Tracking Alasdair to his lab is not as easy as we thought it would be, especially since we have no headway. As ridiculous as it sounds, we did have hopes that at least one of us would come up with an idea in their sleep on how we can go about it, but there was none.
I fill Mr. Trainor in on what has been going on since the last meeting we had with him and he suggests that we closely monitor Alasdair's movement to know when he would be going to the lab so we can find out where it is. That is what we are going to do, but we don't have time on our hands especially if he doesn't visit the lab soon.
We end our conversation when Nathan walks into the lab for our weekly session with Mr. Trainor. He greets us cheerfully and reminds me that I agreed to hang out with him someday. I tell him I haven't forgotten even though I have completely and utterly forgotten I ever made such a commitment. Just as Nathan and I take our seats, Alasdair walks in. My impression of him has totally changed ever since I found that cannabis in his room. He greets Mr. Trainor curtly and just offers a "hey" to me and Nathan. Nathan responds in his usual cheerful manner while I just pretend not to see or hear him.
Mr. Trainor starts the session with his signature pep talk before asking us how far we have gone with our inventions. While Nathan is telling us about how his family is really looking forward to his winning the contest and how supportive they have been from the start, Alasdair's phone rings and he excuses himself to pick it up. Mr. Trainor grants him permission to leave the class then uses his eyes to signal me to follow him. I make a show of being pressed and excuse myself then follow Alasdair to the bathroom without his knowing.
"Dude, what do you want? I'm at school, quit calling and texting me!" Alasdair yells at the person on the other side. The person yells back but I am not able to make out what he's saying.
"That's because you kept on calling me!... What do you want?... Why do you want to visit the lab all of a sudden?... Fine, fine. But that would be after school, I can't leave school now... I'll call you and meet you at the lab... And tone down the calls, it's getting annoying... Whatever."
Alasdair leaves the stall and groans before walking out of the bathroom. I wait another two minutes before leaving for the lab. Mr. Trainor cheerfully welcomes us back and we continue the session.
After the session, I tell Mr. Trainor about Alasdair's call with Caleb and he offers to drive us there after school. I text Austin and Wyndy to meet me and Travis in the janitor's closet. I fill them in and we agree to meet at the parking lot.
* * * * *
We meet up at the parking lot after school like we agreed, and as we wait for Alasdair and Mr. Trainor, Chris walks up to Austin and holds her by the waist. "Hey babe," he says. "I've been looking all over for you. Come on, let's go grab some pizza, it's been a while since we hung out together."
Austin looks over at us and back at Chris. "I'm actually in the middle of something important right now, maybe some other time, okay."
The rest of us turn to stare wide-eyed at Austin, stunned by her reply. Chris also looks surprised.
"Really," he says, tilting his head to look at us. "What are you guys up to?"
"Something important, I don't wanna bore you with the details, but we can always go out tomorrow," Austin tells him.
"That's fine, I don't wanna get in the way of whatever it is you're in the middle of. It seems pretty important so I'll let you go, this time."
"Thanks baby." Austin kisses him and he waves us goodbye before walking away.
"Did you really turn down a date with Chris for Avan?" Wyndy asks Austin, nudging her playfully.
"I didn't turn down the date, I just did a rain check."
"You could've easily ditched us to go out with your boyfriend, but you didn't," Wyndy says.
"Do you want me to ditch you?" Austin snaps, getting pissed by Wyndy's teasing.
"I didn't say that."
Austin folds her arms and looks away. "Then stop making this awkward."
"It's not awkward, it's sweet."
"Look, it's Alasdair," Travis announces, drawing our attention and we turn to see Alasdair walking quickly towards an expensive car. It probably belongs to Caleb. He speaks briefly with the driver before getting in and the car zooms off.
Just then, Mr. Trainor pulls up in front of us. Talk about perfect timing. "Get in! I just saw Alasdair driving away in class. Come on, we don't have much time!"
We quickly get in the car; I sit shotgun while the others sit in the back. Fortunately, the car hasn't gone very far and is still within our sight. We follow it from a reasonable distance so the driver won't notice we're following him.
"What if this is a trap?" Travis reasons. "What if Alasdair knows we're on to him and planned to lure us to the lab so they can ambush us?"
"That's possible, but highly unlikely. We haven't even asked him any questions or behaved in any way that would make him suspect we are on to him," Austin says.
"I'm just saying. I have never been to jail and I don't want to go to jail in a foreign universe."
"Calm down, no one's going to jail," Mr. Trainor assures him. "Not while I'm with you guys."
"Yep, we're definitely going to jail," Wyndy deadpans and we laugh.
The car parks by a building where another car is waiting. Mr. Trainor parks at a safe distance so they don't see us. Alasdair comes down from the car he is in and goes over to the other car. He knocks on the window of the backseat and it winds down to reveal a glaring Caleb. He barks orders at Alasdair, who is unfazed by his anger and just goes to unlock the door to the lab.
After opening the door, Alasdair waits for Caleb as he comes down from his car dressed in his usual all-black outfit and baseball hat, just without the sunglasses. Alasdair shuts the door after Caleb enters the lab. They spend about fifteen minutes in the lab before they both walk out. Caleb watches keenly as Alasdair locks the lab and they get into their respective cars which drive off almost immediately. As their cars whiz past us, we duck our heads so Alasdair doesn't catch a glimpse of us.
When the cars are finally out of sight, we get down from Mr. Trainor's car and walk to the lab. Mr. Trainor attempts to open the door, but I stop him because it's an advanced security system and an alarm might go off when someone tries to intrude. We don't need that kind of attention right now.
