MVP #1

by David A. Kelly

  “Hi, Quinn,” Max said. “Mrs. Zane told us you were back here working on a project.”

  Quinn patted the top of the bookcase. “Yup,” he said. “Mr. Hardy told me that if I fixed up a couple of old bookcases, I won’t have to pay the school back for the window I broke last week.” Quinn pointed to a second bookcase behind him. It was already finished and painted bright blue.

  “Sounds like a good deal,” Alice said.

  “Mrs. Zane also said you were using some of her blue paint,” Max said.

  Quinn nudged a paint bucket on the floor with his foot. “Yeah, so what?” he asked. “I’m going to start painting this bookcase in a little while.”

  Alice took out the envelope with the fingerprints on it. She held it up so Quinn could read the BEWARE message on its front. “Do you know anything about this?” she asked. “We found it on the sign-in table.”

  Quinn put down the sandpaper and shrugged. “Nope,” he said. “I’ve never seen it before.”

  “There was a note inside threatening to ruin our Olympics,” Max said.

  Alice flipped the envelope over. She pointed to the two blue fingerprints on the back. Then she looked at Quinn.

  “You think those are mine?” Quinn asked.

  “Maybe,” Max said.

  “They’re not,” Quinn said.

  “Prove it!” Alice said.

  Quinn rolled his eyes. “Sure,” he said. “But you’re not going to like the answer. I’ve never seen that before.”

  Alice flipped the sandpaper over so the rough side was down and the paper back was facing up. “Put a little paint on your fingers and press them on this sandpaper,” she said.

  Quinn dipped the tips of the fingers on his right hand into the paint and pressed them down on the sandpaper. When he lifted them up, there were five blue fingerprints left behind.

  Max pulled out his phone and flipped through his pictures until the phone displayed the one he had taken of the fingerprints on the envelope. The three leaned over to compare the fresh prints to Max’s phone.

  After a minute, Max straightened up. Quinn smiled.

  The fingerprints were completely different!

  “I really thought it was going to be Quinn,” Max said after they had left the storage garage.

  “I know,” Alice said. “But those fingerprints weren’t even close.”

  They turned the corner of the building and headed back to the field. All around them, students, parents, and teachers were enjoying the Olympics. There were long lines in front of the Cheezy Wheezy grilled cheese truck and the Green Pirate juice and salad truck in the blue zone. Near the side of the school, Ms. Suraci was running a Hula-Hoop workout for kids and parents.

  Just as they made it back to the middle of the field, Kat ran up to them. “We checked out the tug-of-war, but it’s fine,” she said. “Luke and Nico will meet us there in a few minutes. Nico wanted to try the spicy sweet potato sticks at the snack table.” In addition to being the best athlete, Nico was the school’s most adventurous eater. He’d try anything!

  “Great!” Alice said. “We found Quinn, but he’s definitely not our guy. The fingerprints didn’t match.” Alice checked the time. “Hey, we can still try the archery stuff before the tug-of-war.”

  Alice, Max, and Kat pushed through the crowds to the archery area. Three large, round targets were set up on the right side of the basketball court. A line of blue tape stretched across the ground on the other side. Alice headed straight for the bows and arrows on a nearby table.

  “I can’t wait for archery,” Alice said. “I practiced all week for it.”

  “There’s no way anyone will beat you,” Kat said. “You’re the best!”

  Alice picked up a bow and arrow from the table. She focused on the target.

  SNAP!

  Alice let go of the bowstring. The arrow flew straight to the target across the basketball court.

  THWAP!

  “Wow!” Max cried. “You got a bull’s-eye on your first try! Way to go!”

  Alice smiled and gave Max a high five. She placed the bow back on the table and looked at the other bows and arrows. Kat ran over to the target. She grabbed hold of the arrow and pulled. The suction cup on its tip made a pop sound when she pulled it off the target.

  Kat brought it back to the table. “There’s nothing wrong with the targets,” she said.

