It's been several days since the burglar broke into my room and after declaring my room a crime scene and conducting series of investigations and interrogations, the cops were still not able to find him. They put up wanted posters of him with the picture Austin took but still no luck. And the worst part is that there are no clues that could even give us a lead and I feel like the cops are not even trying enough. It seems as though all hopes of finding my invention are lost.
I do not even have the inspiration to create another invention, I would just simply use one of my old inventions and see how far I can get in the contest. It's worth the try. Speaking of trying, I have been trying to get over the loss of my ITM-01 which, quite frankly, is way more difficult than it sounds.
And just when I thought there is no way of tracing the culprit, Austin pulls me and Travis into the janitor's closet to show us the wallet of the burglar she picked up before the cops got to my room. The wallet must have fallen when the burglar was struggling with Travis or with dad. Austin knew the cops wouldn't do much with it seeing as they have been nonchalant concerning the case, so she reckoned that it would be better if we had the wallet so we could find the burglar ourselves. She hasn't even opened it to find out what's in it, she wanted us to uncover it together.
"Good thinking," Travis says.
"Thanks."
"If you had it this whole time why didn't you say anything sooner?" I ask.
"I wasn't sure if it was a good idea for us to withhold clues from the cops, but now, I am more sure than ever because they have not found a single lead since they started investigating this case. It's almost as if they don't care, which I am sure they don't. I mean, come on, this is a theft case, not a murder case. Why is it taking them so long?"
"You're right."
Austin flips her hair. "Duh."
"The burglar must be pretty mad at himself after realizing he dropped his wallet," Travis says.
We check the contents of the wallet and find a bubblegum wrap, some cash, a check of ten thousand dollars and a student ID belonging to Alasdair Thomas from physics class??
"This isn't the burglar," Travis points out.
"That's Alasdair," I say.
"You know him?"
"Yeah, he's in my physics class, and he's one of the two students who applied for Mr. Trainor's mentoring and coaching program."
"That means he's trying to sabotage you by stealing your invention. Such a jerk!" Austin scoffs.
"Then why is his wallet with the burglar? It's possible the burglar stole it, it's what he does."
"It's also possible he has some sort of link with the burglar."
"Let's not jump to conclusions. All we need to do is watch this Alasdair guy for any suspicious activities and for any more clues," Travis suggests.
"Also, what's this check of ten thousand dollars doing in his wallet?" Austin asks.
"Yeah, that's kinda suspicious. We should find out who gave him this check, for what reason and how this wallet ended up with the burglar," I say.
"He's probably involved in some shady deal, they always offer a shit load of money for shady deals."
"Come on, we can't just assume that. What if his dad gave him that check as a reward for being a good son?" Austin and I give Travis a 'what the hell' look for asking such a dumb question.
"Or maybe not," he adds.
"I can join Mr. Trainor's program so I can keep a closer eye on Alasdair cause we only have physics class like twice a week," I say.
"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."
"I can be friends with anyone as long as you're a nice person. I don't care if you're a nerd or a freak."
"I never said I was a freak."
"See you some other time, Nate. Maybe we can hang out later this week," I say and walk away from him as quickly as I can.
"Of course, I'd love that!" He yells excitedly after me and I flinch at the loudness of his voice while making my way to the quad to meet Travis.
→ → → → →
"Where's Austin? She's not here," Travis says, looking around for my sister. We agreed to meet at Rick's Café but she is nowhere to be seen.
"She's having a meeting with her manager, something about her 100th pagaent or whatever," Wyndy replies and we nod understandably.
"You wouldn't believe what we found out today," I say, leaning closer to Wyndy.
"I already got all the deets from Austin," she tells me with a smile as she serves us our coffee.
"Oh, but we didn't order any coffee."
"Rick doesn't like it when people don't order something, especially when it's you."
I bring out my wallet to pay but she stops me. "It's on the house."
"You can't keep giving me free coffee everytime I come here."
"I don't have a problem with that."
"I know, it's just that—"
"So you're just gonna reject my coffee?" She sounds more amused than offended.
"Don't do that, man, it's offensive," Travis says to me as he takes a chug from his cup.
"Of course I can't do that. Thanks for the coffee, Wyndy." I take a sip and smile at her.
"You're always welcome. Now back to the matter at hand."
I put my wallet back in my pocket and Alasdair's wallet falls out from my other pocket. Wyndy's eye catches it and she swiftly picks it up. "Is this the wallet? The one that belongs to Alasdair?" She asks and I nod.
"It's fancy."
"The look of the wallet is not our concern," I say. "It's the content."
"Yeah, so I hear you guys found a huge check in it." Wyndy opens the wallet and empties it on the table. She picks up the check and looks at it.
"It's a real check all right," she confirms and keeps it down, picking up his school ID. "Even in this badly taken picture he still looks cute."
"He may look cute but we don't know if it's all a façade," Travis says.
"Speaking of, I need to tell you something about this guy—"
Before Wyndy can finish her sentence, Alasdair walks into the café and walks to the counter to make his order. We quickly put his things back into his wallet before he catches a glimpse of them. I quickly hide it in my pocket, more safely this time so it doesn't fall out. He walks to a table with only two seats and starts to make a phone call.
"There was something you wanted to tell us about him?" I remind her.
