During lunch, we bug Chris for answers to whether Caleb was able to successfully put the tracker on Carly. He tries to continue eating his food and ignore us after giving us a not so satisfactory response but we bug him so much that he stops eating and groans loudly, earning weird looks from the people sitting close to us.

"Would you guys quit badgering me?"

"We would, if you will just answer us!" Wyndy replies matter-of-factly.

"I already told you guys, Caleb hasn't told me anything. He just said we should meet him at the parking lot after school."

"What are we meeting him for? If he's done it, he should just let us know," Alasdair says.

"I bet it's because he wasn't successful in putting the tracker on Carly, if he was, he would've told us by now," Austin reasons.

"I knew all that overconfidence wasn't going to take him anywhere," I mutter.

"I say we should just hear him out and see what he has to say to us," Travis says.

"Whatever. He better have good news," Austin says.

After school, we make our way to the parking lot and Caleb is already there, smoking. He is wearing a uniform and this is my first time seeing him in one. He must be attending one of those prestigious private schools. When he sees us approaching, he throws the stub on the floor and steps on it.

"You should lay off smoking, it's not good for your health," Austin advises him but he just smirks at her.

"Make me, baby doll."

Austin rolls her eyes so much that I'm scared her eyes might roll into their sockets.

"How come you're already here? Didn't you go to school today?" Chris asks him.

"I left school early cause I wanted to meet up with you guys, and, school was boring."

"So why did you want to meet us here?" Alasdair asks, getting impatient.

"I wanted to see your lovely faces." He beams but we return the gesture with deadpan stares.

"Please go straight to the point, I have to go to work," Wyndy snaps.

"Well—"

"Did you put the tracker on your sister?" I ask.

"No."

We murmur in disappointment and he rubs the back of his head sheepishly.

"Hear me out, guys. It was an accident, okay. I wanted to bump into Carly just like Austin suggested, but the tracker fell and while I was looking for it, I stepped on it and kinda destroyed it."

"Kinda?" I raise a brow at him and he sighs.

"I'm sorry I let you guys down, I didn't mean to, I swear."

"Well, there goes our last resort. Thanks for nothing, Caleb," Travis says.

"Come on! Don't be so hard on me."

"We aren't even being hard on you!"

"Not to worry guys, our last resort is not completely in the mud," I say and they all turn to look at me.

"You can fix the tracker?" Chris asks.

"No. If Caleb crushed it, then there is no hope of fixing it. But, that wasn't the only invisible tracker I had."

Now I've gotten their full attention.

"You said it was..." Caleb says.

"Yeah, but that's because I didn't want to give them both to you. I suspected you were going to flop because you were being too confident so I decided to keep the other one, and, it's risky to put all your eggs in one basket," I explain.

"So where's the other tracker?" Austin asks.

"I put it on Nathan earlier today while pretending to bump into him, he was too pissed off to notice anything. And it's kinda synonymous with putting the tracker on Carly since they're accomplices."

"That's genius!" Wyndy remarks with a loud clap.

"Now we still have a chance of finding out where the inventions are, thanks to Avan," Travis says.

"Hey! I made effort too." Caleb pouts and I shake my head at his antics. It's nice to see this boyish side of him.

"Yeah, but yours was insignificant," Austin tells him.

"It is good to know the plan wasn't completely ruined because of me." Caleb turns serious, shoving his hands into his pants pockets.

"Now that everything's settled, can we leave? I don't wanna be late for work," Wyndy says.

Chris gives her a lift to work since he is already dropping Austin off at practice while Caleb offers to drive the rest of us home.

* * * * * * * * * * * *

Travis helps me get ready for my date with Wyndy while I constantly check the clock so I'm not late in picking her up.

"Relax friend, it's just sixteen minutes past five, you have time," Travis tells me when he notices I've been watching the time.

"I know, but I can't help it, I'm nervous so I need the distraction."

"Which is why you need to relax."

Chris and Alasdair enter my room, greeting and shaking hands with Travis like they have been friends for years.

What's going on here?

