MVP #1

by David A. Kelly

  From the playground, Kat looked back at Max. Max raised his right hand and gave her a thumbs-up. As soon as he did that, Kat went into the middle of the climbing structure and dropped down into the wood chips on the ground. Then she grabbed her ankle and started crying!

  “What’s going on?” Alice asked. “How’s this going to help?”

  “Just watch,” Max said.

  As soon as Kat started crying, Nico and Luke ran over to Doug on the basketball court. They tugged on the sleeve of his purple T-shirt and pointed to Kat on the ground. Reluctantly, Doug put down his white cloth and ran back to the climbing structure with Nico and Luke.

  “Now!” Max said. He took off like a flash for the basketball court. Alice ran along behind him. Max headed straight for the bows and arrows. Alice skidded to a stop next to him. Max picked up the rag and touched it. He pulled his fingers away and rubbed them together.

  “It’s oil!” Max said. “Doug’s putting something slippery on the tips of the arrows so they won’t stick to the targets!”

  Alice looked over her shoulder at the climbing structure. Nico and Luke were keeping Doug busy trying to help Kat.

  Alice dropped to her knees. She pulled open the top of Doug’s backpack. Then she gasped. “Jackpot!” she said.

  “What’s in there?” he asked.

  Before Max could get a look at what was in the backpack, Alice grabbed its bottom and flipped it upside down! A half-full bottle of cooking oil bounced on the ground. It had the same label as the ones they had found under the tree branch. It was followed by a large pair of scissors and a spool of clear fishing line.

  Alice smiled. “I think we’ve caught the person who’s turning our Olympics into a mess!”

  Alice glanced over at the climbing structure. Doug was still trying to help Kat stand up. Alice scooped up all the items and slipped them into the backpack.

  “Quick, Max,” Alice said. “Go get Mr. Hardy! I’ll stay here and guard the bag.”

  Max nodded and ran off through the crowd. Alice stood up and used her heel to push the bag under the table. When she turned back to check on Doug, her eyes widened. Doug was running straight for her!

  Alice tried to look busy by straightening up the arrows. But a few seconds later, Doug stopped right beside her. He pulled all the arrows away from her.

  “Sorry, but this event isn’t set up yet,” he said. “I’m still working on it.”

  He bent over and tried to grab his backpack from under the table, but Alice stepped sideways and blocked him from reaching it.

  “Hey! What are you doing?” Doug asked. “That’s my backpack!”

  “I know,” Alice said. “That’s why we’re going to have Mr. Hardy take a look inside it. And then maybe he’ll know who’s been making all the trouble at our Olympics!”

  “Wh-wh-what do you mean?” Doug stammered. “Give it to me!”

  Doug tried to grab the backpack again, but Alice nudged it farther under the table with her feet.

  “Cut it out!” Doug said. He dropped to his hands and knees and crawled under the table. He grabbed the backpack and scurried out from under the table. Doug stood up, only to find Mr. Hardy standing in front of him.

  “Ah, Doug! How nice of you to pick up your backpack for us,” Mr. Hardy said. He held out his hand and took hold of one of the backpack straps. “Max told me I might want to see what’s inside.”

  Doug slowly let go of the bag.

  Mr. Hardy unzipped the main compartment. He pulled out the half-full bottle of cooking oil, the fishing line, and the scissors. “Hmmmmmm.” Mr. Hardy put the items back in and zipped the backpack shut. “You’re coming with me, Doug. We’ll go to the office to call your parents.”

  Doug’s shoulders dropped. He hung his head and followed Mr. Hardy.

  —

  Max, Alice, Luke, Nico, and Kat were standing near the water fountain when Mr. Hardy found them.

  “There you are,” Mr. Hardy said. “Thank you so much for alerting me to Doug’s bag of tricks. It looks like he wanted to mess up the Olympics. The police officer is questioning Doug now.”

  “But why was Doug trying to ruin our games?” Kat asked.

