Kidnapped

Chapter 12: Announcement

On Monday, I came back to school looking positive and confident. I wonder if that's what Fifth Harmony feels like whenever they do a concert together.

I grabbed the textbooks out of my locker and hurried to my first period class. While Ms. Whitfield was droning on about sentences, I thought about what Luke said about finding someone out there.

Maybe Luke is right, Mom does deserve someone in her life. I knew it wasn't Dad or Charlie, but maybe someone who will be always there for her no matter what.

Just then, Ms. Whitefield surprises us with a pop quiz over what we discussed on the weekend. She passes the sheets of paper to the class, and expects us to complete at the end of the class.

I took out my sharpened pencil and filled in all the questions in five seconds. When I was finished, I flipped my quiz paper over and waited for my classmates to finish. I checked Madison, who was busy texting someone while focusing on the quiz.

Ms. Whitfield looked up from her desk and saw me not doing anything. "You're finished with your quiz?" she asked with suspicion. "That quickly?" I nodded, earning a couple of cold stares from my classmates.

The teacher walked up from her desk, took my paper, and sat back down to grade them. I watched as her eyes furrowed when she took a red pencil to mark my paper. "Very excellent work, Ms. Porter." Ms. Whitfield complimented.

She gave me back my paper then smiled. I looked at it then beamed. I scored a one hundred. "Smarty pants," someone coughed. A couple of kids laughed, but I ignored them.

"Finished as well," Luke said, giving the teacher his quiz. Ms. Whitfield graded then handed back to him. "What did you get?" I asked as we walked to the cafeteria. "One hundred," he replied. "It wasn't that hard."

"Photographic memory?" I guessed. Luke nodded. After we filled our trays with bowls of soup, we sat in an empty table. "Anything from our mysterious caller?" Luke asked.

"While I was trying out for clothes," I explained. "Until he or she responded me with these strange texts." I handed him my IPhone and sipped the broth.

His eyes were wide as a football as he scrolled down the texts. "It keeps ignoring me when I asked him who he was." I sighed. "I mean if he could at least tell us who he is then maybe-"

"He is a stalker," Luke finished. "Maybe he or whatever isn't trying to harm us," I began. "Maybe he's just trying to help us." "Seriously Cole?" Luke said. "You're treating him like he's Superman."

"Can you hear me out?" I begged. "I think he's a good guy." "If he's a good guy then how did he get our number?" Luke asked. "Who knows, maybe he's one of the robbers."

"Who is a robber?" someone asked. I looked up to see Madison, wrapping her arms around a jock. She wore her pink blouse, high heels, and a matching miniskirt. A golden necklace sat around her neck. "No one," Luke lied, eyeing the jock with pure loathe. "Who's the jock?" "My boyfriend," Madison bragged. "Cole, this is Jeff." Jeff had blond hair, an Adam's apple, and wore a blue football uniform.

"Hey," I greeted. Jeff smiled then waved silently. "How long have you two known each other?" Luke asked, staring at Jeff. "Awhile," Madison said slowly. "Awhile," Luke repeated. "That's very intriguing. Where did you guys meet?" Madison looked at Jeff nervously. "At a...concert?" Jeff answered.

Luke looked unimpressed. "Madison hates concerts," Luke replied. Madison looked at Jeff impatiently then back at Luke. "And my guess is that you two are not dating." "Looks like someone's jealous," Jeff snickered. Luke chuckled and leaned forward.

"No, I'm jealous." Luke said. "But apparently your "girlfriend" is." I covered my mouth, trying not to laugh. "You have no proof," Madison snapped. "First of all, that necklace you're wearing is fake." Luke explained. "Second, your boyfriend is flinching by your touch. Probably because you either have bad breath or he can't stand you."

"And last but not least, Jeff is broke." "How could you tell?" I whispered. "His football jersey is ripped and covered in chocolate milk," Luke sighed. "My hypothesis is that Madison is extremely jealous of Cole talking to me and she's trying to find someone to use. Am I wrong?"

Jeff stared at Madison for a moment then stormed away. "Jeff!" Madison shrieked. "Come back here!" After Madison left, I laughed. "Well played, Sherlock." I complimented. Luke resumed back to his soup. "Before we were interrupted," I said. "Let's get back to business."

"The robbers work in a group," Luke explained. "Two of them are female while the other are male." "Why are they stealing clothes and accessories?" I asked. "What do they need them for?" "And why did they steal our bus?" "So many questions," Luke mumbled. "Why is there so many questions?"

The bell rang for next period as losers and cool kids threw their garbage away and left their lunch tables. "Do you want to talk about it in your hideout?" I suggested. "Sure," Luke said, tossing his empty bowl away. "Let's get to class."

I tossed my soup bowl away and followed Luke to art class. The new art teacher, Ms. Jacob is teaching us how to make clay vases. She wore a white blouses a pencil skirt, and flats. She had wavy black hair and brown eyes. What was weird about her is that she wore a lot of jewelry. I applied pressure on the pedal as I formed the brown damp mud into a vase. Splatters of earth appeared on my blue shirt.

I grunted as I tried to form something out a spinning clay, but it turns into a deformed cup. "Ugh," I groaned, looking at my shirt. "How's yours coming along, Luke?" He held up a perfectly smooth clay pot and grinned. "Show off," I muttered.

When class period was almost over, Ms. Jacobs clapped her hands to demand attention. "I have just received news from the principal," she exclaimed. "The field trip will be moved tomorrow?" Tomorrow? I thought to myself. I glance at Luke, who shrugged then placed his pot on the table.

"Why was it moved tomorrow?" I asked. "Just think of it as a surprise," Ms. Jacob. "What surprise?" Luke asked. "After a lot of convincing," Ms. Jacob continued. "The museum has finally lowered the cost of the trip." "What's the cost?" Madison asked. "None," Ms. Jacob beamed. "Isn't this exciting?"

Everyone whooped and hollered, except for Luke and me. We didn't trust this woman. I raised my hand politely, waiting to be called on. "Yes Nicole?" Ms. Jacob asked. "Why wasn't this announced on the PDA?" "Think of it as a spoiler alert." Ms. Jacob answered.

"A spoiler alert?" I repeated. "Did the principal actually mentioned this?" Luke asked. "Or was it made up?" The entire class looked at us then at the art teacher. Just when she was about to answer, the bell rang for History class. Everyone got up from their seats and get their things.

"Cole and Luke," Ms. Jacob began. "Can I see you for a moment?" We both nodded then walked towards the teacher. "I don't like that you two are accusing me of something," she whispered. "Either just except the trip or don't come at all." "Understood," we said in unison.

"And just because I am new to this school," Ms. Jacob said, lowering her voice. "Doesn't mean that I am naive like the others." "The others?" I asked. "You mean the teachers or the robbers?" Ms. Jacob didn't say anything. "Get out," she rasped. We took our things then left the room.

Cast

Robbie Kay as Benjamin Hamilton

Cole Porter as Zendaya Coleman

Elizabeth Mitchell as Willow Porter