viii. llama drama

——

Freya and Juliet were standing in the hallway at school staring at their mascot, Dewey the Dingo. It's that time of year again where their rival school Deerfield High Leapin' Llamas steals Dewey before the homecoming game. Freya and Juliet remember the shenanigans their rival school pulls when they were at Mission Creek before. They find it amusing.

Chase and Adam walked in and noticed Dewey the Diego costume.

"Why is Dewey the Diego standing in the middle of the hallway?" Chase asked as the sisters turned to the brothers.

"I don't know, but I think I means we get six more weeks of winter," Adam replied.

"That's a groundhog," Juliet corrected him.

"Oh!!" Adam gasped in realization.

The lights went out and a spotlight flashed around the room with Perry on a microphone.

"Ladies and gentlemen, introducing the principal, a 4 foot 11 spirited from Portland, Maine, Terry Perry!" Perry jogged out off her office, high fiving some students she passed. Juliet moved back, purposely dodging her and Adam put his hand up high for Perry to reach and she jumped, attempting to hit it.

The lights turned on and Perry smiled. "Just thought I'd spice up the morning announcements. Takes me back to my days of playing semipro ball in Romania." Perry put a leg on the bench and did a stretch.

Freya groaned, averting her eyes.

Perry stepped down and took off her headband. "Here ya go, kid. Souvenir." She tossed the student her headband and he frowned, dropping it. She went up to Dewey The Diego costume. "I'm sure you'll all wondering why Dewey the Diego is here."

"Honestly, I don't care," Freya shrugged and Juliet nodded. "But I have nothing else to do."

"Every year before the big homecoming game against Deerfield High Leaping Llamas, some punk manages to steal Dewey. No matter where I put it, they always find a way to get it." Perry explained.

"Maybe you should try wearing it, that'll keep people away," Chase joked and Freya, Adam, and Juliet chuckled.

"Do you really want to go there, Suzy Skinny Jeans?" Perry asked and Freya snickered as Chase frowned. "Anywho, to make certain they don't take him this year, I'm assigning round-the-clock shifts." She gave Freya the clipboard. "Right. I'm gonna go hit the hot tub. Heard a couple of things pop when I ran out here." Perry retreated to her office and the students began to leave as Adam, Chase, Freya, and Juliet looked at the clipboard.

"Two-man shifts." Juliet read. "Me and Freya. Adam and Chase."

Chase scoffed. "Two-man shifts and she paired me with you?"

"Great, so we got one man? Where's the other one?" Adam joked and the girls chuckled.

"Perry made a mistake it must be me," Freya added and Adam laughed, high fiving her.

——

Juliet and Freya were watching Dewey the Diego. No one had tried to steal him yet and as much as they enjoy watching him get stolen, they decided to try their best to keep him here.

"This is the most bored I've ever been," Juliet groaned from her seat on the bench. "How much longer?"

"It's been 5 minutes," Freya remarked and Juliet groaned.

"I could be doing something productive like pranking Trent," Juliet told her.

"At least in math class, I get some sleep," Freya mentioned. "I'm missing my precious nap time."

"Even that stupid domino competition seems interesting," Juliet said and Freya let out a laugh.

"Yes, because watching a bunch of losers set up small pieces of plastics is so much fun!" Freya gasped in fake excitement.

"Leo and Bree are in it I hear," Juliet informed them. "They're your friends."

"Nothing will make me interested in that," Freya remarked and sat down, whispering to herself. "Maybe if Chase was in it."

"What was that?" Juliet asked, hearing her say something.

"Nothing!" Freya exclaimed with red cheeks and laughed nervously.

Juliet folds her arms, giving her a look. "Baby sister of mine, did you say something about Chase and get all flustered."

Freya let out a laugh. "What? No? I would never with Chase. He's just some nerd."

Juliet got up and approached her sister. "Your flushed cheeks say otherwise."

Juliet patted her warm cheek and Freya smacked her hand away.

"Shut up," Freya frowned, moving away from her. Her cheeks still red. "Can we not talk about whatever this is? Because whatever you think it is, it isn't true. It's weird."

Juliet shrugged with an smirk. "Fine."

The two sisters sat in silence, looking at Dewey frequently. Juliet was sitting patiently and Freya was tapping her foot in the floor anxiously.

Juliet looked over at an anxious Freya and grinned smugly.

"You would totally be into watching Dewey with Chase."

"That's it! I'm leaving," Freya yelled and marched out.

"Freya! Come on!" Juliet called but Freya was already gone. She groaned and sat back down.

Chase and Adam descended from the stairs and saw Juliet.

"Hey, it's our turn," Chase told Juliet and frowned when he didn't see her sister. "Where's Freya?"

