CHAPTER TWELVE, trucked out

─── ･ ｡ﾟ☆: *.☽ .* :☆ﾟ. ───

"I can't believe Adam's not back from his driving test. What's taking him so long?" Leo wondered as him and the group sat around the living room waiting for Adam to get home.

Bree looked up from her magazine. "Two words, Adam. Test." She reminded.

"Man, if he passes, it's good news for us and bad news for everyone on the road." Chase sighed before letting out a chuckle. "Or the sidewalk."

"Well, he has to pass. I need him to drive me to that party on Saturday." Leo mentioned with a hopeful expression, making Chase look at him with furrowed brows. "What party?" He asked.

Leo chuckled. "The one you weren't invited to."

"I was invited too." Emilia reminded the Dooley boy, though she wasn't acknowledged as Bree sat up on the couch at Leo's comment. "You got invited to Caroline Davis' party and I didn't?" She asked him in disbelief. "I mean Emilia I get, but you?"

"Neither did I!" Chase pointed out, but his sister wasn't shocked. "No surprise there." She scoffed before looking back at Leo. "But why were you invited?" She asked.

"Oh, Bree, I'm climbing the social ladder." Leo bragged. "There are now three or four ladies who make eye contact with me in the hallway. Okay, it's two! But, I'm going to that party."

"He's home!" Bree shouted as soon as they heard the door open, the group only groaning at the sight of Tasha and not Adam.

"It's just you." Leo groaned at his mother.

"Nice to see you, too." Tasha replied sarcastically, making Leo sigh before correcting himself. "Sorry mom. How's it going?"

Tasha smiled. "Great. I've had the best day. It all started when-" She went on to explain before Leo interrupted her as soon as the door opened again. "Save it for later, woman! Adam's here!"

Donald opened the door with a smile. "Ladies and gentlemen, I give you Mission Creek's newest fully licensed driver!" He announced, waving his hands behind him, but Adam didn't make an appearance. "Adam, that's you." He whispered.

"Oh, right." Adam said, appearing at the door before cheering. "Woo-hoo, I passed!" They all cheered for him before Donald approached his wife, telling her. "He really impressed me. He got a 96 on the test."

"I didn't even know scores went up that high! Oh, and get this, Mr Davenport said if I passed, he'd buy me a car." Adam informed, which shocked Tasha who looked at her husband. "What?!" She let out.

"Well, in my defense, I never thought he would pass." Donald countered with Emilia nodding along with him. "Yeah, I don't think any of us did." She mentioned.

Adam chuckled. "Preachin' to the choir, people."

"Donald, are you sure he's ready for a car?" Tasha looked unsure at her husband. "Remember, what happened when you bought him a bike?"

Donald winced at the memory. "Um... to be fair, honey, Adam is a lot more responsible now. He worked very hard to get his driver's license, and I think he should be rewarded." He defended the boy who sat in the red chair imitating different noises that included of driving a car, brakes screeching and an explosion.

"I don't know." Tasha still seemed unsure about the idea.

"Don't worry, I promise I will get Adam the safest car available." Donald promised his wife before Chase interjected. "The safest car is the one he isn't driving." He pointed out.

"Not true." Adam pointed at him before getting out of the chair. "I've caused many wrecks as a pedestrian."

"I don't care what car it is, as long as you give me a ride to Caroline Davis' party. I don't know if you heard, I was invited." Leo continued to brag that he was invited to the party which annoyed Bree very much. "Enough!" She scowled.

─── ･ ｡ﾟ☆: *.☽ .* :☆ﾟ. ───

Even at school, Leo continued to brag that he was invited to the party until his mood changed after being informed that his mother was applying for the job of President of the PTA.

And with Leo wanting his friends to help stop his mother from winning, he offered to try and get Chase and Bree into the party. So for their plan, the Davenport siblings and Emilia joined Leo to help convince Perry to compete against Tasha as another candidate.

Back at home, they all waited in the living room for Adam to come back from the car shop. "And just like I promised, I got Adam a very safe and practical car." Donald told them as he sat down on the couch.

"Look, I know equations. Adam plus safe doesn't exactly work." Chase reminded him. "So, where is he?"

"Maybe he forgot how to get home." Bree thought out loud. "Again."

"Come on, four times in one week? What are the odds?" Donald questioned, making Emilia sigh to herself. "You guys get the stapler, I'll go get the 'Lost Adam' flyers." She told the group who all started to stand up, but before they could move anywhere, Adam called out from outside. "Guys! Check out my new ride!"

"He's here!" Leo gasped before the group rushed out the front door, stopping in their tracks to see Adam in a monster truck.

"Isn't it awesome?" He shouted. "And I only had to fill the tank twice on the way home."

"Just to mention. That doesn't look very safe or practical." Emilia reminded Donald.

─── ･ ｡ﾟ☆: *.☽ .* :☆ﾟ. ───

The next day at school, Chase came running out of Perry's office when he approached Leo, Emilia and Bree on the bench. "Guys. Guys. Guess what?"

Leo shut the book that he was pretending to read, before looking up at Chase (wearing his disguise) as he asked. "What?"

"Leo!" Chase sighed, giving him a pointed look.

"No." Leo answered with a stammer. "I'm the new chemistry teacher, Mr Tate." This received a sigh from Emilia who then turned to him before ripping his fake mustache off his face, making him scream.

