First Evil by R.L. Stine Read Free Book Online

named assistant captain last spring. She had been on the squad for two years. She had worked so hard. So hard.
    So how could she be passed over for a flashy newcomer?
    Bobbi had been on the squad for only a few weeks. She didn’t know the school. She didn’t know any of the routines.
    So how could Miss Green and Jennifer have chosen her?
    Kimmy stood with her shoulders slumped forward, allowing her unhappiness, her anger, to show on her face. She was miserable and upset, and she didn’t care who knew it.
    As the applause died down and Miss Green continued talking, Kimmy glanced down the line of cheerleaders. There was Corky hugging her sister joyfully. Heather and Megan had rushed over to congratulate Bobbi. And Bobbi had the widest smile on her face, her eyes brimming with happy tears.
    Yuck, Kimmy thought bitterly.
    I know why she was named captain. Because she’s so pretty, and I’m not. She’s so blond and skinny and disgustingly all-American.
    Okay. So I’m not skinny, and I don’t have long blond hair and look like a Seventeen model. But how could Jennifer and Miss Green do this to me? I’m a better cheerleader than Bobbi Corcoran ever will be!
    I deserve to be captain. Everyone knows I deserve to be captain.
    Kimmy realized then that her entire body was trembling. Staring up into the bleachers, she felt her anger turn to embarrassment.
    Everyone is staring at me, she decided. Everyone in the entire school. They’re all staring at me. They know I deserve to be captain. They know I’ve been cheated.
    She turned and saw Debra and Ronnie studying her, their faces locked in sympathy, their eyes on Kimmy’sface, trying to determine how Kimmy was taking the awful news.
    Everyone is watching me, Kimmy thought, forcing back the loud sobs that pushed at her throat. Everyone is feeling sorry for me.
    I’ve never been so embarrassed.
    This is the worst day of my life.
    I’ll never forgive Bobbi. Never.
    And I’ll never forgive Miss Green either.
    I just want to disappear. I just want to die .
    And as bitter thoughts continued to spin through Kimmy’s mind, Miss Green finished her remarks and stepped back from the microphone with a relieved sigh. There was a scattering of applause.
    Kimmy saw Jennifer smiling, always smiling that brave smile of hers, wheeling herself to the side of the gym.
    And then Bobbi— Bobbi! —led the girls into a circle to begin their final routine.
    No! Kimmy decided.
    No way.
    I can’t do this. I’m too embarrassed. Too humiliated. I won’t do it. I won’t!
    I quit, she decided.
    I quit the cheerleaders.
    She had joined the circle, followed the others automatically like some kind of a sheep. But now, as they raised their arms high in the air to begin their routine, Kimmy uttered a cry of disgust—and took off, running across the polished wood floor. Running, running as fast as she could, her eyes narrowed, nearly shut, her heart pounding in rhythm with each thud of her sneakers.
    Were those gasps of surprise from the bleachers? Were those startled questions? A worried buzz of voices?
    Kimmy didn’t care. She was escaping. Escaping and never coming back.
    As she reached the double doors to the corridor, running so hard she nearly collided with them, she turned and glanced back. The cheer had begun without her; Corky Corcoran had moved around to close up the circle.
    I’ll pay her back too, Kimmy decided.
    Jennifer. Bobbi. Corky. All of them.
    She was through the doors and running down the empty corridor when the first anguished sob finally burst from her throat.

Chapter 9

Bobbi and Chip
    â€œC ongratulations!”
    Bobbi pulled open her locker door and turned to greet a girl she didn’t know. “Thanks,” she said, smiling.
    â€œI’m Cari Taylor,” the girl said, shifting the books she was carrying. She was a pretty, fragile-looking girl with blond hair, even lighter and finer than