The North Pole Challenge (Flea's Five Christmases, #1) (3 page)

             
But this wasn’t caused by the cold.

Flea had the feeling that he was being watched. Sure enough, he spotted yet another green-eyed snowman nearby that seemed to be staring straight at him. Flea couldn’t remember having seen this snowman through the window. Despite the fact that he knew a snowman couldn’t really ‘look’ at him, he was still scared. He planned to dig through the snow and ice even faster but when he looked back down at the ground, he found a large watery hole in the middle of the snow where his hands were. Flea didn’t hang around long enough to figure out how the snow melted so quickly. He grabbed his backpack and rushed back into the apartment, locking the door behind him. Flea stole a final glance out the window before shutting the curtains. His heart pounded for several minutes while he stared at the front door, afraid that the snowman might bust in at any moment.

              “I’ve been around Miss Mabel for too long,” Flea said with a chuckle once his heart rate steadied. He knew the idea of a snowman coming after him was insane but he still left the curtains closed… just in case. Flea did his homework and watched TV for a few hours (nothing good was on since they didn’t have cable) before finally going to bed. It took him a little while longer to fall asleep but he finally dozed off and slept through the night, not waking until he heard the front door open early the next morning. He peeked his head out long enough to see Miss Mabel, who looked exhausted and yet glowing at the same time.

             
“Did you have an eventful evening?” she asked softly.

             
“Nope, I just did my homework and watched TV before going to bed. I promise I didn’t stay up past my bedtime,” Flea said, omitting the part about his excursion outside.

             
“Good boy, I’m going to bed now so make sure you aren’t late for school,” she said before disappearing into her bedroom.

             
Flea got ready for school and headed for the front door. Before he left, he spotted a trail of dust near the door and shook his head. Flea hoped that Miss Mabel had calmed down about the whole ‘woodshop class’ incident and he certainly didn’t want her to spot the sawdust later and get mad all over again. He hurried to the kitchen and grabbed the broom, using it to sweep the dust outside before he rushed off to school.

“Time for dodgeball!” the gym teacher yelled after blowing his whistle. The students gathered around and sat on the gym floor. Like usual, Flea stayed near the back of the group. But today, none of the other boys sat within twenty feet of him. “Okay, it’s time to choose teams. I think today’s captains will be…” The teacher slowly looked over the group until he pointed to two boys – the same two who happened to be massaging their chests. “…Rob and Cory.”

             
The two boys glanced at each other before jumping to their feet. Rob and Cory nearly stumbled over the others as they raced to the front. Cory was obviously faster but Rob grabbed him around the waist and dragged him to the floor, thus reaching the front first.

             
“That’s not fair!” Cory yelled. He pushed Rob and the two nearly came to blows.

             
The gym teacher blew his whistle and separated them. “Whoa! Let’s save that fighting for the start of the game.”

             
“I get first pick, I was up here first!” Rob called out loudly. Cory obviously didn’t agree. He yelled his objections while still trying to get past the gym teacher and at Rob.

             
“Jeez, what’s the big deal?” the teacher asked. “There are
plenty
of good players to choose from – and plenty of bad ones, too.” The gym teacher laughed at his own joke though none of the jocks or bullies found him funny today. “The teams always end up being fair. Besides,
I
say who gets to pick first. Cory, go ahead.”

             
Cory yelled ‘yes’ and pumped his fists while Rob looked like his soul had just been crushed. Flea had no idea why the two bullies had been fighting amongst themselves but then Cory pointed straight at him.

             
“I choose Flea,” he said.

             
The rest of the students turned and stared at Flea. For the first time, they looked at him with admiration instead of hatred. Flea had to admit that it felt pretty good. The story of the snowball fight had apparently made its way around school, at least to everyone but the teacher.

             
“
Flea
? Is this some kind of joke?” the gym teacher asked laughing. When he realized that Cory’s pick was serious, the smile disappeared from his face. “Get your butt up here, Flea!”

             
Flea nearly tripped several times while walking between the rest of the students, all of whom watched his every step.

             
“I’m sorry about everything that’s happened in the past,” Cory whispered once Flea stood next to him. “It’s an honor to play on your team.”

