“This is a really bad idea,” I hissed as we peered over the fence of the town hall building. We were dressed in all black, wearing fitted leather moccasins to minimize sound, and stretchy masks covering our mouths and nose, only leaving our eyes open. "We look like Assassin's Creed!" I wrinkled my nose.
"I know," Janet grinned. "Doesn't it look cool?" I pinched my nose and sighed. "No, it doesn’t. For being the popular friend, you have horrible fashion sense,”
“Hey!” she snapped.
“Why are we even looking here again?” I glanced at her eager face.
“Cause we might find records of Colton, and more details on who bought the house. I mean, he must have left some personal information when he was buying, right?” she grinned widely.
“Sometimes, I hate your logic,”
Suddenly, she squealed. “I can’t believe we’re stalking your hot neighbor! Does he have a six pa-”
Suddenly, the movement of a security camera caught my eye. “Shush!” I breathed, as I pulled her down so that both our backs rested against the fence. “There’s a camera,”
Janet blinked. “Fudge,”
I smothered my laughter, “What was that?”
Janet sniffed, “I can’t exactly say the F word in front of you, so I say fudge,”
“Ok, back to problem,” I grew serious again. “How are we going to bypass the camera?"
Janet thought for a moment, then smirked.
"I'm not going to like this, am I?" I said, resigned.
She just snickered and pulled out a pack of gum. She put one in her mouth, chewed, and spat at the camera. The gum-ball stuck directly in the center.
I gaped at her. “How did you do that?”
She chewed on a another piece of gum while shifting around the perimeter of the fence. “I get practice by spitting on dumb jocks who try to hit on me,” she said casually.
“Right,” I chewed my lip as I watched her finish ‘disabling’ all the cameras. “What’s our plan?”
Her eyes lit up, “Ok, this what we are going to do…”
---
My joints hurt as me and Janet carried out her crazy plan. We crouched in the shadows of the black gates lining the sides of the wide hall. “Okay,” Janet whispered, “You know what to do right?”
I nodded but said, “Are you even sure this is going to work?”
“Trust me,” she said, flashing me a wide grin, “I know exactly what I’m doing.” She placed a hand on the gate, and with surprising stealth I didn’t know she possessed, swung over the sharp tipped gate and made it across the lawn to where the the guard was posted in front of the doors.
“Ready?” she mouthed, and I shook off my awe and scrambled over the fence too, ready to jump into action. With an ear piercing battle cry, she jumped down on the mortified guard, who began flailing as she scratched at his eyes. One arm holding his head in place and legs wrapped around him to keep his movements limited, she took out a tube of perfume hidden away in one of her pockets and snuffed the liquid up the guys nose.
I ran at top speed, trying not slip on the polished marble floors, and stopped just before the doors, beholding an open window stationed on the ceiling. “Or, we could go through that open window which is right above our heads,” I deadpanned.
She pouted, “That’s no fun,”
I glared at her. “No fun is the safer way to go,”
She looked up, “I can’t scale a building like you do. It’s no fair that you took that rock climbing elective in camp,” she whined.
I rolled my eyes, “I’ll argue with you later. Now stay down here and lookout for when the guards wake up,”
“What’s the signal?”
“Three owl hoots, like we used to in camp,” I replied brusquely.
“Roger that,” she settled herself deeper into the bushes and waited.
I scampered up a wall into the open window. Inside was pitch black, and I turned on the small light bulb taped to my head so I could keep my hands free. I knew there was an old record book somewhere in the back from my field trip in 8th grade. I crept along the edges of library, still cautious for any booby traps.
“I swear this is the modern version of Indiana Jones,” I muttered to myself. Sure enough, I stepped right into the range of a security camera. Right after that, a series of owl hoots sounded through the window, just as a loud alarm went off.
“Fudge," I darted back the way I came and didn’t bother to climb down. I landed, my knees flexing to take the brunt of the impact, and took off with Janet over the fence into the alleys.
“What the heck? How on earth did you do that," she pouted. "That should have killed you, ‘cause it was one and a half stories high"
I quickly looked around and stepped quietly into the next shadow. "What a nice and caring friend you are. Well, they say I am half cat..." I left her at the front of her house and sprinted to mine, climbing up my brick wall to my balcony. Just in time.
"Ella," my mom called. "What are you doing? What was that crash?"
I struggled to control my breathing. "Nothing, just dropped my textbook," I replied when I finally got my breath back.
"Be careful," she reprimanded.
"Ok," I called back.
Internally I cursed. We were this close. Apparently, I needed a better plan. A few more minutes of ruling out possibilities and I sighed. There was only one option left. I dialed a number from my 'Do not pick up the phone if you see...' list. "Hey, Dante? I need a favor..."617Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡnp9jLVafhL
