by S. C. Davis
“No, Seth, we’ll notify your students and your colleagues. Don't worry, we’ll tell them it’s personal leave. No one will know the reason. I think you should go on home, now. We will, of course, arrange for substitutes for your classes.”
-----
Mr. Gregory thanked him, apologized again, and began to leave the office. He could go right, toward his classroom, and track down Ethan or Alexandra or someone. But he was expected to go left, out the front entrance of the school and to his car.
He began to panic; not being able to visit his classroom meant he wouldn’t be able to retrieve his files, with all his students’ contact information.
Why didn’t I borrow an extra watch for myself, he thought, irritated at his lack of foresight.
He glanced over his shoulder and, to his disappointment, saw both the receptionist and Mr. Meyer watching him, making sure he made the right move.
Seth Gregory had no choice, so he reluctantly turned left and walked out of Brisby Middle School. He didn’t know it then, but it would be a long time before he ever walked through that door again.
Chapter 28
Got a Bad Feeling About This
ON FRIDAY MORNING, I was miraculously all better, and well enough to go back to school. Mom checked my temperature just to be sure, then gave me the green light.
When I walked into science class that morning, I was surprised to see a substitute teacher at the front instead of Mr. Gregory. The S3C members exchanged concerned and confused glances. As we were all taking our seats, the principal walked in. I felt sick to my stomach. Mr. Meyer only came into classrooms when there was something big going on.
“Class, I want you to meet Ms. Roth. She’ll be your substitute teacher today and next week. Mr. Gregory is on personal leave until next Friday, but he'll be back the Monday after.
“I just wanted to assure you he’s fine; there’s no need to worry about anything. I also want to make sure you treat Ms. Roth with the utmost respect, follow all of her instructions and complete all of your work. Agreed?”
We all mumbled our confirmations. Everyone loved Mr. Gregory, so while many classes rejoiced at the sight of a substitute teacher, we were all bummed by it. Especially S3C, who suspected something was not right. Why would he go on leave and not tell us? Was it vacation or medical leave? Either way, it was deeply concerning.
Once Mr. Meyer left, while Ms. Roth was writing down her rules for the week on the white board, I scribbled a quick note and passed it up to Chase.
Got a bad feeling about this. Meet after class.
— Jenna
P.S. Pass on to the closest S3C member
The note made it around the room unnoticed, and each kid gave some subtle signal of agreement once they had read it. I tracked the note as it made its way around, and when I turned to look over my right shoulder to make sure Wes had received it, we made eye contact. Once again, the butterflies flew, which left me feeling annoyed with myself. This was no time for a crush.
A few minutes later, I felt a tap on my right shoulder. Lindsey, who sat behind me, held the folded note over my shoulder, so I grabbed it and opened it in my lap. Underneath my note, Wes had written:
Are you okay? Did you drop off the oil yesterday? Thumbs up for 'yes’.
P.S. I've been worried sick since you texted yesterday morning. I'm glad you're back.
A girlish smile took over my face, and I made an effort to wipe it off. I flashed two thumbs up signs over my right shoulder to answer his questions, then tried to pay attention to Ms. Roth's dull lecture. All I could think about was Mr. Gregory, though.
After class, the six of us took our time packing our bags until the room cleared. Ms. Roth, however, stayed behind. We couldn't have a conversation in front of her, and we didn’t have time to wait around to see if she would leave.
I headed for the door and whispered “vending machines” as I walked by the others. It was the only semi-secretive spot I could think of where no adult would confront us if they found us there during lunchtime. A few moments after I arrived in the little vending machine nook, the others walked in. We didn't waste any time.
“He wouldn't just leave without telling us first,” Alexandra said. It’s what we all had been thinking.
“It's an emergency, whatever it is. Either something medical, or something happened with Rosalind and he didn't want to bring us into it. Either way, I don't see this turning out well,” I said.
“I doubt it would be medical. How would he have known he would be able to return to work next Monday? Unless it was a surgery or something, but still…he would have told us about something like that,” Britta pondered.
Chase chuckled. “You girls, you're such worrywarts. Take a deep breath, and let's think about what some of the explanations could be that don't involve a hospital or the evil-doings of Rosalind,” he said.
We all stood in silence, even Chase. Anything that came to mind might have been reasonable, except for the fact that there was no way he wouldn't have told us about it ahead of time. We came up with nothing.
“Well, let's take comfort in the fact that he’ll be back next Monday, apparently. Whether this was planned or not, I'm sure he knows what he’s doing and has his reasons. In the meantime, we should just keep working on Dr. Wyatt's case as best as we can alone,” Wes suggested.
We all nodded in agreement.
“On that note, has anyone come up with any new leads? Jenna, did you get into the lab the other night?” Ethan asked. Everyone seemed to have temporarily forgotten about that plan, and now they looked at me expectantly.
