“No problem, buddy. Whatever you want. Money’s not an issue with me. Okay?”

Walt held out his hand to shake. On the third finger was a large silver ring with Walt inlaid in solid-gold script.

Jupiter shook Walt’s hand, smiling as he thought, I don’t want your money, Walt. I want to know where you get it. And you’ve got two weeks to tell me!

The telephone was answered on the first ring. “Three Investigators. You’re talking to Pete Crenshaw.”

“Pete,” Jupiter said quietly.

“Jupe? Jupe, where are you? It’s six o’clock. Kelly and I have been waiting at Headquarters for an hour. We’re starving.”

“I’m in the Shoremont campus bookstore. But the bus doesn’t come for another hour. If I wait, it’ll be two hours before I get home.” Jupe tried not to sound too desperate.

“Oh, so you won’t be here till eight,” Pete said, “Okay. Thanks for calling.”

“Pete, don’t hang up!” Jupe said. “Listen, I need a ride, all right? Otherwise I’m going to be stuck here all night.”

“But Jupe,” Pete said. “You’re a college student! I’m only in high school. You said we shouldn’t be seen together. You said you’d solve your own problems and come up with a big solution on your own.”

Jupe tapped his foot on the floor. “Well, that’s the solution I came up with,” he said. “You come and get me. Okay?”

“You know, you should get a car of your own, Jupe. You really should,” Pete said.

That did it. That really made Jupe squirm. There was nothing he wanted more than a car — especially since his two previous cars had been totaled — and Pete knew it.

“Pete,” Jupe said angrily, “if you don’t come pick me up right now, I’ll never tell you about the progress I’ve made on this case!”

“Is it good?”

“The bribes go deeper — much deeper — than we thought. That’s all I’ll say till you get here.”

“I’m on my way,” Pete said.

Less than an hour later Pete and Jupe arrived back at The Three Investigators’ headquarters. Jupe was wearing a brand-new Shoremont College sweatshirt, which he had bought in the bookstore while waiting for Pete. On the way home, just to get back at Pete, Jupe had refused to talk about the case. A couple of minutes later, Kelly pulled up in her own car with two pizzas.

“Did Pete tell you exactly how I want my pizza now?” Jupe said.

“Yes, Jupe,” said Kelly. “A mini-size pizza in a large pizza box. But what’s the deal?”

“It’s his new diet,” Pete explained as he grabbed up a slice from the large pizza he and Kelly were sharing.

“Jupe, how many weirdo diets do you think you’ve tried?”

“I’d have to check my computer database, but I’d say twenty,” said Jupe.

“Well, this is the weirdest,” Pete said.

“It’s the most logical,” said Jupe. “It’s called the Half-Weight Diet. You can have anything you want — but you can only eat half of it.” Jupe took a slice of pizza, cut it in half, and put only one half on his plate. When he ate that half, he cut another slice in two and began to work on one of those half-slices.

“I’m having trouble watching this,” Kelly said.

“Yeah, Jupe. It doesn’t make sense,” said Pete. “You’ve eaten two half-slices, right? Why don’t you just eat one whole piece?”

“Psychology,” Jupe said. “You wouldn’t understand.”

“Okay, Jupe,” Pete said between bites, “so what happened at Shoremont today?”

“I’ve arranged to be the chemistry tutor for one of the Shoremont basketball players — Walt Klinglesmith,” Jupe said. “It appears that he is rolling in money.”

Pete and Kelly nodded.

“After chemistry, I sat through two feeble classes, trying to meet two other players. But apparently they both cut class. Then I went to the gym, hoping to observe one of their practices, but the team wasn’t there. Only the cheerleaders.”

“So what did they have to say?” asked Kelly.

“Not much,” Jupe said, blushing and looking uncomfortable.

“He means he couldn’t think of anything to say to them,” said Pete. “So he left.”

“Not true,” Jupe said, looking down at his pizza. “I merely decided that the cheerleaders probably wouldn’t know much and that I should focus on the team itself.”

 “Cheerleaders wouldn’t know much?” Kelly jumped to her feet. “Earth to Jupe! Who knows more about a sports team than the cheerleaders? You think all we do is just jump around the gym and scream our lungs out? No way. We follow every play. We keep the crowd in the game. We cheer the team on. We flirt with the players. And some, of us even date the players, especially when they’re total hunks.” Kelly grinned and gave Pete a hug around the neck.

Jupe wondered if Pete’s face turned red from embarrassment or lack of circulation. “Well, since you know so much about cheerleaders, uh, perhaps you’d like to suggest a few conversational gambits I could use,” Jupe said.

“You bet your pompoms I can,” Kelly said. “First of all, you’ve got to charm them. You’ve got to compliment them. You know what a compliment is, don’t you, Jupe?”

“Of course,” Jupe said impatiently.

“Good,” Kelly said. She sat down expectantly in her seat. “Well, go on.”

Pete and Jupe just stared at her. “Go on and what?” Pete asked.

“Go on and compliment me, Jupe,” Kelly said. “Rehearse.”

“Well, uh... ” Jupe rubbed his hands on his jeans. “Well, okay. Uh, gee, Kelly, you’re not as bossy as you used to be.”

“He’s hopeless!” Kelly sighed, rolling her eyes at Pete. “It’s too bad I’m going on my ski trip tomorrow.”

“Skiing?” Jupe interrupted. “How can you go skiing with a Rocky Beach basketball game coming up during vacation? You’re the captain of the cheerleaders. Don’t you have to be there?”

“That’s what co-captains are for,” Kelly said. “You’re gonna need me more than my squad.”

Jupe looked at her doubtfully. “Okay, Kelly, how does one, uh... charm... a cheerleader?”

“You have to win them over,” explained Kelly. “Compliment their jumps, tell them their splits give you goosebumps — things like that. Then they’ll tell you anything. Oh, and this is good, too. Tell them you felt as though they were looking only at you the whole time.”

“Hey!” Pete said. “That’s what you told me. You said you thought I was looking only at you every time I took a foul shot.”

Kelly smiled slyly. “See. I told you it would work, Jupe.”

The next morning Jupe attended classes, and in the afternoon he went to the Shoremont gym. He opened the door a crack, just enough to see that the basketball team wasn’t there. But the cheerleaders were — five of them — in their short purple and white skirts.

Well, Jupe thought, maybe Kelly was right. Maybe he could learn a few things from them. He slipped into the gym and took a seat near the floor. The cheerleaders didn’t notice him. They were in the middle of practicing a cheer.

“Go, Cory! Go, Walt!

You’re the guys they’ll never halt!

Matt can shoot and so can Tim —

And Marty’s so fast we’re sure to win!

Go, Shoremont, go!”

I hope whoever wrote that isn’t majoring in poetry, Jupe thought. Then he tried to get up the nerve to go over to the cheerleaders and talk to them. But he was sweating too much to do it. Anyway, the cheerleaders had stopped cheering and were talking to one another. All Jupe had to do was eavesdrop.

“Hey, give me a break,” one of the girls was saying. Her long dark hair was tied in a ponytail. “You think I’m going out with Cory Brand just because he’s got a condo and a Corvette?”

“Yes!” answered the other four cheerleaders.

“Well, can you think of a better reason?” the first girl said with a deep laugh.

Jupe’s radar went on full alert. This was just what he wanted — they were talking about the basketball players! Cory Brand was one of them.