The two boys had made him a little mad, too. What was the worst thing that could happen? Max didn’t want to think about that—the possibility that Tess could get hurt—he figured the worst thing was the boy might beat her. Then Max thought his plan might be to ask for a rematch and beat him himself if he had to, just to keep the score straight. Max was still trying to calibrate his answer.

But Tess beat him to it. She looked at her opponent. His dark hair cut short, his eyes intently daring her, and she couldn’t help it, she answered, “Game on.”

Max rolled his eyes. He couldn’t believe what Tess had just gotten herself into, and, of course, it was half his fault. He didn’t want her to get hurt but he also didn’t want her to know that he had any doubts. He raised his pinkie in the air in a show of solidarity. And Tess raised her right hand and gave him an in-air pinkie swear back. And at the same time, gave herself a silent talking to. She knew she had to be brave, secure, and confident in order to win this race or even race it, at all, perfectly balanced, swift, and what her dad would call, “in the moment.” No matter what happened, what course the boy took, she would be right there behind him, next to him, and then, she vowed, she would be ahead. Game on.

Tess did know a couple of skateboard tricks, not that she wanted to pull them out of her hat. She knew how to kick flip—when you’re skating and you flip the board and land on it again—but she wasn’t sure she was going to show that. Their dad had said it was always a good idea to let your opponent underestimate you.

She jumped down to the first ledge and then into the bowl itself. She put the skateboard on the ground and put one foot on it and waited for the boy to join her.

She heard the sound of his skateboard hit the ground and without a signal of any kind, he just started racing. Game on.

It only took one round before they cleared the bowl, as if they were dancers whose performance was so extraordinary the other dancers stepped off to watch. He was a speed demon, no question about that, with a very distinct style, using his arms as if he was paddling, as if the air could push him along. But Tess kept pace with him. In a burst of speed, he sailed up, as if he was leading the race and jumped and landed and skated up to a ledge and skated back down again and in an amazing feat, landed back in the bowl and continued to race.