My Brother From Another Universe

14: Mysterious Stranger

"You have to make sure Alasdair doesn't find that wallet with you. I'll also keep an eye out for any more clues," Austin offers and I smile at her.

"Thanks."

"I'm not doing this for free, you owe me," she scoffs and walks out.

"She loves me, she just doesn't want to admit it," I say to Travis as we leave the janitor's closet.

→ → → → →

"So, our new suspect is Alasdair Thomas," Mr. Trainor says after I fill him in on our discovery.

"We're not sure yet if he's a suspect, he could've been a victim of the burglar so we just wanna keep our eyes on him for now."

"Whether he's a victim or not, he's still a suspect."

"Your coaching program starts today right?" Travis asks.

"Yes, in fact it starts in thirteen minutes," Mr. Trainor says, looking at his watch.

As if on cue, Alasdair walks into the chemistry lab flashing his signature smile, the one he uses to get girls. Mr. Trainor gets up to greet him.

"Welcome Alasdair, we were just talking about you— I mean we were just talking about how helpful this program is for the students of this school who will be participating in the young Inventors contest. I'm glad you could make it, now we just have to wait for Nathan."

"Thanks Mr. Trainor, it means a lot to me that you set up this program. I'm really looking forward to winning this contest, it would be huge for me and my career." Alasdair turns to acknowledge me. "Hi Avan, fancy seeing you here. Being the innovative genius that you are, I didn't think you'd need this program."

"No one is above mentoring especially since there are people who are more knowledgeable than them in that aspect," I tell him.

"I'll leave now so you guys can do your thing," Travis announces. "I'll be in the quad. He seems fishy, don't let him out of your sight," he whispers to me before leaving.

Nathan shows up two minutes late with some flimsy excuse and we start the session. We talk about our purpose for competing, our motivation, and even our inventions. Alasdair's invention is actually impressive, it is a time travel machine which he has not quite yet perfected but believes that he would before the contest. While Nathan's invention increases the size of anything it is targeted at and works pretty well, according to him. We end the session with a cheesy pep talk from Mr. Trainor, who promises to offer us his guidance and assistance in any way we would need it before and during the contest.

"I can't believe we're the only ones competing from this school, I hope one of us wins," Nathan says to us as we leave the lab. He is one of those nerds you can identify even from a mile away. We never really got to be friends even though we have been in science club together since third grade.

"I hope it's me," Alasdair whispers just loud enough for me to hear it.

"We should hang out together so we can bond and support one another."

I know Nathan doesn't have any friends except for the creatures in the biology lab so I accept his offer. "Sure, I don't mind," I say.

"I don't think I'm gonna have the time to hang out or bond cause I'll be too busy with things that matter, so maybe some other time," Alasdair says and walks away. I had no idea he was such a snob.

"I never wanted to be friends with him anyway, he is so full of himself. But I've always admired you, ever since I knew you back in third grade. You are so determined, hardworking and modest. I've always wanted to be friends, but didn't know how to approach you because I had social anxiety and everyone called me a nerd so I thought you wouldn't want to be my friend."