MVP #1 Read online

  MVP

  #1 The Gold Medal Mess

  #2 The Soccer Surprise

  #3 The Football Fumble

  Also by David A. Kelly

  The Ballpark Mysteries® series

  Babe Ruth and the Baseball Curse

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

  Text copyright © 2016 by David A. Kelly

  Cover art and interior illustrations copyright © 2016 by Scott Brundage

  Photograph credits: this page: Pete Niesen/​Shutterstock.​com;

  this page: Herbert Kratky/​Shutterstock.​com

  All rights reserved. Published in the United States by Random House Children’s Books, a division of Penguin Random House LLC, New York.

  Random House and the colophon are registered trademarks and A Stepping Stone Book and the colophon are trademarks of Penguin Random House LLC.

  Ballpark Mysteries® is a registered trademark of Upside Research, Inc.

  Visit us on the Web!

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  Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

  Names: Kelly, David A. (David Andrew), 1964– | Brundage, Scott, illustrator.

  Title: The gold medal mess / David A. Kelly; illustrated by Scott Brundage.

  Description: New York : Random House Books for Young Readers, [2016] |

  Series: MVP; #1 | “A Stepping Stone Book.” | Summary: “Five friends are ready for their school’s Olympics field day. But not everyone wants to play fair. Someone is trying to ruin the events!

  Can the kids in the Most Valuable Player club solve the mystery, save the Olympics, and take home the gold? Includes sports facts”— Provided by publisher.

  Identifiers: LCCN 2015023503 | ISBN 978-0-553-51319-6 (paperback) |

  ISBN 978-0-553-51320-2 (hardcover library binding) | ISBN 978-0-553-51321-9 (ebook) Subjects: | CYAC: Sports—Fiction. | Olympics—Fiction. | Friendship—Fiction. | Clubs—Fiction. | Schools—Fiction. | Mystery and detective stories. | BISAC: JUVENILE FICTION / Sports & Recreation / General. | JUVENILE FICTION / Mysteries & Detective Stories. | JUVENILE FICTION / School & Education.

  Classification: LCC PZ7.K2936 Go 2016 | DDC [Fic]—dc23

  LC record available at http://​lccn.​loc.​gov/​2015023503

  eBook ISBN 9780553513219

  This book has been officially leveled by using the F&P Text Level Gradient™ Leveling System. Random House Children’s Books supports the First Amendment and celebrates the right to read.

  v4.1

  a

  CONTENTS

  Cover

  Also by David A. Kelly

  Title Page

  Copyright

  Dedication

  MVP Stats: Meet the MVPs!

  1. Olympic Trouble

  2. Too Many Threats

  3. Check the Blueprints

  4. A Plan

  5. The Torch Relay Tangle

  6. Matching Prints?

  7. A Big Break

  8. A Matching Pair

  9. A Slippery Target

  10. Gold Medal MVPs

  MVP Stats

  Excerpt from MVP #2: The Soccer Surprise

  To all the wonderful teachers, librarians, parents, and kids at the real Franklin Elementary School in West Newton, Massachusetts

  —D.A.K.

  For all the kids who stayed indoors drawing, this is good research for what the other guys are up to.

  —S.B.

  Max stared at the big round target on the other side of the gym. He held his bow steady and then let go of the string. The arrow sailed across the room.

  THWAP! It stuck to the outer circle of the target.

  “Nice shot!” said Max’s best friend, Alice. She hopped up from the gym floor and straightened her shirt. It had a big picture of a dog on it. Alice loved animals. She had three dogs at home.

  “Now it’s my turn!” Alice said. She loaded an arrow into her bow and pulled the string tight. “Three…two…one…”

  SNAP! Alice let go.

  THWAP! The arrow struck the center of the target. Bull’s-eye!

  “Way to go, Alice!” called a boy in a blue-striped shirt sitting on the bleachers. It was Max and Alice’s friend Luke. He had come to watch them practice archery for the next day’s annual school Olympics. It was Friday afternoon. Classes had just let out at Franklin Elementary School.

