Chapter 11 - We Went Commando on the School Janitor

Nathan plunked several folders on our usual table at Gil's. The plan was to be executed in two days and we still didn't have a car or a way to break into our old high school.

"Here's a list of what we need and please know your part," he said mostly to Chuck and Reed who took the folders gingerly, throwing me looks that said something between "This isn't fun anymore," and "You're brother's a total nerd."

Like I needed to be reminded of that.

"Guys, we can't screw up on this, alright?" I muttered, hoping they won't back out on me.

They just both nodded with a reluctant "Psshyeah," while thumbing through the pages of whatever it was Nathan came up overnight.

"There's still this problem about getting into the school. Chuck, I may have to involve Becky on this. Is that okay?"

Chuck just nodded blankly, like he didn't really get what I said before sipping from his cup.

"Hot! Hot! HOT!" he yelped, spitting coffee all over his older brother's Bob Marley T-shirt.

They started arguing and nudging each other while Nathan and me groaned and sighed until they got tired of arguing who sucked more at spitting. The argument then veered to whoever ate Chuck's secret stash of chocolate pudding in the fridge. In the end, they threatened each other of broadcasting to the world that they named their blankies Fluffycape and Mr. Huggers.

"Dudes! Focus," I muttered, staring at the ceiling. I could feel a coma coming just listening to these two.

"Okay. Relax," Reed groaned dabbing a napkin over his stained shirt. He fished something out of his pocket and showed it to us. It was a set of three keys. "Yes," he said before we could say anything. "A duplicate of the back entrance and the gym. Stole it from Matt's room last Tuesday. He had them just in case we had to practice football on the weekends. I remembered him telling me that he didn't return it to Lynch yet."

Lynch was the creepy psycho school janitor who constantly shouted and yelled and cursed at students for stepping on his floor. There was this one time when he rigged the water thermostat connected to the Hillers'-Hopkinton High's football team-shower room because the team accidentally "trampled" on the floor he just polished right after practice. Most of the jocks, including Chuck and Reed sustained first degree burns after that.

Chuck's eyes widened, almost spluttering out coffee at us. "Bro! Matt is so going to kill you if he finds out."

"I know right?" Reed sniggered. "It's a payback for stealing your future girlfriend then losing her to a huge dude with teeth like Clorets."

"Bitter much?" Nathan blurted. Got no clue if he even knew the backstory about Becky and Matt, but I was sure they were referring to Drake as the Clorets-teeth guy.

The Ferguson brothers just shrugged and did their super complicated secret handshake, which I'd no intent whatsoever on learning.

"Now that everything's settled, all we need is a car," Nathan rubbed his chin and looked outside through the glass panels of the diner.

At that point, just right after Nathan said the word car, a fatigue nineties' Isuzu pickup truck swerved to the narrow customer's parking lot. We threw each other meaningful looks when we saw who drove the truck. Skinny, pale, brown curly hair, big droopy eyes, a forehead wide enough to land a helicopter on and a pair of rectangular glasses jutting over his nose. Ricky Burns, chess club president, and certified nerd.

"Boys, I think we just found ourselves a ride," Reed said grinning.

* * *

"Can you please remind me why I'm doing this?" Ricky groaned as he manoeuvred his truck to Hopkinton High. His voice was a bit too high-pitched for a full-grown man that if you just listened, he'd almost sound like your Grandma in a bad hair day.

Rolling his eyes, Chuck hit him jokily on the shoulder. "Because, Ricky, it's exciting and you don't get much excitement in your old boring life, do you?"

I wasn't okay with the Ferguson brothers bullying Ricky Burns into our plan. But it wasn't like I had much room to think about human rights and world peace. It was an emergency.

"And, you can hang with us for a change," Reed added, giving me a rueful face. It was his idea. But I didn't think he was enjoying it either.

Ricky seemed to think about it for a moment. Then he flashed a nervous grin. "Okay... But just to be clear, we can't get arrested. It will damage my smooth permanent records and since I'm nineteen this would be considered a criminal act. I would want to land on a decent college."