  Mr. Hardy shook his head. “It was just like Max thought. Doug didn’t want anyone to win more medals than he did,” he said. “So he has been plotting ways to mess up our Olympics. He was hoping they’d be canceled.”

  The kids nodded.

  “I guess you could say he’s a sore winner,” Alice said.

  Mr. Hardy chuckled. “I’d say so,” he said. “Since Doug was helping to set up the events, he was able to think up ways to disrupt them. If you hadn’t stopped him, he was going to ruin the water balloon race and the rest of the events.”

  “Wow!” said Luke.

  “But we’re lucky. You kids caught him, so he didn’t finish setting any other traps,” Mr. Hardy said. “Do you know what that means?”

  Max glanced at Luke, who looked at Alice. Kat and Nico shrugged.

  “No, what?” Max asked.

  “It means you saved the Olympics!” Mr. Hardy said. “Now we can continue them and no one will get hurt! Great job!”

  Mr. Hardy gave each of the kids a high five. “Come on,” he said. “We have to get the games started again.”

  They walked back with him to the tug-of-war area. Mr. Jason had found another rope and was testing it out to make sure it was safe. As they waited for the games to resume, news of Doug’s traps and Alice, Max, Kat, Luke, and Nico’s efforts to catch him spread quickly through the crowd.

  And just like Mr. Hardy said, the rest of the events went smoothly. Even though they tried hard, Max, Alice, and Luke’s team lost the second tug-of-war match. Luke and Kat almost won the water balloon toss, but Luke dropped the balloon and they were disqualified. Unfortunately, Alice and Max weren’t able to compete for a medal in archery. That event had to be canceled because the arrows were still too slippery, even after Doug’s oil had been rubbed off.

  When all the events were finished, everyone gathered in the Franklin School cafeteria. The stage at the far end had been set up with banners. Mr. Hardy gave out gold, silver, and bronze medals for all the different events. He called up the winners in groups of threes.

  Alice, Max, Luke, Nico, and Kat sat together at one of the tables. Alice fidgeted and scuffed the ground with her sneaker as she watched one group of winners after another get their medals.

  “I really wanted to win a medal for archery,” Alice said to Max. “I might have won gold!”

  Max nodded. “You would have!” he said. Then he shrugged. “But at least we were able to capture Doug. I guess that way at least everyone else got to enjoy the Olympics.”

  When Mr. Hardy finished giving out the medals, the crowd clapped for all the winners. People were about to leave when Mr. Hardy stepped back up to the microphone.

  “If you can hold on for just another moment, we saved something special for the end,” he said. “I’d like to ask Alice, Max, Luke, Kat, and Nico to come up to the stage.”

  Alice and Max had big smiles on their faces. They scrambled up the stairs with Nico, Luke, and Kat and crossed the stage to Mr. Hardy.

  As the kids approached, Mr. Hardy announced, “I think by now everyone has heard about the problems with some of our events this morning. I just wanted you all to see the kids who helped catch our Olympic troublemaker.”

  Mr. Hardy stepped back and swept his hands in the direction of the five of them. The crowd clapped. When the clapping died down, Mr. Hardy moved back up to the microphone.

  “I also wanted to apologize to Max and Alice. I should have taken the threatening note they found more seriously,” he said. “But luckily, they didn’t listen to me when I said the note was nothing to worry about!”

  Everyone laughed.

  “Max and Alice and their friends were smart enough to put the clues together and find the troublemaker,” Mr. Hardy said. “In recognition for Alice, Max, Luke, Kat, and Nico’s terrific w
ork today in saving the Olympics, I’m awarding each of them the first-ever Franklin School Most Valuable Player medals! They’re the MVPs of our Olympics!”

  Mr. Hardy walked down the line and slipped a gold medal on a red, white, and blue ribbon over each kid’s head.

  Max, Alice, Nico, Kat, and Luke’s faces erupted into broad smiles. The crowd cheered loudly. After a minute, the noise died down and everyone filed out of the cafeteria. But Alice pulled the others to a huddle on the side of the stage.

