Sticks & Stones by Abby Cooper Read Free Book Online Page A

scrambled toward the bleachers and practically dove to my secret spot, getting a small grass stain on my jeans in the process. Whoops. Mom was not going to be too thrilled about that one.
    â€œMorning! Let’s run some drills,” the same voice shouted. “Liam, you’re up!”
    Liam! I poked my head out, but he was hard to see. The soccer team had grown—there had to be at least twenty people out there—and they were all dressed in the same royal-blue-and-white uniform. They kept moving—ducking, weaving, tossing, turning, hokeying, pokeying, whatever else soccer players do—and right as I thought I saw Liam, he started running down the field in a different direction. Well, fine. I shouldn’t want to see Liam anyway. I didn’t want to, as a matter of fact. He’d dumped me, and that was that. It was really too bad that he happened to still be cute and funny and weird in the coolest way ever. I think all that stuff should automatically get taken away from you when you dump someone.
    The one problem with Spying Saturdays was that Jeg and I had had to fully commit. Since the bleachers were at the far end of the field, we had to get there before the team did and then we couldn’t leave until after they left, or else we’d risk being seen in the big open space between the bleachers and the street that led to my house.
    As I sat under the bleachers now, I realized that I was extremely unprepared for this. I didn’t have candy, for one thing. Or comfy pants. Or a friend. Also, I discovered, I really needed to go to the bathroom.
    There was one at the end of the field I had come from, the side near my house, but no way was that going to happen. I’d basically have to run right through the middle of the game. I couldn’t always tell which player Liam was, but he would have no trouble picking out the girl who wasn’t supposed to be there.
    â€œGreat kick, Liam! Now pass it to Kevin so he can shoot.” There was the coach’s loud voice again.
    I peered through the open space anxiously, hoping to somehow catch Liam’s eye in the sea of soccer players. But what would be the point of that? His eye didn’t want to see my eye, or else our eyes would still be going out, along with the rest of us. Him seeing me wouldn’t magically remind him that he used to like me (and probably still could, if he tried hard enough).
    I flapped my legs up and down in my criss-cross-applesauce position. Why did I have all that cocoa before I left for my walk? I should never, ever have two giant cups of cocoa—of anything, really—before I go on a walk. I had learned this lesson before. The tricky part was remembering not to be so dumb.
    â€œAHHH!” DUMB formed on my leg, and I couldn’t help yelling out. That dumb word itched like crazy. I clasped my hands over my mouth.
    Please don’t let them have heard, I silently begged.
    To my relief, there was no coach’s voice booming, Let’s all go investigate that strange noise we just heard from the bleachers! It sounded like a girl being attacked by her own leg! There was only the sound of kicking.
    What was I going to do? They hadn’t heard my AHHH! , but they would definitely hear the sound of a girl peeing behind a bleacher. And that was something I’d never do anyway.
    If Jeg were here, she would come up with some brilliant plan that only Jeg would think of. It would be so much fun to pull off that I would forget that the whole reason for having it was that I was going to explode any second.
    A few drops of water leaked from my eyes, so I looked up to force the tears back where they came from. I missed Jeg. I really did. And I missed Liam, and that made me feel like dirt. I had a new boyfriend, so I shouldn’t miss my old one! But Nice Andy would never make me feel how Liam did, no matter how much string cheese he gave me. Liam was just the right amount of nice. He was a little weird,