"Blabbity blah," Nathan muttered. "Lily-livered."

I nudged him to shut up. Really, I'd no idea what he meant by lily-livered. Brits and their weird jumble of words. Ugh.

"Getting arrested? Not on my list. But we did tell you to practice running for your life," I said when the school came into view. "Park here," I barked when we reached the turn to the parking lot.

It was a Saturday, meaning no make-up summer classes. The school grounds were practically empty. I almost expected tumbleweed to pass by. It was getting dark. My celestial watch read fifteen minutes past five. Perfect timing.

We all moved out of the truck. Chuck, Reed, Nathan and Ricky were looking intently at me. Seriously, we huddled together-a practice insisted upon by the Ferguson brothers since they so missed football.

I cleared my throat and began the rundown. "Chuck, Reed; you know the drill. We'll break in while Ricky and Nathan wait in the truck. Hopefully, we won't need a getaway. I'll come with you to breach the area. If Lynch is still in, you know what to do. If everything goes smoothly and we get out, we'll commence phase two. If not-"

"Go on without you?" Ricky butted in, his lips shivering. He looked pale, almost green like he was ready to throw up.

"No," Chuck and Reed said in unison. "If not, run like hell and we do Plan B."

"Okay... What's Plan B?" he asked wringing his hands.

"We'll make it up as we go along," said Nathan impatiently. "So that being said, men, it's been an honor working you."

"Overkill!" Chuck grinned. "We're like some Special Ops team. This is so cool."

We ran to the back gate, trying to remain unseen. If we used the front entrance, we'd have to cross the parking lot and people might spot us. Once we got there, Reed reproduced the keys and fumbled with the locks. His hands were shaking. I couldn't blame him. The ramming in my chest wasn't so good either.

"Relax, bro," Chuck grabbed the set of keys from his brother's hand and unlocked the deadbolt, smiling coolly when we heard the soft click that meant we were in. "See?"

Grinning widely like idiots, we got in and darted behind the dumpster down Bio Lab's sliding window. I made a mental note to use it as an emergency escape if things went out of hand. Chuck led us to the backdoor commonly used by jocks as a shortcut to the football field. He unlocked it. No sign of Lynch so far so we pushed through.

The hallways were empty and quiet. I was almost sure that the smelly janitor had called it a day when I heard the faint hum of his floor polisher. Pausing, Reed bumped onto me and I had to shut them both up or we'd be toast. Not making a sound, I pointed to the next corridor and mouthed, "Lynch."

Both nodding, they took the opposite turn from where Lynch must be having a date with his mop while I inched to chance a peek to the next corridor. And there he was. Simon Lynch, janitor, in his faded yellow jumpsuit, his balding forehead glistening under the lights. Creepily, he was dancing with his mop, pretending that it was the girl of his dreams. From behind him, I waited for a signal from Chuck, which came a minute later.

Then I made my move. I hurried to the janitor's closet straight ahead, ducking low so he won't see me. Luckily, he was still busy smooth-talking his mop girlfriend so he didn't notice me. When I reached the closet which was conveniently next to the gym, I opened the door. Cobwebs and dust rained from the ceiling. It made me wonder if Lynch ever used it. No time to worry about that now. All I needed was a distraction.

I grabbed a shovel leaning on the wall and raked it around the narrow room. The cleaning utensils toppled over, creating an avalanche that clanged like a frenetic drum solo. Dodging the mountain of metal and plastic, I heard Lynch howl like a mad man. Or a rabid dog.

Music to my ears, I thought, before doing a mad dash to the next corridor. I was careful not to jerk my broken arm too hard as I did but it was still killing me. My sneakers skidded on the ridiculously clean floor as I made the turn and got away from the closet as quick as I could, running into a dead end. While I was hidden with my back pressed against the wall, Chuck and Reed went to work.

