To Catch a Cheat

by Varian Johnson

  SUE STORM (THE DISAPPEARING INK): Code-named the Invisible Woman, Sue Storm is a founding member of the Fantastic Four, a superhero group created by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby for Marvel Comics. Storm’s powers include the ability to render herself and other objects invisible.

  ZUGZWANG (PLAN D): In the game of chess, a Zugzwang refers to a predicament in which one player is forced to move into a disadvantageous situation where any possible move will weaken their position. The smart player who recognizes the coming defeat will choose to play out the game in a manner that forces their opponent into the most debilitating victory possible.

  WHITE ELEPHANT (THE EXCHANGE OF THE DOCTORED VIDEO FOR THE EXAM ANSWERS): In ancient Thailand, the white elephant was considered a sacred animal, and it was a great honor to receive one from a monarch. However, elephants are costly to maintain, and such a precious creature was forbidden to perform profitable labor. Thus, the kings of Siam often bestowed white elephants on courtiers they didn’t like in order to ruin them financially.

  MR. MAGOO (ROB AND THOM DURING THE EXAM): Cartoon character Quincy Magoo is a wealthy senior citizen with extremely poor eyesight. While Magoo could easily correct his vision with glasses, his stubborn refusal to acknowledge the problem, paired with the poor eyesight itself, often creates comedic situations with disastrous results.

  SUPER BOWL XLVII (THE BLACKOUT IN THE SECURITY ROOM): Played on February 3, 2013, in the Superdome in New Orleans, Louisiana, Super Bowl XLVII was a National Football League championship game between the Baltimore Ravens and the San Francisco 49ers. Also nicknamed the Blackout Bowl, play was suspended for more than thirty minutes due to a power outage in the third quarter.

  ISABEL LAHIRI (SERENA BIANCHI): In Ocean’s Twelve, Inspector Isabel Lahiri first confronts Danny Ocean and his crew of con artists as she investigates a botched theft. Driven by professional and personal motivations, Lahiri employs unorthodox (and morally questionable) methods in an attempt to later catch the crew in the act of stealing a Fabergé egg.

  BEN KENOBI (LINCOLN MILLER): After the creation of the Galactic Empire, Jedi Master Obi-Wan Kenobi takes the name “Ben” and goes into exile on Tatooine to secretly watch over young Luke Skywalker. Kenobi becomes a mentor to Skywalker and begins to train him in the ways of the Force, all while keeping Luke’s true destiny hidden from him.

  * * *

  * * *

  I would like to thank Julie Lake, Brian Yansky, April Lurie, Frances Yansky, and Sean Petrie — you all are the best critique group an author could ask for.

  Love and hugs to my agent and friend, Sara Crowe. You have always believed in me, and I am grateful for that.

  Cheryl Klein, you are one of the smartest people I know, and I am so, so lucky to call you my editor. Thank you for helping me find the plot and the heart of the story, and thank you for bearing with me as I missed my fair share of deadlines.

  To the entire Arthur A. Levine Books/Scholastic team: Arthur Levine, Emily Clement, Kait Feldmann, Weslie Turner, Nina Goffi, Elizabeth Krych, and Saraciea Fennell: I greatly appreciate everything that you do behind the scenes.

  I’d like to give special thanks to Rachel Wilson and Mary Winn Heider — this book would not exist if you hadn’t forced me to sit down and write it. You two are worth your weight in coffee and gummi bears.

  To all the booksellers who support me and Jackson Greene, I am forever in your debt. You changed my life.

  And to Crystal, Savannah, and Sydney — thank you for your continued love and support. You are the magic behind the words.

  is the author of four previous novels for children and young adults, including The Great Greene Heist, which was named an ALSC Notable Book for Children, a Kirkus Reviews Best Book of 2014, and a Bank Street College Best Book of the Year. He lives with his wife and daughters near Austin, Texas. You can find him on the web at www.varianjohnson.com and @varianjohnson.

  Copyright © 2016 by Varian Johnson

  All rights reserved. Published by Arthur A. Levine Books, an imprint of Scholastic Inc., Publishers since 1920. SCHOLASTIC and the LANTERN LOGO are trademarks and/or registered trademarks of Scholastic Inc.

  The publisher does not have any control over and does not assume any responsibility for author or third-party websites or their content.

  This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are either the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, business establishments, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.

  Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

  Johnson, Varian, author.

  To catch a cheat / by Varian Johnson. — First edition.

  pages cm

  Sequel to: The Great Greene Heist.

  Summary: Because of his reputation for practical jokes Jackson Greene is the automatic suspect for anything that goes wrong at school — but when he and his friends are framed for a crime they did not commit, Gang Greene sets out to expose the students responsible, who are trying to blackmail Jackson into helping them cheat on an important test.

  ISBN 978-0-545-72239-1 (hardcover : alk. paper) 1. Cheating (Education) — Juvenile fiction. 2. Extortion — Juvenile fiction. 3. Middle schools — Juvenile fiction. 4. Best friends — Juvenile fiction. [1. Cheating — Fiction. 2. Extortion — Fiction. 3. Middle schools — Fiction. 4. Schools — Fiction. 5. Best friends — Fiction. 6. Friendship — Fiction. 7. African Americans — Fiction.] I. Title.

  PZ7.J63844To 2016

  813.6 — dc23

  [Fic]

  2015025232

  First edition, February 2016

  Cover art © 2016 by Kali Ciesemier

  Cover design by Nina Goffi

  Author photo by Kenneth B. Gall

  e-ISBN 978-0-545-72241-4

  All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. No part of this publication may be reproduced, transmitted, downloaded, decompiled, reverse engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereafter invented, without the express written permission of the publisher. For information regarding permission, write to Scholastic Inc., Attention: Permissions Department, 557 Broadway, New York, NY 10012.