"She left after I teased her about her little crush on-" Juliet noticed it was Chase and Adam and quickly corrected herself. "Hey!!! I didn't see you there!" She chuckled awkwardly as the boys shared a look. "It's your turn! Perfect! I'm going to find my sister and see what trouble she is getting into."

Juliet rushed out, leaving two very confused brothers.

"That was weird." Chase frowned.

"Juliet is so pretty," Adam smiled and Chase rolled his eyes.

——

Later, Freya got a message from Chase saying Adam let Deerfield steal Dewey. She wasn't surprised by this fact, it's Adam. Now Adam is sneaking into Deerfield High to get Dewey back as Chase and now Freya were in the lab talking to Adam on a comm set.

Adam walked into the gym locker room wearing Deerfield attire. He passed by a student. "Go Llamas! Ca-ca! Ca-ca!"

Freya rolled her eyes at this.

"Adam, how you found the dingo yet?" Chase asked.

"No, I check everywhere but the locker room," Adam replied. "It's gotta be in here somewhere."

"Okay, but be discreet," Chase warned.

"Right!" Adam whispered, checking the lockers.

Freya whispered to Chase. "He won't know what that means."

A locker wouldn't open and Adam pounded his fist on it, before trying to open it and ended up throwing the locker door off.

Freya gave Chase a look and his face turned into a sheepish on. "That's on me for thinking you know what 'discreet' means!"

"I told you," Freya whacked his arm.

Adam walked over to the bin with dirty gym clothes and gasped when he saw Dewey.

"Dewey! He picked up the head and shushed him when he heard voices. "Someone's coming!"

Adam leaped into the bin and hid himself as people walked in. They were holding towels that they wiped their sweat off with and tossed it into the bin.

Dewey's head popped up. "Whew, that as close." More people walked into and Adam ducked his head down.

Chase and Freya assumed Adam had found Dewey at this point.

"Hey, Juliet said you ran out earlier. Everything okay?" Chase asked, taking off the com set.

Freya's eyes grew and she chuckled nervously. "Yeah, why? She didn't say anything, right?"

"She started too and then abruptly stopped when she saw me," Chase told her and Freya pursed her lips together, nodding.

"Did she?" Freya smiled, "how weird. You know how older siblings how, always saying stupid stuff to get under their younger siblings skin."

Chase scoffed. "Very true."

Freya chuckled as Chase turned away to put the comm sets back in their back. She stared at him as he did this and she let out a quiet sigh, feeling her cheeks heat up.

——

Freya and Chase went back to school, waiting for Adam to return with Dewey. Juliet had gone to see the domino competition.

Chase was pacing as Freya was leaning against the pillar. She saw Adam walking up to them in the Dewey costume and Chase turned to him, jumping at the sight.

"Oh!"

"Don't be scared, it's not a real dingo," Adam assured him. "It's me, your brother Adam, in a dingo costume!"

"Great, you got it back, but why are you wearing it?" Chase asked as Freya stood straight up.

Adam took off the head. "Chase, you can't have a dingo costume and not put it on. It's an unwritten rule. Sort of like how you don't have to wash your legs or feet because the shower water trickles down."

Freya frowned in disgust. "No, that's not it."

"Yeah, okay. Bye!" Perry's voice said from her office.

"Perry's coming!" Freya said and Adam put on the head, freezing in place as Perry walked out.

"I just got off the phone with the principal over at Deerfield. He said that someone stole their Llama," Perry informed. "I hope none of you were dumb enough to do that." Freya snickered and Chase nudged her rib, making her stop and groan. "Because it would be illegal. And I can't have Johnny Law breathing down my neck again!"

"Again?" Chase asked.

Perry shrugged. "Let's just say I'm in a lot of lists."

Perry walked away and Chase turned to Adam. "Adam, please tell me you did not bring their llama here."

Adam too the head off and grinned. "Of course not."

——

"I brought it here!"

Adam, Chase and Freya were in the lab, staring at the Deerfield High Llama mascot.

——

"I can't believe you stole a llama and brought it here," Chase told Adam in disbelief.

"It's Adam, are you really that surprised?" Freya asked and Adam nodded in agreement.

"I couldn't bring it to school, it's the first place they'd look," Adam reasoned. "Plus, I wanted to how it the house. The poor guy's stuck outdoors all day."

"What were you thinking?" Chase asked.

"I wanted to teach those Deerfield Jerks that if she steal from us, there are consequences," Adam told him.

"So, you taught them a lesson about stealing by stealing?" Chase questioned and Freya snickered.

"Sounds like something I'd do," Freya mentioned.

