Bunny and Clyde

Chapter 1

"Hey, Bunny. Hey, Bunny. Hey, Bunny."

"What is it, Clyde?"

"I know that you're doing your homework or whatever, but Jeremy's been staring at you for five minutes and he's really getting annoyed, so I think you should man up and go talk to him."

"I'll go talk to him."

"Ow!"

"I don't need to "man up". I'll only need that if I'm going to go chat up some out of my league girl with my stupid innuendos and pick up lines."

"Still working on it, I'm sorry!"

"There. Thank you. I forgive you. Now I'm going to talk to Jeremy. Don't steal anything."

Bunny walks over to the brunette standing by the door, running a hand through his hair. He was one of those people who could do that, but make it neater instead of messed up. Clyde would never admit to being jealous of him, but he was.

"Hi, Jeremy. Did you need something?" Bunny rocked on her heels uncomfortably, staring at a fixed point between the boy's eyes like she always did. Then when their conversation was over, she'd wonder what color his eyes were, and promise to look at them when they talked again two weeks later. She never did.

"Yeah. For the past five minutes." He puts a hand up when Bunny starts to apologize. "No. Just-no, I've heard how you apologize to other people and it makes my head hurt a bit. It's not your fault, you had homework. But you also have an obligation as one-half of "Bunny and Clyde", something you really need to rename if you want to stay anonymous, and I have a new case for you. Again."

It took Bunny a few moments to understand what he was saying. Her first thought was: Oh shit he knows! And the second was: He has a case?! And the third was: Again?...

"Oh God, you're our Q! Or something, I've never seen the James Bond movies, but you're the guy who'd slip us those files? No wonder they were typed, no offense."

He sighed and rolled his eyes. "I know my handwriting sucks. Now c'mon, you have to look at this case. It's really weird."

He motions for Clyde to follow them and Bunny turns to see her - what's she's somewhat reluctant to call - best friend gathering up their things messily, much to her dismay, and stumble after them. They all made their way to the Mac Lab, watching the clock. No one was supposed to be there after 4:00 and it was 3:30.

"Okay, so here's the guy who called." Jeremy takes out his beat up hand-me-down Verizon phone and plays the conversation.

"Bunny and Clyde's, state your problem."

"Something gone wrong! Something's gone terribly wrong! The girls! You have to help the girls, please! They're gone wrong, no, there's just gone!"

"Calm down, sir, just tell me what's wrong."

"The girls are gone! I need you to help me find them!"

"Okay, okay, sir, I'll help you find them. Please state your name and the address you'd like us to go to."

"Okay, uh, Henderson Laker and it's Pembrook's Academy. You know the one."

He looks up Bunny and Clyde who are staring at the phone, frowning. He decides to explain. "Hear how he totally calms down the second I ask him where to meet him? He sounds like he's remembering something and acting all dignified. And Pembrook Academy? The richest, most upstate boarding school in the area? Yeah, this guy is part of the staff. Totally."

Bunny nods slowly, "Okay...have you got anything we can work with that's not some dude freaking out, then turning snobbish."

"I bet he drives Porsche," Clyde snarked, "Rich people."

Bunny ran a hand down her face. "Dude. This school charges $20,000 a year, plus. We are all, to some degree, rich."

Clyde shrugs and doesn't answer, instead he points at the clock which shows 3:43. Jeremy sighs and pulls up a few tabs on a computer. He points to a particular news source. The two peer closer and see the headline: GIRLS DISAPPEARING FROM PEMBROOK ACADEMY?

"They haven't filed a report to the police, so there's no one actually doing anything for them. For some reason, they have an agreement not to poke their heads in each others' business, so we're pretty much secondary law enforcement, I guess. Well, you are anyways."

"You're coming with, aren't you." Bunny didn't say it as a question, but rather as a fact. Jeremy nods and hands them two slips of paper.

"Let's meet at the diner a ways down from the school at lunch, so we can regroup before we head up. You two need to get ready to sneak around, so dress accordingly. Oh, and wear nice clothes, but not too nice. We need to look like we have enough money to be "sufficient", but not like we're trying to overthrow them. See you later."

And with that, he races out of the room, backpack slung over his shoulder, calling out for his older brother.

"Wow. He's usually really quiet and whenever he talks, it's usually with dry humor. This is new," Bunny observes.

Clyde snorts, "I know. He's really smart, but with our social standings, he can't be too smart, you know? It's not like he'll get beat up, but he doesn't want to be hounded for homework." When he saw her raised eyebrow, he shrugged, "It was 2 a.m. and he was really tired."

Bunny nods slowly again and picks up her phone, hearing it chime. "M'kay, so your mom just told me that my mom told her that we are taking you home. Again. T-try not to smile and wave at my other friends when we leave, please. I-I really don't need Sam mad at me."

Of course, Clyde doesn't listen. Instead, he looks Sam straight in the eye and smiles, causing the girl to glare and look at her phone.

"That wasn't funny Clyde!" Bunny yells when they're in the safety of her room half an hour later, "Sam hates being excluded! It was bad enough I sit with you after school, now you had to point out that we drive you home? She 'll give her other friends the cold shoulder because of me, and I can't handle that, Clyde!"

He holds his hands up and reaches one out, like he might touch her shoulder. "Okay, okay, I get it. I'm sorry. I didn't think it was that huge of a deal, but I get it now. Okay, I'm sorry."

She takes a deep breath, "Yeah, okay, I feel. I get it. Sorry for screaming."

He pats her shoulder awkwardly, unsure of what to do.

He's better at cracking cases and she's better at fighting people.

They're a dynamic duo, only if there's less feelings involved.