  “And there’s nothing wrong here,” Alice said. “I guess we’re lucky that the Olympic troublemaker doesn’t care about archery!”

  Max looked over to the field. “We should go. It looks like the tug-of-war is about to start,” he said.

  Max, Alice, and Kat ran back through the crowd to the tug-of-war event. They arrived just before it started and found Nico and Luke, who were finishing up their spicy sweet potato sticks.

  For the tug-of-war, someone had painted a bright blue line across the grass. A long rope stretched across the line. There was a red triangle flag in the middle, pointing down at the line. It made it easier to see who was winning or losing.

  Max, Alice, and Luke lined up with three other teammates on the left side of the rope. They faced six students on the other side. Max took a position on the rope closest to the flag. Luke was at the end of the rope, acting as anchor for their team. Alice was in the middle. The kids all gripped the rope tightly. The first team to be pulled across the blue line would lose.

  Kat wormed her way up to the front of the crowd so she could take some pictures. Nico stood behind her to cheer.

  Mr. Hardy blew his whistle loudly. BREEEET!

  Both teams pulled with all their might. At first, the rope moved toward Max, Alice, and Luke’s side. Kat started snapping pictures right away.

  Nico yelled and clapped. “Come on, Luke! You’ve got it!” he called. “Just keep pulling!”

  But a minute later, the rope moved in the opposite direction. Max was pulled closer and closer to the blue line on the ground. He dug his feet in, but they kept slipping forward. “We’re losing!” he yelled.

  Luke called from the back, “On the count of three, everyone pull hard. One, two, three!”

  Luke’s team gave a huge tug on the rope. The other team was yanked forward.

  “It’s working!” Max cried. “It’s working!”

  But before they could drag the other team across the line to win, there was a sudden lurch. Both teams seemed to shudder and slip.

  SNAP!

  The tug-of-war rope broke in half!

  Parents and teachers gasped as both teams tumbled backward! The kids looked like dominoes as they fell to the ground.

  BREEEET! BREEEET!

  Mr. Hardy blew his whistle. “Quiet, everyone! Step back!” he barked. The kids scrambled to stand up.

  Kat snapped picture after picture.

  Mr. Hardy stepped forward. He checked to make sure that all the kids were okay. Once he determined that, he glanced at his watch.

  “Don’t worry! I’ll have Mr. Jason look for another rope. We’ll redo the tug-of-war a little later,” he said. “For now, we can get ready for the gymnastics event. We’ll start that in ten minutes. And we’ll do archery after that.”

  As the crowd moved away, Nico and Kat drifted over to the tug-of-war rope. Max, Alice, and Luke were looking at each side of the rope’s broken ends.

  “Hey, look! This rope didn’t just break,” Max said. He showed them the two ends of the rope. Strands of fiber frizzed out from both sides. But about half of the strands weren’t frizzy. Instead, they had been cut!

  Alice held up the red flag lying on the ground. It had been hanging down from the middle of the rope. “The Olympic troublemaker must have used a knife or scissors to cut the rope halfway through so it would break during the event,” she said. “Then he or she covered the cut with this flag so it would look normal!”

  “That’s why we didn’t see any problems when we checked the rope!” Kat said. “Tricky!”

  As Max and Alice studied the rope, Kat pulled out her cam
era. “Look, I got some pictures just as the rope snapped!” she said. “Here are Max and Alice falling backward!”

  The kids leaned in to look at the pictures. But as Kat swiped through them, Alice said, “Stop! What’s that?” She pointed to one of the kids in the background. It was a middle schooler in a purple T-shirt.

  “That’s Doug,” Max said. “He set the record for winning the most medals at last year’s Olympics. He won two gold medals, two silver medals, and one bronze.”

  “I know who Doug is,” Alice said. Over Kat’s shoulder, Alice swiped back and forth through the pictures. “But look at all these pictures. When the rope breaks, Doug is smiling and laughing. Everyone else looks serious or surprised!”

  “You’re right,” Kat said. As Alice moved back and forth between the pictures, Doug really stood out. He looked just like one of the crowd until the rope broke. Then he had a wide smile at the same time that everyone else was gasping!