"I see your point. I stole their idea," Adam nodded. The llama started to lick Chase's hand and he yelped, moving away in disgust.

"Uh! Gross!"

"Relax, it's just llama spit," Freya laughed and petted the llama, which made the llama lick her in return. Freya made a face at the feeling and forcefully grinned. "How nice."

"Ah, yep, he's a licker," Adam said. "Like me."

Chase's watched beeped and looked at Adam in panic. "Oh no, it's our turn to watch the dingo."

"That means I missed my turn. Oh no," Freya said sarcastically. "I'm so worried."

"Principal Perry thought we did such a good job, she rewarded us by giving us another shift," Chase explained and Freya chuckled.

"Aren't you lucky?"

"She's always funk of us. What a giver," Adam mentioned.

"What am I gonna do? I can't do with the llama and go watch the dingo," Chase asked in a panic.

"No worrjed, Freys and I will watch the llama," Adam assured him and Freya nodded, still petting the llama. "I want to see what he looks like in socks!"

"And pants!" Freya added and Adam smiled with a nod.

"No, no way, because it always starts out with socks and then ends up with a llama in ski pants on a trampoline, and no one wants to see that," Chase protested.

Freya gave Chase a smirk. "Everyone wants to see that!"

"All the same, we're not doing it," Chase denied and Freya groaned, rolling her eyes

"Fun killer," Freya grumbled.

Chase rolled his eyes. "Ignoring that. You two go take care of the dingo and I'll fix this."

"Fine!" Adam sighed. "Let me say goodbye to Lorenzo Llama."

"I don't want to!" Freya pouted, hugging the llama.

Adam petted the llama. "Who's a good boy? You're a good boy." He kissed his head and licked his lips. "Mm. Tastes like chicken."

"Bye, llama buddy," Freya pouted and kissed his cheek. "I'll always remember you!"

"You just met him!" Chase groaned in annoyance and Freya glared at him.

"You're just jealous!" She shot back and he rolled his eyes.

"Go!" He exclaimed and pushed them out the lab.

The llama knocked over the jar with the thousand of nanobots and Chase turned with alarm. The llama had already eaten the nanobots.

"The nanobots!" Chase exclaimed, walking into him. "Bad llama!"

The llama moved back and breathed into his face. Chase moved his face away, smelling the bad breath.

"Okay, if you and I are gonna be spending any kind of time together you're gonna need a mint." Chase told the llama.

——

Adam and Freya were in the hallway at school,  hanging with Dewey the Dingo. They casually greeted students as they passed by.

"How's it going."

"What's up, man?"

Adam leaned toward Dewey and gasped. "I can't do that! Freya get a load of what he's saying."

Freya leaned closer to Dewey and gasped. "Oh no! You naughty dingo you!"

  Chase frantically ran into the school.

"Guys, we have a big problem," Chase said.

"We? It's not our fault your haircut makes you look like a lady golfer," Adam told him and Freya snickered, high fiving Adam.

"Nice," Freya grinned.

"What? No!" Chase protested, "the llama act all the of the nanobots. Their biology's different. There's no telling how it'll react."

Perry walked in with the Deerfield Llama. "Why was the Deerfield Llama outside straddling my hatchback?"

"He's full of highly unstable nanobots and you brought him here?" Freya asked Chase, who pressed his lips together sheepishly. "Bet you wish we stuck to ski pants now, Lady Golfer."

The llama grunted and spit at Perry, leaving a glob on her face.

"It's okay!" Perry chuckled, "I speak llama. When he spits, it just means he likes me."

"FYI, if I spit on you, it does not mean I like you," Adam told his brother.

"I spit on peoples food if I don't like them." Freya mentioned and this got a look from Chase. "Don't worry, I only did it once to you." She grinned at him and he frowned in disgust.

"Oh! He's getting frisky!" Perry said as the llama was moving around. "Better grab my lasso! Worked a couple of rodeos during college. Nobody could stay on me for more than three seconds." Perry walked into her office.

"Guys, we have to do something," Chase told the too.

"We?" Freya scoffed, "this is all your fault."

"Yeah, Lorenzo ate your nanobots on your watch, this is your problem," Adam reasoned as the llama walked away.

Perry walked out of her office in a cowboy hat and a lasso. "Alright, anybody who doesn't want it end up facedown and hogtied, out of my way!"

Perry started to swing the lasso around, getting closer to the llama. "Yee-haw!" She tossed the lasso and it wrapped sound the llama. The llama growled as Perry pulled on the lasso and Freya laughed as she watched. "Get over here! Come on! I got ya!" Perry was able to hold the llama for a while, until it yanked her and pulled her to the floor. It started to fight her and she was grunting and yelling at it. "Quit fighting!!"

