AN: The other day I was going through my old high school notebooks and stumbled across this 'gem' It was a story I began writing when I didn't have access to my laptop. I usually don't get pretty far on my handwritten stories usually giving up after a couple of pages, but this one has a story behind it. Not a very interesting story but still a story.
Has anyone ever seen the movie "The Perfect Score"? It's an MTV film released in 2004 starring Chris Evans, Scarlett Johansson, Erika Christensen, and a few other people. It's one of my top 10 favorite movies of all time. There's this one scene in it that I'm completely obsessed with! The way it was filmed, acted and scored was –in my mind- perfect! I'd explain the scene but it would give away the fic below. So let me stop rambling and you can start reading.
Carly had fallen asleep by now. She was always the first to do so. Freddie was awake but just barely with his head slowly drooping from his hand. And I was wide awake as always.
It was 2 A.M. and it was Saturday night; the Saturday before finals week to be exact. The three of us had just finished an intense pre-calc study session.
Yeah, you heard right, Sam Puckett studying willingly. Got a problem with that? I didn't think so.
Now as I was saying; we just finished studying pre-calc because that was our first test on Monday, and I needed a B to pass the class and keep my spot on the field hockey team.
I heard that gasp and yes Samantha Puckett does do team sports. Like I said earlier, do you have a problem with that?
Okay breathe Sam…let me explain calmly.
Last year was a bad year for me to say the least. At the beginning of my sophomore year my mom got engaged to a cop. And not just any cop, but the cop who busted me for stealing a tip jar from the Groovy Smoothie. Which by the way I didn't actually do but that's beside the point. Now usually my mom would never get involved with the cops that know me but since they could never actually prove I stole anything, they couldn't charge me with anything.
I know you're thinking to yourselves about how not be charged is a good thing but I haven't gotten to it yet so just wait a second and I'll get there.
The cop was bringing me home because surprise, surprise my mom totaled the car the week earlier and couldn't be bothered to find another way to pick me up, and for some reason the Seattle PD didn't trust me to walk the mile journey from the station to my apartment without wreaking havoc they escorted me home. I can still remember how they ogled each other at first sight…blech!
Give me a minute; I just puked a little in my mouth at the memory. Okay all better.
While this part of the story isn't all that important, all you need to know is that I reacted like I always had and amped up the bad behavior. The final straw was when I had handcuffed Bobby (the cop) to his own cruiser because he tried to "put his foot down" My mom was pissed enough to care so she grounded me for 2 months and threatened to send me to my grandparents hoes in Alaska if I pulled another stunt like that again.
Well as luck would have it I was arrested less than a week later more mischief. I don't think I've ever seen my mom angrier than that day. She refused to bail me out and left me there for the weekend. I was too ashamed to call Carly and Spencer for help, so I stayed there in that 5x5 cell for 2 nights. It scared me for life.
What was the point of this story again? Oh yeah! So long story short, it was huge wake up call for me. I spent the summer with my Alaskan grandparents and returned a reformed Sam Puckett…well almost. I still have this little issue with anger management, but I am working on it. See, I haven't hit you yet, that's a sign of improvement.
I turned my attention back to the T.V. set. I didn't recognize the show that was on so I tried falling asleep. After 10 minutes it was clear that it wasn't going to work so I focused on the TV again. The show was boring but I was too lazy to change the channel.
After the current show ended music videos started playing. The first was some fluffy pop song about falling in love with a guy you never expected to. It was a good song I had decided but I wasn't crazy about the video. They played a couple more video before going to commercial. An ad for the new pearpod came on and I got a weird feeling in the pit of my stomach. I hadn't seen my pearpod in a day and I ALWAYS use it. I searched my pockets, my purse, and my back pack. It wasn't in any of those places. I started panicking; how could this happen? I thought I'd had it in school the day before during study hall. Come to think of it, that was the last time I remember using it.
