Meet the Gecko (11 page)

She laughed and rolled her eyes, then hung up.

“What did he say?” I asked.

“He said, ‘Cool! ’”

That night they talked about Shredderman on CNN, ABC, CBS, and Fox News. And in the morning we ate breakfast and listened while a group of morning-show anchors talked about it over coffee. “He sounds like some kind of vigi-lante,” one of the guys was saying.

“No, he's not,” the blond lady said. “I think he's just a kid. Did you check out his Web site?”

“He's got a Web site?” the guy asked.

“Shredderman-dot-com,” she said. “It's a hoot. Intelligent, but also very kidlike.”

“I think it's a teacher,” the other guy said. “No kid could possibly put a site like that together.”

“Well, no teacher's going to have a link called Bubba's Big Butt,” the lady said.

“There's a link to our former president's butt?” the first guy asked.

“No!” she laughed, tagging him with the back of her hand. “It's just some kid's backside. Fully covered, I might add.”

“So maybe the teacher's got it in for a troublemaker.”

“Maybe Shredderman
is
the troublemaker.”

“No! How can you say that after he busted Joel the Mole? Shredderman's a champion of truth and justice.”

“Well, speaking of truth and justice,” the first guy said, “we were talking about lobbyists, remember?”

“Right!” The lady looked in the camera and said, “And we want to hear what
you
think should be done about special-interest groups. Give us a call or log on to—”

Mom clicked off the TV and muttered, “I told you we should take Bubba's Big Butt off the World Wide Web!”

“It'll blow over,” Dad said. “Tomorrow they'll have forgotten all about Shredderman.” He winked at me as he stood up and grabbed his coat. “Today, though, I'm probably going to have to spend a lot of time trying to mislead people about our town's superhero.”

“Thanks, Dad,” I told him.

He smiled. “No problem, champ.” He nodded at the kitchen clock. “You'd better get moving if you don't want to be late for school.”

Yikes! How'd that happen? There were only fifteen minutes before the opening bell rang!

I tore down the hall to get dressed. Socks
inside
pants—check!

I raced down to the bathroom to brush my teeth.

No time to floss! My hair was sticking out everywhere!

I tried spraying it down.

Boing!
It shot right back up.

I stuck my head in the sink. No time to mess around!

“Uh, Nolan?” My mom's arm was poking through the bathroom door. She was holding out the phone to me. “It's Mr. Green.”

Mr. Green?

I took the phone. “Hello?” Water was dripping everywhere!

“Hey, Nolan. Just calling to say congratulations. According to my TV, you're making some pretty big waves out there.”

“Thanks, Mr. Green,” I said. Then I whispered, “You haven't told anyone it's me… have you?”

He laughed. “Of course not. I'm just sorry I'm missing all the action. But it sounds like you're doing just fine without me.”

“Well, my dad's helping out. I'm calling him my substitute sidekick!”

Mr. Green laughed. “That's great. And speaking of substitutes, how's Miss Newby holding up?”

“Okay, I guess. How's your brother doing?”

“Great! We're calling him Bionic Boy. I should be back next week.”

“Really?”

“Uh-huh. I'll see you then. Meanwhile, keep up the good work!”

“Thanks, Mr. Green.”

“Now get a move on or you're going to be tardy!”

“Right!” I said, and hung up.

Ready or not, it was time for school.

By the time I got to school, there was a big crowd of kids gathered on the playground.

Not one ball was bouncing on the blacktop!

I worked my way through the crowd until I could see what was going on. And then I saw him, smack-dab in the middle of everybody.

Bubba.

“Stand back!” Kevin and Max were telling kids. “Nobody touches it!”

“Is it for real?” Ian asked.

“Yeah, it's for real!” Bubba said. “You think I could
fake
this?” He was holding up his auto-graphed poster, careful to only handle the edges.

“How'd you
get
it?” Trinity asked. “I can't
believe you actually
met
Chase Morton! That is so, so cool!”

“Yeah!” everyone said. “How'd you meet him?”

“He has his ways,” Kevin said, like he was the smartest kid around. “Now back up! Quit crowding!”

“Aw, it's a fake,” someone from the back yelled. “There's no way that's real!”

“Shut up, stupid!” Bubba yelled back. “It's a hundred percent authentic!”

“Oh, right,” the voice snickered.

“Who's sayin' that?” Bubba asked. “I want to know who's sayin' that!”

Max started pushing through the crowd, saying, “All right, who's the smart mouth?”

“Hey!” I called. “Don't fight! Bubba really did meet The Gecko. I… I've got proof!”

“Huh?” everyone said, then turned to look at me.

Kevin sneered,
“You?”

I called over to Bubba, “I've got a copy right here. Do you want it?”

Bubba kind of bit his lip, then looked down and nodded.

Everyone started whispering.

So I peeled off my backpack and pulled out a big envelope.

The whispering stopped.

Everyone crowded in.

“Back up!” Bubba growled. “Now!”

Kids scurried back, and I said, “I, uh…I couldn't get online last night” I stepped closer and handed over the envelope. “So I made you this.”

Bubba took the envelope.

He opened it.

Then he broke into a smile and held the picture of him and The Gecko up high. “See?” he said. “Proof!”

Everyone ooooohed.

They aaaaahed!

Then Kevin piped up with, “Wait a minute. The
Nerd
took that? What was
he
doing there?”

The ooooohing and aaaaahing stopped.

Kids looked at Bubba.

At me!

At Bubba!

At me!

And finally Bubba cleared his throat and said, “Nolan's the one who got me in to see The Gecko.”

“Who
did?” a lot of kids asked.

Bubba nodded my way. “Nolan did. He got me inside. Introduced me. Even let me play The Gecko in Tekken 3. He was… he was really cool.”

Mouths were gasping.

Eyes were bugging!

Nobody could believe their ears!

Especially Kevin. He squinted at Bubba and said, “Wait a minute. You're saying the Nerd—”

“I'm saying
Nolan”
Bubba said, giving him a deep, dark glare, “did me a big favor, okay?”

“O… kaaaaay,” Kevin said, and backed off.

For the rest of the day, people treated me…
differently. They weren't trying to be my best friends or anything, but people wanted to know.

About meeting The Gecko.

About playing him in Tekken 3.

About taking Bubba to meet him, too.

After everything Bubba had done to me—all the names he'd called me and the punches he'd thrown at me and the stuff he'd stolen from me— they just didn't get why I'd done it.

I didn't explain it. How could I explain that the search for truth and justice wasn't just about getting even? It was about being bigger than your-self. Stronger than your weaknesses.

So I just shrugged and told them, “Because he really wanted to meet him, that's why.”

Later that day, I thought about what Mr. Green had said about finding the key to Bubba's kindness. Maybe after everything I'd tried, this was finally it.

Not that I expected Bubba to become Mr. Nice
Guy. He'd probably always be more like True Ogre than Yoshimitsu.

But this
was
a start. A good start.

So after school I went home and did something I never thought I'd be able to do.

I took
Bubba's Big Butt
off the World Wide Web.

I'll be okay without it.

Plus, it leaves more room to shred on the next guy who tries to mess around with truth and justice.

Oh, yeah!

Hey, Shredderman,

Rumor is the Mole's out of business. Blacklisted. You rock, man.

Your #1 fan, Chase Morton

P.S. I told myself it couldn't be you, but Sticky says it's true. No wonder I couldn't beat you in T-3.I was battling a real, live superhero! Shred on, man!

P.P.S. (Don't worry—no one suspects, and I won't tell.)