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Man, it was good to have wheels again. A whole twenty-four hours on the soles of his feet? That was probably a record for him. His mum always joked that he’d skate from his bed to the fridge and back again, if only she’d let him.
    His brothers, Vince and Pete, clearly couldn’t have cared less when he got home. They hadn’t even looked up from Mortal Kombat when he’d walked through the door. He’d had a hot shower, grabbed his skateboard, eaten whatever he could find in the fridge and, in all that time, the only conversation they’d had was to tell him his parents were at some cross-country thing.
    He curved down a hill. It was good to be back. Although it was pretty random that his parents were out competing in a race when he’d been missing in the bush overnight.
    Maybe they thought he’d stayed at Mia’s? He hadn’t told them he wasn’t too welcome there after Mia’s dad had caught them making out in front of The Exorcist.
    Scary movies were such a turn-on. He smiled at the memory. Mia was such a hottie. He couldn’t wait to see her. She was going to love hearing about his night in the bush – how it was just like being in a horror film, with all that crazy stuff hanging in the trees. Then there was the weird twister that chased them, and the mad hobo who tried to attack them. Yeah, that would make a much better story than Roland feeding them eggs and driving them home. Sam could be the one who fought him off and got everyone safely home. Girls love a hero, right?
    He looked down at the friendship bracelet on his wrist. Mia had given it to him the day before to celebrate their one-year anniversary. He actually hadn’t remembered, but Mia was cool with that. She knew he had other things on his mind. He’d had to get his application in to the Big Break Competition that morning. He wondered when he was going to hear back about it. If he was a finalist he’d get to compete at the skate trials in Sydney and then maybe go to Brazil for the internationals. Man, his skills were way too big for Bremin. He was going to take on the world.
    He barrelled under the railway bridge, streaming up the other side in a perfect arc. He was on the edge of town, where the houses gave way to the forest. Sam did an ollie up onto the footpath and flicked up his board. It was a bummer but he’d have to walk this last bit.
    He pushed through the scrub. He hadn’t expected to be back in the forest this quickly but he wanted to see his mum and dad and tell them he was okay.
    Sam reached the old fire track and tucked his skateboard under his arm. He knew that the cross-country finish line was next to the old viaduct. He and his brothers used to come out here all the time as kids and dare each other to jump off. Vince had broken his arm once, and Sam had caught Pete kissing Fiona Press one summer’s night. He’d thought that was pretty gross at eleven but maybe Pete had had the right idea. Coming here would be way better than being booted out of Mia’s house by her pissed-off dad.
    Sam stopped. There was the crumbling bridge and the finish line. He could see his dad doing calf stretches. He looked around for his mum. She was probably still racing. She wouldn’t be happy to be beaten by his dad. Even when they were training, his parents were crazy competitive, especially with each other. Probably where he got it from.
    ‘Hey, Dad!’ Sam called.
    His dad lifted his arms and stretched out his shoulders.
    Sam called again. No response. Probably couldn’t hear him. He jogged down towards his dad and put his hand on his shoulder.
    His dad turned in surprise.
    ‘I’m home!’ said Sam, with a big grin.
    His dad did a double take. ‘Er … are you racing?’
    What kind of a question was that? ‘After the night I had? I don’t think so.’
    ‘Okay, well you might want to move away from the finish line as we’ve still got competitors coming through.’
    Sam was taken aback. ‘Nice welcome home, Dad.’
    His dad looked at him