The Classy Crooks Club Read Online Free

and karate-chopped me right in the stomach with its wing. My mom managed to chase it away before it could do any more damage, but it was still scary enough that I never went near a bird again. Luckily, Maddie ran away before it could get her, too.
    â€œSo, how are things going at your grandma’s house?” Maddie asks as we plunk our stuff down near another group of girls from our team. “Is it as awful as you expected?”
    â€œNot with Staaaaan-leeeeeey around, it isn’t,” Amy says, giggling and batting her eyelashes. She watches a lot of sappy romantic movies.
    â€œExcept for him, it’s pretty awful. The house is super creepy, and everything smells like old ladies, and Grandma Jo won’t let me watch TV or play video games or have you guys over.”
    â€œMan, that’s the worst,” Maddie says. “You know you can come over whenever you want, right? My parents never care if you stay for meals or sleep over. They love you.”
    â€œI know,” I say, and it feels really nice to hear that I’m wanted somewhere. “Thanks. I don’t know if my grandma will even let me go to your house, though. She’s making me do etiquette training every day after soccer.”
    Maddie looks horrified. “Really? Like that book she got you?”
    â€œI think so, yeah.”
    â€œIsn’t that, like, cruel and unusual punishment or something?”
    â€œWhat even is etiquette training?” Amy asks.
    â€œI don’t know. Probably, like, learning to ballroom dance and do housework and sew.”
    â€œSounds like a sneaky way of getting you to do chores for her,” Amy says. “What if she makes you do her laundry and stuff? Oh my God, what if she makes you fold her old-lady underwear?”
    I’m in the middle of taking a swig from my water bottle, and I spit my water all over the grass when she says that. “That is so disgusting .” I gasp, and Maddie and Amy both double over laughing.
    I’m just getting my breath back when snotty Brianna comes striding through the gate. When she tucks her hair behind her ears, I see that she’s wearing huge diamond earrings to practice again, and I roll my eyes. Seriously, can’t she go five seconds without reminding everyone how rich she is? She waves to her best friends, Sabrina and Elena—we call them the Bananas, since you can spell that word by shoving pieces of their names together—and then, weirdly enough, she heads straight toward us.
    â€œHey, Maddie,” she says, much louder than necessary. “I’ve got something for you.”
    I don’t think Brianna’s ever said a single nice thing to any of us, and the smirky smile on her face makes my heart speed up. Elena’s already giggling at whatever’s about to happen, and Sabrina looks a little worried—she’s actually pretty nice if you can get her on her own. Brianna looks both ways to make sure everyone on the team is watching, and then she unzips her duffel bag and pulls out a handful of fabric. I can’t tell what she’s holding at first, but then I see a strap and a zipper, and I realize it’s a heap of dresses. Even though she has them all crammed in her bag like that, they’re probably crazy expensive.
    â€œI was cleaning out my closet yesterday, and I found all these old dresses I’ve already worn a couple times,” she says to Maddie. “They’re so out of style I was about to donate them to Goodwill, but then I realized I could give them straight to you instead. I figure that’s where your family shops these days, since your mom got fired.”
    A ripple of whispers goes through the soccer team, and Maddie’s face turns the reddest I’ve ever seen it. “My mom did not get fired ,” she snaps.
    â€œOh, does it make you feel better to say ‘laid off’?” Brianna says, making air quotes with her fingers. “It’s the