Megan Stine - Long Shot

Well, Jupe thought, maybe Kelly was right. Maybe he could learn a few things from them. He slipped into the gym and took a seat near the floor. The cheerleaders didn’t notice him. They were in the middle of practicing a cheer.

“Go, Cory! Go, Walt!

You’re the guys they’ll never halt!

Matt can shoot and so can Tim —

And Marty’s so fast we’re sure to win!

Go, Shoremont, go!”

I hope whoever wrote that isn’t majoring in poetry, Jupe thought. Then he tried to get up the nerve to go over to the cheerleaders and talk to them. But he was sweating too much to do it. Anyway, the cheerleaders had stopped cheering and were talking to one another. All Jupe had to do was eavesdrop.

“Hey, give me a break,” one of the girls was saying. Her long dark hair was tied in a ponytail. “You think I’m going out with Cory Brand just because he’s got a condo and a Corvette?”

“Yes!” answered the other four cheerleaders.

“Well, can you think of a better reason?” the first girl said with a deep laugh.

Jupe’s radar went on full alert. This was just what he wanted — they were talking about the basketball players! Cory Brand was one of them.

“Hey, what are you doing over there?” Suddenly a cheerleader with red hair and freckles was looking right at Jupe. She put her hands on her hips.

Jupe gulped. Okay, don’t panic, he told himself. Stay cool and try to get as much information as possible. You’ve questioned people in dozens of cases before, and this shouldn’t be so different. Just remember what Kelly said.

He got up and slowly walked over to the cheerleaders. As he came closer he saw that their names were embroidered on their purple and white sweaters.

“Uh, you know... Nora,” Jupe said to the redhead. “When you were all doing that cheer, I felt like you were looking only at me the whole time.”

“We were,” she said. “There’s nobody else here.”

Oh, yeah, Jupe thought. How stupid!

“Well, what I meant was,” Jupe stammered, “you have excellent eye contact. It’s quasi-hypnotic.”

“Whoa, guys — quasi-hypnotic. Hear that? When’s the last time anyone called us quasi-hypnotic? Don’t you just love it?” said a fast-talking girl whose sweater said cathy.

“I know you,” said a girl named Pat. “You’re Jupiter Jones. You were in my Introduction to Shakespeare class today. You know what he did, you guys? He recited a whole Shakespearean poem!”

“Actually it was a sonnet,” Jupe said.

“Whatever it was, it was beautiful ,” Pat said with a big smile.

“So what are you doing in here, anyway?” Nora asked. She was clearly the captain of the squad.

“Our practice sessions are closed,” explained the ponytailed girl dating Cory. Her sweater said JERRI.

“Well,” Jupe said, checking his watch. He couldn’t tell them the truth — that he was working on a case! “I was meeting someone. But I guess he isn’t coming. Sorry to interrupt.”

“That’s okay,” said the smallest cheerleader — a tiny five-foot, blue-eyed, black-haired girl with a shy smile and a Southern accent. The name on her sweater said SARAH.

Jupe hurried away, wishing he could think of something more to say so he could stay and question them. He especially wished he could think of something to say to Sarah. She was exactly his type. But talking to girls was hopeless. It was much harder than prying information out of criminals!

“Okay, let’s get back to it, you guys,” Jupe heard one of them saying as he left. “And don’t forget — look quasi-hypnotic.”

A minute later Jupe was heading across campus to use the pay phone in the campus bookstore again. As he walked he made mental notes about what he’d just learned.

Jerri was dating Cory Brand for his money, condo, and Corvette. Did that mean Cory was on the payroll? Pat was in his Shakespeare class and would be easy to talk to again. Sarah... stunningly beautiful, small, dark hair, blue eyes, great smile...

Jupe was still writing the file on Sarah when he reached the phone. He put in a coin and dialed Bob at work.

“Bob, can you hear me?” Jupe said when Bob answered.

“Sax is listening to audition tapes — full volume,” Bob yelled into the phone. “What’s up with the case?” Jupe could barely hear Bob over the heavy metal in the background.

“It looks like Duggan’s handing out money left and right,” Jupe said as loudly as he dared. “Some of the players have apartments and big cars.”

“Really? Who told you that?”

“The cheerleaders,” Jupe said. “What?” Bob said, shouting over the blasting band in the background.

“I said,” Jupe said, talking even louder, “most of the cheerleaders were surprisingly nice. And I think I have a chance to get a lot out of one of them. Her name’s Pat. She remembered me from Shakespeare class.”

“Jupe, I can’t hear you at all,” Bob said. “This is hopeless. Call me tonight.” And he hung up. Drat! Jupe thought.

Suddenly a pair of huge hands clamped down on Jupe’s shoulders from behind.

“When I get done with you,” snarled a deep, furious voice, “you’re going to fit in a soup can — a ‘chunky’ soup can!”

All of Jupe’s senses went on emergency alert. His heart pounded, his chest thumped. Suddenly the massive hands spun him around hard, practically lifting Jupe off the ground. Then the hands began to squeeze Jupe’s neck.

Jupe wanted to fight back. But his instincts told him that if he struggled, he’d strangle, too. He craned his neck to look high enough to see the furious face of his attacker.

It was the big, gnarly face of Marty Lauffer, the center for the Shoremont basketball team. His greasy blond crew cut stood up in spiky sections that looked like miniature horns.

“There’s been a mistake,” Jupe gasped, hardly able to breathe.

“Yeah — your mistake,” Marty said. He smiled for a second, showing crooked teeth with silver braces wrapped around them.

Marty was unbelievably strong. His grip was slowly choking Jupe, quickly turning his shoulders numb.

Jupe took a wild swing, pounding Marty once in the stomach. Marty didn’t even flinch.

“I heard you on the phone. I heard everything you said!” Marty yelled, shaking Jupe back and forth.

I’ve blown it, Jupe thought as his face turned deep red from lack of oxygen. He’s going to kill me because I’ve found out about the bribes.

Marty laughed and jerked Jupe around some more, “You’re going to hurt for a year,” he said as he cocked back one enormous fist, ready to swing.

Jupe couldn’t help it. He closed his eyes and screamed.

“Marty, back off!” commanded a stern, angry voice.

The big hands immediately let go of Jupe’s neck and gave him a push backward. Jupe slumped to catch his breath.

The voice had come from a man standing behind the basketball player. When Marty stepped aside, Jupe saw it was Coach Duggan. He moved in between Jupe and Marty.

“Young man, if you want to get aggressive on the court, I’ll stand behind you a thousand percent. But if this is how you get tough with the world, then you disgrace yourself, and the team, and me.”

Duggan spoke firmly and Jupe saw that his words had an instant effect. Marty looked down at the bookstore floor and stared at the tiles.

“Now what’s this all about?” said the coach.

“I heard him on the phone,” Marty growled, looking at Jupe with cold hate. “He was talking, uh, talking about my girlfriend.”

Girlfriend? Jupe thought. Pat is his girlfriend? Was that the truth? Or was Marty trying to cover up about the basketball bribery?