Kidnapped

Chapter 13: Museum

"Seriously Cole?" Luke asked. "You think that Ms. Jacob is one of the robbers?" I rolled my eyes. "You didn't trust her as much as I do," I reminded him. "Look at all the jewelry she was wearing!"

"So she has jewelry," Luke said unimpressed. "That doesn't mean that she is the robber." "What about the threat?" I said. "You know that she-"

"Cole," Luke sighed. "I know that teacher is bad news, but let's not make her angry. We might get detention or even worse expelled." I rolled my eyes at him. "Fine," I insisted. "But it's only because I don't want to freak out my mom."

We pulled out our textbooks then head to the History classroom where Mr. Aston was sharpening his pencils. When he looked at us, he grinned as he set his pencils besides his textbook.

"Luke and Cole," Mr. Aston said. "You two are the first people to come in through that door." We smiled sheepishly then take our seats. As the classroom was starting to fill up, my phone buzzed.

I immediately turned it off, hoping to look at it after class. Mr. Aston plucked a piece of chalk and scribbled something on the board.

We got right in the middle of discussing what the pros and cons of World War. After Mr. Aston was finished writing things down, he asks the class what was the cons of the war.

No one answered. Sighing, he called on Madison. Madison put down her phone and gave him an annoyed look. "They probably have bad manicured nails." she shrugged. A couple of students laughed at the comment.

Satisfied with her answer, she went back on her phone. Rolling his eyes, he called on Luke. Luke smiled and said the correct answer.

Mr. Aston beamed at him then continued with the lesson while some of the class groaned. While the lesson was going on, I doodled on my history notebook, trying to make a cursive T.

When I gazed at it, it ended up squished in between the lines. I kept trying to make the letter neater until the bell rang for dismissal.

Everyone took their backpacks and left the room while me and Luke trailed behind them. As Luke was getting out his textbooks from his locker, I pulled out my cellphone and glared at the screen.

It was a text message belonged to an unknown caller ID. I instantly knew that it was our "friend". "What's going on?" Luke asked. I showed him the text.

Be careful, it warned. "Why did he send us that message?" I wondered. "I have been getting the same text message as you have," Luke said. " I am not really sure if we can trust this guy."

"I think we should, not that I mean that he's a creepy hacker or something," I explained. "But we still don't know who he is," Luke reminded. "Or why those robbers stole fashion clothes and accessories."

I hate to admit it, but he was right. "Are you still going to the lab?" Luke asked. I nodded. "I'll go text my mom and tell her that I'm going to your house."

Luke nodded and left me to get my things ready. As soon as he left, my phone buzzed again, but this time I ignored it. I zipped my my bag then locked my locker. It took me a couple of minutes to hoist my backpack Sighing in relief, I walked outside of the school then headed to Luke's place.

Patiently, I knocked on the door and waited for Luke to invite me in. The door creaked open and leaned against the doorway. For a minute, I thought it was Luke at the door, but it wasn't

It was his mother. She stared at me with cold eyes. "Hello," I said nervously. "Is Luke here?" Luke's mom leaned against the doorway and sighed.

"Luke, get down here!" she screeched. "Your girlfriend is here!" I blushed fiercely. "I'm his friend," I corrected politely. His mother rolled her eyes.

Luke appeared beside his mother, looking tired and annoyed. "Mom," Luke said. "Do you really have to yell?" His mother ignored him and went back inside the house. "Sorry about that," Luke said. "Come inside."

I smiled then followed him into the house. In the kitchen, I could see Luke's dad, leaning against the fridge, gulping down beer and his mother lighting her cigarette.

I suddenly felt bad for Luke having neglectful parents. As soon as we entered into Luke's room, he removed the rug off of the floor and pulled the latch door.

I took a deep breath then jumped into the dark void with Luke right behind me. Luke flipped the switch and sat on the red desk chair.

I watched carefully as he booted his laptop and started typing. A black and white footage of the servilance camera appeared on the screen.

"Is that the footage of the robbery?" I asked. Luke nodded then pushed the Play button. The video sprung to life as two of the female robbers rushed into the dark clothing store. They both held their flashlights, aiming at the creepy looking mannequins.

The mannequins wore a cute red dress with matching heels. Without warning, one of them stripped the dress and tried removing the shoes, but it didn't came off.

"We have already seen this," I began. "I don't understand-" "Watch closely," Luke said. The two female robbers were in a quarreling argument. Their voices were so low that I couldn't hear them.

"What are they saying?" I asked. " 'Put it down Samantha'," Luke replied. " 'You will create attention.' " I stared at him in awe. "You can read lips?" I said. Luke nodded then continued.

"They wouldn't stop bickering over their clothes," Luke sighed. "One of them wished that the other would stop stealing her jewelry which her husband paid for the anniversary. And the other wouldn't shut up about her shoes."

"Wait," I said. "You said that one of them has a husband?" Luke nodded. "It obviously wasn't Ms. Pepper, because her husband left her from sometime ago." "Does she have a sister?" I asked.

Luke shook his head. "So, if it isn't Ms. Pepper," I began. "Then it must be Ms. Jacob." Luke looked at me then grimaced. "Oh come on," I whined. "It must be Ms. Jacob."

"The new art teacher can't be one of them," Luke explained. "She's weird," I cried. "Charlie's weird," Luke snorted. "But that doesn't-" I started to say.

"Alright," Luke interrupted. "You think Ms. Jacob is a robber, we'll put her as a suspect. Meanwhile, we have to get ready for the field trip tomorrow."

"But what about the unknown caller?" I asked. "We'll worry about him later, okay?" "Alright," I agreed, walking out of the room. "See you tomorrow."

Luke nodded but his eyes remained on the computer screen.