Operation Baby-Sitter Read online

  To Duane, Karen, and Michelle

  Copyright

  Text copyright © 1999 by Catherine M. Christopher

  Illustrations copyright © 1999 by Daniel Vasconcellos

  All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without permission in writing from the publisher, except by a reviewer who may quote brief passages in a review.

  The characters and events portrayed in this book are fictitious. Any similarity to real persons, living or dead, is coincidental and not intended by the author.

  Matt Christopher™ is a trademark of Catherine M. Christopher

  Hachette Book Group

  237 Park Avenue

  New York, NY 10017

  Visit our website at www.HachetteBookGroup.com

  First eBook Edition: December 2009

  ISBN: 978-0-316-09533-4

  Contents

  Copyright

  Soccer ’Cats Team Roster

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Soccer ’Cats Team Roster

  Lou Barnes Striker

  Jerry Dinh Striker

  Stookie Norris Striker

  Dewey London Halfback

  Bundy Neel Halfback

  Amanda Caler Halfback

  Brant Davis Fullback

  Lisa Gaddy Fullback

  Ted Gaddy Fullback

  Alan Minter Fullback

  Bucky Pinter Goalie

  Subs:

  Jason Shearer

  Dale Tuget

  Roy Boswick

  Edith“Eddie”Sweeny

  Chapter 1

  Bundy! Take it!”

  Halfback Bundy Neel, his dark hair sticking straight up, raced to the open spot. He stopped Dewey’s pass, then dribbled the ball toward the Panthers’ goal.

  It was the Soccer ’Cats’ second game of the summer. It was midway through the second half. The score was tied, 4–4.

  Bundy was team captain and wanted to help his squad to a victory. When he had been voted in as team captain, he’d been excited and a little surprised. He had been sure his pal Dewey London was going to be named captain. After all, Dewey had won the team’s logo-design contest. According to the rules of the contest, the winner was supposed to become team captain automatically.

  But Dewey didn’t want to be captain. He had stood in front of the whole team and nominated Bundy for that job. The whole team had seconded the nomination.

  After the vote, the coach had asked Bundy to stick around.“That was a nice move on Dewey’s part, don’t you think?”he had said to Bundy.

  Bundy nodded.

  “It’s that sort of behavior I want my team captain to have,”Coach Bradley continued.“In my book, the best kind of leader leads by example. When the other kids see you giving extra effort, or going for the assist instead of the goal, or just being a good sport even if the team’s having an off day, they’ll do the same things. Right?”

  “Right!”Bundy had agreed.

  So during the week’s practices, Bundy had run faster, worked harder, and shown even more enthusiasm for the game than he usually did. He hadn’t been sure, but he thought his teammates were starting to give more, too.

  Now Bundy dribbled the ball just across the center line. Two Panthers swept in on either side. A third charged him from the front.

  Stookie Norris, a striker, called to Bundy. If anybody could break the tie, it was Stookie.

  Bundy pulled his foot back to kick a pass. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw the attacker on his right move in. He tried to protect the ball, but the Panther stole it anyway.

  Bundy raced after him. In a second, he was running beside him. He knew what he had to do — tackle from the side. It was a tricky move. He had to make sure he was a little ahead of his opponent so he wasn’t attacking from behind. Attacking from behind was a serious foul. He also had to be careful not to kick his opponent. That’s where Bundy usually messed up.

  And it’s where he messed up this time, too. He positioned his body perfectly. But when his foot snaked in to snare the ball, he whacked the Panther’s shin.

  Pheet! The ref blew his whistle and pointed a finger at Bundy.

  “Direct kick!”he said, tossing the ball to the Panther.

  Bundy danced around, trying to guess who would receive the kick. A tall, thin Panther darted forward. Bundy lunged toward him, but he was too late. The kicked ball was stopped by the thin Panther’s foot.