Their hoods were up as they approach the distracted Lynch from behind and grabbed the lanky guy on both arms. When he fought to break free-sputtering tons of sailor-ish curses-Chuck pulled out a handkerchief from his pocket and pressed it on the janitor's face. The magic hanky was drugged. The chloroform was Nathan's idea-something he picked up from the crazy bunch of drunks who virtually raised him. In theory, it could knock the man for a few hours tops. Just what we needed.

It wasn't long before his body turned limp but Reed gave him a whack on the head with a plastic broomstick just to be sure. When he wakes up, he'd have a fuzzy recollection of what happened, a massive headache and a huge bump on the side of his head, thanks to Reed's finishing blow. Nothing too dangerous. Hopefully, he'd live.

Simon Lynch fell flat on his floor. I joined with the guys and helped them tie him up. Though I could only do so much with my casted arm stuck in a sling. Once all done, we stuffed him in the janitor's closet and wedged a portable ladder on the doorknob just to be sure that he won't be around soon.

"That'd keep him out for a while," Reed grinned panting as he headed to his assigned post near Mr. Collins homeroom. "Vengeance is sweet!"

Chuck gave me a so-so look and whispered, "Well, he's kind of ruthless that way," before following his brother's lead.

Note to self: never cross Reed Ferguson.

With the janitor out of the way, we nodded at each other and did some high-fives before I jogged back out to the road where Nathan and Ricky waited. They looked relieved to see me.

"Phase one, completed," I announced in a hushed tone. "Nathan, you know what to do."

A wild grin broke on his face and I felt like I was looking at my crazy reflection in the mirror. "Of course, I do. I'm the genius here."

With a taunting smirk, I tilted my head to Ricky, who was wiping his thick glasses on the sleeve of his plaid button-up shirt. "Wrong. Looks like you got competition."

Annoyed, he grunted, rolling his eyes. "I might not be the best, brother. But no one is better than me."

After that, Nathan headed into the school to assume his position. All according to plan, I reminded myself. Ricky and me hauled ourselves into the truck to pick-up Becky and Sarah. I'd have preferred to drive since he was too much of a chicken to go over fifty. Obviously, my little car accident in Milford had been the talk of the town and Ricky didn't trust me or anyone else to keep his truck in top shape. Or else his Gran might throw a fit.

We stopped by Becky's house-a three-story building painted in a dull hue that was neither brown but nor quite yellow. The truck slowed down just under the shades of a humongous acorn tree that draped the off-white roof. Becky got up from the steps of the front porch when she saw us arriving.

"This better be good," she muttered, looking surprised to see Ricky in the driver's seat.

I let out a sigh once we were back on the road. Becky had changed a lot over the years. Even Sarah seemed to spot how cold her best friend had turned out to be. The shrill but sweet, fun-loving girl I'd come to know was no more. Maybe it was the upshot of hanging around Matt's cheerleader friends for so long. But for the meantime, I needed her.

It took a lot of buying off and sucking up to convince her to just go with my plan. Whatever Drake Morris was feeding her, it must be loaded with some sort of mind-control stuff.

"Remember my condition, kid," Freddy warned before I rolled up the window. "Are we clear?"

"Crystal," I nodded, glancing at the backseat where Sarah and Becky sat side by side in silence.

As much as her dad wanted Sarah to get her memories back, her safety was our first priority. To be honest, I hadn't expected Freddy to be cool with the idea. It was downright absurd. But it was the best we got.

The second we hit the road, I borrowed Ricky's cellular-mine was confiscated by Arthur and I was too darn broke to buy a new one-and texted Reed.

Trget secured. Get redy 4 phase 2.

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People: I just want you to know that you're making my writing life hectic (laughs madly while sipping energy drink). And yet again, I underestimated your voting prowess! *sobs* You can be very pushy when you want to. So as promised, here it is. But just to give me a little break, I'm raising the bar to 50 votes (too much? well, if it doesn't get any higher than that, I'd post after 3 days). REED----> TO THE RIGHT.

PS. You are the awesomest!!! XD