by T. M. Meek
Meredith had never been to a parent teacher conference as a parent before. But now that she had Alex living with her, tonight would be the first of a series of meetings she would attend over the school year and for as long as Alex was under her care and attending North Ivy. When it was over, the sun had gone down and many of the parents were socializing with other parents. Most of the students were socializing with other students as they waited for their parents to finish and bring them home. As Meredith spoke with Amelia, Lucita was still talking with one of Julio's teachers.
"I'll bet she's telling your mom about how goofy you are at school," Leena joked to Julio.
"I'm rarely goofy at school," he responded as he managed to maintain a dignified composure.
"Yeah. Right," Leena joked sarcastically.
"Since approximately eighty percent of my time at school is spent in class and another twelve percent of my time is spent eating at lunch and another seven percent is spent actually getting to class, then the remaining one percent of my time spent cracking the occasional joke or being 'goofy' is, in fact, a relatively rare thing for me to be at school," he said as he made up the numbers along the way. Leena didn't know how to argue his point so she let it drop. Sensing her resignation, Julio gave Leena a rather smug smile to which she promptly changed the subject.
"So, how many references do you have so far for our presentation, Julio?" Leena smiled. She decided to start a friendly argument with him that she thought she could win.
"Eight..." he almost lied, "...is my goal for the next few days," he said as he gave himself a specific goal to work towards. So far Alex had managed to ignore Leena's and Julio's banter as Alex was busy reading a text message from her best friend, Chase, a classmate at her former school. Nothing too exciting. Although they missed hanging out together, their texts were occurring less and less often as time went on. It was natural but bittersweet that both she and Chase were moving on and making new friends.
"Do we have to discuss the Triple-C every time we get together?" he half whined in boredom to Leena.
"We're a team. That's what we're working on," Leena said in defense.
Alex sighed. "No. Julio's right. Sometimes we just need a break. Medical Science has shown that it's actually good to have some relaxation or fun and recreation at times. It clears the mind. Strengthens our spirit within. Helps people start fresh and return stronger the next time they get back to work," Alex said in a bit of emotional fatigue over the realization that she may never see Chase or Brenda or other former friends ever again now that she's left them behind by relocating to North Ivy.
"Let's go prove some of that Science," Julio said as he headed for the exit in cheerful relief over Alex's unusual mood of not wanting to work. Alex followed behind and after a brief moment of confusion as to where the two could possibly be going, Leena finally tagged along and quickly caught up to them.
As the three of them stepped outside, the crisp autumn night air gave Leena a quick chill and she quickly folded her arms across her chest to get warm. Neither Alex, nor Julio seemed to find the temperature that night to be too cold as they started to walk out into the parking lot and they passed several cars.
"We shouldn't go too far. Our parents might get worried," Leena said as she hid behind a respect for their parents when really she wished she hadn't left her mom to hold her jacket. She wanted to say that she wanted to go back and at least get her jacket but she wasn't sure if she'd be mocked for her need. She should've realized by now that Alex would not have been impatient with Leena and she wouldn't insult someone for simply wanting to be warm. Julio wouldn't have teased her for being too cold either. So Leena mistakenly remained silent.
"I know what my mom will worry about," Julio said. "She'll worry about that same nightmare she gets that makes her toss and turn in bed."
"What nightmare?" Leena asked sincerely. Alex was equally intrigued.
"The one where I suddenly want to get a clean haircut and start volunteering to mow the lawn and finish other chores around the house. She knows that if that ever happens, then that means I've been abducted by aliens who've left my clone behind."
"What?!" Leena replied in disbelief not realizing Julio was joking. But Alex smiled. She thought he was funny.
"She'll see my strange behavior, walk right up to me who, of course, is really an alien clone in disguise and she'll say, (he then imitated a demanding tone) 'Who are you, really? Where is your space ship?! I want my son back!” Julio joked wryly as they walked. Leena tried unsuccessfully to hold back a chuckle but Alex didn't mind letting out a good laugh that helped her to appreciate Julio's tendency for silliness. Alex needed to be cheered up although neither Julio nor Leena knew Alex was missing her former friends.