"Avan! My man!" Chris finally acknowledges me and puts his arm across my shoulders. "You look sharp."

"Thanks," I mumble, shooting Travis a questioning look.

"I invited them over so we could play video games since you decided to ditch me to go out with Wyndy," he tells me.

Why did he have to invite Alasdair though? He knows we don't like each other.

"Dude, I already apologized and promised that we would play tomorrow for as long as you want, to make it up to you."

"I know, but I didn't want to be bored tonight so I invited the two other available friends I have in this universe."

During the course of our working together to find our stolen inventions, I revealed to Chris, Alasdair and Caleb what my invention does, so now, they know that Travis is from a parallel universe. Chris was the most surprised because he had completely believed the lie I told him about Travis being a transfer student from Mexico. Alasdair couldn't believe that such an invention would work so well and was in complete awe while Caleb was just utterly fascinated.

"We got you man," Chris assures him jokingly, then turns to me. "You finally get the chance to go out with your crush of four years. Good for you, bro, I'm proud of you for manning up."

"I think it's ten years," Travis corrects him and they snort.

"No it's not," I deadpan.

Alasdair doesn't seem pleased with the fact that I'm going on a dinner date with Wyndy. He sneers at me whenever our eyes meet and I can't be less bothered.

"I'm leaving," I announce when it's half past five. Travis and Chris wish me goodluck while Alasdair pretends not to hear me.

"Look who's looking dashing tonight," I hear dad say as I make my way down the stairs.

"Thanks dad."

"Your first date. How do you feel?" He asks me.

"I feel giddy."

"That was exactly how I felt on my first date too. I was a senior in high school and she was a junior. We decided to go see a football game together because we felt going out to dinner was cliché and—"

"Maybe you can tell me the rest of the story later, I'm kind of in a hurry," I interrupt him.

"Okay champ, enjoy your date," he tells me, eyeing me teasingly. "And yes, you can take my car."

"Thanks dad, you're the best."

"I know, but don't let your mom hear or she'll get jealous."

I smile as I leave the house and get into dad's car, taking calming breaths to soothe my nerves before starting the engine.

* * * * * * * * * * * *

When I get to Wyndy's house, I call her and she tells me to give her a minute. She shows up with Austin who stands by the door while she walks towards me. My breath hitches as I watch her. She is so beautiful and graceful in her black sequin dress and mini heels. Wyndy doesn't like wearing heels, I'm sure Austin made her wear them.

"Hi Avan." She beams at me.

"Hey," I respond. "You look stunning."

"Thank you, you look dashing yourself."

"Thanks."

"You're early," she points out.

"I couldn't wait, and I was getting more nervous by the second."

She blushes and shakes her head.

"Let's go."

"Of course," I say but before I can open the door for her, she's already opened it and gets in.

"Hey, you better not make my best friend's first date unmemorable," Austin warns me.

Wyndy pops her head out the window.

"You didn't have to announce that this was my first date!"

"Whatever. Have fun, alright. Don't let my brother bore you to death or stare at you till he's seen your very soul."

"Austin!" Wyndy exclaims, chuckling.

"I'm just saying. He's my brother, so I know him well. He'll probably spend eighty percent of the time gawking at you if you don't bring up a topic to talk about—"

"Bye, see you later!" I cut her off and quickly get into the driver's seat.

Wyndy giggles. "Shall we?"

"By all means," I say breathily and start the car.

Castor Restaurant looks even more impressive than it does on their website. The restaurant's name is written in neon lights with a large beautiful neon butterfly next to it.

Before I can get around to open the door for Wyndy, she has already alighted the car and smiles at me.

"I hope the food here tastes as amazing as the place looks," she says as I lead her inside.

The setting and theme of the restaurant is nothing like I've ever seen before, it's futuristic and even the staff is dressed similarly.

"It's out of the ordinary, I love it." Wyndy smiles as a waiter directs us to our reserved table and presents us with a menu. She nods approvingly at the menu as she scans through it then orders chicken chow mein. I'm not surprised because she loves Chinese food. I order the same.

