The Cheater by R.L. Stine Read Free Book Online Page B

grandparents tonight,” she called.
    He rolled his eyes and waved goodbye.
    The women’s locker room was empty. Carter opened her locker and pulled out her tennis bag.
    She heard the locker room door open and rapid footsteps move toward her. She looked up. It was Jill.
    â€œHi,” said Carter, smiling.
    â€œHi,” said Jill. She didn’t smile back. “I’m glad you’re here. I was hoping to talk to you before we get together tonight.”
    Carter suppressed a sigh. The date tonight. She wasn’t looking forward to it—especially after her scare last night and Dan’s accusation that morning. Also, she hated to drag Jill into the whole thing.
    But what could she do?
    The more she knew of Adam, the more ruthless he seemed to her. She knew he would tell her father that she’d cheated on the math test if she didn’t cooperate with him. She had to keep Adam from telling. She’d do almost anything.
    â€œCome on, Carter,” Jill said. “Tell me the real reason why we’re going on this double date tonight.”
    â€œAbout that date,” Carter said in a low voice. “Listen, Jill, promise me you won’t tell anyone about it—especially Dan. It’s no big deal, and I don’t want him to get the wrong idea.”
    â€œThe wrong idea! You’re going out with another guy! How could he misunderstand
that?”
    â€œJill, I can’t explain it to you now. But there is a reason we’re going on this date tonight, and it’s not because I’m crazy about Adam or anything like that. Please, just don’t ask any more questions. We’ll go out and that will be that. Okay?”
    Jill frowned, confused, but she didn’t argue. She grabbed a towel and padded into the shower.
    Carter sighed. Things were getting more and more complicated. Maybe after tonight, she thought hopefully, it will all simmer down.
    She reached into her tennis bag for her hairbrush.
    And froze.
    Her hand had grabbed something strange—something warm and sticky. She pulled her hand out of the bag.
    She screamed.
    Her hand was covered with blood.

Chapter 8

    â€œO hh!”
    Carter uttered a shrill cry as she stared at her bloody hand, horrified.
    What
happened?
    After a moment she made herself peer into the tennis bag.
    She couldn’t see anything.
    She shoved her hand back into the bag. There was that awful, warm stickiness. She shuddered.
    And pulled out a large, slimy, bloody thing.
    A heart!
    A human heart?
    No.
    It wasn’t the right size to have come from a person. Too big.
    She dropped it and gagged as it made a loud
splat
on the floor. She closed her eyes.
    It’s an animal’s heart, Carter thought, her stomachtightening with disgust. It must have come from a cow, or some other large animal.
    Glancing down reluctantly, she spied a sticky piece of paper stuck to the heart with a pin.
    She bent down quickly and pulled the paper off with a sharp tug.
    On the paper, scrawled in blood, was a message: “Careful—or you’ll break Daddy’s heart.”
    With a jolt, she let the paper drop to the floor.
    Adam! How could he do such a horrible thing!
    Carter’s entire body shuddered in disgust.
    Jill came running out of the shower, her hair full of suds, wrapping a towel around her. “What’s wrong? I thought I heard a scream!”
    She took one look at Carter’s bloody hand and gasped. She ran to Carter to help her. Carter quickly kicked the heart under a bench to hide it from Jill.
    â€œCarter, what happened?”
    Carter was still shaking and she couldn’t hide it. “It—it’s nothing, really,” she said, trying to steady her voice. “I mean, it looks much worse than it is. I—I cut my hand. On my razor. I was reaching into my bag to get it, and the cover must have fallen off. I slit one of my fingers—”
    â€œOh, my gosh,” said Jill. “Let me see