"I know which car belongs to the boy’s basketball coach," Julio said as they approached a row of cars. "It's right over here." Alex and Leena followed him as he headed over towards the far end of a row of cars that were parked sporadically among semi-empty spots. They were fairly far away from the building where the parent teacher conference was as the car was parked in a spot closer to the campus entrance.
"Why does he park it so far away?" Leena wondered.
"I don't know," Julio answered with a carefree shrug of his shoulders.
"What kind of car is it?" Alex asked curiously. But before Julio could respond and they could all get a closer look, the Meano-trio suddenly jumped out behind them. They were hiding behind a nearby car.
"I don't think the kind of car coach Rogers drives really matters right now. Do you, Jessica?" Shelly asked Jessica in a pompous tone.
"Not right now," Jessica replied in an equally pompous tone. Sarah remained silent as she watched Julio, Alex and Leena like a hawk.
"I think what does matter is what we're about to do to you three ugly wimps," Shelly said while closing in on them. Jessica and Sarah quickly took their cue from Shelly as they also crept closer to the Success Crew. But Alex isn't having it as she fearlessly corrects the lie Shelly just told about them.
"None of us are ugly and we're certainly not wimps so before you do anything stupid you guys better think about what we might do if you try and hurt us." Julio remained silent although he fully agreed with Alex and he stood close by her to send a message to the Meano-trio that he was in strong support of Alex's confidence. But the potential for open confrontation scared the daylights out of Leena and she started to quietly panic.
"Oh yeah? Like what might you do?" Shelly asked disdainfully.
"Like run! " Leena said cowardly as she took off running as fast as she could away from them hoping Alex and Julio would quickly follow her lead.
Julio and Alex watched helplessly as Leena was nearly halfway across the street in front of the school campus. Julio took a quick look at Alex before deciding to take Leena's lead by also running away. Although he knew Alex and he could probably take on the Meano-trio by themselves, he realized that Leena was now all alone and heading to who knows where and going after Leena to bring her back to their parents was better than getting into a big fight of two against three. So he too was off and running and hoped Alex would run too.
"Oh man!" Alex mumbled in frustration over their cowardice in leaving her alone. But Alex was no fool to stick around and get beat by three bullies so she immediately ran after Julio and Leena.
Although the Meano-trio were now chasing them in the night, Alex was faster than them all as she quickly caught up to Julio. Alex paced him as he ran so she could ask, "Any idea where she's going? The school and our parents are in the other direction." Alex hoped Julio could accurately explain Leena's apparent lack of common sense logic.
Julio answered somewhat out of breath as they ran, "Nope. But we can't leave her alone," he argued. Alex thought that since his dad was an expert in safety that maybe Julio was thinking of the buddy system or safety in numbers so she decided to stay with them. Alex picked up speed, quickly leaving Julio behind as she nearly caught up to Leena. Julio was in shock at how fast Alex could run. "There
goes our future school track star," he joked to himself as he kept on running.
"Leena! Leena! Stop!" Alex yelled as she ran. But Leena was in full panic mode and kept running. Although the Meano-trio had not yet caught up to them, they showed no signs of quitting their threatening pursuit. Leena continued running until she arrived at a nearby carnival that had closed down the day before. None of the lights were on as all of the rides were closed. Leena was tired from running and looked for a place to hide. She spotted a dark merry-go-round on the fairgrounds and using only the light from the moon above, she crept up onto it's platform and tripped briefly but got back up to keep moving albeit slowly as she was nearly out of breath.
Back at the school, Meredith tried to pay attention to Amelia but she couldn't ignore the fact that she couldn't see Alex, Leena or Julio. Meredith interrupted Amelia trying not to sound too alarmed. "I'm sorry to interrupt, but have you seen the girls?" Both Amelia and Meredith turned to look around for Alex and Leena. When neither of them could see them, they looked at each other and both of them could sense something was wrong. Amelia jumped into action.
"Wait, just a minute. Leena has GPS on her phone and I should be able to find her." Amelia began to quickly punch buttons on her cell phone to find Leena. "Does Alex's phone have GPS for you to locate her?"