             
“Let’s go, Rob, we don’t have all day,” snapped the gym teacher, who was in a bad mood since he didn’t understand what was going on between Flea and the two captains. “Hurry up and make your pick.”

             
Every time it was Rob’s turn to choose, the other bullies and jocks shrunk away behind the other kids, praying that Rob wouldn’t see them. Every time Rob said a name, the selected student groaned and marched slowly to the front. When it was Cory’s turn, however, they all suddenly reappeared and raised their hands, waving frantically in the hopes of being chosen. The gym teacher shook his head in confusion. When it was time to start the game, the teams jogged to their respective sides. The teacher blew his whistle and released the large bag of dodgeballs.

             
Not a single person on the other team made any sort of move forward. Instead, there was a mass retreat, as Rob and his team moved as far away from the center as possible. If the other team could have squeezed under the bleachers, Flea was pretty sure they would have tried. Flea smiled and never felt more powerful. He slowly strolled to the center of the gym, where Cory handed him one of the dodgeballs.

             
“What’s going on here?” the gym teacher called out to Rob’s team. “If y’all are playing some kind of joke on me, I’ll make sure we never play dodgeball again.”

             
Cory and a few of Flea’s other teammates let fly, as they took out several of the other team’s players, who were more than happy to run off the court before Flea decided to throw. In fact, Rob
tried
to move himself in front of several thrown balls but missed every single one. It finally took the gym teacher yelling at the other team for Rob and a few others to retrieve some of the dodgeballs, all of which were on their side except for the one in Flea’s hand. Now that he had everyone’s attention, Flea was finally ready to show
everyone
– including his gym teacher – that he was a force to be reckoned with, that he was someone important, that he was no longer worthy of constant ridicule.

             
Flea took aim at Rob, got a running head start and threw the dodgeball exactly how he’d thrown the snowball the day before. All but one of the other team’s players turned away in fear – the only nerdy kid left, who must’ve known that Flea had plenty of other targets to choose from. Unfortunately for Flea, his throwing aim was nowhere
near
as good as it was the day before and his dodgeball flew directly toward that one brave nerd. Flea’s heart instantly sank as he imagined what the ball could do to that poor, unsuspecting kid, as he again remembered Miss Mabel’s warnings about keeping a low profile. But within seconds of releasing the ball, he realized that not only had his accuracy returned to its old form but so had his throwing speed. The nerd clumsily put his hands up and caught Flea’s dodgeball with the greatest of ease.

             
Though Flea was relieved that he hadn’t hurt anyone, his shoulders slumped now that he had returned to being a nobody. His fall from grace had been speedy and spectacular, witnessed by all. Those players already eliminated – as well as Flea’s own teammates – simultaneously gasped. Once Rob and the others realized they were still alive, they found the courage to remove their arms from their faces. When they saw the nerd holding the ball that Flea had thrown, it dawned on them what had happened. Rob’s expression of fear and defeat instantly returned to its usual sneer. He didn’t hesitate to charge, dodgeball in hand toward a surprised Flea.

             
The gym teacher’s whistle blew seconds before Rob was about to throw. It was probably the first – and only – time that Flea ever appreciated the teacher.

             
“Flea, he caught your ball, you’re out!” the gym teacher yelled.

             
Rob’s sneer was animal-like. Flea wouldn’t have been surprised if the bully ripped apart the dodgeball with his teeth. As Flea slowly walked to the side of the gym – the first person on his team eliminated – play resumed behind him. He could still feel dozens of sets of eyes on him, staring at him like the freak he truly was. Flea was confused as everyone else about what had happened to his ability. But mostly he was disappointed for having allowed himself to think that he could be special, that he could be more than just the ‘weird’ kid.

             
It didn’t help hearing the gym teacher muttering under his breath. “And you were the first pick?”

             
Flea barely had the chance to take a seat when the gym doors opened and a familiar face suddenly appeared.

             
“Mr. … uh, what’s your name again?” the gym teacher asked.

             
“Strick, his name is
Strick,
” Flea snapped.

             
“Yeah, Strick, whatever. Are you here to take your favorite student again?” the gym teacher asked. “He certainly doesn’t need to be
here
anymore.”

             
“If you don’t mind,” Mr. Strick said.

