Read Cheat for Free Online Page B

he’d left the answer key in his office. It was the perfect time for Sean to steal it.

Chapter Ten
    I stayed in the girls’ bathroom another half hour, but Sean never returned, and I was getting tired of being trapped there. Bathrooms are okay places to do your business, but otherwise they’re kind of gross. I’d already been in this one way too long.
    It was getting late. Mom was probably wondering where I was. I dug around in my backpack for my phone, and with one eye on the hallway, I dialed home.
    Jack answered.
    â€œIt’s me,” I said, hoping I sounded normal. I still felt tense from our run-in at lunch. “Is Mom there?”
    â€œShe’s at the store. Where are you?” He sounded normal.
    â€œAt school,” I replied. I prayed he wouldn’t put two and two together.
    No such luck. “What are you doing there?” he asked suspiciously. “School let out over an hour ago.”
    I heard a voice in the background. “Hey, man, get your sorry butt out here! Or are ya afraid I’m gonna kick it?”
    â€œHang on to your gitch, you wiener,” Jack laughed.
    â€œWho was that?”
    â€œLeger.” He laughed some more. “The guy’s a moron. He thinks he’s gonna beat me one on one.”
    I stopped breathing for a second. If Sean was playing basketball with Jack, he obviously wasn’t coming back to the school.
    Suddenly I couldn’t get off the phone fast enough. “Well, anyway, I’m just leaving,” I said in a rush. “Tell Mom I’m on my way.” Before Jack could say anything else, I hung up.
    Stuffing the phone back in my pack, I started for the exit. But after a couple of steps, I did a one-eighty and headed for the newspaper office instead. I needed to pick up the intro for my article so I could work on it over the weekend.
    As I opened the door, I saw an envelope lying on the floor. I picked it up and turned it over. It was addressed to me. Was my informant sending me another clue?
    The note inside was short and to the point. If you don’t stop snooping around, you’re going to be sorry! There was no signature. I flipped the paper over, but there was nothing more. I refolded the sheet and tapped it on my chin as I thought.
    The threat was meant to scare me. The thing is, it didn’t. It said I’d be sorry if I didn’t stop snooping. Sorry about what? Sorry I stopped a thief ? Hardly. Sorry kids were going to have to study for tests? Nope. I couldn’t think of anything I might be sorry for—except maybe getting beat up or having my locker trashed. Somehow I couldn’t imagine that happening.
    Sean had written the note. I would have bet money on it. Jack probably told him about the article, and this was a big bluff to make me back off. But I wasn’t falling for it. Sean might be dishonest, but he wasn’t violent.
    Of course, if someone else wrote the note, it could be a different story. Jack said a lot of kids at school were mad at me—everyone who was paying for cheat sheets, probably. How many did Liz say there were? An image of an angry mob chasing me through the halls filled my mind, and a shiver rippled down my spine.
    Okay, so maybe I was a little scared, but not enough to stop, not when I was so close to getting my story.
    If the crook didn’t steal the answer key Monday, he wouldn’t have another chance before the test. But if he did try to steal it, I was ready for him.
    I hardly slept Sunday night. I kept imagining how things were going to unfold. I didn’t think the scammer would strike at lunch hour. There were too many bodies roaming the school.
    I holed up in the washroom across from Draper’s math room at lunch anyway. Girls kept wandering in and out, so it was hard to keep a lookout. Not that it mattered. The thief never showed. I’d spent another hour in that disgusting hole for nothing.
    By the time 3:30 rolled around, I was so