  “I think you’re definitely on target for a gold medal,” Luke said as he stood up. “Get it? On target?”

  Alice rolled her eyes. “Yes, Luke, I get it,” she said. Luke loved to joke around. “Maybe if you were practicing like us you’d be able to win a medal, too.”

  “The only way I’m going to win is if they give out medals for not doing homework!” Luke said. He bounded off the bleachers. Luke could move fast when he wanted to, but he usually didn’t want to. He always said that he was saving his energy for important things, like eating.

  Max ran over to the target and tried to pull the arrows off, but their sticky suction-cup heads stuck tight. He leaned against the target and gave the arrows a good yank. After a few seconds, they came off with a popping sound.

  Luke headed for the door. “I’m going outside to look for Kat,” he said. “She’s practicing for the relay event.” Kat was Luke’s twin sister. Even though they both had dark curly hair, they weren’t identical twins.

  “We’ll meet you outside in a few minutes,” Alice called. “We just have to stop by the office.”

  Luke nodded. He disappeared out the door. Alice and Max put their bows and arrows away in the corner. Then they picked up their backpacks and left the gym.

  Their sneakers echoed as they walked down the hallway. All week, older kids from the nearby middle school had been helping to get ready for the next day’s Olympics. The middle-school kids had planned the events. They had also made the bright blue-and-gold posters that lined the halls.

  Max and Alice passed by the main entrance. A small table stood near the door. On it was a sign-in book and name tags for visitors to use when they entered the school. As they passed the table, something caught Max’s eye.

  He ran over, but instead of stopping in time, he skidded and bumped into the table. SMACK! The sign-in book and name tags went flying.

  Max steadied the table and scrambled to pick up the stuff that he had knocked off. Max was one of the clumsier kids at Franklin.

  “Nice job!” Alice called out. “I guess you’re hoping to win the gold medal for messiest student!”

  Max shook his head as he put the name tags back. “No, I saw something weird,” he said. Max picked an envelope up from the floor. His eyes grew wide. “This is it! You’ve got to see this!”

  Alice rushed over. Scrawled across the front of the envelope was a message in black ink.

  BEWARE!

  CANCEL YOUR OLYMPICS!

  “Wow!” Alice said. “That’s not good!”

  “No, it isn’t,” Max said. “Let’s go show Mrs. Doolin!”

  Max and Alice raced to the main office. Mrs. Doolin was sitting at her desk. Behind her, the door to the principal’s office was closed.

  “What’s the hurry?” she asked when Max and Alice flew into the room. “Are you done with the archery equipment?”

  Alice nodded. “We put it back in the corner, just like you told us to,” she said.

  “What’s wrong, then?” Mrs. Doolin asked. “You two look like you saw a ghost!�
�

  Max held out the envelope. “This is the problem,” he said.

  Mrs. Doolin let out a little gasp. “Oh no!”

  She took the envelope and opened it. A piece of paper fell out. Mrs. Doolin unfolded it. Her eyes grew wide as she read. She dropped the note on her desk and turned to call for the principal. “Mr. Hardy! Can you come here, please? There’s something I need you to see.”

  While Mrs. Doolin was waiting for Mr. Hardy, Max and Alice leaned over to sneak a look at the letter. In the middle of the paper was a message:

  YOUR OLYMPICS ARE A JOKE.

  CANCEL THEM, OR THE JOKE WILL BE ON YOU!

  Mr. Hardy rushed out of his office. He was wearing a crisp white shirt with a red-and-blue striped tie.

  Mrs. Doolin handed him the envelope and note. Mr. Hardy read the note and a frown crossed his face. When he finished, he glanced at the warning on the envelope.

  “Where’d you get this?” he asked.

  Mrs. Doolin nodded toward Alice and Max. “They found it on the sign-in table,” she said.

  Mr. Hardy peered at Alice and Max for a moment. Then he looked at the piece of paper again. “Hrmph,” he grunted. He gave the note back to Mrs. Doolin and dropped the envelope in the trash can next to her desk. He waved his hand.

