Read Online Penalty Shot by Matt Christopher - Free Book Online Page A

had appeared!
    This isn’t the paper I left with the substitute, he realized. It’s been changed.
    Yet the handwriting looked like his. How could he explain that away?
    It’s not the first time you’ve seen something in your handwriting that you knew you didn’t write, a little voice inside his
     head said. The saboteur has struck again. Whoever wrote the note to Kevin also tampered with this paper.
    But how was he supposed to convince Ms. Collins of that? And what was she supposed to do even if she did believe him? He still
     owed her a composition.
    Suddenly, an idea struck him. It was his only chance. It would make him a little late — maybe a lot late — for practice, but
     there was no other possible way.
    After class he tried to explain the situation to his teacher.
    “Uh, Ms. Collins,” he began. He told her how hard he had been working with Beth Ledbetter, how he had written the composition
     and given it to Beth to look over before handing it in, and how he had his suspicions that someone had messed with it while
     Ms. Collins had been away. “It’s just not what I wrote,” he finished.
    “I must say I was surprised when I saw it,” Ms. Collins admitted. “And disappointed. Beth Ledbetter is far too good a tutor
     for you to do
worse
after working with her. But Jeff,” she added, “that handwriting is so much like yours. I don’t know what to make of it.”
    Jeff cleared his throat. “Well, what if we just pretend it doesn’t exist? If you can spare a little time, what if I come back
     here after school today and write a new composition in front of you? That way you’ll be able to see for yourself how I’ve
     improved.”
    Ms. Collins lifted an eyebrow. “But Jeffrey, won’t staying after school interfere with hockey?”
    Jeff returned her grin. “As someone once told me, sometimes you have to train your mind as well as your body. So what do you
     say?”
    “It’s a deal. Be back here at two-thirty sharp.”
    Jeff nodded, gathered up his books, and rushed to his next class.
    Well, that’s one problem taken care of, he thought. That leaves two to go: getting Kevin to believe me, and finding out who’s
     trying to do me in!
    When the bell rang signaling the end of his last class, Jeff hurried back to Ms. Collins’s room. As he turned a corner, he
     bumped right into Kevin.
    Kevin frowned and started to move around him.
    “Kevin, wait! I know you’re still mad at me, but I really need your help.” When he saw Kevin hesitate, he blundered on. “Can
     you tell Coach I’m going to be a little late to practice? I — I have to meet with my English teacher.”
    Kevin grimaced. “Your English teacher? Are you in trouble in that class again?”
    “I don’t know for sure. That’s what I have to go find out. Please help me?”
    Kevin sighed loudly. “Yeah, sure, I’ll tell him. While I’m at it, should I let Sam Metcalf know his chances of suiting up
     next game are looking pretty good?”
    “Just deliver the message to the coach, okay? And Kevin,” he added, “I’m going to find out who wrote that note.”
    But Kevin was already walking away.
    Shaking his head, Jeff hurried the rest of the way to Ms. Collins’s room. While she sat at her desk correcting papers, he
     took a seat,pulled a fresh sheet of notebook paper out of his three-ring binder, and began to write. The clock on the wall behind his
     teacher’s desk ticked away the minutes, one by one. But Jeff barely heard it.
    He quickly filled the page, then put his pencil down.
    Now I have to remember what Beth taught me. I have to go back over it and make sure that I’ve done everything right.
All the clues are there.
    Beth had been talking about writing when she had said that, but Jeff realized the same statement could be applied to finding
     his saboteur. With a smile, he set to work on ferreting out the mistakes he’d made on the paper.
    He pored over his work carefully. He made some erasures, fixed spelling, and then he