Meredith sighed, "I can't believe I don't know," she regretfully admitted as she held her hand over her furrowed brow and touched the temples of her head in worry.
"Oh no!" Amelia said and Meredith leaned closer to look at Amelia's screen. They both watched the GPS dot that represented Leena and they looked in shock to see it was getting further and further away from the school. Meredith felt certain Alex was with Leena. Neither could deny now that their intuition had been confirmed that something was, in fact, wrong. "Follow me, but you'll need to drive," Amelia said urgently as she took off running towards the exit. Meredith followed close behind.
Lucita turned and saw Meredith and Amelia running out the door and she knew something was wrong. If something was wrong with the girls, something might be wrong with Julio since he was probably with them. Lucita looked around and realized she couldn't see Julio. She quickly yet politely excused herself from the conversation with the teacher and stepped away as she instantly began dialing her cell phone.
"I'm parked over here," Meredith said as she quickly took the lead once outside since she knew Amelia wouldn't know where Meredith had parked. Meredith pressed a remote button on her car key twice. Her car chirped and turned off the alarm and unlocked the driver’s side door only. This was a habit she had to make sure that no potential carjacker or rapist who might be stalking nearby would have a chance to get into her car through another door. Once inside she unlocked just the front passenger door to quickly let Amelia inside. Once Amelia got in the car, Meredith locked the doors and they put on their seatbelts. As Meredith started her car, her phone began to ring.
"Would you answer that, please? I never drive and use my phone at the same time unless it's an emergency and I'm the only one in my car. Even then I still try to stop and pull over to use my phone," She said to Amelia.
"I understand," Amelia nodded eagerly in clear agreement. Meredith quickly passed over her cell phone to Amelia as she backed out her car and Amelia quickly answered, “Hello?” It was Lucita.
"Lucita, this is Amelia. I'm with Meredith right now. I'm glad you called," Amelia spoke fast but clear. "We're going to look for Leena and Alex since we haven't seen them in awhile. We're using cell phone GPS for Leena's phone to find them. So far it looks like they're about a quarter of a mile East of the school but if it's not her, will you stay at the school in case they show up?"
"Yes, of course.” Lucita replied without hesitation. “I don't know where Julio is either. I think he's probably with Leena and Alex. The last time I saw him they were all together. Let me know if you find him with the girls," Lucita said as she was equally worried.
"Will do," came Amelia's terse response just before she hung up Meredith's phone. Meredith drove fast across the parking lot as Amelia looked closely at her screen as she tracked Leena's movements. "Take a left on the street and go about a block or until I say stop," Amelia directed as she tried to remain calm. Meredith began to feel sick to her stomach with worry.
As Alex followed close behind Leena, she too jumped up onto the merry-go-round and spotted Leena who had crouched down to hide.
"Why didn't you head back to the school? Our parents are there and so are a bunch of teachers. Shelly and Jessica won't hurt us in front of them. We'd be safer there," Alex said somewhat breathlessly to Leena. She then looked behind her to make sure Julio was okay and close to catching up with them. He wasn't far behind.
"I didn’t want people at school to see me running scared to mommy! Besides, I thought they might get too tired to keep running," Leena whispered in angry, defensive fear. Leena was still breathing heavy. Julio finally caught up and jumped onto the merry-go-round. He joined Alex in crouching down to hide with Leena.
"They're still coming after us," Julio replied as he looked behind. "What should we do?" he asked. Leena looked over and watched in increased fear while Alex watched and remained silent as she thought deeply to try to come up with a good strategy to keep everyone safe and get back to their parents at the school as quickly as possible. The Meano-trio were out of breath and stopped running. They were about fifty yards away and were walking towards the crouched and hiding Success Crew who momentarily couldn't be seen. The bullies walked the carnival grounds towards the merry-go-round.
"How did you catch up to me so fast?" Leena whispered to Alex.
"Yeah. You're one of the fastest runners I've ever seen. Even faster than guys I know," Julio whispered. He shook his head in amazement over Alex's speed.
"I used to run home from elementary school every day since I was about six years old. It was about a mile long distance straight down the road. It got to the point where I could easily beat the bus home. So I only rode the bus when I wanted to. I also eat healthy and I don't smoke. The continued habit of daily exercise helps too," Alex whispered back as she kept her eyes on the distantly approaching Meano-trio.