  The Panther dribbled the ball a few feet toward the ’Cats’ goal. Then he booted it up-field. The kick looked strong, but the ball stopped before reaching a teammate.

  Bundy rushed to get it. He pulled up short when he saw Dewey, the center midfielder, intercept it. Now the ball was headed in the right direction!

  “Dewey! Over here!”Bundy yelled, racing toward the Panther goal.

  Dewey sent him the ball. Bundy gave it a solid boot toward the Panthers’ net. The ball soared high over the heads of Panthers and ’Cats alike. Then it soared over the goal and bounced behind the goal line.

  Chapter 2

  Bundy, why didn’t you pass to me?”an angry voice beside him said. It was Stookie.“I was in perfect position.”

  “You were?”Bundy groaned.“Man, I really blew it.”

  Stookie sighed heavily.“No, that’s okay. You would have passed it to me if you’d seen me. I know you’re not a ball hog.”He punched Bundy lightly in the shoulder.“If you were, do you think we would have let you be captain?”

  Bundy shot Stookie a grateful smile and hurried to his spot. Stookie’s comment made missing the goal a little easier.

  And next time, he promised himself, I’ll look for the pass before I go for the goal!

  The game continued. Bundy was taken out, and Edith“Eddie”Sweeny subbed in. Bundy didn’t mind. He knew Coach Bradley always gave every player a chance on the field.

  Eddie attacked her opponents with gusto. But she couldn’t seem to get the ball to any of her teammates. After five minutes, Coach Bradley had Bundy sub back in.

  As Bundy passed a disappointed Eddie, he said,“You really scared the pants off some of those Panthers, Eddie.”Eddie grinned and continued to the bench looking a little happier.

  It was the Panthers’ out. In seconds, the in-bounded ball was headed straight into ’Cats territory. Bundy pounded after it.

  But the Panthers were quick. Their striker dodged around fullbacks Brant Davis and Lisa Gaddy. Ted, Lisa’s twin brother, collided with Alan Minter. The Panther walloped a kick toward the far corner of the net. Goalie Bucky Pinter hurled himself after it. He missed it by inches.

  Now the score was Panthers 5, ’Cats 4. There was only a minute left to play.

  “Come on, let’s tie it up!”Bundy called.“It ain’t over till it’s over!”

  But when the horn blared, signaling the end of the game, the score was still the same. The ’Cats walked off the field with their heads down.

  Bundy did his best to rally them.“We played a good game, ’Cats,”he said over and over.“And we’ll get ‘em next time.”

  After collecting their stuff, Dewey and Bundy walked home together as usual. They talked over the game, then parted to go to their own houses.

  When Bundy turned into his driveway, he was surprised and happy to see his grandfather’s car. Surprised because Grandpa Frederic had been on vacation for the last week. Happy because Bundy loved spending time with his grandfather. Both of Bundy’s paren
ts worked, so it was Grandpa Frederic who welcomed Bundy home after school during the school year and who stayed with Bundy during the summer weekdays.

  Bundy’s parents were with his grandfather in the kitchen. They all looked serious.

  Uh-oh, Bundy thought. I wonder what’s going on.

  Chapter 3

  He didn’t have long to find out.

  “Grandpa Frederic has something to tell you, Bundy,”Mrs. Neel said. Her voice sounded a little funny.

  Grandpa Frederic cleared his throat.“You know I was in Florida last week, right?”

  Bundy nodded.

  “Well, I found a nice house when I was there.”

  “A house?”Bundy echoed.“What for?”

  Grandpa Frederic chuckled.“What are houses usually for?” He turned serious. “Bundy, I’ve decided to move to Florida. Snowy winters aren’t much fun for me anymore.”

  Bundy’s mouth sagged. Grandpa Frederic was moving?

  Grandpa Frederic smiled gently.“Come on, look on the bright side. You can come visit me, and we’ll go to all those cool amusement parks together.”He scratched his chin.“I might even get on a roller coaster.”