We are served bread rolls while we wait for our meal although we didn't order it.

"It's complementary, for couples," the waiter informs us with a wink.

"Thank you," we say in unison as he leaves our table.

"So," Wyndy starts. "How did you know I like sitting in the middle of a restaurant?"

I quickly chew and swallow before opening my mouth to speak. "I know a lot of things about you."

Did that sound creepy? I hope not.

Wyndy smirks instead. "Then you should know that I like you and not Alasdair."

I nearly choke on the bread I'm eating.

Did I hear right? Or are my ears playing tricks on me?

"Are you okay?" She asks, worriedly.

I sip some water and nod. "Yeah, I guess."

"I know you think I probably like Alasdair or something, but I don't. Though I have to admit he's a sweetheart," she continues, watching me with an amused expression.

I try not to show any signs of extreme excitement. She likes me! And here I was thinking Alasdair was competition.

I clear my throat to speak but am tongue-tied.

The waiter arrives with our food along with a waitress. She clears the table while he serves the food.

"Thank you," Wyndy tells them and they smile at us before leaving.

"I always thought you had some kind of feelings for Alasdair," I mumble.

"Now you know better," she says and starts eating.

"Mmm, this does taste amazing!" She closes her eyes as she relishes the taste of the food.

"I'm not a fan of Chinese food, but I have to agree with you," I chime, taking bite after bite of the chow mein.

"Slow down, so you don't choke on your food," Wyndy warns me, chuckling.

"I can't, it tastes so good," I say with exaggerated frenzy and we burst into laughter.

"I have something for you," I blurt nervously.

She stops eating to stare at me. "Do you now?"

"Yeah."

I can feel my hands moist with sweat as I reach into the pocket of my jacket for the jewelry box. I open it and place it on the table. Wyndy gasps.

"Avan," she whispers, picking up the beautiful pearl drop earrings and wearing them.

"I knew you would love them."

"One of the perks of knowing a lot of things about me, eh?"

I rub the back of my neck sheepishly. "Well..."

"You shouldn't have, this must have cost you a lot."

"It's nothing, you're worth much more to me."

"I didn't know you could be this romantic," she says teasingly. "They're lovely. Thank you."

I smile but it soon fades away when I spot Nathan at a table across the room with Carly. They are eating lasagna and look like they are having a good time.

"Look behind you, but, be subtle about it," I tell Wyndy and she turns around briefly before turning back.

"That's Carly and Nathan."

"This is a good opportunity to listen in on their conversation just in case they say something useful."

"How? They're all the way there and we can't eavesdrop on them without them seeing us."

I explain to her that since the tracker is on Nathan and he is in the same room as me, I can connect it via Bluetooth to the wireless earpiece which I also built along with it for such purposes. That way, I can hear what they are saying. I never realized how genius this feature was when I was making the tracker, well, now I do.

Good thing I take the earpiece with me wherever I go. Who would have guessed it would come in handy someday.

Fortunately, the devices connect almost immediately and Wyndy nearly jumps out of her seat with excitement.

Nathan and Carly are celebrating their victory and making plans to move the inventions from Alasdair's lab back to her hideout. Wait a minute... Alasdair's lab?

Alasdair's lab! That's where they are keeping our inventions!

Carly kept them there because she knew that was the last place we would search for them and she had nowhere else to keep them on such short notice. Now though, she is planning on taking them away from there before we figured out they were there.

Too late.

I tell Wyndy all that I've heard and call Travis while she calls Austin. We update them both on our findings and I suggest that we go to Alasdair's lab tonight so Carly doesn't beat us to it, again. We agree to meet at the lab and without finishing our food, Wyndy and I leave the restaurant after I foot the bill.

* * * * * * * * * * * *

Looks like the kids are finally back on track to finding their inventions. Way to go!

Do you think they'll find the inventions at Alasdair's lab, or will Carly outsmart them once again?

Only one way to find out 🤷

Stay tuned to the story and remember to vote if you find this story interesting ❤️