Illustrated by Michael Koelsch

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X’s friends believe he can excel at any extreme sport, so when they want to check out the new climbing wall at the mall, he decides to hide his fear of heights rather than have them think him a coward.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without permission in writing from the publisher, except by a reviewer who may quote brief passages in a review.

Little, Brown and Company

Time Warner Book Group

Hachette Book Group

237 Park Avenue

New York, NY 10017

Visit our Web site at www.HachetteBookGroup.com

First eBook Edition: September 2008

The Hachette Book Group Publishing name and logo is a trademark of Hachette Book Group, Inc.

The characters and events portrayed in this book are fictitious. Any similarity to real persons, living or dead, is coincidental and not intended by the author.

Matt Christopher^®is a registered trademark of Catherine M. Christopher.

ISBN: 978-0-316-02597-3

CHAPTER ONE

"X! Wait up!"

Xavier McSweeney, or X to his friends and family, turned to see Mark Goldstein hurrying up the snow-covered hill. He stopped so his friend could catch up.

"I've been chasing you for five minutes!" Mark gasped. He stuck his snowboard in a snowbank, removed his glasses, and wiped his brow.

"Well, you caught me," X said. "What's up?"

"I need your help," Mark answered. He pointed to his snowboard. "That thing keeps turning sideways when I go downhill. I think there's something wrong with it. Can you check it out?"

X jammed his own snowboard into the bank. He picked up Mark's board and looked it over. He handed it back to Mark with a shrug.

"Looks okay to me," he said. "Are you sure it's the board that's causing the trouble?"

Mark frowned. "Whaddya mean?"

X picked up his own board and started up the hill again. "I'm thinking maybe it's operator error. C'mon, take a run. I'll watch you, see if you're doing something wrong."

Mark sighed. "Okay, but I'm telling you, it's the board, not me."

The boys reached the top of the hill. Mark strapped himself on to his board, gave a little hop, and set off down the slope. His run started out smoothly. But halfway down, the tail of the board began sliding forward. Mark pinwheeled his arms to try to stay upright, but he wound up rolling in the snow. X took off down the hill and swooped to a stop next to him.