"Smart move. The benefits of that come in handy when you have to run for your life," Julio half-joked still whispering.
"Exactly," Alex whispered back as they all kept a look out for the girls.
"Leena," Julio whispered, "You do realize that running over here puts us all in a worse situation, right? I mean, it's not just the Meano-trio we have to worry about now," Julio said as he cautiously looked around and off into the darkness. Alex knew what Julio meant and decided to expound on it further since Leena looked confused.
"Stranger danger, Leena. Because we don't know if some axe murderer is lurking out here or some child kidnapper or two nearby."
"Or two?" Leena asked horrified as she pushed her back more firmly and upright against the wall as she sat on the floor of the merry-go-round.
"Sometimes criminals work in pairs as they trick people. You know. Two of them committing crimes together," Alex said in subdued tones.
"Or sometimes they work in threes," Julio said as he referred back to the Meano-trio.
"So now that we're all out here, alone, in the darkness, away from where a bunch of people in public can see us, we are officially in danger. Not a good thing, Leena," Alex chided in a whisper. "Next time, head back to a public place where a bunch of people can see you and hear you in case you have to yell for help," Alex added less chiding and more gentle with wisdom.
"Criminals prefer to commit crimes where no one can see them doing it. As in out of the public's view," Julio sighed. Leena had heard enough.
"Okay! I get the picture! I should've ran back to where our parents were by the teachers in public view and asked for help. Now let's just drop it," Leena whispered back in angry fear as she hugged her knees close to her chest.
As the Meano-trio were only about twenty yards away, one of them spotted the Succ
ess Crew hiding on the merry-go-round. "There they are!" Jessica said loudly as she pointed.
Again Leena panicked and took off running. Alex and Julio followed close behind. Leena spotted a Ferris wheel around the corner and she jumped onto a Ferris wheel car and ducked down while Alex and Julio reluctantly followed her lead. Since the seats on the Ferris wheel were more like a closed car design, Julio quickly shut the door behind them once they had all ducked down. The upper half of the Ferris cars were wide open and the lower half were closed so they were quickly out of view. None of them said as a word as they listened intently.
Once the bullies arrived at the Ferris wheel, Shelly noticed that the seat to the right still rocked slightly which gave her the idea that the Success Crew were hiding in the gently swaying Ferris car. She secretly gave Jessica and Sarah a signal to stay quiet as they all slowed down and stopped just a few yards away. Shelly pointed at the suspected car and the three bullies quietly approached it. At first it appeared as if they could see the top of someone's head giving away their hiding spot. But they weren't sure because it was so dark outside. Shelly then walked over to the ride operator's station and used her cell phone as a flashlight to try and see which button would turn on the lights so they could more easily see their prey.
Alex had a thought. She whispered, "Something tells me we should all pray in faith for help. Let's all pray quietly in our hearts." She whispered just loud enough for Leena and Julio to hear without having the bullies hear. Alex, Leena and Julio all prayed silently for help.
Shelly then saw a switch labeled "lights" and she switched it on. The large Ferris wheel was instantly illuminated with a variety of colorful lights that shined brightly. Shelly and Jessica slowly crept up to get a closer look at Alex, Leena and Julio hiding but Sarah was distracted by something as she remained behind.
Sarah gasped. "Stranger danger!" she suddenly whispered loudly to Shelly and Jessica as a large shadowy figure was seen approaching off in the distance.
"Turn off the lights!" Shelly loudly whispered back to Sarah as Shelly and Jessica ran away from the distantly approaching stranger. Sarah panicked and she tried to turn off the lights quickly enough but accidentally hit the switch that started the ride as she turned off the lights. She then ran off. As the Ferris wheel began lifting them up into the air in the dark, Leena began to whine softly in fear but both Julio and Alex told her to stay quiet. In a moment of conscience, Sarah turned back and quickly turned off the ride thinking she was doing the right thing before the Success Crew were raised too high up and too dangerous for them to get out and safely to escape for themselves away from the approaching stranger danger. As soon as the ride slowed to stop, Sarah took off running again to follow after Shelly and Jessica who in typical self absorbed bully fashion took no thought to wait for Sarah to see that she safely caught up with them.