I take my laptop and equipment out of my backpack and set to work on hacking into the security system and shutting down the security cameras so we can get in without any tassle. Within two minutes I'm done and the door flashes a green light then clicks open. Everyone cheers as we get in.
The lab is really sophisticated with lots of equipment here and there. The walls of the lab are painted white and it just makes it look even more fancy. There is a wide table in the middle of the room which is littered with gadgets and tools. On an elevated platform is Alasdair's invention, it is surrounded by a white colored barricade. Caleb sure loves the color white and he really did spend a lot of money on this lab, I mean, Alasdair doesn't even need most of these equipment and tools.
"If that's the invention Alasdair is working on, then that means he isn't the burglar," Travis points out.
"We don't know that yet," I say.
"What else is there to know? The invention is not at his house neither is it at this lab, so where could it be?"
Austin sighs. "I can't believe we followed him all the way here with the hope that we had come to the end of our search."
"Now we have to find out who the real burglar is, it's just like starting all over," Wyndy adds.
"Don't be discouraged, kids. If we came this close to catching Alasdair thinking he was the burglar, then we can also find the actual burglar," Mr. Trainor says.
"That's easy to say, but where do we start from?" I huff and sit on a stool. "We already spent weeks chasing after the wrong person and the more time we waste, the closer the contest gets."
We hear a car pull up in front of the lab and hide ourselves. Unfortunately for Mr. Trainor, he isn't able to find a place to hide before Caleb walks into the lab.
"I can't believe that fool didn't properly lock the door. Again!" Caleb spits as he walks straight to the table to take his phone which he forgot behind. He pauses when he notices someone else in the lab with him.
"Who are you and what the fuck are you doing here?" He asks.
"Language, please. Also, what I am about to say may or may not surprise you, but I'm sure you may or may not believe me because it may or may not be surprising," Mr. Trainor replies and I try my hardest not to laugh.
"What the hell are you even talking about?"
"I know, I know, and I also know that you're wondering how I got in here. Well, you might have to find that out some other time."
"I'm calling the cops!" Caleb takes his phone out of his pocket and is about to dial the number when Mr. Trainor yells for us to run. We do as instructed and Caleb is shocked to find out there's more of us. "What the—"
I stop at the door to wait for Mr. Trainor to follow us but Caleb is blocking his way. He eventually gets around Caleb and runs out the door with me. Caleb's driver has already come down from the car when he noticed the others running but before he can stop any of us, we run towards Mr. Trainor's car and get in. He quickly starts the car and steps on the gas.
"That was close!" I breathe heavily as I look back to see Caleb coming out of the lab with his phone to his ear.
"Indeed! And it was also kind of fun. I have never been this excited in my entire life, except at parties," Travis says.
"Well, aren't you glad you stumbled upon our universe?" Mr. Trainor asks him, wriggling his brows.
"I sure am, and, I'm also glad I got to meet you guys."
"Awww, we're glad we got to meet you too. You are a whole mood," Wyndy says, and I agree with her.
Mr. Trainor drops Wyndy at her house then drops off the rest of us at home. Dad is home. That's surprising.
"Whose car was that?" He asks, peering out the window.
"Mr. Trainor's," I reply.
"Isn't that the quirky chemistry teacher?"
"Yeah."
Dad raises a questioning brow at us. "He's never dropped you kids off before."
"Yeah... He offered us a ride home and we couldn't refuse."
"And Austin also joined the ride rather than going along with Chris?" Dad sure knows us well. I bet he's catching on to something but we can't tell him where we went because he would get mad that we didn't inform him or mom before going there.
"Yeah, Chris was kinda busy with something really important so Austin had no choice but to come with us."
Austin just stares at me with awe. I bet she's wondering where I learned to tell lies so effortlessly.
"I see," dad says, but he doesn't sound too convinced.
"How was school today?" He finally drops the topic.
"Just the usual, regular school stuff. Nothing special," Austin replies with a shrug.
"Any headway on your quest to find the burglar?"
We stare at one another before Austin speaks up. "There's no significant progress, but let me not bore you with the deets."
"Bore me with the deets, please, that's what I'm here for. And if you need anything or any kind of assistance, you just have to let me know. I will always be here for you kids."
"Thanks dad," Austin and I chorus, then frown at each other.
"What are the cops saying?" Travis asks.
"Your mom says they haven't found anything worthwhile, that's a shame."
"Are they even looking? Heck, we have found more clues and had more progress than they have ever had!" I say.
Dad stands up and puts his hands on my shoulders. "I know it's annoying, but it's their job, maybe they just want to take their time."
"Time is what I don't have!"
At this point, it is safe to say I am frustrated.
"Come here," dad says and hugs me and it is the warmest feeling in the world. "I believe that you will find your invention before the contest. You put in a lot of time and effort into it and the universe won't be fair to you if it doesn't let you get a shot at that contest. So don't relent, you will find your invention."
"Thanks dad."
"Anytime, kiddo. Anytime."
* * * * *
Can't believe how very close the kids thought they were to finding Avan's invention. Oof! That must have been highly disappointing. Still rooting for them to find that invention though, they've come all this way, and it's a long way, really. The cops couldn't even come this far 🙄
So guys, what do you think about all this? And who do you think the mastermind behind the theft of Avan's invention is? Do you think someone is intentionally steering them in the wrong direction?
Stay tuned for more chapters if you're as curious as I am 😏