The Mystery of the Soccer Snitch Read Online Free

it’s so hot out there!”
    Jessie and Violet were at a table in the living room. Jessie was reading a book, Violet was drawing in her sketchpad.
    â€œNo need!” Henry said. “Benny and I will watch for clues.”
    Nothing unusual happened during Benny’s practice—until the very end, when the players were practicing dribbling down the field. Coach Olson was watching them, shouting out reminders to watch where they were going and touch the ball with the insides of their shoes instead of the tips of their toes. Henry looked over and saw Mrs. Thompson approaching.
    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.

    â€œShe seemed angry,” Henry said to the coach.
    â€œShe 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.”
    â€œI don’t see how an investigation can take just one hour,” Henry said.
    â€œI don’t either,” Coach Olson replied.
    â€œShe’s a very forceful person,” Henry said.
    â€œYou 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.
    â€œNice 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.
    â€œHi,” Jessie said. “Everyone looks so happy. Is anything new?”
    â€œNothing 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