The Classy Crooks Club Read Free Page B

actually disappointed. I slide into the passenger’s seat and tuck my soccer bag under my feet, and Stanley shuts the door gently behind me. On the other side of the garage is a big black van with tinted windows, the kind of thing you might drive if you wanted to kidnap someone. I wonder what use my grandmother could possibly have for a car like that.
    â€œSo, how did you end up working for Grandma Jo?” I ask when Stanley gets in beside me.
    â€œShe’s friends with my grandmother,” Stanley explains. “I was looking to make some extra money, so when Mrs. Johansen hurt her foot, my grandma recommended that she hire me for a little while.”
    â€œHuh,” I say. I never really considered that my grandmother might have friends. “Is your grandma, um, a lot like mine?” I mean prim and proper and stuck-up, but I’m afraid I might offend Stanley if I come out and say that.
    He laughs. “Not really. She’s a lot more eccentric. I’m sure you’ll meet her, so you can judge for yourself.”
    I’m afraid Stanley and I are going to run out of things to say really quickly, but we get into a pretty lively discussion about pro soccer, and there’s not one single awkward silence. Before I know it, we’re pulling up to Benedict Middle School, right behind the blue minivan that belongs to Amy’s family. Amy’s butt is sticking out of the backseat as she rummages around, looking for something on the floor. I’m about to open my door when Stanley hops out of the car and opens it for me. Amy straightens up in time to catch him standing at attention like a soldier while I gather up my stuff, and her mouth drops open.
    â€œHave a good practice, Miss AJ,” Stanley says. “I’ll see you at four.” He’s smiling like maybe it was more fun driving a twelve-year-old kid to practice than he expected, and I smile back.
    â€œSee you,” I say. “Thanks for the ride.”
    Maddie comes around the corner as Stanley shuts the door behind me, and her eyes get huge, just like Amy’s. The second he pulls away in the car, they both pounce on me. “Who was that ?” Amy breathes without even saying hello. Her super curly hair is poking out in all directions from the humidity and trying to escape from her ponytail.
    â€œThat’s Stanley,” I say. “Remember how I told you I’m staying with my grandma this month? She broke her foot last week, and she hired that guy to drive her around until it heals.”
    â€œWhoa,” Maddie says. “Like a chauffeur? That’s an unexpected perk.”
    â€œHe’s foxy,” Amy says, pointing to the fox on her uniform. Maddie groans and rolls her eyes, and all three of us crack up. When Maddie laughs, I notice she has new turquoise rubber bands on her braces.
    â€œHe’s really nice,” I tell them. “We talked about soccer the whole way here. He plays too.”
    â€œWhat position?” Maddie asks, suddenly a lot more interested. She doesn’t care about boys at all, but she really cares about soccer. When I tell her he’s a center forward, she nods, impressed.
    As we walk through the gate and onto the field, I notice a couple of huge crows hanging out a few yards ahead of us. I divert our path so we make a wide arc around them, and Maddie automatically moves to my other side so she’s between them and me. She really gets how much I hate birds, since she was with me when I had my Bird Incident in kindergarten. We were at the duck pond near our houses with my mom and Ben, and I spotted this giant white swan paddling around with all the ducks, exactly like the one in a picture book I loved. I ran over, all excited to feed it a piece of bread, but the swan chomped down on my fingers so hard that two of them broke. I started screaming, obviously, and I guess the swan thought I was going to fight back, because it reared up, hissed in my face,