Explorers...a twin
story-Part 3
Copyright (C) 1999 by
Sampast and D. A. Landhill
Monday morning arrived,
just like it was supposed to. Jennifer had hoped she would go to sleep Sunday
night and wake up Tuesday morning. She was hoping to just skip Monday all
together. She was so nervous, there were butterflies
in her stomach. She almost asked if she could stay home from school, but then
realized she would really "catch it" from Libby, when she got back.
The school day was very
long and tense for Jennifer. Libby didn't say anything to Jennifer at all in
class. At lunchtime, was another story.
"So? You got
them?" Libby whispered to Jenn.
"Yeah, it wasn't easy,
but I got 'em," she replied.
"How'd you do
that?" Molly asked.
"A magician never
reveals her secrets," Jennifer laughed.
Cynthia laughed, too.
"Yeah, maybe it's better that we don't know HOW
she got them, anyway."
"Okay, so we're all
set to meet at the flagpole at 3:00, right?" Libby asked everyone.
"Yeah, okay,"
Jenn said. She still had to think of something to tell Robin about why she
wouldn't be going home with her. She couldn't say she had detention, 'cause her
parents would call to check.
At 3:00, Robin met Jennifer
by the flagpole. She saw Libby and Molly and Cynthia walking over.
"Hey, how come they're
coming this way?" Robin asked, pointing.
Jenn looked to see where
her sister was pointing, and said, very nonchalantly, "Oh, I don't know.
Maybe they meet their parents here, too. Um, Robin, I'm not coming now. I told
my teacher I would stay after school and help clean up this big project that we
did. Tell Mommy I'll get a ride home from Uncle Jack. Okay?"
"Okay, I'll tell
her," Robin said. She started to walk away toward her mother's car. Then
she turned, and walked back. "Are you sure you're okay, Jenn? You didn't
get in trouble, and are afraid to tell Mommy, did you?"
"No, it's nothing like
that. Really," Jenn said, trying to hurry Robin away, before Libby and the
gang got to the spot. "I'll be fine. Tell Mommy I'll be home around 4:30,
unless Uncle Jack has to stay later. Okay?"
"Okay, Jenn,"
Robin said. But upon walking away, wasn't too sure she believed her sister.
As Robin got into the car
and told Lisa that Jenn was staying after, she turned and saw Jennifer talking
to Libby, Molly, and Cynthia. Then, Robin watched, as the four of them, walked
back toward the school building.
"Oh,
no!" Robin
thought. "I hope they're not still doing that teacher's
lounge thing."
"Ready?" Lisa asked.
"Yeah, I'm
ready," Robin muttered, adjusting her seat belt. Robin shook her head as
Lisa drove away.
Inside the school,
Jennifer, and the gang, stood outside the teacher's lounge. They looked up at
the big letters on the door.
"Just think, girls,
we'll be the first kids ever, to go inside here," Libby said in hushed
tones.
Jennifer
pulled out the key ring, and stumbled to find the one labeled, simply,
"lounge". She tried to put it in the lock, but found her hands wouldn't
move.
"I can't do it, I'm
too nervous," she said.
"Oh, gimme that!" Libby said, grabbing the key from
Jennifer. "I'll do it!"
All the girls looked up and
down the hallway again, to make sure there was nobody around. Then Libby
inserted the key in the lock, and turned. The door gave way, and Libby pushed
it open.
They couldn't believe it.
There they were, inside the teacher's room at last.
They hurried in and closed
the door. Cynthia went over to the wall, and flipped on the light switch. The
girls looked around, and took everything in. There were two long tables, with
chairs around them. There was a refrigerator, a microwave, a coffee machine,
and a sink in one corner and a pay phone in another. There was a large cork board
with a lot of flyers and notices pinned to it with push-pins. In the middle of
one table was a glass vase with a bunch of artificial flowers.
Other than that, on first
glance, the girls didn't see much else.
"C'mon, this can't be it.
Let's look around," suggested Libby.
"I don't know, Libby.