"So, get this. I checked the PTA election rules and you don't have to be a parent to run for President." Chase informed. "Principal Perry is totally eligible."

Bree smiled, standing up from the bench. "Well, that's great. And you know that if she runs, she's gonna cheat and make sure she wins. You can always count on that woman to do the wrong thing." She mentioned.

"But how do we convince her to run?" The Dooley boy wondered. "I mean, the only things that motivate that woman are revenge, rage, and kitty calendars."

Chase shrugged. "Well, then we just have to find a way to make her mad at Tasha and then trick her into doing it."

"How?" Leo asked.

"Maybe a little bionic vocal manipulation is in order." Bree explained before turning to Leo with a bright smile. "There's my little bug-a-boo. Come give mommy some sugar." She imitated Tasha's voice perfectly.

Emilia grimaced, leaned back into Chase as she muttered. "Well, that's creepy."

Leo pulled off his glasses to clean them. "Okay, that never stops being weird." He said before walking away.

Setting up the plan, Emilia and Chase had the job of getting Perry while Bree and Leo kept their eyes on Tasha. They walked into the hall as Perry sighed. "This better be important, shrub head and ginger."

Emilia huffed out a breath. "For the last time, it's auburn." She reminded her principal of her hair colour once again.

Seeing Tasha having the headphones in, Chase turned to Perry. "We just thought that maybe you'd like to hear what our future PTA president is saying behind your back." Chase said, getting a scoff from the woman.

"I am shocked at the lack of professionalism around this school. And it starts with that tyrant Principal Perry." Bree said, using Tasha's voice.

Perry scoffed. "Well, that's obvious."

"When I'm president I'm gonna make it my mission to get her fired!" Bree continued to use Tasha's voice as Leo made a reaction to make it look like his mother was talking to him.

Perry scoffed once again. "Fired? She can't do that!"

"Technically, as PTA president, she can." Emilia explained for her, with Chase nodding along as he picked up the book from the table. "Yeah. It's right here in the rule book." He told her.

"Let me see that!" Perry snatched the book off of him just as Bree added. "Oh, one more thing, I hate cats." This made Perry gasp in anger. "The claws are out now!" She growled.

"You know, maybe you should run against her."

Perry scoffed at Chase's suggestion. "Against her? I'm gonna run over her!" She slapped the book onto Chase's chest before storming over to the woman. "Hey!" She called just as Leo pulled out the headphones from his mother's ears.

Having no idea what just went on, Tasha smiled at the woman. "Oh, hi, Principal Perry! Did you hear? No one is running against me. I'm gonna be PTA president." She said with a grin.

"Not in this lifetime, Mitzy Von Minivan." Perry shook her head. "I'm in the race now, and around here, the only thing PTA stands for is putting Tanya away." She informed.

"My name is Tasha." Tasha corrected the woman who then narrowed her eyes. "Still starts with a T!" She scowled before storming out of the hall.

─── ･ ｡ﾟ☆: *.☽ .* :☆ﾟ. ───

It was now time for the PTA meeting as Principal Perry walked up to the podium and grabbed the microphone before clearing her throat to speak, however it soon turned to choking.

Thankfully it stopped after a second. "Vote for me. I know where you live." She declared as her message to the voters before walking away from the podium as they clapped for her. "Good luck with that, mom jeans. This election's mine."

Tasha walked up to the podium. "Before I lay out my platform, I spent some time going through the school's accounting records-" She was then interrupted by Perry who cleared her throat and ran up to speak through the microphone and announce. "I withdraw!"

"What are you doing?" Leo asked his principal.

"Saving a fortune in legal fees!" Perry informed.

"Wait, hold on! According to the rules, it is past the deadline to withdrawals." Chase pointed out with Bree nodding along with him. "He's right. So we still need to hear the final speeches and then vote." She told Perry who ran towards the podium.

"No speech. I vote Tasha." She announced while speaking through the microphone before starting to chant Tasha's name.

Coming back from the bathroom, Emilia's brows furrowed at an unfamiliar sound echoing in her head - she didn't know specifically but to her, it sounded like a car engine.

And whilst Tasha was talking, Emilia's eyes were pulled towards the wall behind the woman before they widened. Not hesitating to so, the Hunter instantly ran forward just as something crashed through the wall with Emilia and Tasha out the way in time after the teenager pushed the adult out of the way before she could get hit.

Worried, Chase grabbed Emilia's hand to pull her further away after seeing what happened. "Quick! Back up before she sees us!" Adam panicked after seeing Tasha's glare, as if she hadn't already seen them.

"Donald!" Tasha screamed.

"Vote for Tasha." Donald spoke nervously before pressing on the horn of the truck which only angered his wife more.

Once the boys were out of the truck, they joined the group at the end of the hall. "Well, thanks to you I totally lost the election! Not one person voted for me!" Tasha pouted.

"Yes!" Chase, Emilia, Leo and Bree all cheered in unison, making Tasha give them a look. "You will get 'em next year, mom." Leo corrected before he and the others ran out the hall, letting Tasha talk with the two responsible for the crash.

─── ･ ｡ﾟ☆: *.☽ .* :☆ﾟ. ───

MEGAN SPEAKS !

hope you enjoyed reading this
chapter!! not many more chapters now
until the truth comes out🤯 thanks for
reading, i love you all!! <33