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“So,” Steve started, seeing Max and Dustin glaring at each other, both standing behind a line drawn in chalk on the sidewalk, “why are they racing?” he asked Mike, leaning against a large tree with his arms crossed over his chest.
“Because Dustin thinks that roller blades are faster than a skateboard and Max says that a skateboard is faster,” Mike told him, standing beside him. It was clear in his voice that he thought the whole argument was stupid.
Steve was curious, so he asked, “Which do you think will win?”
“I think they should just ride bikes.”
He couldn’t argue with that, so he just shrugged. “And I’m here… why?”
“They wanted an impartial referee,” Lucas answered, not on board with the idea, “but I think you’re biased. Obviously you want Dustin to win.”
Steve scoffed. “What makes you say that?”
“Really?” Will asked.
He looked between the kids, unclear of what they’re indicating.
“You’re, like, best friends with Dustin,” Mike said. “It’s kind of weird, you’re basically twice his age.”
“I am four years older than you!” Steve defended himself, but he realized as he said it that it’s still weird.
“Hey!” Max shouted at them. “You ready?”
Steve stood up straight and gave them a thumbs up. Max dropped her skateboard and put one foot on it, the other on the ground, and got ready to take off. Dustin stood with his left leg perpendicular behind his right, which was facing forward.
“One lap around the park, ending at the same line as you start!” Lucas called.
“Ready?” Steve shouted. “Go!”
Max pushed off the ground several times, gaining momentum, but Dustin started with a hockey start, giving him lots of speed from the beginning.
“Woah!” Steve exclaimed, seeing Dustin leave Max behind immediately.
Lucas’s face dropped. “I’m sure he’ll screw up the turns,” he said, “you can’t get any control on skates.”
“Say that to him,” Will said, watching as Dustin turned around the corner, spinning his whole body so he was facing the group and going backwards. Losing some speed, but he didn’t seem to care because of his lead. He held up finger guns and smiled at Max before spinning back around, giving himself another big push off when he rotated.
“What the hell?” Max muttered.
His arrogance just made Steve laugh.
“Maybe– maybe she’ll catch up. Slow and steady wins the race, right?” Lucas said. “He’ll lose energy and fall out.”
Mike laughed at him. “I don’t think so,” he said.
Max was halfway around the park when Dustin went over the finish line. He came to a stop by turning sharply.
“Dustin wins,” Steve shouted so Max could hear.
“I know, asshole!” Max shouted back.
Dustin came over to the edge of the sidewalk so he could talk be as close to the guys as he could without going onto the grass.
“I didn’t know you could do that, dude,” Steve said, going up to him and high fiving him.
He shrugged. “I’ve been playing roller hockey for years.”
“What was that?” Lucas came up to them, annoyed. “You didn’t have to embarrass her!”
“She was wrong!” Dustin said.
“Well, yeah,” Lucas agreed, “but why would you show off when you knew she’d be wrong?”
Dustin crossed his arms and rolled his eyes. “If you knew I was wrong about something, you wouldn’t be a dick about it?” he asked.
Lucas’s mouth opened and shut, realizing he had a point. “She’s a girl! You can’t do that to a girl.”
“That’s sexist,” Dustin said.
Lucas looked to Steve for help and he shrugged. “You brought in a biased ref, man,” he said, putting his hand on Dustin’s head and ruffling his hair. Dustin looked up at him with a huge smile, while Lucas walked away, annoyed, to meet up with Max.
“You suck, dude,” Lucas said over his shoulder.
“Don’t take it personally,” Steve said quietly to Dustin.