  “Why is he doing that?” Kat asked. “It almost looks like he thinks it’s funny!”

  “Maybe he does,” Alice said.

  “What do you mean?” Kat asked.

  “Maybe he thinks it’s funny because he’s the one who cut the rope!” Alice said.

  “Why would he do that?” Nico asked.

  “That’s easy,” Alice said. “Max just said he won the most medals last year. What if he’s sabotaging our Olympics so no one can beat his record?”

  Alice pointed across the field to the oily spot near the orange cones. “Maybe Doug was helping to set up the events. He could have poured the oil near the orange cones after they were put out. He probably did it when the other kids were busy with another event.”

  “If Doug’s the one doing it,” Mike said, “we need to find him before he does something else!”

  Everyone nodded. They looked around the field. But it was hard to find anyone with all the people moving around.

  Nico pointed to the front of the school. “Hey, let’s go to the steps,” he said. “It’ll be easier to spot Doug from up there.”

  “Good idea,” Kat said. The kids ran over to the steps and bounded up to the top. As they looked for Doug, Alice glanced at the posters taped to the front of the school. The posters were filled with blue-and-gold letters and pictures of ancient Rome. Alice spotted one that had the words Light the Fire Within in blue letters outlined in gold. Something in the top right corner caught her eye.

  “Hey, Max,” she said. “Wasn’t this the poster that Doug was hanging up yesterday?”

  Max looked at it. “Yeah, that’s the one,” he said. The poster had a big picture of the Parthenon on it.

  “That’s what I thought,” Alice said. “Check this out.” She pointed to the top right corner of the poster. “That’s where Doug grabbed the poster when he was putting it back up after you knocked it down,” she said. “The paint on it must have been wet. Look what’s there.”

  There were three blue fingerprints along the top of the poster!

  Max fumbled for his back pocket. Finally, he took out his phone. He pulled up the photo he had taken of the blue fingerprints on the envelope and held it against the poster.

  Alice and the others leaned in.

  They matched exactly!

  “Now we’ve got proof that Doug is the Olympic troublemaker!” Max said. “All we have to do is find him before he ruins another event!”

  The kids continued to scan the fields for any sign of Doug. But all they saw were kids, parents, and teachers standing in line for one of the food trucks or trying one of the games of skill set up in the center of the field. Nico and Luke studied the left side of the field, while Max, Alice, and Kat searched the right side.

  As they looked, Nico kept glancing over to the balance beams. “Well, if he’s not out here, he can’t be ruining an event,” Nico finally said. “Maybe we should get back to the Olympics. I don’t want to miss the gymnastics event. We can look for Doug again after.”

  “I guess,” Alice said. “We’re not having any luck now.”

  The group walked down the front steps and over to the field. Nico approached one of the officials, who assigned him a balance beam to use.

  The gymnastics competition was like an obstacle course. The competitors had to walk the entire length of their balance beam without falling off. If the competitor fell off, he or she would have to start over again. After finishing the balance beam, the competitors had to do somersaults or cartwheels until they reached a turnaround line painted on the field. To complete the event, the kids had to jump or vault over big piles of sandbags on their way back to the starting line.

  BLEEEET! BLEEEET!

  Mr. Hardy blew his whistle. The gymnastics event was about to start! Nico and five other kids lined up at the end of the beams. Mr. Hardy explained the rules and then counted down.

  “Five–four–three–two–one!” Mr. Hardy called.

  BREEEET!

  All six kids started walking down the balance beams. The boy next to Nico fell off after two steps and started over. The tall girl at the far end fell off after four, and then ran back to the starting point.

  “Go, Nico! Go!” Kat and Luke shouted.

  Max and Alice clapped and whooped loudly when Nico made it to the end of the balance beam without falling off. So far, he was tied for first place with a girl named Jen. Nico and Jen both bounded off the beams at the same time and ran to a white chalk line in the grass. A short boy named Don was just behind both of them in third place.