Chase, Adam, and Freya tilted their heads as they watched. It didn't take long for Perry to win and pull llama over to them.

"He fought hard, but once I got his head in a leg lock, it was pretty much over," Perry informed them and handed Adam the lasso. "Keep an eye on him, kids. He'll miss me. They always do."

"I can promise you, they don't," Freya remarked and Perry walked away.

"Do you know how expensive those nanobots are?" Chase asked Adam and Freya. "We gotta get them out."

"How do you do it on humans?" Adam asked.

"You're supposed to extract them individually, but with this math it could take days," Chase explained and used his bionics to scan the llama. "Oh no, oh, no, a bunch of them are gathering just the salivary glands. They're preparing to activate."

"What does that mean?" Adam asked.

"It means that the next time he spits-"

Freya didn't get to finish, because the llama had spat and a glowing acid spit glob landed on the door across the room. The three stared at it in shock.

"It will leave a mark?" Freya shrugged, chuckling nervously.

——

The llama had started to spit rapid fire acid all over the school, which left the students screaming and running around frantically. Adam and Freya were sitting on the bench, not doing anything as Chase was panicking.

"Guys! We have to do something! Hurry, help me think!" Chase said and then stopped, remembering what he said. "Wow, that's something I never thought I'd say to Adam."

The llama growled and shot acid spit at them, but they dodged it by ducking down.

"What do you want me to do? It's not like I can just pull an idea out of my head with a giant idea magnet!" Adam exclaimed and Freya gasped, thinking of an idea.

"Magnets!" She said and looked at Chase, poking his shoulder a few times. "Are the nanobots metallic? Because you can use some sort of magnet to pull the out!"

"Yes! We can use a magnet to pull them out!" Chase smiled. "You're a genius, Freya!"

The two hugged and Adam stared at them. He started to smirk when it lasted longer than it should have.

Adam cleared his throat and the two pulled away awkwardly with Adam just grinning at them.

"Let's go." Adam said and the three ran upstairs to find a magnet.

——

The trio found a magnet and a small tin can to catch the nanobots in. Adam was going to use the magnet as Freya was gonna hold the tin can to catch. Chase was going to guide Adam use his bionic eye scan.

"Okay, hold up the magnet. I'll guide you and you catch them in the can," Chase explained and they nodded. Freya sat on the bench and held the can under the llama's mouth as Adam stood at the butt of llama.

Chase started to guide Adam. "Okay they're gathering in the femur."

Freya rolled her eyes. She knew Adam didn't know what a femur is.

"Got it! And a femur would be a..." Adam asked.

"Leg," Freya sighed.

"Move it up," Chase instructed.

"Okay. But I don't see how this is helping," Adam shrugged and lifted his own leg in the way. Freya rolled her eyes, shaking her head.

"No, Adam, the llama leg," Chase informed in annoyance and Adam put the magnet on the leg of the llama. "Now bank left."

Adam went to his own left and Chase waved the other direction. "No. Left! Left!"

"My left or llama left!" Adam argued and Freya sat there, annoyed and bored.

"The opposite of what you're doing left!" Chase yelled back and Freya groaned, getting up.

"Give me the dang thing!" She got up and went over to Adam, snatching it. "Leave it to a woman to do it right!"

Adam put his hands up and picked up the can. "Someone's feisty."

"Shut up," she snarled and looked at Chase, motioning him to continue.

Chase continued to scan the llama and Freya used the magnet on the llama. She carefully moved it across the body.

"You're getting closer. Closer." Chase said as Freya went up the neck. "Go up! Almost there!"

"Ready the can," Freya told Adam, who held the can up to the llama's mouth. Once Freya reached the mouth, the llama burped and the nanobots spat into the can. Adam closed it and Chase went up to them.

"Nice!" Chase smiled. "Thank you. You totally bailed me out." He high fived them and Perry walked out.

"Good news. Deerfield just wants their llama back, no questions asked." Perry informed them. "Muscles, Lady Locks, Thumbelina, get on it!"

Adam went to move the llama, but the llama wouldn't move. "He won't budge. I think there's something wrong with him."

"Oh no, maybe we didn't get all the nanobots out," Chase said with worry.

"Quit stalling! There's nothing wrong with-"

The llama farted and it let out a fire blast right in Perry's face. Freya gasped, covering her mouth in shock and started laughing. Perry stood there unharmed with a burnt cowboy hat.

"Does that mean he likes you?" Freya chuckled and patted the llama's belly. "Good boy!"

——

Up Next: The Haunting of Mission Creek

We are slowly seeing Freya's feelings for Chase now. Slowly but surely.