Read Online Game Changer by Margaret Peterson Haddix - Free Book Online

need . . . softball, she thought.
    Fortunately, practice would be right after school. Rightnow.



Chαpt e r S e v 3n
    KT had forgotten her glove, her bat, and her cleats when she’d forgotten her phone, iPod, and backpack.
    I’ll borrow somebody else’s phone and call Mom to bring my stuff, KT thought. Just . . . maybe not Lex’s.
    KT went out the door at the side of the school, the one that everyone called the athletic entrance. Usually all the softball girls congregated here, then they walked out to the field behind the school together. Because KT hadn’t made a stop in the locker room to get changed, she was the first one out. She leaned her head back against the brick wall and took huge gulps of the fresh, cool air. It tasted like a new season, new possibilities.
    I will be the first pitcher in Brecksville North softball history to throw a no-hitter every game, KT thought. I will.
    That was what she needed to focus on right now. Not the oddity of not knowing what had happened at the end of the Rysdale Invitational last night. Not all the strange moments of the school day. Not even the bizarre things Mr. Huck and Mr. Horace had said.
    But I will tell Coach Marina how Mr. Horace wouldn’t let me go in the right door for the pep rally, KT thought.
    She pictured how furious the whole team would be on her behalf. Scarlet, who was a bit of a drama queen, would probably hug her and say, We were so worried about you when you didn’t show up! Nevia, who was always outraged when things weren’t fair, would say, Mr. Horace owes you a letter of apology. No—he owes you a whole new pep rally! One just for you!
    Maybe there would be a pep rally just for KT—or, anyhow, a recognition ceremony in front of the whole school—if KT did manage to have a season full of no-hitters and the school retired her jersey in her honor. Probably they’d do that at eighth-grade graduation. Everybody’s parents would be there for that too. She pictured the SUTTON 32 jersey hanging in the school trophy case alongside Will Stern’s, Haley Blake’s, and Roger Gonzalez’s, there for everyone to see, every time anyone entered the building, for years to come.
    Then she remembered the jerseys had been missing that morning. Replaced by desks, of all things.
    Out here in the fresh air, moments away from softball practice, it was easy to dismiss that.
    It was probably just some prank, KT thought. Probably it’s some huge scandal and someone got in awful trouble. I just didn’t hear about it because I was so distracted all day long, worrying about the Rysdale Invitational.
    KT drew more fresh air into her lungs, and another idea occurred to her.
    Or maybe it was connected to the pep rally and FitnessDay, she thought. Maybe it was like a test, to see how many students notice the jerseys were missing. To make sure everyone appreciates the school’s history.
    She could easily imagine Mr. Arnold bringing that up at the pep rally. He would have rolled out the phrase “this school’s rich athletic heritage” or something like that. He would have made sure every kid at the pep rally remembered the names Will Stern, Haley Blake, and Roger Gonzalez.
    And next year my name will be on that list too, KT told herself.
    Or it would be if the rest of the team ever showed up.
    Since she didn’t have her phone, KT couldn’t check the time. But it seemed like at least ten or fifteen minutes had passed since the end of school. Coach Marina was a stickler about people showing up promptly. Where was everyone?
    KT looked around for someone to ask about the time. The area around the athletic entrance was usually packed this time of day, not just with softball players, but with kids from all the other sports too. It was funny how they all had their own section of wall that they leaned against: The softball girls always stood between the baseball team and the lacrosse guys.
    But today KT was the only one standing at the athletic entrance.
    Maybe . . .