It became blaringly obvious that I needed to find it like 2 minutes ago. I looked over at my two friends: Carly, who was snoring; her mouth slightly open, and Freddie whose eyes shot open once I looked at him.
"What?" he asked suspiciously.
"I need your help," I whispered to him.
"With what?" He asked again suspicious.
"I need a ride."
"Sam It's almost 3 A.M., where on earth do you need to be now?"
"Please?" I asked, ignoring his question.
He laughed at me harshly and turned to go back to fake sleep. He totally didn't believe in the new me. I gave him a puppy pout which succeeded in creeping him out and got him to agree. 5 Minutes later we were in his car on our way to school. He pulled into the lot and parked in one of the many empty spots.
"I'll be back in a little while," I told him getting out of the passenger seat and jogging towards the school.
"Oh no Puckett, I'm coming with you," He called after me while locking the doors to his car.
I wasn't in the mood to argue with him so I stopped my jog and allowed him to catch up. We walked around the building until we came to the loading dock. The loading dock is infamously known to always be unlocked and unguarded at night so we got into the school just fine. We sneaked the halls but never saw anyone as we progressed further into the central part of the building.
"What are we doing here again?" Freddie asked as we climbed the stairs to the second floor.
"I lost my pearpod here on Friday and I need to find it," I explained.
He looked at me weirdly and I thought for a second he was going to say something but he bit his tongue and continued to follow me up the stairs to the next floor.
"The last I remember having it was in study hall that morning Wendy and I were studying for our Othello quiz."
Freddie nodded before opening the door to the third floor library and allowing me to lead the way to the British Lit section. We scoured the area but there was no sign of it.
"It's not here," I whispered stating the obvious.
"Maybe one of the librarians found it and put it away for safe keeping until someone claims it." Freddie suggested helpfully striding over to the librarians' station. I followed him over and after 15 minutes of thorough searching we came up empty handed.
Freddie looked at me exasperated. "Where were you next?"
I thought about it for a second before walking towards the exit while Freddie trailed behind. We walked to the second floor and found my chemistry classroom. The door was unlocked.
"I had a chem. tutoring session before second period," I explained entering the classroom.
I walked over to the teacher's desk where she did all her tutoring. I searched Ms. Jones's desk before declaring that it wasn't there. I checked over the lab tables while Freddie checked the filing cabinets where most teachers kept confiscated electronics. He found 2 cell phones, a digital camera, and a few laser pointers, but my pearpod wasn't there.
We had the same results for my English class, and for my math lab. Next step was the gym which also turned up void of my pearpod. We headed over to the headmaster's office where my bi weekly counseling session took place. We had picked the lock for one of the filing cabinets and hit the jackpot. There were at least a dozen pearpods in that drawer but none were mine.
"One more stop," I declared hoping to god that I would find it in this last spot. We made our way back to the third floor when Freddie stopped me.
"Are you sure you didn't leave it in your locker?" He asked me for the 20th time that night and pointed to the hallway that housed the junior lockers.
I was fed up with having to explain why I never put my pearpod in my locker so instead of sounding like a broken record I grabbed Freddie by the hand and dragged him down that hallway. I found locker 389 and dialed in my combination. I opened the locker as quietly as I could and showed him the contents of my locker.
He peered in to find some text books, and a couple of notebooks but no pearpod. He freed his hand from my own and apologized sheepishly. He let me lead the way to the last stop. I reached the computer lab where my creative writing class had been during last period on Friday. I picked the lock and made a beeline for the teacher's desk only to be disappointed again. I was about to take my anger out on one of the photo frames on his desk when Freddie called for my attention. I put the picture of Mr. Wright and his family down, and looked up to see Freddie waving a black pearpod from the back of the classroom.
I grabbed it from him and examined it closely. The neon skull stickers that lined the back identified it as my own. I was about to hug Freddie in celebration when we heard something in the hallway. We rushed to find a hiding spot before we could be caught. We found one in Mr. Wright's desk. Freddie got under first leaving me little space to fit in comfortably.
