The Adventures Of Johnny Ace

Earl Grey Elementary Public School

Annabeth Crosby is Billy Crosby's little sister. Billy is the "leader" of the Gangbang Boys. He's as big as a bull and three times stronger. He's the only kid at Earl Grey who drives a Lamborghini to school. I'm pretty sure he's the tallest person too even if you include the teachers. Plus, he's the only person I've ever seen who can smoke weed and dunk a basketball at the same time. I couldn't just wander over to Billy and ask him about stealing Bobby's bike without risking my life, but I could ask Annabeth. She owed me one. 

FYI- Here's how my Private Investigation business works; you can come to me with a problem like, "I think my boyfriend, the quarterback of the football team and the King of the Prom, is cheating on me. Can you follow him around and find out?" So I follow him around for three days or so, hiding in garbage cans and sneaking around in locker rooms until I find out he is cheating on you, and then you owe me one favor. I don't ask for cash because I learned that the hard way that things can get very messy when you're dealing with dough. So I charge them a favor instead. For instance, The Queen of the Prom now owes me one favor, and it's going to be a doozy because her boyfriend, or should I say her ex-boyfriend, is the reason I'll be seeing the world out of one eye for a few days. 

Annabeth owes me a favor, too. I helped her out of a tight jam a few months back. Mrs. Crowner accused her of stealing the marking book for a big math test. She was just about to get tossed out of school when I came to the rescue and saved her by proving it was Lincoln Schneider all along. It had to do with some missing lunch money and a pair of dirty underwear, but that's another story. 

"Hey Annabeth," I said, approaching the playground. Annabeth is built to be an Olympic gymnast. She was hanging upside down on the monkey bars, her ponytail pointing to the ground like a unicorn horn. 

"Ace," she said, flipping off the bars and stamping toward me.

"I'm calling in my favor," I said, stopping her in her tracks

She didn't answer. She just looked me up and down and chewed her gum a little harder.

"I'm looking for a bike."

"I didn't have nothing to do with it."

"So, you know something about a bike that's been swiped?"

"I didn't have nothing to do with it. Billy took it. I tried to take it back."

"Don't make it hard on yourself," I said. "Just tell me where the bike's at."

"You calling me a liar?!" she asked, giving me the hairy eyeball.

"I don't have time for your cat-and-mouse games, Annabeth. Tell me where I can find that bike."

"I tried to bring it back, but the stupid kid has a new one."

I ignored this. Annabeth is like the devil; she'll mix her lies with the truth. "Where's the bike?" I demanded again.

Without warning, she sprang across the few feet that separated us and kicked me, kung-fu style, in the stomach. I collapsed to my knees, almost out of breath. Tiny black dots were floating in front of me, and the world was tilting left to right. Through the dizziness, I saw her sprint across the playground.

I was having the second worst day of my life; I'd been called a liar(even though I have the pictures to prove everything), I'd been beaten up by the quarterback of the football team and now I'd been flattened by a little girl. I figured it might be best just to lie on the ground and play dead. But since when did I do what was best for me?

I pushed myself up, staggered across the playground and caught a glimpse of Annabeth's ponytail bobbing up and down on the other side of a fence as she raced across someone's backyard. Unfortunately for me, just as I was pulling myself onto the fence, my condition kicked in.

FYI- My condition makes me fall asleep at the worst time. I can't help it. The doctors say it's neurological, meaning there's something wrong with my brain. But he also said it was all in my head, but not in my brain because I haven't come to terms with my parents' death. I say I've come to terms with it alright, but I still can't help falling asleep. They tell me to meditate, to exercise, and to try and relax. But when you just got butt kicked and you're jumping over a fence trying to catch the prime suspect in a robbery investigation, it's hard to stay relaxed. So my condition kicked in, and I fell asleep.

I dreamed I was lying on the bottom of the river. A purple grizzly bear rode up on a bicycle. He rang a bell on the handlebars, but it didn't make any noise. Instead, a school of little fish, with sharp little teeth, came out of the bell and attacked me like piranha on the prowl. I tried to fight them off. I tried to bat them away, but I was tired, so tired. And that's when the bear got off the bike, waddled over and sat on my face.

I woke up gasping for air, but all I got was a mouthful of fur, cat fur to be exact. A fat orange and white cat had decided to take a nap on my face while I passed out. I swatted it away, sat up and check my watch. Ten minutes had passed. Annabeth was long gone. I plucked cat hair out of my mouth and decided to head back to the Johnsons'.