quarter to four," Bo said. "We ride back to school now, sign up once and for all. We're beating the deadline by a full hour, at least. That is, unless you've got some OTHER big surprise on your mind."
"Nope, piece of cake!" Jimmy said, and they started to stand up.
"Sounds like you girls--I mean boys--have to be somewhere important," came the first deep voice.
"Look at how cute these two are, pouring their hearts out to each other, staring into each other's eyes," said the second deeper voice.
Standing right there in front of Bo and Jimmy, blocking their exit from the booth, were Scott Hamburg and Stick Arrington. Hamburg was showing them a nasty smile, and Bo could smell onions, and he thought maybe alcohol, on Arrington's breath.
"Uh, hi Stick, excuse me, we were just leaving," Bo said.
"What he call you?" Hamburg asked Arrington.
"I know," Arrington said.
"Little dude," Hamburg said to Bo. "Let me explain something. Calling us 'sir' or 'Mr. Arrington' works. Calling us by our first name doesn't work. I was you, I'd follow the lead of your hottie girlfriend there and keep your mouth nice and shut, and be on your way."
"Saw you guys at the beach the other day," Jimmy said.
Oh no Jimmy, Bo thought, please stop right there.
"You were doing some surfing," Jimmy said.
"We gotta go!" Bo said, but he knew Jimmy wasn't going to stop now.
The one thing that bothered Jimmy more than anything in the world, the only thing that caused Jimmy to get into the few fist fights he'd had in his life, was someone calling him a girl.
"Course not everyone might call what you were doing 'surfing'," he said.
"You better shut up, punk," said Hamburg.
"Especially you, Scott," Jimmy said. "You were doing kind of a new sport out there. Like the idea was to see how many different ways you could go flying off the board."
Bo would have laughed if he wasn't so scared. He did notice Arrington was cracking a smile.
"Friend of ours, an 8th grader, would be glad to give you guys some lessons," Jimmy said. "She say how much she'd charge 'em, Bo?"
Bo kept quiet.
"I'm counting to three," Hamburg said. "Unless you want to find out what a real life beat-down feels like, you'll be out of my sight before I get there."
"C'mon, man, forget it!" Bo said to Jimmy, as he grabbed him by the shirtsleeve and hustled him toward the door.
"One....
"Two..."
"Have somebody bring a camera next time you're in the water," Jimmy called back to Hamburg, as he and Bo were ducking out the door. "Put in on 'You Tube'. Your mother can watch it."
I didn't REALLY hear you say that, did I?, thought Bo. I'm just dreaming it, right?
Bo pulled out his keys in case there was a remote chance he could unlock his bike and ride away, but he knew better.
A split second later, Hamburg and Arrington came sprinting out into the parking lot. Bo put up his arms to try to cover his face, but Arrington unleashed a vicious kick into his side, which sent him to the ground face down. He realized he was tasting the asphalt of the parking lot.
Hamburg had Jimmy in a headlock and ran him straight into the chain link fence that separated Fancy Freeze from the auto body shop next door. Jimmy stumbled and fell, and rolled onto his back.
"Now, since you brought my mother into it--," said Hamburg.
"Scott, that's probably enough," Arrington said.
Hamburg hesitated for a moment.
"Yeah, I guess you're right, Stick, it's over," he said. "Tell you what. You dudes are a mess, all laying on the ground like that. At least get on your feet, and you can go back to the sink and wash up."
First Bo, and then Jimmy managed to slowly get up, but everything was moving in slow motion. Neither one of them was thinking clearly as Hamburg and Arrington followed them around the rear of Fancy Freeze to the small, run down men's bathroom.
"Here, I'll close the door for you, give you some privacy in there," Hamburg said.
The bathroom light didn't work, and the place reeked of disinfectant, stronger and worse smelling than the school bathrooms, but the hot water felt good on Bo's face. Bo reached for the paper towel holder as Jimmy took his turn at the sink.
"Open the door, so we can see what we're doing in here," Jimmy said.
Bo twisted the doorknob and pulled, but the door didn't open.
"What the heck!" he said.
"What's the problem?" Jimmy asked.
"You try it," said Bo.
Jimmy quickly dried his hands on his shirt and tried the door. He twisted the knob all the way to the right and yanked. Nothing. He twisted the knob to the left and pulled harder. Nothing.
Bo and Jimmy started to panic. They both put their hands on the knob and twisted and pulled with all their might. The door didn't budge. They backed up and kicked the door as fiercely as they could, to try to somehow un-jam it, but the thing was simply not going to move.
"Can we smash a hole in it or something?" Bo asked.
There was a pause.
"It's a metal door," Jimmy said, in a soft, sad, defeated voice that Bo had never heard from him before.
Bo wondered if Jimmy might be crying.
"Y'all have fun now, ya' hear!" came the muffled voice of Hamburg from outside the bathroom.
What Hamburg had pulled, while Bo and Jimmy were busy washing up, was the old gum trick he learned years ago from his Uncle Jack.
You put three pieces of gum in your mouth, chewed them until they softened up and went together, and then took the wad out of your mouth and pressed it right against where the door latch met the frame. Then you took the tip of a pen and jammed the gum deep into opening, so no one could get hold of it to pull it out.
When you wanted to release the person, you could open the door by moving the latch with a screwdriver, but you had to know what you were doing.
"You really gonna leave them there?" Bo and Jimmy could hear Arrington saying now.
"Nah, just having a little fun with them," Hamburg said. "I'll stop back in a couple hours, rescue them. If I remember."
He let out a laugh that sounded like an old car trying to start.
"I ain't part of this, man," Arrington said.
"Know what Stick?" said Hamburg. "Maybe I should have shoved you in there with the little dudes. Don't think I didn't catch you smiling when they were making fun of me surfing."
"Fine," said Arrington. "Why don't you try putting your hands on me Scott, and see what happens?"
It was quiet for a minute. Bo figured they were staring each other down.
"Ah forget it," Hamburg said. "I guess you don't understand anything. I'm outta here!"
There was a tap of knuckles on the door.
"Help!!" yelled Bo.
"Open up!!" yelled Jimmy.
"You punks best remember--I had nothing to do with this," said Arrington through the door, and they soon heard him walking away.
Now there was total silence.
"The sign-ups," said Jimmy, slowly. "It's all my fault, B."
"Yeah but Mr. Riggins, this one time, he has to understand, right?" said Bo.
"He won't."
"I mean, in a way we are crime victims here! We're trapped against our will!"
"Doesn't matter."
"It's not fair!" Bo said. "Why can't..."
He stopped talking because he didn't want Jimmy to hear his voice breaking as he started to cry.
Jimmy didn't say anything more. After a minute, he slumped to the ground and put his hands to his face in the pitch black darkness.