  “Dad!”Mrs. Neel scolded, laughing. Then she turned to Bundy and dropped the second bombshell of the day.

  “Since your grandpa is moving,”Mrs. Neel said,“your dad and I have hired a girl to come over every day. She’ll have a car, so she can take you wherever you need to go and —”

  “Wait a minute,”Bundy interrupted, a look of horror on his face.“Are you saying I’m going to have a — a — baby-sitter?”

  Mr. and Mrs. Neel exchanged a glance.

  “Now, Bundy, don’t make it sound so bad,” Mrs. Neel said.“You and Mary have a lot in common. In fact, she —”

  “But I’m ten years old!”Bundy cried.“I can take care of myself.”

  Mr. Neel looked pained.“Your mother and I aren’t comfortable with that, Bundy.”

  His grandfather laid a hand on his arm.

  “Bundy,”he said gently,“what’s so wrong with having someone look after you? That’s all I ever did.”

  Bundy shook his head.“It was different with you. My friends all thought it was cool that we hung out together. But if the other ’Cats find out I have to have a baby-sitter—” The rest of the thought was too terrible to say out loud. He shoved his chair away from the table and ran up the stairs to his bedroom.

  Hot tears pricked his eyes as he flung himself onto his bed.

  A baby-sitter, he thought disgustedly. The captain of a soccer team can’t have a baby-sitter.

  He rolled over and stared at the ceiling.

  There’s only one thing to do, he decided. I’ll have to make her quit. In the meantime, I’ll have to make sure none of the ’Cats finds out about her!

  Chapter 4

  Grandpa Frederic left for Florida a few days later. He gave Bundy a big hug in the airport.

  “Give the baby-sitter a chance,”he whispered. Bundy didn’t say anything. He just held on to his grandpa with all his might.

  Then Grandpa Frederic was gone. Bundy watched the plane until it was a dot in the sky.

  It was Friday. The baby-sitter wouldn’t start until after the weekend. He had three days to come up with a plan.

  At practice, his mind was in a jumble. Part of it was missing his grandfather. Another part was thinking about the baby-sitter. Still another part was trying to figure out what to do about her.

  And underneath all these parts was a tiny section that whispered Grandpa Frederic’s last words to him: Give the baby-sitter a chance.

  He pushed the whisper away and tried to concentrate on practice.

  The coach blew his whistle and called the team together.

  “We’re going to work on defensive moves today,”Coach Bradley said.“Bundy, since you seem to be having a little trouble with the block tackle from the side, I’m going to have you focus on that. Eddie, pair off with him. Now, the rest of you…”

  Eddie Sweeney jumped up, dropped a ball at her feet, and started dribbling down the field.

  Bundy chased after her. He rushed up on her right side and got his left foot in close to the ball. He spun into tackle position. Quick as a wink, he made the steal!

  “Okay, that’s better,”Coach Bradley praised him. He had sent other pairs of players to practice different moves, then returned to where Bundy and Eddie were playing.“Now try it again.”

  This time, Eddie was better prepared, so Bundy had a little more difficulty. But he finally stole the ball.

  For the next ten minutes, Bundy worked on the tackle. Sometimes he was successful. But a lot of times Eddie made it down the length of the field with the ball.

  Finally, he and Eddie switched positions. Her red hair blazing in the sun, Eddie looked determined to master the tackle.

  She didn’t have to work very hard. Coach Bradley was on the other side of the field, and Bundy’s mind was on his baby-sitter problem again. After a few halfhearted plays, Eddie put her hands on her hips and glared at him.

  “What?”Bundy said stupidly.

  Eddie rolled her eyes.“What will it take to make you pay attention?”She got a gleam in her eye.“Oh, wait — I have an idea.”She suddenly stomped on Bundy’s left foot.

  “Ow!”he yelped.“What’d you do that for?”

  Eddie smiled sweetly.“I don’t like to be ignored.”