Maybe we should just leave. You never know who might still be in the building.
I don't want to get caught in here," Jennifer said.
Libby turned on Jennifer.
"Look, squirt. I didn't come here just to take one quick glance and then
leave. This is our big chance. We're going to be famous. Come on!" She
paused. "Unless, you want to leave now. Then, of
course, you can say goodbye to being in the "cool" group."
Jennifer didn't know what
to do. She knew it was wrong to be there, but then again, she had already
broken so many rules, what was one more?
"Okay, I'll stay. What
should I do?" Jenn asked.
"Let's rearrange the
flyers on that board," suggested Libby.
So they did. They moved the
notices so that they spelled out "Kids Rule". This meant overlapping
them, and folding some, so that they were not very readable as flyers any more.
Jennifer was not happy about this, but she figured that no real harm was being
done.
"Now
what? I'm
bored," complained Molly.
"Let's look in that
cupboard over there, beside the microwave. There might be some neat stuff
there," said Cynthia.
They looked and all that
was there were coffee supplies. They knocked some of the sugar packets out onto
the floor, but that wasn't very fun. They lifted the chairs onto the tables,
which gave a weird effect, but that wore off after a moment. Jennifer was
starting to think that this wasn't much fun at all, particularly considering
the risk involved.
"I know," said
Libby, "Let's fill up that vase with water, as if the flowers were real.
They'll never figure that one out."
So they carried the vase
over to the sink. It was made of thick glass, and it was heavy. They filled it
three-quarters full of water, not without getting a lot splashed on the outside
-- the vase was awkward to hold , and thee sink was not really designed for this
kind of thing. Then they started to carry the vase back to the table.
"Oh! Oh No!"
cried Cynthia, as her grip slipped.
The vase smashed to the
floor. There was water and broken glass everywhere.
"We better get out of
here, fast!" said Libby.
"Yeah"
"Right" agreed Molly and Cynthia. Jennifer was open
mouthed, unable to speak at all.
As they were leaving --in a
hurry -- Libby told Jenn, "You lock that door again. Then they won't find
it so quick; we gotta have time to get away."
Jennifer complied. Delay
seemed like a VERY good idea to her.
The other kids all lived in
walking distance to the school, or bike distance, anyway. They split up.
Jennifer headed for her uncle's office. She figured that she had to catch a
ride home with him, or her mother would know she had lied, and she would be in
more trouble.
Jennifer went into her
uncle's office She saw that he was alone -- his
secretary had gone home.
"Uncle
Jack?"
"Jennifer?! What are you doing here?"
"I stayed after to
help clean up, and then to study. Can I get a ride home? I'm sorry that I
forgot to ask you earlier."
Jack was a bit put out by
this, but he couldn't very well leave her alone at the school.
"All right, Jennifer,
but you really ought to ask me before you count on a ride like this. I have
about another half hour of work to do, so you just sit quietly and study,
please."
"Okay, Uncle Jack. I
will."
After a
little more than the promised half hour, Jack finished up. He led Jennifer out to his car.
"Jennifer, I have to
pick up some cleaning and bring it home right away for your Aunt Joan, so you
will have to wait at my house for a few minutes before I take you home."
Jennifer couldn't believe
her ears. This gave her exactly the chance she needed to sneak the keys back.
Jennifer waited in the car
while Jack stopped at the dry cleaners and picked up a dress for his wife. Soon
they were at Jack's house, and Jack told Jennifer to come in and wait for him
while he brought the dress up. (Joan and Jack were going out and she needed to
start getting ready.)
Jennifer came in and sat in
the living room while Jack went upstairs. No sooner had he gone than she
scurried into the study, intent on replacing the 'borrowed" keys. In fact
she was so intent that she didn't hear her uncle come back downstairs, in a
hurry to get Jennifer home and pick up the baby-sitter, until he was looking in
at her opening the desk drawer and taking the keys out of her pocket.
"Jennifer Clemente!
*What* are you doing in my desk?"
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
(to be continued...hey, nothing like a
cliffhanger, huh?)