"Christopher Pike - Weekend" - читать интересную книгу автора (Pike Christopher)

Lena's guilt had not been definitely established. However, few believed her expressed innocence. Simply
no one at school had the mind to hatch an elaborate, evil plot - other than Lena - and the facts pointed a
mighty guilty finger her way.

Along with Angie and Robin, Kerry was a song leader. In honour of the homecoming festivities, they had
developed a new routine to perform at the pep rally to be held at lunchtime in the gym, the day before the
big game. It involved the usual bouncing through the air and spread-eagled stretching. Lena was well
aware of the specifics of the routine. Though not a member of any cheering squad -- she had passed
such adolescent displays, so she said - she contributed, through her sister, extra twists. One of Lena's
exotic suggestions was the straw that broke the camel's back, the twist that tore the panties.

Because the song leaders' uniforms were warm, and Santa Barbara was sunk in a rare heat wave, the
girls wore regular clothes to the morning classes, leaving their uniforms in their gym lockers. While on her
way to the locker room at the start of lunch, Kerry was stopped by Lena, who wanted to chat. Under
normal circumstances, Kerry would not have had the slightest inclination to "chat" with Lena, and now
that she was in a hurry to change, she was less anxious. Nevertheless, Lena succeeded in delaying her to
the point where Kerry was cutting it close. To top it off, as they parted company, Lenaaccidentally spilt
her Coke on Kerry's shorts, the soft drink soaking through to her underwear. No big problem, though
Kerry was mad. She was going to change into her uniform in a minute anyway. The only difference now
was that sheprobably wouldn't be able to wear her underwear. When Kerry reached the locker room,
she rushed into her song clothes, not having a chance to take note of any irregularities.

The pep rally started like so many other boring pep rallies. The punchy football coach strutted to the
microphone and mumbled a couple of slow lines about how smart - football-wise - their team was this
year, and introduced a few key players that everyone already knew. Shani was sitting in the front row of
the audience with Park. They cheered loudly for good-natured "Big Bert" -- an unusual member of their
unusual gang -- but otherwise they were hardly listening. It was only when the song leaders came on that
she sat up and took notice. Of course, three of her friends were in the group, but perhaps she also had a
premonition of danger, for her stomach had begun to ache like it did when she was worrying deeply.
Park also stirred to life. His girl friend, Robin -- whom he supposedly loved very much -- was the
leader of the group. He had his camera primed and was clicking away the second they launched into their
routine. Even then, Shani had felt that he had taken an unusually high number of pictures of Angie.

In the middle of the skit, Kerry flew spreadeagled over Robin's shoulders and Shani thought she heard a
rip. But at first she decided that she must have been mistaken, for no one else appeared to have heard
anything. Then a low murmur began to spread through the audience, a sound that quickly built to loud
whistles and hoots. This was an example of how fast gossip could spread, for, although she was sitting in
the front, and although the song leaders' dresses were short, Shani could see nothing unusual as far as
Kerry was concerned. Neither could Park -- Shani asked him twice what was going on. But a few
people, probably only a handful in the entire crowd, hadthought they had caught a flash of Kerry's bare
bottom. Afterwards, of course, there weredozens of guys whoswore they were one of the chosen few.
The fact that they wereall liars made no difference. Ironically, Kerry was probably the last one in the gym
to know there was a problem. The record they performed to continued on, though it was practically
drowned out in the commotion, and Kerry continued to swirl and twist and bend, not noticing any
draught. Shani finally got the word through the grapevine of what wassupposedly happening, and then it
seemed ages to her before Kerry found out. In reality, from the moment of the rip to the instant of her
bewildered halting, possibly twenty seconds had elapsed. It was Angie who finally stopped her and
whispered something in her ear, probably just a line to get Kerry to leave the gym as quickly as possible.
Angie even escorted her to the door. As they crossed the basketball court floor, the audience granted
them a brief respite. But the second they were out of view, they flew back into ecstasy.