The Mystery of the Soccer Snitch (4 page)

The coach saw her too. He said, “Henry, take over. It looks like I need to speak to Mrs. Thompson.”

Henry wished he could move closer to Mrs. Thompson and the coach to hear what they were saying, but he had no choice. He had to keep reminding the players to watch were they were going. If they were not constantly reminded to keep their eyes up, they watched their feet instead of where they were doing, sometimes crashing into each other.

Whenever Henry had the chance to look over at Coach Olson and Mrs. Thompson, he could see she seemed angry at the coach. Coach Olson seemed to cower away from her.

After they spoke a few minutes and Mrs. Thompson left, the coach blew his whistle. “Everyone take a water break!” he shouted.

Some children ran for their water bottles. Others ran for the fountain.

“She seemed angry,” Henry said to the coach.

“She is,” Coach Olson said. “She thinks I didn't react quickly enough and that I am not protecting Kayla. She thinks the investigation should have taken an hour and not a week.”

“I don't see how an investigation can take just one hour,” Henry said.

“I don't either,” Coach Olson replied.

“She's a very forceful person,” Henry said.

“You can say that again,” said the coach. “There is something fishy about this whole thing. I don't know what, but something doesn't seem right.”

CHAPTER
4

Captain of the Team

When Jessie arrived for practice Tuesday, several of the girls, including Kayla, were already there. Kayla was dribbling down field. The other girls, as usual, were trying to get the ball away from her. The first thing Jessie noticed was that Kayla was smiling. It wasn't a big, happy smile. Kayla just wasn't the type to wear big happy smiles. But she was smiling. Her face was bright.

Then Kayla turned and passed the ball to Samantha. That was different! Kayla rarely passed the ball to anyone. Jessie understood why Kayla rarely passed the ball. The other girls often fumbled and lost the ball. Kayla knew she could do better if she kept the ball to herself.

“Nice work, Kayla and Samantha!” shouted Mia.

Mia was the fifteen-year-old girl who was helping coach Jessie's team.

Jessie felt eager and hopeful. Perhaps everything was resolved. Why else would Kayla suddenly be behaving differently? Perhaps the letter writer stepped forward, apologized and took everything back, and the investigation was over. Perhaps, too, Kayla learned her lesson and would be nicer now when she played. Jessie hoped so.

Jessie put on her shin guards, and changed from her sneakers to her cleats. She took the extra balls from her bag and brought them to the field.

Betsy, one of Jessie's friends, ran up and said, “Hi there, Jess!” Betsy also seemed to be smiling. Nobody would have known, from how all the girls were behaving, that a scandal recently rocked the town.

“Hi,” Jessie said. “Everyone looks so happy. Is anything new?”

“Nothing is new. Kayla got here early. She's acting different. Much nicer. C'mon. Let's play!”

Betsy ran to join the girls, who were then down field taking turns kicking the ball into the goal. Jessie followed. Just then, Kayla passed the ball to another teammate so the other girl could practice scoring.

“See,” Betsy said quietly to Jessie. “She's acting different. She's being more of a team player.”

“She probably wants to show that the things in the letter aren't true,” Jessie said.

“But everyone knows they are true!” Betsy said, and darted away.

Jessie followed. She was thinking people can change. Wouldn't it be nice if the letter ended up helping Kayla see her bad behavior? Jessie smiled at her own thoughts. Usually Violet was the optimistic one.

“Whew, it's hot!” Danielle called out. “I need more water!” She ran to the side of the field for her water bottle.

“Just pour the water right on your head!” advised Lara. “I did that and I feel great!'

Lara, indeed, was dripping with water. Danielle laughed and poured water on her own head. She also poured water on her long pony tail. Then several other girls, including Jessie, did the same. Jessie laughed. She felt much cooler.

After they'd been practicing a half hour, Mia said, “It's so hot, I think we should stop early.”

The girls standing nearby agreed.

Jessie went to drink some more water. Some of the girls gathered to the side of the field, not far from her. That was when Jessie heard Danielle talking quietly to Ashley. “What's happening with the investigation? Did anyone find out who wrote that letter?”

“The coach is investigating. Didn't he talk to you yet?”

“No,” Danielle said.

“He talked to me,” Ashley said. “I think he's talking to everyone. You'll get a turn. Then you can tell him what you think of Kayla.”

Jessie turned away, disappointed. She had hoped the problems had been resolved. She sighed. She supposed the coach would talk to her, too. When it was her turn, she would tell him she didn't think it fair for Kayla to get punished because of an anonymous letter.

“Gather around!” Mia called. “The coach says all the teams need to select a captain. He says we should have done that in the first place. So does anyone want to nominate someone?”

Jessie raised her hand. “I nominate Kayla. She is the best player. I like how she played today, during practice.”

“All right,” Mia said. “Kayla is nominated. Any other nominations?”

“I nominate Jessie,” Betsy said. “Jessie is a good player, too.”

Other girls nodded in agreement. Jessie was the second best player on the team.

“Any other nominations?” Mia asked.

“I nominate Danielle,” Ashley said.

“Anyone else?” Mia asked.

Nobody said anything.

“Okay,” Mia said. “We have three nominations. That should be good enough.” She handed everyone a piece of paper and passed around pencils. “The votes will be secret. Everyone can write one name.”