  “I’ll take care of this,” Mr. Hardy said. “It’s probably just someone playing a joke. Like the time Billy Sullivan programmed all the classroom whiteboards to display a message that read School’s canceled! Go home! You kids don’t have to worry. I’ll check it out.”

  Mr. Hardy turned back toward his office and said, “Mrs. Doolin, can I see you for a moment?”

  Mrs. Doolin glanced at Max and Alice. “Thanks for letting us know about this,” she whispered. “I’m sure Mr. Hardy will check it out. I’ll let you two know if we learn anything.”

  “Okay,” Alice said.

  Mrs. Doolin disappeared into Mr. Hardy’s office. Max and Alice headed for the main entrance. When they reached it, Max gave the heavy metal door a good shove.

  “Hey, watch it!” called a voice to their right. It was Doug, one of the kids helping to organize the Olympics. He was a middle school student now, but everyone knew him because he used to be a star athlete at Franklin.

  Doug put his hand up to stop the door from hitting him and dropped the edge of the poster he was holding.

  As the door closed, Max and Alice noticed an older girl named Millie hanging posters on the other side of the entrance. Nearby, other middle schoolers were spread out on the ground, painting large banners. The banners read One World, One Team and Share the Olympic Spirit. They were filled with Greek-looking letters, images of classical columns, the Acropolis, crowns made from olive branches, and gold medals.

  The door banged shut. Doug stared down at Max and Alice.

  “Sorry!” Max said. He picked up the end of the poster and handed it back to Doug. Doug grabbed the top corner of the poster. He went back to sticking it to the wall with masking tape.

  “It’s okay,” Doug said. “Just try to be more careful.”

  “Okay,” Max said. He and Alice turned and headed down the front steps. But before they hit the last one, Max stopped short.

  “Hang on,” he said. “What if Mr. Hardy’s wrong and that Olympic threat isn’t a joke?”

  Alice stopped and shrugged. “I don’t know,” she said. “What can we do about it?”

  “We can investigate!” Max said. Max was always investigating something. His father was a police detective. Max wanted to be a scientist. He went to special camps during vacation weeks and in the summer. The previous summer he’d spent a week at a detective camp, where they learned how to dust for fingerprints and solve mysteries.

  “We can start by getting that envelope. Maybe we can dust it for fingerprints or something.” Max pointed to the window of Mr. Hardy’s office. It was just to the left of the front door. They could see Mr. Hardy at his desk talking on the telephone. Mrs. Doolin was sitting nearby. “If we hurry, we can get the envelope from the trash before they’re done!”

  Alice nodded. “All right, good idea,” she said. “Let’s go!”

  They ran back up the steps and carefully slipped inside the front door. Max peeked into the main office. The room was empty, but they could hear Mr. Hardy’s voice behind his closed door.

  “They’re still in there,” Max said. “Now’s our chance.”

  They tiptoed into the room and made straight for the trash can. Max dropped down and rummaged through the trash. He pulled up different scraps of paper until he found the threatening envelope. Just as he picked it up, they heard Mr. Hardy put down his phone.

  Alice put her finger to her lips. She pointed at Mr. Hardy’s door and motioned for Max to follow her. Max slipped the envelope into his back pocket as they sneaked closer. They didn’t have to get very close to hear Mrs. Doolin and Mr. Hardy talking.

  “Well, what did the chief of police say?” Mrs. Doolin asked. “That’s the second threat we’ve gotten this week about the Olympics! Now will she do something about it?”

  “She’s going to send a police officer to the school for the games,” Mr. Hardy said. “But I really hope we don’t have any other problems.”

  “Why?” Mrs. Doolin asked.

  “Because if we get any other threats, the chief of police said we’ll have to cancel the Olympics!”

  The side door of the school flew open, and Max and Alice ran out. “They can’t cancel the Olympics!” Max said. “We’ve got to tell the others.”

  Alice pointed to a big grassy field next to the school. “There they are,” she said.

