Secrets Can Kill Read Online Free PDF Page B

air, she knew she was off balance.
    There was no time to catch herself. If she’d had a reliable person spotting her, she wouldn’t have worried, but Carla’s back, she noticed, was conveniently turned. Before Nancy could stop herself, she was hurtling over the end of the trampoline—heading for a major collision with the floor!

Chapter

Five
    A T THE LAST possible second, Nancy pushed her body to the limit, twisted desperately in midair, and hit the floor—with her rear end. Thank goodness not with her head. It wasn’t the most graceful move she’d ever made, but as she sat there breathing shakily, she decided that it was better to be a klutz than a corpse.
    Nancy was tempted to prove to Carla then and there that she was ready to fight the battle. But when she got to her feet, she noticed that the gym teacher was doing it for her.
    â€œDalton!” Miss Gibbs was livid. “This isn’t the pom-pom squad. You have to use yourbrains in here, if you have any! Drew could have broken her neck!”
    Which would not have broken Carla’s heart, Nancy thought grimly. It would have made her day.
    Most of the girls had rushed over to Nancy, asking if she was all right, whether she needed to see the nurse, whether she was sure nothing was broken.
    â€œThanks,” Nancy said gratefully. “I’m still in one piece. But I think I lost something.”
    â€œWhat?” somebody asked.
    â€œAn inch off my hips,” Nancy joked. “It’s permanently embedded in the gym floor!”
    Twenty minutes later, Nancy took her seat in social studies. She was still slightly rattled and was hoping for a lecture so she could just take notes and get her breath back.
    â€œOkay,” the teacher said gleefully, “clear your desks of everything but paper and pen. It’s pop-quiz time!”
    Nancy joined the other kids in groaning, and took as long as possible finding a notebook and pen.
    â€œDon’t worry,” the boy behind her said. “Mr. Warner’s quizzes are so bad, nobody passes. If you flunk, you won’t be alone.”
    â€œRight,” the girl to her left said. “The only one with a chance is Hal Morgan.”
    Nancy glanced to her right and noticed thatHal Morgan was chewing his fingernails nervously.
    â€œHe doesn’t look too confident,” she whispered.
    â€œYeah, that’s weird,” the girl whispered back. “You know, it’s funny. Hal’s been the class brain forever. Always studying, you know? Never had time for anything else. But then this September, he surprised everybody by running for class president against Daryl Gray. He didn’t win, but he sure did try. I can’t believe how much time he spent campaigning.”
    â€œMaybe that’s why he looks nervous,” Nancy said. “Maybe his grades dropped during the campaign.”
    The girl shrugged. “Maybe. But he’s been talking about going to Harvard, so he must be doing something right. And his SATs were off the top of the scale.”
    â€œOkay, scholars,” Mr. Warner cackled. “Let’s get this show on the road!”
    By the fifth question, Nancy had decided that the boy behind her was right. There was no way she was going to pass the quiz. At least she didn’t have to worry about her grade-point average, like everybody else.
    She glanced at the clock, to see how much more torture she might have to go through. As she did she noticed that Hal Morgan seemed to be having trouble concentrating, too. In fact,his eyes were on Nancy’s paper. As soon as he saw her glance at him, he looked away.
    The teacher asked the next question, and Nancy wrote down her answer. Then she deliberately put her hands to her hair so her paper would be clear.
    Sure enough, Hal made a pretense of stretching and yawning, and as he rolled his head around, his eyes once more zeroed in on Nancy’s paper.
    It was obvious, to Nancy anyway,