The Cheater

  FEAR STREET®

  SUPER CHILLER

  by R.L.Stine

  Twice a year—twice the terror!

  PARTY SUMMER

  SILENT NIGHT

  GOODNIGHT KISS

  BROKEN HEARTS

  SILENT NIGHT 2

  THE DEAD LIFEGUARD

  CHEERLEADERS: THE NEW EVIL

  Look for a new Fear Street®

  Super Chiller in June 1995.

  Available from Archway Paperbacks Published by Pocket Books

  No Way Out …

  Something gleamed among the scraps of paper and pencils and tape in the drawer. Something shiny and black.

  A gun.

  Adam reached around Carter and picked up the pistol. She stared at him in shock.

  “Like it?” he asked her.

  Carter was shaking now. She was alone in a house on Fear Street with a guy who had a gun.

  Books by R. L. Stine

  Fear Street

  THE NEW GIRL

  THE SURPRISE PARTY

  THE OVERNIGHT

  MISSING

  THE WRONG NUMBER

  THE SLEEPWALKER

  HAUNTED

  HALLOWEEN PARTY

  THE STEPSISTER

  SKI WEEKEND

  THE FIRE GAME

  LIGHTS OUT

  THE SECRET BEDROOM

  THE KNIFE

  PROM QUEEN

  FIRST DATE

  THE BEST FRIEND

  THE CHEATER

  SUNBURN

  THE NEW BOY

  THE DARE

  BAD DREAMS

  DOUBLE DATE

  THE THRILL CLUB

  ONE EVIL SUMMER

  THE MIND READER

  WRONG NUMBER 2

  Fear Street Super Chiller

  PARTY SUMMER

  SILENT NIGHT

  GOODNIGHT KISS

  BROKEN HEARTS

  SILENT NIGHT 2

  THE DEAD LIFEGUARD

  CHEERLEADERS: THE NEW EVIL

  The Fear Street Saga

  THE BETRAYAL

  THE SECRET

  THE BURNING

  Fear Street Cheerleaders

  THE FIRST EVIL

  THE SECOND EVIL

  THE THIRD EVIL

  99 Fear Street: The House of Evil

  THE FIRST HORROR

  THE SECOND HORROR

  THE THIRD HORROR

  Other Novels

  HOW I BROKE UP WITH ERNIE

  PHONE CALLS

  CURTAINS

  BROKEN DATE

  Available from ARCHWAY Paperbacks

  For orders other than by individual consumers, Archway Books grants a discount on the purchase of 10 or more copies of single titles for special markets or premium use. For further details, please write to the Vice-President of Special Markets, Pocket Books, 1230 Avenue of the Americas, New York, NY 10020.

  For information on how individual consumers can place orders, please write to Mail Order Department, Paramount Publishing, 200 Old Tappan Road, Old Tappan, NJ 07675.

  The sale of this book without its cover is unauthorized. If you purchased this book without a cover, you should be aware that it was reported to the publisher as “unsold and destroyed.” Neither the author nor the publisher has received payment for the sale of this “stripped book.”

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

  AN ARCHWAY PAPERBACK Original

  An Archway Paperback published by

  POCKET BOOKS, a division of Simon & Schuster Inc.

  1230 Avenue of the Americas, New York, NY 10020

  www.SimonandSchuster.com

  Copyright © 1993 by Parachute Press, Inc.

  All rights reserved, including the right to reproduce this book or portions thereof in any form whatsoever.

  For information address Pocket Books, 1230 Avenue of the Americas, New York, NY 10020

  ISBN: 0-671-73867-4

  ISBN-13: 978-0-6717-3867-9

  eISBN-13: 978-1-4391-2076-7

  First Archway Paperback printing April 1993

  10 9 8

  FEAR STREET is a registered trademark of Parachute Press, Inc.

  AN ARCHWAY PAPERBACK and colophon are registered trademarks of Simon & Schuster Inc.