I glanced at Wes. I was so weary of telling lies. But I was too embarrassed to let the others find out that I hadn't considered the lab being locked in my plan; something that should have been obvious to even the most beginner spy.
I also didn't want them to know how much I had put myself, and therefore the whole mission, at risk by going during the day yesterday.
I took a breath, resigned to the fact that I didn’t have a choice. I looked at Wes while I spoke, hoping he would keep his promise not to tell the others.
“Yeah, I dropped off the oil. It was a piece of cake,” I said. Wes looked off into a corner of the ceiling, playing ignorant.
With that lie out of the way, I could move on to more exciting news, like the man with the bag we saw sneaking out of Dr. Wyatt’s lab.
The others were wide-eyed as I described the suspicious intruder, and we all agreed that it had to be Rosalind. We decided it was time to dive in, with or without the support of Mr. Gregory. He had brought us into this for a reason, and he wasn’t going to hold our hands through it all. It was time to prove him right for selecting us.
Just as we were wrapping up our discussion, Alma walked by the vending machine nook. She stopped as soon as she saw me, probably out of habit. But once she saw who was in my company, her face fell into what looked like betrayal, and she quickly marched off toward the cafeteria.
Chapter 29
Alma’s Confrontation
AT LUNCH, I BARELY touched my sandwich. I had so many things clouding my mind. Dr. Wyatt's disappearance, the rift in my friendship with Alma, and the unexpected butterflies I couldn't help but feeling every time Wes was around. But what plagued me the most was Mr. Gregory’s unexplained absence.
Alma, who had been very good about avoiding speaking to me whenever possible for the past few weeks, stared at me from across the table. As upset as she was with me, and rightfully so, she couldn't shake her big-sisterly instincts over me.
“What's wrong, Jenna?” she asked. Not compassionately, but almost as if she thought I had been waiting for someone to ask, and she had decided to take the bait. It was the first indication she had given that our friendship was salvageable.
I looked up from my fixed gaze on my lunch bag and thought about how to answer the question. Then I realized that I couldn't talk to Alma, my best friend, about any of it. She knew the science project was over, so I couldn't explain to her w
hy I was still hanging around Wes. I couldn't tell her anything about Dr. Wyatt's case, because I was sworn to secrecy.
There was only one of the things bothering me that I could have, and should have, talked to her about; the problems in our own friendship. The eyes of all the AJ's were on me, waiting for an answer. I could have told Alma that we should talk later. I could have just laid it out on the table right then and there, even in front of the other girls.
But I did neither. Instead, I took to what was apparently my favorite pastime of late; I lied.
“Oh I'm just still not feeling great from being sick yesterday. Maybe I should have stayed home today too,” I said, trying to make my voice sound weak and tired.
“What kind of sick are you?” Alma asked suspiciously. She was on to me. “Doesn't sound like you have a cold. Is it a stomach thing?”
“No, no, I just…generally feel sick,” I said, knowing how unconvincing that sounded.
The rest of lunch was spent in silence between Alma and me. After the bell rang and I started making my way to English, I felt someone grab my arm. I turned to see Alma, who looked furious.
“All right, cut the act, Jenna. What is going on with you? Everything is such a big secret with you lately, I feel like I don't even know you! We both know you're not really sick. And not to mention the stunt you pulled that weekend, lying to me about what you were doing Sunday.
“I've been waiting for weeks for you to come talk to me about it, to apologize, and tell me what the heck is going on. And yet here I am being the one to bring it up, when it should be you!”
She was totally right. I had been putting off the apology, not knowing how to explain myself without revealing what I was really doing with S3C. Even at this moment I still didn't know what to say. How were the others getting around this? Or did they just not have a friend watching them as closely as Alma was?
I considered my options. I could lie again, and likely ruin my friendship with her once and for all. I could tell her it was none of her business, which would certainly ruin our friendship. Or, I could tell her the truth, against the advice of Mr. Gregory and the trust of the members of the club.
The fact that I was struggling over the decision is actually what helped me make it. If it had been Julianne or Ashton or Audrey interrogating me, I wouldn't have thought twice about it. I would have made up something and been on my way. I wouldn't have even considered telling them the sensitive truth.
But because it was Alma, I knew the reason I was considering it was because I knew, with all my heart, that I could trust her, and that she deserved to know the truth for all that I had put her through over the last few weeks.
“Meet me after school at our spot. I'll tell you everything,” I said, hoping she would accept the offer.
Her face softened. I don't think she had expected that answer. She didn't quite smile, but I could tell she was satisfied to finally get through to me.
“Okay,” she said. “But if you bail...I'm not sure I'll get over it this time.”
“I swear I’ll be there, Alma,” I reassured her.
Chapter 30
Jenna’s Secret Sidekick
AFTER SCHOOL, I RUSHED to Alma's and my spot. It was a hill behind the school, overlooking the baseball field. There was a single bleacher up there, but no one ever used it. In fact, the bleacher was practically collapsing. But we loved to sit up there in the summer and watch the baseball games below while we gossiped and spied on the activities of the spectators.
