THE NEXT day was cool and drizzly. It felt like a Monday, which it actually was. Kerby and Fenton were walking to school, discussing what Kerby had learned from Gay the previous evening.
"How can she be friends with The Enemy?" Kerby said for the third time. "I just don't see how she can actually be at his house and hanging out with them."
"So she's made a new friend," said Fenton. "Don't worry about it. It sounds as though Rita is a nice kid, and remember, you're always talking about how she should be spending more time with kids her own age."
"Yeah, that's great, but Rita's Red's sister!"
"So? I really think we should forget about the whole 'us versus them' mentality. We've got better things to think about, like the go-cart race."
"And that's other thing," said Kerby. "Those copycats are going to be in the race, too. It's bad enough that they're building their own clubhouse, right in our vacant lot, but do they have to enter the race, too?"
"Try not to worry about it," Fenton said with a smile. "Anyway, shouldn't you be getting mentally prepared for your math test?"
Fenton had been helping Kerby with his studies this fall, because even though Kerby was able to get all of his homework done without too much trouble, he always seemed to have a hard time on tests. He would get all nervous and seem to forget everything he had learned, and as a result, his marks were never as high as they should be. Fenton had been working with him on relaxing and focusing his mind, and it was actually helping a bit: his scores on the last couple of quizzes had been better than usual.
"Okay, okay," Kerby muttered. "But it just bugs me..."
The math test did not go well. Kerby kept trying to focus on the problems on the paper in front of him, but his mind kept drifting back to Gay's friendship with Red's sister, the idea of Red's gang building a clubhouse, and the idea that Kerby and his friends would now be competing against Red and his friends in the go-cart race. He found himself staring at the same problem for several minutes, and when he glanced up to check the clock, Kerby noticed yet another distraction.
Spivey MacIntyre, seated at the leftmost desk of the second row, was casually looking at Pamela Parr's test paper! Her desk was right next to his, and since she was a righty and he was a lefty, he had a perfect view. Pamela was easily the smartest kid in the classroom, and Spivey was blatantly copying her answers onto his own test!
Kerby was furious. He wasn't the best student ever, but his parents had taught him the importance of honesty, and Mrs. Weber, the math teacher, had told everyone on the first day of school that she would tolerate absolutely no cheating in her classroom. To see somebody so boldly breaking the rules like this was simply shocking, and he found himself staring dumbly at Spivey's cheating.
"Eyes on your own paper, Kerby," Mrs. Weber warned, as she walked between the desks and saw Kerby gawking at Spivey.
There was a sudden murmuring from the class as most of the other students quickly turned to look at Kerby. Their looks of surprise and shock brought a fierce blush of embarrassment to Kerby's cheeks and his mouth went dry. He wanted to shout, "It wasn't me, it was Spivey!" at the top of his lungs, but his own shock (and reluctance to be seen as a snitch) left him tongue-tied. He opened and closed his mouth several times without uttering a word, realizing all the while what a goof he looked like.
As Kerby looked back down at his test, he just barely heard the chuckling "Oops!" from Spivey's seat. Kerby didn't bother looking up.
Kerby felt slightly better at lunch when he found that Fenton and Bumps had been through similar situations that morning.
"You should'a seen 'im!" Bumps grumbled. "I tried to get to Reading class early today, since Mrs. Silver told me off for being late the last coupla times. So I show up nice and early, and who's already in the room, all by himself? Bull Clodsky was, that's who. And you know what he was doing? Reading the answers from the teacher's book! That sneak, he knew she'd be asking us questions about this stupid story we were supposed to read, and he read them right before class!"
"What a cheater!" Kerby said.
"Yeah, and I didn't even figure it out until Mrs. Silver started asking questions about the story. I knew he was up to something when I came in the room, sorta startling him. He looked up from her desk real quick-like, and slammed the book shut like he was just caught doin' something he shouldn't've. When he saw it was me and not Mrs. Silver, he just stared at me like a big dumb ol' ox and sat down at his desk.
"Then, when class starts and Mrs. Silver starts asking questions about the story, Bull raises his hand for every one! And all of his answers sounded just like a grownup talking, because he just repeated what he read from her teacher's edition!"
Fenton looked disgusted. "Go on," he said with a frown.
"Mrs. Silver was so proud of him," Bumps continued. "She said, 'Oh, Barnaby, you've simply mastered this material.'"
"Barnaby?" Kerby and Fenton said together.
"Yeah, I guess that's his real name. I don't blame him for having a nickname."
Kerby and Fenton both suddenly realized that "Bumps" probably wasn't their friend's real name, either, and that they actually had no idea what it was.
How odd, Fenton thought.
"Anyway," Bumps continued, "after all that, I tried answering the next question myself, and I got it wrong, because I didn't understand that part of the story—but I read it, I swear!—and right after that, Clodsky puts up his meat hand and answers right again. I couldn't believe it!"
"Well, fellows, it looks like the 'Cheaters' Club' got to all of us," Fenton said.
"What happened to you?" Kerby asked.