  Cover art by Bill Schmidt

  Printed in the U.S.A.

  IL7+

  Chapter 1

  The first time Carter Phillips thought about cheating, it was a joke. Carter had never cheated in her life.

  Later that day she surprised herself by thinking about it seriously. Am I desperate enough to cheat? she wondered.

  And the frightening answer came back: Yes.

  As she sat in advanced math class, chin in hand, her silky white-blond hair hanging veil-like in front of her face, she stared at Mr. Raub standing behind his desk.

  Why had she ever thought she could do advanced math?

  “Just a reminder,” said the math teacher. He was a pale, thin, bald man with a brown mustache. “If any of you want to take the math achievement test again, it’s being given Saturday at Waynesbridge Junior College. It’s a chance to improve your score. But most of you guys did okay the first time, I’m happy to say.”

  The bell rang. Carter sighed and picked up her books. She was joined by her boyfriend, Dan Mason, and her best friend, Jill Bancroft. The three of them made their way out of the classroom together.

  Jill flipped her long brown hair over her shoulder and turned to Carter with sympathy. “Do you really have to take it again?” she asked. “I mean, your score was better than mine, and I’m not taking it on Saturday.”

  “You don’t have to live with my father,” Carter said with a sigh. “Judge Carter. Who judges all the time.”

  Carter’s father was a criminal court judge in Shadyside. She was very proud of him—she knew that people admired him, that he had a lot of influence in town. More than anything, Carter wanted to please her father, but it wasn’t always easy. He had very high standards, and he expected Carter, his only child, to live up to them.

  Carter’s father used to tell her how proud he was of her almost every day, but something had gone wrong.

  Carter was a very good student, but her weakest subject was math. She remembered the exact day, a few months earlier. Her math achievement test scores had just arrived in the mail. Judge Phillips stood watching over her shoulder as she opened the envelope.

  She looked at the score—570. Not bad, she thought, pleased with herself. Not bad for math….

  She turned around to show the score to her father, but saw that he had already seen it. She could tell by his face that she’d been wrong: evidently 570 was not a good score.

  Frowning, the judge crossed his arms over his chest and said, “Well, Carter, I guess you’ll have to take it over again. You can’t get into Princeton with a math score like that.” He turned and strode back into his study, shutting the door behind him.

  Carter’s heart sank. She’d always been able to please her father—she’d won tennis tournaments, school prizes, and made honor roll every year—but now she couldn’t.

  Her father had graduated from Princeton, and he’d talked about sending Carter there as long as she could remember. She’d never even asked herself whether she wanted to go to Princeton. It had always been a given.

  Now it appeared that something stood in her way—advanced math. One little test score was keeping her from being successful, keeping her from fulfilling her father’s dream.

  It didn’t seem fair.

  Carter had tried her best, but this time her best wasn’t good enough.

 
Carter’s mother came into the living room just after the judge had shut himself in his study. Carter was still standing with the test results in her hand, her head hanging down.

  Mrs. Phillips didn’t even ask Carter about her test scores. She just glanced at the closed study door and said, “Honey, I’m late for the Hospital Fund meeting. Tell your father I’ll be home around six, will you?” She kissed Carter on the forehead and breezed out the door with a clatter of jewelry.

  Carter stared after her in a daze. She realized she’d have to take the math test over. She’d have to study and study. There was no way out of it.

  Deep down, she knew it wouldn’t help. She’d never get the score she needed, not in a million years.

  Now Dan put his arm around Carter’s shoulders as they walked through the hall at school. “It won’t be so bad, Carter,” he said. “Just a few hours on Saturday and it’ll be over forever.”

  Carter looked up at her tall, good-looking boyfriend and tried to smile.

  “I don’t mind retaking the test—not too much anyway,” she said. “That’s not the problem. The problem is that Daddy expects me to score at least seven hundred—and I know I can’t do it. I studied my brains out the first time I took the test. I’ve been studying hard this time too, but it’s hopeless! You have to be practically a genius to get a seven hundred—and I’m no math genius.”

