Strike Three, You're Out!: I Told You So!, #3

By Mark Gunning

How many strikes does it take? The boys return in their most outrageous book yet. These boys just don't seem to quit. Follow them on a series of hilarious adventures. So, what happens this time? For starters they prank their teacher, modify a pitching machine, literally get carried away, and become rock stars overnight. Can William ever be stopped?

 

Strike Three, You're Out is the third book in the ongoing I Told You So series of humorous stories shared in short standalone bursts. Hey, you've been warned!

• Language: English
• Publisher: Itchygooney Books
• Release date: Mar 24, 2020
• ISBN: 9781999200701

Mark Gunning

Mark Gunning grew up in Chippawa, Ontario where he spent most of his youth playing outside with his friends. They had many fun adventures together and this has helped create some of the stories you have enjoyed today. A teacher with the DSBN, Mark started his idea of writing children’s stories back in 2010 to share some of his stories with his students. It was in 2017 that he finally wrote his first book. He and his wife Stephanie, have three children, two cats, and two dogs named Ozzie and Chewie. Andy Thomson grew up in Crystal Beach, Ontario. When he isn’t enjoying time with his family, he can be found playing guitar or drawing. Andy met Mark while working together at Peace Bridge Public School in Fort Erie, Ontario. This is Andy’s first time illustrating for an author and is very grateful to Mark for the opportunity to create the images for his characters.

Book preview

Chapter 1

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Return of the Ramp

Nearly a month had passed since I last saw or talked to William. No one had seen a sign of William since he fell through the ceiling after trying to pull off a prank on his poor grandma. My mom didn’t seem to be fazed by this and actually seemed more relaxed since William had disappeared. Every time I asked about William, my mom would change the subject. I had a strong feeling that my parents knew exactly where he was, but they didn’t want to share this information with me. I had been sending text messages every day in hope that he’d respond. I walked into my room and noticed I had a recent text message waiting for me. Quickly, I grabbed my phone and looked to see who it was from.

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Today 9:15 AM

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I headed to the kitchen to grab a quick bite to eat and then gathered my stuff and headed for William’s. I brought my bike as it would be the fastest way there. I wheeled up the driveway and noticed a figure sitting at the top of the ramp. I rode up to the bottom of the ramp and slowly lowered my bike to the ground. I then quickly ran up the ramp and proceeded to sit down beside the figure. Zoey slowly turned her head and smiled. With William disappearing, Zoey and I had been hanging out more often. Over this time period I soon discovered that she wasn’t as bad as I had made her out to be. Zoey was actually pretty cool and was in a way, a bit like William. (But a girl!)

William and I had left the ramp still sitting at the end of his driveway (much to the dismay of his mother) and realized that it could still be used for entertainment purposes. Zoey had recently been practicing her jumps and felt very confident that she could beat William’s previous record of twelve kids. We had been using a tape measure to record her distance, and found that she was jumping just far enough to clear thirteen kids. Zoey felt that she was ready to make the jump later in the day. I agreed with her and we began to plan things out. Since William wasn’t around, I decided to create the plans for Zoey myself. She didn’t want to have a huge crowd like William did. Instead, she really only wanted me to record the event on video so it could be posted directly to YouTube. I grabbed my backpack off my bike and searched quickly for my tablet. Within minutes I had created a set of plans that looked amazing! Just like William, I had made a few plans to make it official. The first plan looked similar to William’s plan he had drawn for his historic bike jump. However, this time it showed Zoey flying through the air with tassels streaming from her handlebars, and her long hair flowing in the wind. I included a message with it, pointing out that there were thirteen kids. I knew this would bug William just a tad if he saw it.

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In the second part of the plan, it showed Zoey receiving William’s old trophy for the longest bike jump. William would be so mad if he knew what we were up to. However, at that moment I didn’t care, William had not gotten back to me in over a month.

I showed Zoey the plans and she quickly nodded and smiled. She was happy and ready to attempt the jump. After a brief discussion, Zoey said she would be ready to jump in about two hours. She wanted to head home to make sure she had on the right ‘outfit’. I wasn’t going to argue with her about that, so I agreed to meet her at the ramp around noon. She jumped on her bike and headed towards her house. Since I had a few hours to waste, I decided to go home and make sure my camera was ready to record the big moment. As I was heading home on my bike, I thought I saw two small shadows in William’s bedroom window. I skidded my bike to a screeching halt and stared towards the window. (Was it William?) Then