After the ride stopped, the Success Crew sat quietly as they listened for any sounds nearby. After several seconds of silence, Julio whispered, "I'm pretty sure I heard them all running away."
"Same here," Alex agreed.
"Yeah, they ran away," Leena agreed mostly because she wanted to believe it. All three remained crouched down as the ride briefly raised them up before it stopped but none of them had dared to lift their heads up to look outside yet. After several more seconds of silence, the three of them looked at each other and began speculating as to just how high off of the ground they might be.
"The ride only moved for about two or three seconds, maybe. It moved slowly so we're probably not that high up," Alex started.
"I thought it was five or ten seconds," Julio countered still whispering.
Leena looked nervous as she tried to offer an optimistic guess. "Even if it was ten seconds, if the ride only moves, say, half a foot per second, then maybe we're just a few feet off of the ground." She was trying to reassure herself more than anyone else. A few more seconds of silence passed as they sat and nervously thought. "Well?" Leena asked with an anxious smile.
"Well what?" Alex asked. She was getting annoyed with Leena's spineless smile as she beat around the bush with her and Julio.
"Who's going to check to see how high up we are?" Leena asked more directly and less politely now. Several seconds passed with no response. "Julio. You're a boy. Why don't you check?" Leena suggested.
"I'd rather eat a broccoli and snake salad," he answered bluntly. Both Alex and Leena were repulsed at the thought.
"Why don't you look, Leena?" he politely challenged back.
"I'm not going to look," Leena scoffed in disbelief over the suggestion. Hadn't she been clear enough already that she didn't want to? What was he thinking?
"Well, I'm not either!" he said resolutely.
"Alex!" Leena plead as she looked to Alex to order him to be brave and look.
"All right! Just chill!" Alex sighed in frustration. She could see how Julio might be tired of having to always be the one asked to do the 'brave' stuff simply because he was the only guy around. Even though Alex didn't see that as a justifiable excuse for not taking the gentlemanlike protective initiative, she figured she could find a good solution. Alex became more calm as she began to make her suggestion. "We're all going to look at the same time."
"But..." Leena interjected.
Alex quickly interrupted Leena's objection. "Tsst! Hush!" Leena became quiet. Alex decided she would have to hide her own fears and put on a brave face to save their team. "We can do this. We're all going to look at the same time on the count of three." Alex waited a moment as she took a deep breath. She then followed through. "One...two...three!" They all raised up and looked out at the same time.
"AAAAAH!" they all screamed together as they realized that the ride had stopped at its very highest point in the air suspending them all about fifty feet above the ground in the dark of the night. Quickly they all ducked back down to hide again.
"I'm never following your advice ever again, Alex!" Julio whined angrily while he kept his eyes tightly closed. Leena was also holding her eyes tightly closed as she quietly whimpered. "I'm not following your advice ever again!" Julio angrily repeated. "Not about school, or the Meano-trio...or about makeup or shoes..." he continued bitterly.
"Makeup or shoes? What?" Alex asked bewildered.
"And you’re never cooking for me again! You make a lousy liver sandwich!" he fiercely added.
"'A lousy liver sandwich?'... What are you talking about?!" Alex fired back in angry confusion. Leena tried to hide a smile.
Julio rubbed his eyes with his fists as if trying to hide tears. "It would taste better if you added marshmallows," he angrily whined. Leena couldn't hold back as she busted out in laughter. Julio uncovered his eyes and smiled.
"What the crumb?" Alex mumbled feeling even more confused.
"Feel better now, Leena?" Julio smiled as he gave Leena a friendly pat on the arm.
"You were more scared than me," she said to him in jest as she wiped away a tear.
"No. You were more scared than me," he protested.
Alex sighed as she looked at Julio. "You are so weird," she said.
He chuckled and Leena added with a smile, "Weird in a good way."
"Maybe," Alex finally smiled. She looked at Leena and Julio and rolled her eyes as she leaned her head back, looked up at the stars and let out a heavy sigh.