  Dan sighed. Carter knew he felt uncomfortable about this. He was great at math, and had scored 720 on the test. But he was a modest guy, and he didn’t want Carter to feel bad about it. So he changed the subject.

  “What you need is a milk shake. My treat. Let’s go to The Corner.” He turned to Jill and asked, “Want to come?”

  Jill shook her head. “I can’t. I’ve got a photography club meeting. Try to cheer up, Carter. See you later.”

  “Bye, Jill.”

  Now that Jill was gone, Carter let herself lean over and rest against Dan’s shoulder. They stepped outside into a damp, breezy, warm spring day, unusually warm for March.

  They walked the few blocks to The Corner, a coffee shop and hangout for kids from Shadyside High. It was busy—all the booths were taken. Dan and Carter had to settle for the counter and ordered chocolate milk shakes.

  Dan reached down the counter for a copy of Car Talk lying there. “Some motor head must have left it,” he said, flipping the pages. He stopped at a photo spread of luxury cars and asked Carter, “If you could have any of these cars, which would you pick?”

  It was a game they often played. Carter and Dan would drive down a block in their fancy North Hills neighborhood and ask each other which house they’d pick if they could have any one they wanted. Or they’d flip through a magazine and ask each other which outfit they’d pick, or which models they liked the best, or what island they’d go to, if they could go anywhere.

  Carter wasn’t really in the mood for the game, but she dutifully looked over the cars and pointed to a blue Jaguar.

  “I think I’d pick the BMW,” said Dan.

  Carter didn’t look at the BMW. She was absentmindedly watching as the waiters and waitresses changed shifts. Adam Messner, who was in their advanced math class, took an apron from a hook and tied it around his narrow waist. He was starting his shift behind the counter.

  Dan’s hand covered hers, and she turned back to him, to his handsome face, his jaunty smile, straight brown hair, and kind green eyes. Good old Dan. He’d always been there for her.

  He was acting concerned. “Still worrying about your test?” he asked her.

  She nodded. “Things are so tense at home,” she told him. “You know my dad, he always has a lot on his mind. But now, with the Austin case and reporters hounding him, he comes home from court every day in a terrible mood.”

  Everyone in Shadyside knew about the Austin case. Henry Austin was a notorious gang leader who’d been arrested for murder. The press couldn’t get enough of the story, and Judge Phillips, who hated publicity, was presiding over the case.

  “Mom’s no help,” Carter went on. “Sometimes I think all her chatter about her charity balls and committee meetings makes Dad edgier. She lives in her own little world. It’s as if she wants to ignore all the tension in the house, pretend it isn’t there.”

  Carter glanced up at Dan. He nodded and squeezed her hand, encouraging her to say more.

  “And then I come along with my stupid math problem. Dan, there’s no way I can get a seven hundred on this test. I took a practice test just last week and I only scored six hundred. Dad’s going to go through the roof if I don’t do better than that.”

  She sighed and lowered her head, letting her hair fall over her face. “If only I could borrow your brain on Saturday, just for one day—”

  She stopped suddenly and raised her eyes to meet Dan’s. She tucked her hair behind her ears.

  “Hey,” she said, half-laughing. “You could get a seven hundred again, easily. Maybe you could take the test for me. I mean, Carter could be a boy’s name….”

  She let the sentence trail off when she saw Dan’s expression. His smile faded. He frowned.

  Carter felt her face grow hot. She knew she was blushing. How could she have said such a thing?

  “Hey, come on, Dan, I was just kidding,” she said. She poked him in the ribs and pretended to be offended that he could have thought she was serious.

  His face relaxed a bit. “Yeah, I knew you were kidding,” he said nervously.

  Carter pretended to believe him.

  Dan slurped the last of his milk shake and glanced at his watch. “I’ve got to go,” he said. “Mom wants me to pick her up at the tennis club. Want a ride home?”