  On the field, an oval racetrack had been marked out with wooden sticks and a rope. Luke and Kat were standing at the starting line that had been drawn on the grass with white chalk. Next to them was Nico, a tall boy with straight dark hair. He was one of Franklin’s best athletes. Ms. Suraci, the school’s PE teacher, stood nearby. She had a ponytail and wore a blue tracksuit with stripes on the side.

  Max and Alice began to run over, but before they reached the starting line, Ms. Suraci held out her phone with the speaker on. They heard a voice say “Three, two, one, go!” and a loud buzzer split the air. The race had started! Luke, Nico, and Kat took off running. Kat quickly took the lead, with Nico hot on her heels.

  Max and Alice stopped to cheer them on.

  “Come on, Kat!” Alice yelled.

  “Go, Nico!” Max shouted.

  As the three rounded the far end of the racecourse, Nico pulled ahead of Kat. Kat’s curly hair bounced up and down as she tried to catch up with him. But Nico’s long, tall body had an advantage. He was pumping his arms and running as fast as he could.

  Max and Alice cheered them as they rounded the final corner. Ms. Suraci was standing at the finish line. Nico flew across the line first! Then Kat zoomed across. The bright purple ribbons holding back her curly hair streamed along behind her.

  Luke finished last. He was panting and out of breath.

  “Nico wins the gold!” Ms. Suraci called out. “Kat gets silver! And Luke wins bronze!”

  Kat and Luke flopped on the ground to catch their breath, but Nico punched his fist into the air. “Yeah!” he said. “A gold medal in running would be great, but I really want to win the gold in gymnastics.”

  “No one else has a chance,” Alice said. “You’re our top tumbler!” She gave Nico a high five.

  As the clap from the high five echoed in the air, Nico dropped his hands to the ground and flipped his feet up over his head. His body arched into a circle as he turned two perfect handsprings!

  Nico landed right in front of Max. “Ta-da!” he said. Nico loved to show off. His long arms and legs made him good at running, jumping, twisting, bouncing, flipping, spinning, and anything else that would make most other people queasy.

  Alice and Ms. Suraci clapped. Then Ms. Suraci pretended to put medals around each of the runners’ necks, just like they did at the real Olympics. When she was finished, Ms. Su
raci checked her watch. “That was fun, kids,” she said. “But I have to get going. I’ll be rooting for you at the big race tomorrow!”

  The kids waved goodbye to Ms. Suraci. She walked across the field to the teachers’ parking lot behind the school. When she was safely out of earshot, Max leaned over to the group.

  “Make sure you enjoy those medals,” Max said. “Because you might not have a chance to win one tomorrow!”

  Everyone looked at Max. “What do you mean?” Nico asked.

  “We just heard the Olympics might be canceled!” Alice answered.

  “Why?” Kat asked.

  “Someone has been sending threatening messages to the school,” Alice said. “We found a note saying the school should call off the Olympics.”

  “They can’t do that!” Nico said. He slumped to the grass.

  “Maybe we can figure out who did it,” Kat said. “We should look for clues.”

  “That’s what I was thinking. We need to find out who’s making our Olympics a mess!” Max said. “And I know where to start!”

  Max always had a plan. He reached into his back pocket and pulled out the envelope. He held it so they could read the BEWARE warning.

  “Alice and I snagged this from the trash can in the main office,” Max said. “It’s the envelope the note came in. I was going to try to dust it for fingerprints, so just hold it by the edges.”

  Max passed the envelope to Kat. She took it gently by the corners and turned it over to look at each side.

  “Um, Max?” Kat said. “I don’t think you need to dust this envelope for fingerprints.”

  “What do you mean?” Max asked.

  Kat pointed at the flap on the back of the envelope. There, right above the sticky part, were two bright blue fingerprints!

  “It looks like you’ve already found the fingerprints of the person who’s threatening the Olympics!” Kat said.

  The kids huddled around Kat to get a better look. The fingerprints seemed like a deep blue smudge, unless you looked closely.