Read Online The Big Splash by Jack D. Ferraiolo - Free Book Online Page A

…” She paused to get the words right. “I felt guilty, because I felt vindicated, like I had won the argument. She got hit because she wasn’t a good person. She had no right telling me what to do.”
    â€œHarsh.”
    â€œI know. I wish I could say I felt something different, but I can’t. We can’t always help what we feel.” She looked up at me. There was an unexpected spark between us. I started to wonder if Jenny was as innocent as she looked. “So you weren’t hired to distract Nicole?” she asked.
    â€œNo. I distracted her, but not on purpose.”
    â€œI’m sorry … I don’t mean to keep bringing it up, it’s just … well, I didn’t know what to think. All sorts of scenarios ran through my mind.” As she spoke, herponytail swung back and forth. “I started to think you were in on the hit, and that now you were just stringing me along, ripping me off.”
    â€œI’d have slapped me, too.”
    â€œJust talking to you now, I know it’s not true.” She gave me a smile full of sweetness and warmth. “I’m glad it’s not true.”
    There was another spark. I spoke before it ignited something. “And now you get my services for free.”
    â€œI want to pay you.”
    â€œYou don’t have to. It’s being taken care of.”
    â€œI know, but I want to. Vinny takes care of everything in this school.
I
want to take care of my sister. You can still take his money. I can’t pay you much, but I want to pay you something. I want to know that I at least contributed to finding out who did this.”
    â€œI understand.”
    â€œSo, how much?”
    â€œLet me find the perp first. Then you can pay me according to how hard you think I worked.”
    Her smiled widened. “You’re an unusual boy, Matt Stevens.” She kissed my cheek—the same one she had slapped earlier.
    â€œUhh … thanks …,” I mumbled. All of a sudden, my palms were sweaty and my tongue felt three sizes too big for my mouth. I peeled my gaze away from the floor and forced myself to look at her. She blushed deeper than I had ever seen anyone blush before.
    â€œJenny,” someone said, interrupting us. The voice belonged to a girl who looked familiar to me, but I couldn’t place her. She was a hall monitor; that much was clear from the sash she was wearing. It looked to be the right size, but still didn’t seem to fit well. “We have to get to class,” this girl said, in a way that made it clear that she didn’t approve of the moment Jenny and I had just shared.
    â€œJust a sec, Mel,” Jenny responded. “I’ll see you later, Matt?”
    â€œSure.”
    Jenny smiled, then turned to join her friend. Her ponytail bobbed jauntily as she and “Mel” walked off together. I could still feel her kiss … and her slap. I wasn’t sure which left a deeper impression.

lunchtime, I still hadn’t found any useful information. I decided to question some of the kids who were in the crowd when Nikki got hit. The first two I went to were Jeremy Farmer and Todd Lundgren. Last year, their friend Bobby Higgins had placed a bet on the basketball team to win, with money he didn’t have. Our team lost the game—badly—and Bobby had been too broke to pay up. He tried to bargain for more time, claiming that his birthday was coming up. It was … in eight months. Vinny sent Nikki to give him an earlypresent. Jeremy and Todd tried to hang around with him afterward, but it was no use. Bobby was in the Outs now, and no longer the kid they had been friends with. Apparently, they still missed him, because when I asked Jeremy and Todd about Nikki, they clammed up tighter than a cheap lady’s purse.
    Next I went to Nancy Pilkenton. Nikki took Nancy’s sister out last year. Nancy wasn’t talking, either.
    â€œI didn’t get a good look