  Bundy stared at her. A thoughtful look crossed his face.“Being ignored makes you angry, huh? Hmm.”He started to smile.“Eddie, you just gave me a great idea! I could kiss you for it.”

  Eddie backed off.“Don’t even think about it, Bundy Neel,”she warned.“Or your right foot will feel like your left one!”

  Chapter 5

  When Monday morning arrived, Bundy had Operation Baby-Sitter all figured out. He almost couldn’t wait for his parents to leave so he could put it to the test.

  Bundy answered the doorbell when it rang.

  Mary was a tall, athletic-looking girl. She wore gym shorts and a T-shirt with a sports design on it. Her long black hair was pulled back into a ponytail, her bangs falling just above her eyes. She carried a big duffel bag.

  “So, you’re Bundy, huh?”Bundy just shrugged and motioned for her to follow him into the kitchen.

  Bundy was stone-faced at the kitchen table. His parents chattered to fill the silence.

  “Bundy’s got his soccer game this afternoon,”Mrs. Neel said,“but his morning is free. So you should have plenty of time to get to know each other. Right, Bundy?”

  Bundy didn’t answer.

  Mr. Neel pointed out the emergency phone numbers on the fridge.“Not that we expect Bundy to eat poison or anything. At least, not on your first day, ha, ha,”he joked lamely. Mary smiled and shot Bundy a quick“parents-can-be-so-silly”look.

  But Bundy just looked down.

  Finally, his parents left.

  Okay, Bundy thought as he closed the door behind them, time for Operation Baby-Sitter to go into effect!

  He turned from the door and walked across the kitchen.

  “So, what do you feel like doing?”Mary said, reaching for her duffel bag.“Your folks told me you play…”

  Her voice trailed away as Bundy walked up the stairs to his bedroom. Bundy could feel her eyes on him the whole way. Only when he shut the bedroom door did he let out the breath he’d been holding.

  Ignoring Mary was harder than he’d thought. But he was sure that it would be even harder on her. By the day’s end, he hoped she’d be picking up her duffel bag and leaving for good. Who’d want to spend time with someone who pretended you didn’t exist?

  Bundy stayed in his room all morning. He read a few comic books. He started a letter to his grandfather but didn’t get any farther than“Dear Grandpa, How are you?”before putting the pencil down.

  This must be what it’s like to be in jail, he thought. Wish I had a tree outside my window so I could escape.

  All of a sudden, he heard a familiar
sound coming from the backyard.

  Thud. Thud. Thud.

  He peered out the window.

  There was Mary, holding a soccer ball. As Bundy watched, she tossed the ball into the air. She bounced it straight up off one knee, then the other, then back to the first.

  The ball dropped to the ground, and she started to dribble. She dodged imaginary opponents with quick moves. Finally, she sent the ball soaring into a small net she must have brought with her. She retrieved the ball and started back the other way.

  Bundy couldn’t believe it. Mary was a soccer player — and from what he could see, a pretty good one.

  It doesn’t matter, Bundy thought as he followed her every move. She’s a baby-sitter. That makes her the enemy.

  Still, Bundy found a stream of questions cramming his brain. Where had Mary learned to play soccer? Had she been playing a long time? Did she play on a team? What did she know about block tackling?

  He pushed them all aside as best he could, but still the questions came.

  Traitor! he yelled at his brain as he picked up another comic book and started to read.

  Chapter 6

  Half an hour later, the noises from the backyard stopped. Bundy peeked out his window and saw that the yard was empty. He decided to make a break for it.

  He picked up his soccer ball and slowly opened his bedroom door. It gave a squeak, and he froze. But the house was silent.

  Bundy tiptoed down the stairs, then peered into the kitchen. Mary was nowhere in sight.

  Huh, he thought as he hurried out the door to the backyard. Some baby-sitter she is!

  He put the ball on the ground and scanned the windows of the house. She’ll probably hear me dribbling and come running out, wanting to be my best friend.