  “Way to go, Nico!” Alice shouted.

  When the kids reached the white line, all three tipped forward and started doing one somersault after another. A student in a purple Olympic T-shirt counted everyone’s somersaults to make sure they all did at least five and then kept doing them until they reached the turnaround line.

  Nico finished his first! Don and Jen were still on their fourth somersault.

  “You’ve got it, Nico!” Kat screamed. “Go! Go! Go!”

  When Nico crossed the turnaround line painted on the grass, he jumped up. Then he did a U-turn and started to run back to the starting line. To win the gold medal, all he had to do was vault over a pile of sandbags and make it to the finish line first.

  “Go, Nico!” Max yelled. He, Alice, Luke, and Kat cheered like crazy! It was the friends’ first real chance to win a medal!

  Back behind Nico, Jen and Don finished their somersaults and then popped up off the ground. They tried to catch up with Nico, but it was going to be hard.

  Before Nico reached the sandbags, he held up his hands and stopped running! Instead of finishing the race, he ducked to the side of the course and disappeared into the crowd. Mr. Hardy, who was also watching, pointed to where Nico had been, blew his whistle, and shouted “Disqualified!”

  Max, Alice, Kat, and Luke couldn’t believe it!

  Jen and Don crossed the finish line for the gold and silver gymnastics medals! A fourth grader named Sam came in third for a bronze medal.

  “What just happened?” Max said. “Did Nico go nuts?”

  Luke shook his head like he couldn’t believe it. “He was just about to win!” he said.

  The crowd surged around Jen, Don, and Sam to congratulate them. Max, Alice, Luke, and Kat stood there, stunned, until Max finally spotted Nico by the drinking fountain.

  “There he is!” Max said. He took off in a run, followed by the others. Seconds later, they skidded to a halt in front of the fountain. Nico was staring at the corner of the basketball court.

  “Nico, are you okay?” Alice asked. “What just happened? You could have won a gold medal!”

  Nico glanced at the group and then looked back toward the basketball court. “I know I could have,” he said. “That’s one of the reasons why I stopped. Once I knew I could win the gold medal if I wanted to, it didn’t matter anymore.”

  Max jumped up and down. “Are you crazy?” he yelped. “I’d love to win a gold medal!”

  “I would, too,” Nico said. “But I’d rat
her catch Doug! That’s the real reason I dropped out. On my way back to the finish line, I spotted Doug on the basketball court. I didn’t want to risk losing him! Look—he’s right over there!”

  The kids glanced over at the court.

  Nico was right. Doug was standing near the archery equipment! They watched as he straightened up the bows and arrows and counted them. But after taking a quick look around, Doug slipped the backpack off his shoulder and dropped it on the ground. He unzipped it and reached in with both hands. He seemed to be fumbling with something inside the bag. When he stood up, he had a white cloth in his hand. He glanced around again and then started picking up one arrow after another.

  “What’s he doing?” Alice asked.

  Max strained to see. “I don’t know,” he said, “but I think he’s doing something to the tips of the arrows! I wonder what’s in the bag.”

  As they watched, Doug squatted down and put the cloth back into the backpack for a moment. Then he pulled it out and continued picking up the arrows one by one.

  “What is he doing to those arrows?” Alice asked. “We need to find out what’s in the bag.”

  “Hey!” Max said. “I’ve got an idea. But I’ll need some volunteers.”

  Kat and Luke quickly raised their hands.

  Max tapped Nico on his shoulder. “Hey, I’ll need you, too,” Max said. “You in?”

  Nico nodded. “I’m in!” he said.

  Max gathered them into a huddle and whispered some instructions. A minute later, they broke up. Kat, Nico, and Luke ran over to the climbing structure on the empty playground just beyond the basketball court.

  “What’s going on?” Alice asked. “I thought you were going to get them to help us catch Doug!”

  Max smiled. “I did,” he said. “Just wait here and watch. Then follow me when I run!”

  Alice raised an eyebrow but did what Max said.