I got to the top of the hill, panting, to find Alma sitting on the bleacher shivering. It was November, and she had probably been waiting up there for twenty minutes already. I’d gotten distracted after my last class, falling into more discussion about Mr. Gregory with Britta, who I’d run into in the hall. Now, I felt bad.
“I was about to leave,” she said when she saw me come over the crest of the hill.
“I'm glad you stayed. And I'm sorry I'm late,” I said. “I think after what I'm about to tell you, you'll understand.”
I then spent the next twenty minutes or so explaining everything to her. And I mean everything. The science project, our plan to crack Ethan, the friendships we'd developed. I told her about Mr. Gregory's involvement with Rosalind, about Dr. Wyatt, about my lies to my mother and to her.
I told her about the missing oil and the note I had found. I even told her about my feelings for Wes, as much as I was trying to ignore them myself.
Finally, I told her that Mr. Gregory was gone, and why we suspected it wasn't just personal leave like Mr. Meyer had said. Alma had been listening wide-eyed to my entire story.
It was a good reaction, I thought. It showed she believed me, even though it sounded totally made up. A secret spy group of seventh graders? Come on. But the trust I felt for her that made me decide to tell her the truth in the first place was mutual, and she didn't question my story's authenticity at all.
The first thing she did when I finished talking was pull me into a bear hug. It surprised me. Alma was not an affectionate person. She showed love in other ways, such as with her protectiveness over me.
“Thank you for telling the truth, and for trusting me with it,” she said as she held me at arm's length.
“Thank you for being patient with me, and for forgiving me even though I don't deserve it,” I said, finding myself becoming emotional and trying to fight it.
Coming out with the truth and having my best friend back was a relief like no other. I instantly felt my body relax, my heart rate slow, and the sweat was no longer beading on my forehead. My hoodie string, which I had nervously tied into a million knots while explaining things to Alma, was now a short little lumpy stump, and we laughed together as Alma pointed it out to me.
The laughter triggered the last rush of relief that I needed in order to know that everything was finally okay with Alma and me. Out of nowhere, I began to cry. A mix of relief and fear and confusion; I was letting it all out.
Alma snapped right back into her old role as my protector and patted my back, saying, “Shh, don't cry, we're going to take care of it all. All the stressors in your life, we're going to get rid of them,” she said determinedly. “We're going to figure out what's going on with Mr. Gregory and this doctor, and we're going to fix it all.”
I looked up and wiped my tears. She was saying “we”. “We” are going to fix it. How was I going to address this?
“Um, listen,” I said hesitantly, nervous about undoing what I had just repaired. “I can't let you be involved in the club...I wasn't supposed to tell you any of that, but for the sake of our friendship, I did. The others can't know that you know.”
I searched her face to see how she took it, but it was emotionless again. The last time I had seen that expression was after I had hurt her when she came to my house the Sunday that the S3C visited Dr. Wyatt’s lab. Not again, I thought. Not after the progress we just made!
But after a few moments, she straightened up in her seat and gave a sly smile.
“Got it,” she said with a wink. “No one will know that I know.”
I sighed in relief and thanked her. We hopped off of the bleachers, and had started walking back down the hill when she turned back at me, still smiling.
“But that doesn't mean I'm not going to help you anyway!” she said.
I was about to protest, but instead I started laughing. When Alma gets determined to do something, she's going to do it. There's no stopping her. Plus, I was not at all disappointed to have the coolest secret sidekick ever.
Now that things were back to normal with Alma and me, I felt a new surge of determination. Something wasn’t quite right about Mr. Gregory’s absence, and I wasn’t convinced he would be back the following Monday like Mr. Meyer had said.
Would Rosalind go so far as to kidnap another person?
You know they would, I thought.
I felt the first sparks of anger at the thought of it. If it was true, Rosalind had just messed with the wrong seventh-grad
ers.
This Rigby guy was toast.
###
The mission continues…
“The Secrets of Rosalind”
BOOK TWO in the Super-Secret Science Club Series is available now in paperback and digital download. Don’t miss the adventure! Visit scdavisauthor.com today to find out where to buy!
You Try It!
A Day in the Life of Dr. Wyatt
Curious about refraction? You can easily replicate the experiment that Wes found online, and make glass disappear yourself!
Items needed:
A Pyrex beaker
Wesson Vegetable Oil, regular
A Pyrex stirring rod or other small, clear glass object (marbles, lenses, or test tubes will also work)
Instructions:
Fill the Pyrex beaker with oil.
Place the Pyrex rods or other small glass object into the oil.
View the beaker from the side, and be amazed: the glass inside is totally invisible!
About the Author
S.C. Davis is a biologist-turned-writer, who now writes from her home in the San Francisco Bay Area where she lives with her husband and pets. The Super-Secret Science Club is her debut series. Visit her on the web at scdavisauthor.com.
Note from the Author