Sneak Peek -Year 14
"Who gets kicked out of summer school?" Jason asked as he navigated the car out of the school's parking lot. "How does that even make sense?"
"That's the same thing I'm asking." Liam chimed in as he glared at his best friend and partner in crime.
"You don't even start Liam, you're just as bad." Jason retorted, then glanced at Timmy in the rearview. "Your father can handle this. I don't even think I can wrap my head around this one."
That got Timmy's attention. "Please tell me you didn't tell dad." he pleaded.
"I didn't have to tell him, he's the one who got the call."
Liam chuckled. "You're so dead."
"Shut up Liam."
"Put on your seatbelt Timmy." Jason said.
"Why? Your shop's just down the road." He mumbled, but when Jason shot him a look in the mirror, he pulled the belt securely over his chest and fastened it.
"We're not going to the shop. Michael told me to take you in."
Timmy accidentally swallowed his gum. "But—But he said he won't be back from his conference until next week."
"He came back early." Jason responded with a sly smile, and both boys groaned.
"This is all your fault." Liam began. "I told you you should just ignore Dave. I told you! Why do you always have to drag me into your stupid fights?"
Timmy folded his arms before him. "I could have taken him on my own. I didn't tell you to step in."
"Yeah, if I didn't step in you'd be road kill."
"You're both practically road kill anyway. If you're gonna start a fight and get kicked out of school, at least win." Jason put in his two cents.
Liam sighed. "All I wanted to do was finish my summer project, but nooooo—"
Jason tuned out their bickering, choosing instead, to focus his attention on the road. He had a busy day at the shop today, and adding this on top of everything wasn't helping things. Any minute now, Charlotte was going to call in a panic as she usually did when he wasn't around, and he wasn't looking forward to it. It was his fault for hiring unqualified employees any way. His bleeding heart was going to get him into serious trouble one of these days.
He should stop scraping up every stray off the street and hire people who could actually do the job. He sighed. The only reason Michael hadn't come to pick up the boys was because he'd been in an important meeting, but when he'd called to relay the news from the school, he'd sounded pissed.
Timmy didn't know the magnitude of the punishment that was waiting for him and his friend.
"What are you doing?" Liam asked a moment later, causing Jason to glance at them in the rearview mirror.
"I'm trying to produce tears."
"Why?"
"Because dad never gets mad when I cry. It's his weakness." He said with certainty. Jason snorted from the front seat.
"But you never cry." Liam countered with a frown, and Timmy sighed.
"I know." He said, and when he glanced out the window and realized just how close to the Bureau they were, he grabbed Liam's arm. "Quick, tell me something extremely sad."
"Ah..." Liam turned his eyes to the ceiling as he thought about it, then clapped his hands together once and grinned when it came to him. "Easy, I'm dead."
"Ugh, Liam you're right here."
"You said to tell you something extremely sad."
Timmy looked at him as though he had lost his mind. "You're useless, you know that?"
And so it continued for another fifteen minutes until they reached the the Bureau and Jason bid them farewell. "I'll see you boys at home. Timmy tell your dad to remember to get groceries."
The boys entered the Bureau and Sandra, the lady at the front desk, waved them into the bullpen. "Oh look who we have here...the little troublemakers." Alex, one of the agents shouted across the room, causing the others to look their way and chime in.
"What did you do this time, run over somebody's cow?" Eddie, one of his dad's best friends questioned with a wide grin."
"I can't drive." Was his only retort. He was too preoccupied with the upcoming meeting with his dad to come up with anything else.
"Yeah, and if you keep this up, you better believe Michael's not letting you go anywhere near his car when you turn sixteen."
"I've got two years to butter him up." Timmy grinned, though this time his heart wasn't in it.
Liam, who usually made a beeline to Simon, the tech nerd's office whenever he came to the Bureau, was also unresponsive as he stood beside Timmy, playing around in his mind with possible scenarios of how the meeting with Timmy's dad would go.
"He's just finishing up his meeting." Eddie continued, and they both nodded.
Timmy took a seat outside his father's door, and Liam took the one next to him, then they both sat lost in their own thoughts. Timmy, intent on finding a way to produce tears and Liam still playing out scenarios in his head. No matter how many different ways it played out, it always turned out the same way; they were in so much trouble.
The one summer Liam's mom had allowed him to stay with Timmy's parents while she went out of town and this was the summer he had to go and get himself kicked out of summer school. It had taken him and Timmy months to convince her too. Liam sighed.
Just then, the door to Timmy's dad's office swung open and three important-looking people walked out. A second later, his dad's secretary walked out, and smiled at them. "Hey boys, you can go in now." She said, all chirpy like everything was sunshine and rainbows.
Liam entered behind Timmy and felt his heart speed up. He'd always been just a tiny bit terrified of Timmy's dad. Yeah, he was a pretty awesome guy as far as dads went; him and Jason. After all, they took him and Timmy camping and fishing and every year they took their son to some awesome trip overseas. Not to mention the fact that Timmy could tell them anything and they'd listen without judging.
But that didn't change the fact that Michael O'Connell; chief of the FBI, was an imposing man. In Liam's eyes, he was massive, and even though it defied logic and his usual sensible thinking, he still felt like if Michael wanted to, he could squash him like a bug with his bare hands.
Timmy's fathers were cool but they each had one rule. Jason's was get good grades, but of course Timmy had gone and failed History and landed himself in summer school for the whole summer. Liam was only there because he liked learning.
Michael's rule was just as simple; no fighting, and look where they were now.
Michael was sitting in his massive chair with his feet propped on his desk. He leaned back, looking as relaxed as ever, but in his eyes Liam saw his anger and it wasn't pretty. He swallowed hard.
"H—hi Mr. O'Connolly." He gave a nervous little half wave, that Michael acknowledged with a nod.
Timmy, on the other hand, dropped himself into one of the chairs against the wall, propped his cheek in his hand and sighed. "Hi dad."
It was a tense few minutes where they all just sat in silence. Timmy couldn't look his dad in the eye and Liam was too scared to look anywhere but in Michael's eyes. When Michael finally stood and moved the stand in front of the desk, Timmy began to blink hard. Liam rolled his eyes. The idiot was still trying to produce tears.
Michael leaned against the edge of his desk and folded his arms in front of him.
"Come here." He said in that deep bone-chilling voice, and they both went to stand before him.
Michael took Liam's chin in his hand and turned his head to inspect his split lip, then he inspected the bruise on the side of Timmy's head; right beside his right eye. His frown deepened.
"Alright, let's hear it." He said, and as expected they blamed each other.
"It's Liam's fault" and "It's Timmy's fault." they said in unison. Michael was not amused.
Author's Notes
Thanks for reading the sneak peek! Now run back over to Book 1 : A Home For Timmy because it's not done yet!
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-DoUbLe.A
-unedited