Daniel (or Monster Mack, as he prefers to be called) is mad about dirt bike racing. Not really interested in school work, he spends his weekends practicing on his Mean Machine dirt bike with his friends. Bully Daniel will go to any length to win a race…until he meets The Skull on the Assassin Killer bike. Daniel may have finally met his match!

GENRE: Mid-Grade Reader (Primary School)     ISBN: 978-1-921314-84-1    ASIN: B01FJ617I8     Word Count: 8,333

 

 

 

Chapter 1

 

My homework is due in tomorrow. I have to find out about the past Australian Prime Ministers.

“Have you finished your assignment Daniel?” My mother shouts to me up the stairs. I pretend not to hear her.

“Daniel, have you finished your assignment?” she calls again.

“My name’s Mac…Monster Mac!” I yell back at her. She should know that. Kids at school wouldn’t dare call me Daniel. Mum comes up the stairs into my room.

“Of course darling, but have you done your assignment?”

“This assignment’s boring,” I tell her. “Why can’t I just get on my dirt bike and practice some new tricks?”

Mum ignores this and says, “You’d better hurry up and finish the assignment Daniel; you can try out your new tricks at the weekend.”

When she goes out of the room, I slam my books shut and pull out my new bike magazine from under the bed. I’m not going to do the assignment; I’ve decided I’m going to get one of the other kids to give me theirs. I open my book and start to dream. I’ve got a huge poster of Travis Pastrana on my wall. He’s doing a Lazy Boy Back Flip upside down on his bike. He’s my hero. One of these days I’m going to be just like him. If I’m going to be a famous bike rider like Travis Pastrana, I don’t see why I need to know all about dead Australian Prime Ministers! I practice with my friends, Kev the Crusher and Insane Wayne each weekend on the bike track my Dad set up on our property.

My sister Casey puts her head in the doorway of my bedroom and catches me thumbing through the magazine.

“Doing your assignment I see, Daniel,” she says. I ignore her. She rolls her eyes and says, “Monster puke or whatever your name is.”

“Monster Mac!” I yell at her. “And you’d better watch out!” My friend Kev is lucky to have a name like Kevin; he just has to alter his name a bit to be called Crusty Kev. With a name like Daniel, it’s just not the same!

“Mum, Daniel is threatening me again,” Casey yells down the stairs.

“Leave your sister alone or I’ll tell your father,” Mum shouts up the stairs. But she won’t because she knows Dad will just laugh and say, “he’s just a kid!” like he always does.

Next day at school, I grab Simon Best. He’s done the assignment.

He always does his homework.

“I need your assignment,” I tell him.

“No way – I’ll end up in detention!” When no one is looking I grab hold of him by the front of his t-shirt and shove him between two lockers.

“I want that assignment, Best… Now!” I’m a lot bigger than Simon and he’s scared. He hands over the assignment. “Make sure you don’t tell anyone,” I tell him. “Remember what happened last time?”

He nods quickly. “Sure, sure Daniel…I mean Mac!” he says. Last time he refused to give me his homework, he found his bike tyres all let down with nails poking out of them.

“How come you always manage to get your assignment in?” I ask Kev.

“Easy,” he says. “Same way you do!” We both laugh at this. We have lots of fun at recess together stirring up the little kids. Yesterday the Teacher on yard duty caught up with us and asked us why we did it.

“Because it’s fun,” I told her. What else could I say?

“Detention!” she said. So we had to spend the rest of the next lunch break in detention. It didn’t stop us though and that little whinging kid in grade 2 runs when he sees us now! I got an A for Simon’s assignment.

“See, you’re too hard on the boy!” my Dad told my Mum. “You’ve been nagging him all week, but he got it done and got an A too!” he said proudly.

“Bet he pinched someone else’s assignment,” Casey whispered to Mum just loud enough for me to hear. Mum looked a bit worried, but didn’t say anything.

***

I laughed when Simon Best stood up in class and stammered that he hadn’t done his assignment. My friend Kev laughed too. “Way to go Mac!” he said. He never calls me Daniel.

It’s Friday night and tomorrow I can look forward to a weekend on my dirt bike. I decide to turn on my computer. I’ve got a really neat computer game about the Crusty Demons.

BULLY FOR YOU!

Wh…What? Weird! Where did that come from? I turn the computer off and on again. BULLY FOR YOU! The same words are on the screen again. What’s going on? My front tooth feels peculiar too. It hurts and suddenly feels wobbly. That can’t be happening. It’s a second tooth and I don’t remember knocking it anywhere. I turn the computer off and on for the third time but the same message is still displaying – BULLY FOR YOU!

“Dad!” I yell down the stairs. “Can you help me with the computer? It’s acting a bit strange and I can’t seem to play my game.”

“Not now, I’m watching telly,” Dad yells back up the stairs. Casey comes into my room. She turns the computer on and instantly the game appears.

“Gee, you’re dumb Daniel,” she says.