Snitch by Kat Kirst Read Free Book Online

”Don’t ever let her know. She’s already so full of herself.”
    “ Chrissy’s not bad to look at , ” Johnny reasoned, smiling.
    “Yeah,” I said. “Too bad you have to talk to her. It ruins everything.”
    Coach blew his whistle.
    “Get in line!” he shouted. “We’re going to start with some ball handling drills. Grab a ball; pass through your legs and behind your back. Sizzle, let’s see if you can do this without losing the ball this time.”
    The team hooted on Sizzle who smiled and promptly ran across the court to chase his ball.
    After that we ran some lay-up lines. And then we just ran.
    “Yo-yos ! ” Coach yelled. “Twenty-five seconds or the whole team does it again!”
    We ran from the baseline to the center and back, over to the other sideline, back to the center and crossed over the court. Wes lagged behind and Coach blew his whistle.
    “Again!” he shouted. “This time get moving!” Three tries later we were allowed a water break.
    “Scrimmage in three minutes!” Coach announced. We all tried to run t o the water fountains, but I kne w my legs didn’t want to move and my ankle had that old familiar throb . I walked.
    “Seth,” I said gasping for breath, “Can I talk to you?”
    “Sure,” he said, wiping the sweat off his face with his shirt.
    “Can you tell Chrissy to lay off?”
    Seth looked up from the fountain quizzically. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
    I let out a sigh. “C’mon, Seth. Call her off.”
    “I told you, I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
    I crossed my arms over my chest and faced Seth. “I’m not stupid. This thing is getting way too big. Lots of people are talking. Kate is…she’s like a little rabbit or something. Why don’t you just go ask her if she told? I mean, what if she didn’t?”
    “I still don’t know what you’re talking about,” Seth insisted, “but I do know you’ve been paying an awful lot of attention to Liz who would be….hmm. Let’s see. Oh, I know, Kate’s best friend. What a coincidence . ”
    Seth looked deep into my eyes and I could see the frightening determination in his. “All I can say is , you do what you need to do. I’ll do what I need to do.”
    “You need to ask Kate if she told on you . ” I could feel my anger surfacing. I hate it when people blow me off , and there was no doubt that that’s exactly what Seth was doing.
    “ You do it , ” Seth scowled and turned on his heel.
    I was about to go after him, but Coach blew his whistle.
    “Hey, ladies!” he yelled to us . “Stop your gossiping and get over here for scrimmage.”
    I grabbed a quick sip of water and returned to the court, but I decided I was going to take Seth’s challenge. I would ask K ate.
    ***
    That night I called Liz.
    “I need to know something.” I paused. “You have to tell me the truth. Did Kate snitch on Seth?”
    Liz snorted. “Kate. Snitch. Can you even believe she would do something like that? She barely talks back to her parents. Kate would never make an appointment with her counselor, walk out in front of a class , and go to the office to tell on someone. Not Kate.”
    “I didn’t think so.”
    “Besides, she’s too busy at home to worry about immature hallway drama.” Liz paused like I should understand what she was saying. I didn’t. “With her family.” She paused again. “Don’t you know her whole family is deaf? Her mom, dad, and big brother. I mean they’re fine and everything. Her dad is a lawyer, and her mom teaches. Her brother is away at State working on a degree in engineering. ”
    “ Really? Her dad’s a lawyer? How does that work?”
    “I don’t know for sure, but there are lots of people out there who are deaf and need lawyers. Kate says he has clients who are deaf as well as hearing ones. Her m om teaches sign language at Central Community C oll ege and has for the past ten years . Her parents can talk—I’ve heard them. It’s just flat and kinda funny