"Yeah. I've noticed that for the past few days, he has been coming here more often than usual, and when he does, he always makes a phone call then someone shows up to meet him."
"Do you know the person?"
"No, he's always wearing a baseball hat and glasses so I never get to see who he really is. But Alasdair already made the call, so the person should be on his way here. We can find out who he is."
"That person's probably the one who gave him that check. But what for?"
"If we're lucky we can find that out as well."
"Uh, why is he coming this way?" Travis asks and I look up to see Alasdair walking towards our table with his pretty boy smirk.
"Hi Wyndy."
"Hi!"
"I thought you weren't at work today when I didn't see you at the counter, I was so disappointed."
Wyndy laughs a very fake laugh. "Don't be, I'm always at work, except when I'm not."
"Yeah. I'm so glad I get to see you today."
Is this guy just going to ignore me while hitting on the girl I like?
"Have you ordered something?"
"Yeah."
"I'll go get it for you," Wyndy offers and I give her a look. Alasdair seems to be quite happy about this.
"Thanks, you are so sweet."
"I know right."
If this conversation doesn't end anytime soon I am going to throw up.
"I would really like to take you out some—"
"Alasdair!"
I literally have nothing to say to this dude, I just had to interrupt him from completing that statement. Even Travis and Wyndy are staring at me like I've lost my sanity.
Very mature, Avan.
"Avan?"
"What's up man? Fancy meeting you here."
"Yeah..."
"Sorry for cutting you off like that, just wanted to say hi before you leave."
"Uh, okay," he says curtly and leaves, but not before winking at Wyndy.
"Dude, what the hell was that?" Travis has a hard time holding in his laughter.
"I have no idea."
"There's something else you need to know about Alasdair," Wyndy says. "He likes me."
"I kind of figured that out."
"So, I am going to use that to my advantage," she says with a smirk.
Travis and I give her a look and she explains to us how she intends on doing that. She offered to serve Alasdair his coffee not because she likes him or wants to spend time with him but because she wants to be there when the mysterious visitor comes. She knows that Alasdair won't ask her to excuse him because he likes her and would want her to stay with him. He also doesn't know that she wants to find out who the burglar is and what his relationship with him is so he wouldn't suspect a thing.
"That's brilliant. You can eavesdrop on their conversation and get info on what Alasdair is up to," Travis remarks.
"But if it's really something shady, I don't think he would want you there while he talks to the stranger," I reason.
"For that, I have an idea." Wyndy smirks and I wonder what's going on in her head. I don't even bother to ask what her idea is. She's been coming up with plans that even I couldn't have thought of and I have to say I'm impressed.
A tall man dressed in all black, complete with a baseball hat and glasses walks into the café. By his gait, I can tell that he's a young man, probably a teenager or in his early twenties. He also has an authoritative aura, he must be rich and affluent or just has very high self esteem. He walks to Alasdair's table and takes a seat after they exchange what I presume to be pleasantries and a handshake.
"That's my cue," Wyndy says and stands up.
"I'll come with you, just in case the guy is dangerous," I tell her.
"You don't have to, I can take care of myself. I have a sharp tongue and sharp fists."
"That's good to know, but I'll stay close by just in case."
I stealthily make my way to the closest table to Alasdair's while Wyndy makes her way to the counter to ready his order. I turn away a little so Alasdair doesn't see me, the table is perfect cause I can see what's going on and am still within earshot.
"What do you mean you lost it? How could you be so careless?!" The man asks Alasdair who just runs his hand through his hair.
"I don't know, it's like someone knew where I hid it and went there to steal it."
"This is not good. If someone knows you had it, then that's a problem. Why do you always have to ruin things?"
"I'll fix it."
"You better. Also, how could you lose the check? You really are careless, I don't know how and why you were recommended to me."
"Someone stole my wallet from my pocket, don't know how they managed to though."
Wyndy approaches the table and serves Alasdair his coffee.
"Here you go," she says with a smile and gets a chair from another table to sit beside Alasdair.
"Thanks."
"Who's your friend?" She gestures towards the man.
"Is this your girlfriend?" The man asks, surprised that Alasdair let her sit with them.
"She's my friend, she works here."
"I didn't know employees were allowed to sit with customers instead of attending to other customers."
"I'm not your regular employee," Wyndy winks at him and he scoffs.
"She's special," Alasdair adds, smiling sheepishly at Wyndy.
"Hey beautiful, can I get a cup of coffee?" The man requests.
"What kind?"
"The best you've got."
"Coming right up."
Wyndy leaves the table to get the order ready.
"I know you're smitten by her but this is a private conversation. Dismiss her when she returns," the man tells Alasdair.
"Is Chris aware of this? Why is he so silent?" He asks.
Chris?
"He is aware, but I guess he's busy or something."
"Too busy to find a solution to this problem? I need to talk to him, and as for you, one more slip up from you and you'll pay for it."
The man slips a piece of paper to Alasdair who quickly puts it in his pocket. It's probably another check.
Wyndy returns with the man's coffee and is about to serve it to him when it slips from her hand and pours on him. The man groans and gets up from his seat.
"What the fuck?!"
"Oh my god, I am so sorry!" Wyndy shrieks and makes attempts at wiping the coffee from his clothes. His baseball hat and glasses fall off in the process and I quickly take a picture of him.
Way to go, Wyndy.