"Taylor VonNewhauer is in my Science class," Fenton said. "We were doing a chemistry experiment. It involved a great deal of careful measurement of the various reagents, and Taylor was just slopping them around. He could have caused an accident! And when the experiment called for us to stir this mixture and record how long it took to change color, he didn't even do it. He just wrote down some random number and then poured his beaker down the drain so nobody would see that he hadn't even taken the time to properly complete the experiment! And when old Mr. Fisher came around to check everyone's work, he was so impressed with Taylor. 'Ah, my boy, well done! Such quick and efficient work. The rest of us could take a lesson from you, couldn't we, Mister Claypool?'"
Fenton was clearly and uncharacteristically angry. He never raised his voice, and for him to do so now was somewhat startling. He always kept his cool, and nothing seemed to bother him. Kerby realized that maybe Fenton was finally upset because, while the things that usually got Bumps and him riled up were sports, the rivalry with Red's gang, and stuff like that, this was about SCIENCE, which Fenton all but worshipped. The idea of somebody slopping his way through an experiment and actually falsifying results was practically sacrilege to him.
The boys went on for a while, discussing the injustices of the Cheaters' Club, as they were now officially known, then suddenly realized that they had been talking so intently that they hadn't noticed all of the other students leaving the lunchroom to go out to the playground. They got up from their table and headed outside.
A game of touch football had already started up among some boys. Kerby, Fenton, and Bumps started toward the group to join in, but they all stopped short when they saw who was playing. On one team were the boys they had just been talking about: the Cheaters' Club. On the other team, their former favorite rivals: Red Blake, Eddie Mumford, and Pinky Marshall.
Intrigued by this matchup of "bad guys versus bad guys", Kerby and his friends watched the game with interest. It seemed to be going in favor of Red and his friends first, as they moved the ball down the field quickly and scored a touchdown. But when Spivey's team got the ball, things took a turn for the worse. Bull hiked the ball to Spivey, who handed off to Taylor, who then took off like lightning, with Bull lumbering along at his side.
Red was actually a fast runner himself, even though he was almost as big as Bumps. But Taylor was even quicker, and as Red accelerated to catch him, he found himself blocked by Bull, whose meaty arms swung crazily back and forth as he ran. Red put on a desperate burst of speed and tried to cut around Bull, but one of Bull's elbows got him in the ribs. Red grabbed his side in pain as Taylor zoomed into the end zone for a touchdown, his fancy Olympics flashing in the sunlight.
Red slowed to a walk, glaring at Taylor and Bull in frustration. He opened his mouth to say something to them when suddenly there was a BAM! as Spivey, coming up from behind Red, ran into and right over him! Kerby, Fenton, and Bumps all jumped as Red went down.
"Hey!" shouted Pinky Marshall and Eddie Mumford, finally catching up to Red.
"Oops," said Spivey with a grin, continuing to run after Bull and Taylor.
Red, a tough enough kid to not start crying just because he'd been knocked down, rolled to his feet and yelled at Spivey, "Hey! You looking to get your block knocked off? What kind of cheap shot was that?"
But just then, the school bell rang, signaling the end of recess, and Taylor, Bull, and Spivey ran off toward the school doors. Red, Eddie, and Pinky, realizing that they couldn't catch up, started to slowly walk back themselves, heading toward Kerby, Fenton, and Bumps.
"...and who knows what those cheaters will do in the go-cart race," Red was saying.
Omigosh, thought Kerby. The Cheaters' Club was going to be in the race, too? If they were already so terrible in the classroom and at recess, what kind of stunts would they pull in a race, with a big cash prize involved?
"Excuse me, Red," said Fenton politely. "Did you say they were going to enter the go-cart race?"
Red glanced up and saw Kerby and his friends standing there. He paused a moment then said, "Yeah."
Fenton went on, "Well, we're going to be entering, too, and—"
"Yeah, my sister told me. She's been hanging out with Kerby's cousin."
"Yeah," said Kerby, not quite sure what else to say.
Fenton said, "We saw what Spivey did to you, there."
"It was nothin'. I wasn't hurt."
"Well, still, it wasn't fair. And those guys have been cheating in everything since the school year began. We're concerned that they might pull some of that stuff during the go-cart race."
"They don't scare us!" blurted Pinky Marshall.
"Yeah! We'll cream 'em!" said Eddie Mumford.
"They don't stand a chance!" said Red.
"We're not worried about them either," said Bumps.
Although it felt a bit odd to be having a conversation with Red and his friends, Kerby joined in. "Yeah, we aren't, either."
Fenton looked around at all of them. "I know we haven't always gotten along, but it looks as though we have a common enemy here. What do you say we just sort of watch each other's back? Make it harder for them to cheat?"
The others slowly nodded.
"Yeah, well, we'll see you guys later," said Red, motioning for his friends to follow. Kerby, Bumps, and Fenton waited a moment, then went back into the school.
Kerby and Fenton had their next class, Social Studies, together. Bumps went off in the other direction, heading off to Math.
"I'm not so sure we can trust those guys," said Kerby.
"I know, but you have to start somewhere," said Fenton. "I just want to make sure we have a fair chance in this race."
"Just because they're maybe gonna watch out for us doesn't mean that the Cheaters' Club won't be able to pull a fast one."
"I know, but do you have any other ideas?" said Fenton. "What else can we do in a situation like this?"
Both boys suddenly stopped. Grins slowly appeared on each of their faces. Then, at the same time, they shouted, "Let's go talk to Mrs. Graymalkin!"