  “No thanks,” said Carter. “I’m going to meet Jill at the mall in a little while.”

  Dan stood up and kissed her on the cheek. “Don’t worry about the test. I know you’ll come through.”

  She smiled at him. “Sure,” she said. “See you tomorrow.”

  He kissed her again, turned, and made his way out of the restaurant.

  She watched him walk out the door. Staying a minute longer, she stared at the counter and sipped her milk shake.

  Dan was the greatest—sort of. He was so honest, so straight. She liked that about him, but it bothered her at the same time.

  Carter was good too, basically. But sometimes she had an urge to do something just a little bad. Dan was always there to stop her, to keep her sensible and honest, to make her feel guilty for thinking about it, whatever it was.

  She pushed her glass away and glanced up. Adam Messner was smiling at her across the counter.

  How long had he been watching her?

  Carter shifted nervously under his gaze. That smile—there was something behind it. Had he heard her talking to Dan? Had he been listening?

  Adam slowly leaned across the counter toward Carter, leaned in close. “I’ll do it,” he whispered.

  She started and pulled back from him. “What do you mean? Do what?” She knew what he meant.

  “The test,” he said. “I’ll take it for you.”

  She studied his face—a lean, dark-eyed face under longish black hair. He wasn’t smiling now. He was serious.

  Adam was not a friend of Carter’s. He lived in a shabby house on Fear Street, and he hung out with a rough crowd. But he was brilliant at math, Carter knew.

  I shouldn’t do it, she thought. It wouldn’t be right.

  But even as she thought this, she knew she wanted to. She thought of her father, how disappointed he’d be when he saw her new score—no better, maybe even worse, than the first.

  No, she thought. I have to get a seven hundred.

  I’ll do it.

  I’ll cheat.

  She nodded at Adam. She knew he understood.

  “Why are you doing this for me?” she whispered.

  “The way I see it,” he said, moving in close to her, his lips almost brushing her ear, “I’ve got something you want—and you’ve got something I want.”

  Chapt
er 2

  “W-what is it?” Carter stammered. “What do you want?”

  Adam rested his head in his hands, elbows on the counter. “You have to go out with me,” he said. “One date.”

  One date? Carter thought. That’s all?

  She relaxed. All she had to do was go on one date with Adam, and her test problem would be over.

  Or would it? Could it really be that easy to cheat on the test?

  “What if they ask for ID or something?” Carter whispered. “What if they find out what we’re doing?”

  “They won’t,” Adam replied confidently. “I took the test at Waynesbridge the last time. It’s in this huge auditorium filled with hundreds of kids. Nobody checks IDs or anything. It’ll be a piece of cake.”

  He’s got it all figured out, Carter thought. It really might work. Dan would be upset if he found out—but he won’t find out.

  Carter was pretty, and she knew how to handle guys. She’d go out with Adam once, get rid of him, and not tell a soul about it. It was almost too easy.

  This thought made her pause. She studied Adam again. She’d never realized before that he was interested in her—she’d never even given him much thought.

  Now that she was looking at him, she couldn’t help but think he was cute, in a dark, brooding way. He didn’t have Dan’s all-American good looks, but he had something Dan didn’t have—an air of mystery, a sexy kind of daring. He was standing behind the counter now, meeting her gaze, slouching, cool as ever.

  “All right,” she said. “One date.”

  Now he smiled—just a little. “Let’s make it Saturday, the night of the test.”

  “I can’t,” Carter said. “I have a date that night. With Dan.”

  “Break it,” Adam replied.

  She raised her eyebrows in surprise. But she knew she’d break her date with Dan. Just this once.

  Another thought occurred to her. “What is Sheila going to say about this?” she asked Adam.

  Sheila Coss was Adam’s girlfriend. Carter didn’t know Sheila well, but she’d always felt a little afraid of her. She was tough and didn’t mind getting into fights.