  She held up her Most Valuable Player medal. “It’s really nice that we got the MVP medals,” she said. “But I think the best thing about today wasn’t just saving the Olympics. It was how we worked together. I think we should form a club. The MVP Club!”

  Max nodded. “That’s a great idea,” he said. “All in favor of joining the MVP Club raise your hand.”

  Five hands went up.

  “Motion passed,” Alice said. “It’s official. We’re now the Franklin School MVP Club.”

  “Yahoo!” Max yelled. “Group high five, everyone! On the count of three!”

  “One, two, three!” Max called out. All at once, five hands shot up to the center of the circle for a group high five. SLAP!

  And with that, the Franklin School MVP Club headed home.

  The Olympics

  OLYMPIC RINGS. The five Olympic rings represent different regions of the world: Africa, America, Asia, Europe, and Oceania.

  NAKED. The original Olympics were held in Greece in 776 BC. The best athletes came from all over Greece to compete in events that ranged from racing to javelin throwing, much like today’s Olympics. But one big thing was different back then: the athletes all competed without their clothes on! It was thought that they would perform better that way.

  ONE-HIT WONDER. Some sports have been in the Olympics only once. Croquet was only an Olympic sport once, in 1900.

  EVENTS. The Olympics happen every two years, alternating between winter and summer. Many events stay the same (there has always been a running race). But over time, the Olympic committee drops unpopular sports and adds new ones. Gymnastics has been in all modern summer Olympics. Snowboarding was added at the 1998 Winter Games.

  YOUNGEST OLYMPIAN. The youngest person to win a medal in modern times was Dimitrios Loundras. Dimitrios came from Greece. He was a gymnast (like Nico) in the 1896 Athens Olympics, and he was only ten years old!

  GOLD MEDALS AREN’T GOLD. Back in late 1800s and early 1900s, the Olympic gold medals were made of gold. Today’s gold medals are mostly made of silver, but they are coated with a layer of gold. Silver and bronze medals are made of silver and bronze.

  Turn the page for a sneak peek at

  Excerpt copyright © 2016 by David A. Kelly. Published by Random House Children’s Books, a division of Penguin Random House LLC, New York.

  “Over here!” Kat called as she ran toward the other team’s goal. “I can do it!”

  There were only seconds left in the soccer game. The Franklin Elementary School girls were playing the boys. The game was tied 1–1.

  Kat’s best friend Alice lofted a pass to her. Kat trapped the ball with her foot. She turned for the shot and blasted it. Kat’s teammates screamed as the ball sliced through the air toward the goal!

  But the ball hit the post and bounced over the top of the net. No goal! The gym teacher’s whistle blew. Game over. It was a tie.

  The boys’ team cheered! A tie was better than losing. The girls drifted off the field with shoulders drooped. They would have won if Kat’s shot had gone in.

  Alice skidded to a stop beside Kat. Alice was athletic and lucky. Even when she missed a shot or messed up a pass, she usually scored the next goal or soon made a nice assist.

  “Aw! I was so close!” Kat cried. She dropped down to the grass and pulled a bright blue hair tie from her hair. Black curls tumbled around her neck.

  “Good try,” Alice said. “Just a bit to the right and you would have had it.”

  “I keep missing those shots!” Kat said. “I’ve got to find a way to get better before the big game in two weeks.”

  Each year, the girls’ team played the Wilton Warriors. Lots of people came to watch and cheer their team on. The Warriors usually won, but Franklin’s team had been practicing hard. They really wanted to win this year.

  Kat’s twin brother, Luke, walked up next to her. He patted her on the shoulder.

  “Nice try, sis,” Luke said. “But thanks for missing that goal!”

  Kat bit her lip. She grabbed a handful of grass and tossed it up at Luke. As he swatted it away, Kat swung her arm playfully behind his legs and knocked into the back of his knees. He flailed back and forth for a moment and then dropped to the ground.

  Kat smiled. “Oh, sorry!” she said. “I was just stretching. How many goals did you score?”

  Luke held his hands up. “None,” he admitted. “But maybe you should work on your shooting.”

