The Case of the Missing Mascot (A Sherlock Shakespeare Mystery Book 1) Read Online Free

like you don't matter."
    I pushed away from his chest. "I'm not in the mood for this conversation right now."
    "Tough." He rose to his feet and moved to the foot of the bed. He may be my best friend, but his constant need to move around drove me nuts when I was in a bad mood. "It's like you've been pretending to be ordinary for so long that you've forgotten it's all an act."
    "What does that even mean?"
    "You're terrible at playing dumb. You know exactly what I mean." When I didn't respond, he shook his head and continued. "You can't spend your whole life trying to blend into the wallpaper just because you hate your name."
      "Fine. But don't stand there and tell me I can do better just to cheer me up. I'm not even that upset."
    He folded his arms across his broad chest. "You know I don't lie to you."
    "Whatever. If I'm such a catch that all these different guys are going to be interested in, how come no one's ever asked me out?"
    "Probably because half the football team would've kicked the ass of any guy who came on to the quarterback's girl."
    He might have a point about that. "What about now? Apparently the whole town knows about what happened." Which was a little odd since we hadn't officially broken up yet. "Where's the line of guys?"
    "The good ones aren't interested in being the guy who vultures his way in."
    "And the bad ones?"
    Drew grinned. "They're probably trying to figure out if the breakup is gonna take or not. You know, Tanya, right?"
    "The captain of your squad, Tanya?" I thought of the dirty look she shot my way at the cafe Friday afternoon. "Yeah."
    "She's broken up with her boyfriend eighteen times over the last year. Michelle's broken up with her boyfriend at least that many times over the summer. Everyone's used to the jocks and the hot girls breaking up and making up by now."
    I rolled my eyes with so much exaggeration that I could feel it in the back of my eyeballs. "I don't qualify as being hot in general, but definitely not hot like the girls on your cheerleading squad."
    "Please." He grabbed the metal footboard and leaned forward. "You may like to hide behind a giant hoodie and glasses you don't need, but you're still beautiful."
    When Drew said things like that, it was almost easy to forget that he was just my best friend trying to boost my ego and not some hunky guy making really intense eye contact with me in my bedroom. "And as someone with such advanced insight into the world of dating, why are you still single again?"
    "I spend half the school year with my hands all over varsity cheerleaders and the other half of the year kissing wannabe teen actresses on stage. What girl in our school is secure enough to handle that?"
    "Good point."
    "But if you run across any..."
    "Yes, I send all my uber-secure swimsuit model friends your way." I cleared my throat. "So, did you really just come over here to check on me and have me play matchmaker? We could've done this by phone."
    "Naw. I came over to pick up Wats. I didn't decide to check on you until I got here and he told me you were already back."
    "When did you and Wats start hanging out?"
    "We don't. You're still my favorite Shakespeare. He just needs a ride over to the high school."
    "On a Sunday?"
    He tilted his head to the side again. His hair fell in his eyes again. My potentially on the rebound self thought he was adorable again. "You don't know?"
    "Clearly."
    "Champers went missing yesterday."
    "What's a Champers?"
    "Our school mascot." When my face didn't give him whatever expression he was hoping for, exasperation crept into his voice. "Sherlock, have you been paying attention to anything going on at school? Champers is the teacup pig we've been training to participate in the Homecoming celebration this week."
    "I knew about the pig. I just didn't know they gave it a stupid name." I shook my head. "Someone stole our pig?"
    And here I thought all the idiots were down in Austin playing beer pong with Tom.
    "We aren't sure yet. That's why there's