As Meredith and Amelia walked in the night among the various carnival rides, Amelia stopped for a moment and looked at her cell phone screen.
"This is it. It's not giving me anymore information."
"But at least we're in the right place so they can't be far, right?" Meredith asked hoping for reassurance.
"We should be within maybe two to three hundred feet of them," Amelia responded quickly as she began searching with her eyes. “Leena? Alex?” Amelia called out using a megaphone Meredith had in the trunk of her car. “Julio?” she called out again. The megaphone was loud but they heard no response.
"Well let's keep going and your cell phone map
should be able to tell if we're moving closer or further away."
"In theory at least." As Meredith and Amelia continued to walk, they didn't hear a dark shadowy figure of a man that was approaching them from behind. "Maybe if we're this close we should try yelling out their names louder," Amelia suggested.
Suddenly, a man stepped just a few feet in front of Amelia and Meredith. He faced them and stopped them in their tracks as he held a gun.
"Duck!" Manuel said firmly. The women dropped close to the ground and Manuel then aimed his gun squarely at the man who was following close behind Amelia and Meredith. The strange man was holding a gun. "Move out of the way," Manuel instructed the women without taking his eyes off of the stranger. Meredith and Amelia quickly moved out of the way and got behind Manuel. Their adrenaline pumped furiously as the three kept an eye out to see if there were any other dangerous people near.
"Put down your weapon," Manuel ordered the man with a loud tone of authority that commanded respect. The man hesitated but then decided he didn't want to get shot so he slowly set down his gun and kicked it away towards Manuel. The man then stood back up and kept his hands in the air. "Who are you?" Manuel demanded.
The man in question answered nervously, "I..."I'm with security. I work for the carnival." Although the man in question appeared to be wearing a standard security issue uniform, Manuel knew that the man could be fraudulently impersonating a security guard on carnival grounds for unscrupulous reasons. People fraudulently impersonate police officers and security guards all of the time these days. It's so common, that most police departments across the country –– especially in large metropolitan cities –– have an entire department dedicated to addressing the claims that come in regularly so Manuel wasn't taking any chances.
"Throw down your weapon.” Manuel ordered him. The guard then tossed over his gun close to Manuel. “Now, get down on the ground slowly. Put your face down with your head towards me and place your hands behind your head." Manuel ordered the supposed guard to do this so his hands were where he could easily see them. "If you move fast, I will shoot you. Understand?" Manuel said with a tone that left little doubt in the strangers mind that Manuel was deadly serious.
"Okay. I understand." The man did just as Manuel instructed and slowly laid face down on the ground while keeping his hands clearly visible to Manuel before placing them behind his head. With his gun still pointed at the man on the ground, Manuel walked over, kicked the stranger’s gun away towards Amelia and Meredith. Amelia grabbed it and held it ready to use against the guard if he suddenly turned against them. Keeping his gun aimed at the guard, Manuel used one knee on the guard’s back to keep him on the ground. He then handcuffed the man's hands behind his back.
"Where are your credentials?" Manuel asked him as he laid on the ground.
"My what?" The man asked.
"Your credentials. Your security identification. Where is it?" Manuel asked.
"Right shirt pocket." As Manuel reached into the man's front shirt pocket, his thoughts were racing. If it wasn't a security firm Manuel was familiar with, then it would take a phone call or two to confirm that it was a legitimate security company that existed with a currently active business license and that the man was truly employed with the security company in question.
Manuel was hoping the company was one he was familiar with as precious minutes were ticking away and he much preferred to still be looking for his son Julio rather than having the interruption of making sure the security guard wasn't some sex offender posing as a security guard. Even if he could confirm he was a legitimate employee of the security company, he planned on doing a background check on him later anyway since too often men with a history of committing violent and/or sexual crimes often choose careers of power that they can abuse which gives them easier access to the types of people they prefer to victimize. If the guy was a registered sex offender, Manuel planned on turning him into the police and chewing out the security firm for not conducting an extensive background check as sex offenders are not allowed under law to work in careers that give them easy opportunity to commit the same crime(s) again. Manuel knew because he had trained his hiring staff to reject men on a regular basis who applied for jobs to work for his firm without being able to adequately pass his strict background checks and psychological profile tests.
