Neal Moffet had called me "Fat Pat Berry, the Twinkletoes Fairy" one time too many. ANd when he started going on about what a klutz I was just because a flying tackle got me stuck under a chain-link fence...well, something snapped.
So when he bet me I couldn't get through the summer without getting stitches or breaking any bones, I took him on. Whoever lost had to kiss Kristine Pimpton (otherwise known as "The Blimp") in front of the entire school on the first day of sixth grade.
Just the thought of having to pucker up for those pudgy lips is enough to make me want to spend the summer sitting still. But the rules say I have to keep on playing football and basketball and riding bikes -- all that dangerous stuff. And Neal is so desperate to win, I don't trust him for a minute. Boy, is it going to be a long summer. Especially for a klutz like me.

"The poignant . . . humorous story evokes the trials and tribulations boys face in their growing years and shows, in the end, that it isn't always bad when the good guy finishes last".--ALA Booklist. Bill Wallace is the bestselling author of Beauty, Snot Stew and Buffalo Gal.