             
The gym teacher shrugged his shoulders and turned back to the game. Mr. Strick waved over Flea, who plodded toward the hallway, still brooding about what had happened. A dodgeball
whizzed
just inches above his head and when Flea looked back toward the game, he saw Rob smiling at him. By the time Flea exited the gym, he was in a terrible mood and there was only one person to take out his frustrations on.

             
“I saw what all of your special
projects
bought you,” Flea said as soon as he reached Mr. Strick. “That’s a nice new truck you have, I see you’ve made plenty of money from my special projects.”

             
Mr. Strick was shocked into silence and Flea took this as an admission of guilt. Now that Flea was certain that his only ally in the world had been using him, he no longer cared that Miss Mabel planned to move them away from here. As far as Flea was concerned, a move couldn’t come soon enough.

             
“Since you have nothing to say, I’ll just be getting back to gym class now,” Flea said, choking on his words. Right about now he would have gladly endured physical torture to escape the emotional kind.

             
“Go ahead and play dodgeball then if you don’t want to watch this special DVD,” Mr. Strick said. “But just realize that everything in life isn’t always as it appears.”

             
Flea stopped before opening the gym doors and looked back to see Mr. Strick – and his familiar red hard hat – walking off down the hallway. It was obvious that the shop teacher wasn’t going to look back and the last thing Flea wanted to do today was make another enemy, especially if he had misunderstood the situation.

             
“Hey, wait up,” Flea said. He rushed forward and caught up with his teacher. “What DVD are you talking about?”

             
Strick removed a DVD case from his tool belt and held it up. Flea noticed three big, bold letters on the front – CTV – but he had no idea what they meant.

             
“You’ve been working really hard for me all school year and I wanted to do something nice to show you my appreciation,” Mr. Strick said. “But since you aren’t interested…” He shrugged his shoulders and returned the DVD to the pouch in his tool belt.

             
Flea had trouble trusting people and suspected some sort of ploy. But deep down, Flea hoped that Strick deserved his trust. Besides, a loud
bang
against the gym doors behind him – undoubtedly caused by an errant dodgeball throw – reminded Flea that the bullies in gym class
would be
ready to attack the moment he showed back up. Flea followed Mr. Strick toward the shop classroom, though the teacher wouldn’t give him any hints about the contents of the DVD.

             
“You’ll just have to wait and see for yourself,” Strick said.

             
With nothing left to discuss about the DVD, Flea couldn’t help but mention the strangest part of his teacher’s appearance.

             
“Why do you wear that weird hard hat all the time, even when you’re not working?” Flea asked. A part of him was still angry with Mr. Strick and he finally had the courage to ask the question that had been on his mind for a long time.

             
“Let’s just say I’m trying to make a fashion statement,” Mr. Strick said. “Or maybe I’m starting the next trend in construction.”

             
Strick chuckled to himself as they entered the empty shop classroom. He turned on the lights and Flea could immediately see that Mr. Strick hadn’t followed Principal Crawley’s orders: the room was still a dusty mess, even more than usual.
No wonder I had so much sawdust in my hair yesterday,
Flea thought to himself. He would have to brush himself off
before
going home, though the damage with Miss Mabel had already been done. An ancient TV and DVD player sat on a rolling cart in the middle of the classroom and Mr. Strick immediately turned them on and popped in the DVD.

             
“So you’ve never heard of CTV?” Strick asked before pushing the ‘play’ button.

             
Flea blushed and explained that he never had cable so he didn’t know about most television channels.

             
“That’s good, most TV rots the brain anyway,” Mr. Strick said. “But I
do
like CTV. It’s the Construction Channel so you can imagine my interest; you’d probably like it, too. Anyway, CTV has a popular new reality show called
The Great Build-Off
. I’ve been submitting your work the last few months and I just received this DVD in response from them. I thought you might like to watch it.”

             
Flea instantly forgot his anger, which was replaced with a nervous excitement. Mr. Strick pushed the
PLAY
button and the show’s intro began, which explained the rules of
The Great Build-Off
. Two construction teams were pitted against each other and given a stack of building materials, an hour-time limit and a secret theme on which they had to create the most impressive display. Flea thought the show sounded really cool and he looked forward to watching an episode, but when the opening credits came to an end, the show did not begin. Instead, the show’s host stood on the empty set and spoke directly into the camera.