He breathed a sigh of relief as he pulled out the man's ID and studied it closely. It was a security company he was familiar with and he could tell right away that it was a legitimate ID and he didn't seem to be working in a criminal partnership with another since no one else came to the man's aid.
"Are these new uniforms? They look different than what I've seen before," Manuel said as he helped the security guard to his feet.
"Brand new as of two months ago," the guard answered somewhat annoyed. "Now if you don't mind, who the hell are you?"
"I'm a concerned father who owns his own security business. Manuel Lopez." He put his own gun back in the holster, uncuffed the guard and handed him back his ID. "Mind if I get my gun now?" The guard asked smugly.
"No. Go ahead." Amelia returned his gun to him.
"So did your son decide to run away or join the carnival?" The man asked in jest as he returned his gun to his holster.
"That's what I'm trying to find out. But I don't think he ran away or joined the carnival."
"How did you get here so quickly?" Meredith asked Manuel.
"I was running late to meet Lucita at the school and by the time I arrived she gave me new plans for the night."
"Such as following your son's GPS?" Amelia chimed in.
"Something like that," he said as his wide eyes quickly began searching where Julio and the girls might be. The four of them began walking and searching intently as Amelia and Manuel followed the GPS indicators on their cell phone screens.
"Are we looking for more than one child?" The guard asked.
"Two girls and a boy. All thirteen years old," Amelia replied a bit nervously as she worried dealing with the guard had taken longer than she liked. As she studied her cell phone guide, the GPS dot hadn't moved since they met Manuel. Amelia hoped Leena's cell phone battery hadn't died. The thought of Leena's battery dying made Amelia wonder if they were in the right area since Leena's GPS would probably stop working with a dead battery. That made her think it was time to get Leena a spare cell phone battery to keep with her in case of emergencies so she could change it out and keep a GPS signal going and call 911 or her parents whenever she needed.
Within just a few feet of walking, Manuel stopped and listened. "Do you hear that?" he asked as he looked at Meredith and Amelia. They all stopped and listened.
"I think I hear them over there," Meredith pointed as she walked in the direction of the sound. Manuel nodded in agreement and quickly ran ahead of Meredith to lead the way as the others followed. Amazingly, Manuel had technology with him in his backpack that made it easier to hear things in the distance –– such as the voices of others. He put his index finger to his lips to hint to Meredith and Amelia to remain silent as he listened. He then put what he overheard on speakerphone so Meredith and Amelia could also hear.
Alex, Leena and Julio were arguing loudly over which one of them should make the dreaded call to their parents regarding their current and dangerous predicament since they knew they would suffer the negative consequences of likely punishment by their parents. As each one made a lame excuse as to why they couldn't use their own phone, Manuel, Amelia and Meredith were relieved to overhear them and know they were relatively safe.
"I sent too many texts today and my battery is almost dead," Leena practically yelled in complaint as they all remained crouched down and hiding.
"Julio, call your Dad. He's probably the best person to come save us anyway," Alex suggested frankly. She was loud in her frustration but not as loud as Leena had been.
"I don't think I have a good cell phone signal," Julio lied yelling louder than Leena since his anger was based mostly in fe
ar of getting in trouble with his dad.
"Would you like to use my cell phone?" Manuel asked him with the megaphone loudly enough for Julio and the girls to hear him. The Success Crew froze in shock to hear Manuel. They all remained crouched down and didn’t move as they were unsure of just how upset Manuel might be. Julio cringed over hearing his father's voice which made Alex giggle although Julio had no intentions of being funny.
"Or one of you can use my phone," Amelia offered loudly through the megaphone. Leena looked faint as she realized her mother was also there and again Alex found unintended humor in the shocked facial expression of Leena as Alex tried to cover her mouth to hide the sounds of her laughter unsuccessfully. Then Meredith took her turn to use the megaphone and made the final offer.
"Alex, would you like to come down and borrow my phone as it may be the last call you make before I ground you for the rest of your life," Meredith said with a frustrated smile. Alex stopped laughing.
Chapter 15: Surprising Answers about What Heaven is Really Like