  Kat flopped on her back and looked up at the sky. “I have been!” she said. “You’ve seen me practicing after dinner. What more can I do?”

  “I don’t know, but you need to find a way to get better before Alex Akers comes for the big game,” Luke said.

  Luke and Kat’s mom was friends with Alex Akers, the women’s soccer star. They had played soccer together in college. She was coming to stay with them in two weeks to watch Kat’s big game. Alex was on the best team in women’s soccer, the Breakers. She had won the Player of the Year award for the last three years.

  Alice tapped Kat on the knee. “Why don’t you ask Alex to help you work on your shooting?” she asked. “Maybe she’d give you some tips.”

  Kat sat up. “That’s a great idea!” she said. A big smile spread across her face. She jumped up and did a couple of air kicks. “Zap! Zam! Another score by Alex Akers!” She kicked again. “And one by Kat!”

  “Hey, maybe I can get some pointers, too!” Luke said.

  “No!” Kat said. “You don’t always have to do everything that I do. Your team isn’t playing in the big game. If you go near her, I’ll give you a shot!”

  “Oh yeah?” Luke asked. He hitched his shoulders back and turned to face Kat. “Just try to stop me….”

  Alice laughed and jumped in between them. “Hey, maybe she’ll have time to give you both some soccer tips,” she said. Alice tugged Kat’s arm. “We need to get over to the field house for our ride.”

  Alice, Luke, and Kat gathered their things and ran to catch up with their friends. Max and Nico were standing in front of the field house at the corner of the soccer field. The field house was an old two-story building. It had been used for summer camps and storing athletic equipment, but the town closed it a few years ago because it needed repairing.

  “Hey, Alice, when’s your dad getting here?” Max said. He was kicking a soccer ball against the side of the field house.

  “About ten minutes,” Alice said.

  Just then, a kid from the boys’ soccer team walked by with his father, who was also the boys’ soccer coach. They were headed to their car.

  “Hey, Danny,” Nico said. “Nice goal in today’s game!”

  Danny gave a thumbs-up. “Thanks,” he said. “But I’m still not as good as you, Nico!” Nico was one of the best athletes in the school.

  “Hey, Alice and Kat, good game!” Danny’s father, Mr. Danforth, said. He was a tall man with short black hair. Even when he was coaching, he always wore a suit and tie.

  Danny got into the car with his father, and they drove away.

  “Isn’t Mr. Danforth trying to tear down the field house?” Alice asked.

  Kat nodded. “The town doesn’t have enough money to fix it, and Mr. Danforth wants to build an office building,” Kat said. “My mom’s in a group trying to save it.”

  Nico looked up at the front of the building. It needed a good painting, and half the shutters were missing. “It’s too bad,” he said.

  While they waited for Alice’s father, Max and Nico took turns tryin
g to hit a spot on the wall with the soccer ball. Nico was definitely a better shot, but Max was having fun kicking the ball as hard as he could.

  A few minutes later, the kids heard a door slam shut across the street. An older man with a hat had just left his house to walk his dog.

  “It’s Mr. Jennings,” Alice said. “Maybe he’ll come over here with Sammy.”

  “Mr. Jennings is the one who’s always mean to kids,” Max said.

  “I know,” Alice said. “But his dog, Sammy, is nice. I’m going to see if I can pet him.”

  Alice loved all types of animals. Even though she had three dogs at home, she was always excited to see other dogs or cats. When Mr. Jennings reached the sidewalk in front of the field house, Alice ran over to pet Sammy. She returned a few minutes later when Mr. Jennings continued on his walk.

  “Hey, Alice, watch this!” Max called out as she came back. He trapped the soccer ball and pulled his leg back to kick as hard as he could.

  WHAP!

  Max whacked the ball hard with his foot. But instead of kicking it straight on, he caught the edge of the ball and it sliced to the right.

  “Oh no!” Max called out. “Stop it!”

  But it was too late.

  CRASH!

  The ball smashed right through the front window of the field house!