Freddie had sat down with his back up against the inside of the desk. I had to crawl in and position myself above him. I basically was straddling his legs and was using his shoulders as support for my arms. Our faces were mere centimeters from one another. It was kind of hard to ignore how close we were but when the lights flicked on in the classroom our attention was turned to not getting caught. We strained to hear what was going on.
"What makes you think they're still in the building Henry?" A man asked.
"The car is still in the parking lot. So whoever set off the alarm in Dixon's office is still wandering around Phil," A rough voice answered.
Freddie stared at me terrified. The footsteps of the 2 men got closer to our hiding spot. I prayed that they wouldn't do a thorough sweep of the room. Both of us held our breath as we listened to the footsteps receding and finally disappearing with the slam of a door.
Freddie looked me straight in the eye and looked as if he were about to pee his pants. I couldn't help but to let out a giggle at his expense.
"We should stay put here," Freddie said.
"No we need to disappear."
"But they'll see us trying to leave."
"You heard them right? They know that someone is in the building, and when they do a full sweep and don't find anyone they'll be coming back," I explained.
He looked like he was about to object but decided to trust me. We crawled out of our hiding spot when we were completely sure that the two men were gone.
"Which way do you think they went?" Freddie asked gripping the doorknob.
"We heard them in the classroom next door so my guess is that they kept going this way," I pointed to the right.
"Crap, that's where the car is, what do we do now?"
"We can't take the car back now that they know it's here. They probably took down the plates or have someone watching it. We need another escape plan."
"I thought you said the loading dock was the only way to get into the school after hours. They probably already know that and will have someone there too then." He reasoned.
"I did say that, but the loading dock is the only way in, not out. All the doors lock from the outside only. We can still leave from anywhere."
"You sure know a lot about breaking into the school," He scoffed.
"I may have changed but I haven't forgotten. Come on I've got a plan," I said grabbing his arm and leading him in the opposite direction towards the school's cafeteria.
"Now's not the time for food Sam," He joked.
"Now's not the time for jokes Benson," I said harshly throwing his arm away from me as we entered the cafeteria.
"Oh come on Sam, you have to admit it was funny."
"No I don't think it was funny. You don't realize how much trouble I could get in if we're caught." I said entering another hallway on the opposite side of the café.
"How much trouble you could get in? What about me? I have just as much at stake here" He said raising his voice.
"Freddie, if you get caught it'll be a misdemeanor. The charges will probably be dropped and you'll have a few hours of community service at the most, but if I get caught, that's violating my probation. Not to mention what my mom will do."
"Your grandparents can't be that bad."
"She's threatened to send me to military school if I screw up again." I admitted.
Freddie didn't get a chance to respond though as we heard the doors opening to the café. Freddie grabbed my hand as we ran down the hallway. Our footsteps echoed off of the high ceilings. We came to a huge lobby area and hid behind the main staircase.
"What do we do now?" I cried. Freddie remained calm for the both of us as I noticed a plan formulating in his head. I hoped he would hurry because I could hear the sounds of two guards entering the hallway they were in.
Freddie mouthed to me one word "Bathroom" and pointed directly behind me. We made a run for it as we heard the footsteps echo louder. I prayed that the doors were unlocked and had them answer when the door swung open noiselessly. I entered the bathroom expecting to see a breathless Freddie behind me, except he wasn't there.
I was about to open the door hoping that he'd just gone to the men's room instead of the ladies; I was wrong. My hand was poised over the door handle ready to pull it open when I heard voices.
"Stop right there!"
AN: Please don't yell at me, I know I've been a horrible updater and now I'm here with yet another new story. I promise I'll update but I've hit writer's block in the form of boredom and indecisiveness. I don't know where to go next, which is no excuse, but true nonetheless.
Regardless I hope you enjoyed part 1 of 2 "Wake Up Call" I hope you stick around for part 2, which shall be posted sometime in the next 24 hours.
Please review?
Xo Sam xO