After everyone finished writing, Mia collected the pieces of paper. She went to sit by herself to count the votes. She came back and said, “Jessie wins. Jessie is the team captain.”

The girls nearby turned to congratulate Jessie.

“Being team captain is a big responsibility,” Mia said. “The team captain looks out for everyone. If you aren't sure what to do in the middle of the game, look at Jessie. She'll make the decisions.”

Betsy leaned close to Jessie and whispered, “You'll be great!”

“Thanks,” Jessie whispered back. She felt flattered—and sorry for Kayla. She believed Kayla should have been team captain. After all, Kayla was the best player.

“Let's meet back here at the same time tomorrow,” Mia called out. “Don't forget to bring a water bottle! Tomorrow is supposed to be even hotter.” Then Mia turned to Jessie and said, “Coach Olson wants to know if Henry can help me coach your team tomorrow. Coach Olson said he's a really good coach.”

“I'll ask him,” Jessie said, “but I'm sure he can.”

Jessie removed her shin guards and changed from her cleats to her sneakers. She was walking home when she saw Kayla, by herself, sitting on a bench by the playground, tying her shoe laces.

Jessie approached her. With a friendly smile, she said, “Hello.”

Kayla glanced at Jessie. “Hello,” she responded. Her eyebrows went into a high arch, and there was a surprised lilt to her voice. Obviously she wasn't used to people being friendly to her.

Jessie decided it was best just to come right out and say what nobody wanted to say. “I saw that letter in the paper. I thought it was terrible, and very unfair.”

Kayla grimaced. It was almost as if a dark cloud passed over her face. Instantly Jessie regretted her words. She should have realized the whole subject would be painful for Kayla. She hadn't intended to cause Kayla more pain. She just wanted to be friendly.

“Thanks,” Kayla said. She stood up and picked up her soccer bag. “I think I'll go now.”

Just before leaving, Kayla said, “Thanks for nominating me. And congratulations on being elected team captain.”

“It should have been you,” Jessie said.

Kayla gave a sad, wistful smile, then waved and walked away.

At the dinner table that evening, Jessie told Henry that the coach wanted to know if he'd help coach her team. “Of course,” said Henry. “Helping Mia will be fun.”

“Did anything interesting happen at your practice?” Benny asked.

“Well, the team elected me captain,” Jessie said.

“Congratulations!” Grandfather said. “That's an honor! It means your teammates respect you and look to you as a leader.”

“I think Kayla should have been captain,” Jessie said.

“The captain isn't always the best player,” Henry said. “The captain is the best team player, the one who looks out for everyone else and chooses which plays the team should do.”

“I will tell you this,” Jessie said. “If Danielle or Ashley wrote the letter, they're clever about pretending they didn't. Danielle and Ashley talked about the letter as if they didn't write it, and didn't know who did.”

“You'd think whoever wrote the letter would have known about the automatic save function at the library,” Henry said.

“The what?” Benny asked.

“Kids were always losing their homework when they forgot to save their work,” Henry said. “So now there is an automatic save. Don't you remember? That's how the reporter found the copy.”

“So whoever wrote the letter doesn't know about the autosave?” Jessie asked. “I wonder if there are any clues in that.”

“I think all the older kids know about autosave,” Henry said. “And the teachers know.”

“Maybe it wasn't one of the kids or teachers,” Benny said. “Maybe it was a grown-up in town who doesn't like the Thompsons.”

“Well, Benny,” Henry said. “How about if tomorrow before Jessie's practice you and I visit the library and see if we can find out if anyone other than teachers or students were using the computers.”

“Good idea!” Benny said.

The next day, at school, Jessie was in the school library during her study period when she felt a gentle tap on her shoulder. She turned. There was Coach Olson, smiling.

“May I speak to you for a few minutes,” he asked.

“Of course!” Jessie said.

Jessie and Coach Olson sat at the table in the library conference room. Coach Olson had an open friendly face and an easy smile.

“You probably know why I want to talk to you,” he said. “I am investigating the accusations in the letter. The mascot committee wants to know whether they are true.”

“You should have seen how nice Kayla was at the practice yesterday!” Jessie said. “She passed the ball to other girls so they could score, too. She was friendly, and a team player.”

“But she generally isn't a team player, right? Ordinarily, she does not show team spirit. Do you agree with that?”

Jessie looked down into her lap. She understood why Mrs. Thompson was not happy with the coach, since it was clear he didn't like Kayla, and didn't think she should be mascot.

“Kayla is the best player on the team,” Jessie said. “By far. I think she can learn to be a team player, if someone helps her.”

The coach smiled at her and said, “You are very supportive of your teammates. All of them. Mia said that's why you were elected team captain.”

Jessie felt confused, wondering why he was suddenly talking about her.

“Thank you,” she said.

The downtown library was crowded after school. “I'll bet everyone wants to be in here where it's nice and cool,” Benny whispered to Henry.

Henry agreed. All the comfortable reading chairs were taken. The carpet in the picture book room was also filled with children sprawled out, reading. Henry and Benny walked to the back of the library where the row of computers were lined up on a table against the back wall. A few kids were doing homework. Several of the computers were empty. Benny and Henry sat down and looked around.