Chapter Two

Torrington Academy 7:35 pm

Martin Mystery was nervous. He was almost never nervous but tonight as he hid in the air duct above the centre of Vanessa's room with Billy and a high-tech video camera, he was nervous. Not only was he scared of what he would find out but he was also scared of what the girls might think of him if he was caught. Especially Vanessa. But he had to find out more about her, no matter what the cost.

"Billy, are we ready? The girls have started to arrive." Martin said.

"Sure Martin. We are fully running and operational. Are you sure this is a good idea? We could get caught." The alien in a human suit asked in a high pitched voice.

"I'm sure we will not get caught. Now be quiet the girls are coming."

At that moment the door opened revealing Vanessa in her Pyjamas which was a blue tank top with black shorts and her long wavy black hair was in a pony tail. She paused at the centre of her room, "Something seems off but what?" She looked all around her. Martin and Billy held their breath. If she was to look up they would be in big trouble. Just as Vanessa was about to look up there was a knock at the door. She paused for a minute before going to answer it. Martin and Billy started breathing again.

"Hello Diana welcome to my humble abode." Vanessa said sounding overdramatic.

"Hi Vanessa these are my friends Jenny and Darla." Diana said gesturing to her two companions. Diana wore a loose purple t-shirt and blue shorts.

Darla wore and orange tank top with red shorts. And Jenny wore a black shirt with black pyjama pants. "Nice to meet you." The two girls said.

"Same here." Vanessa replied.

The group of girls followed Vanessa to the centre of her room, right below Martin and Billy.

"So Vanessa, how are you liking the school so far? Anything interesting happen?" Jenny asked with a knowing look.

"Well I did get run over by Martin and got knocked out for about five minutes. Found out he liked the paranormal just like me." Vanessa replied.

"Hey girls! Let's play truth or dare! I'll go first. Vanessa truth or dare?" Darla asked

"Dare."

"I dare you to go into the bathroom and put on make-up like a clown."

Vanessa was surprised but went to the bathroom to perform the dare. 10 minutes later, looking very clown like, she sat down amongst the giggles of the rest of the group and shot Darla daggers with her strikingly blue eyes.

"My turn, Jenny, truth or dare."

"Truth."

Vanessa thought for a minute. "Tell me the most embarrassing thing that ever happened to you in the school."

"Well, I walked out of the girls bathroom one day and everyone was giving me a strange look. When I asked what was up at the end of the day I saw I had TP suck to the bottom of my heels."

The whole group broke into a series of uncontrollable laughter. It was a miracle Martin and Billy were able to keep their poker faces on up in that vent.

"Okay. Okay. It's funny I know but now it's my turn. Diana."

"Truth."

"Okay what is the weirdest thing Martin has ever done?"

Diana thought for a moment. Martin had done some pretty wierd stuff and it was hard to think of the wirdest.

"Martin thought all the teacher had been replaced with fire demons once. So he poured liquid nitrogen on them. It took weeks to thaw them back out."

Everyone burst out laughing except for Vanessa. She was shaking her head back and forth as if she was disappointed. "What's wrong Vanessa?" Diana asked.

"Martin got it all wrong. When dealing with fire demons you don't freeze them suddenly like that. You freeze them slowly so the cold travels to their icy core completely freezing the. You're lucky they were not real or else we would NOT be having this conversation right now." Vanessa said.

All the girls stared at her in shock. Darla's glasses even fell off. Up in the vent Martin was stunned and Billy was looking at him in disbelief. He couldn't believe that his idol could make such a mistake. Wow. There is definitely more to Vanessa than meets the eye. Martin thought listening to the girl's conversation with increasing interest.

"What?" Vanessa asked looking back at three shocked faces.

"You are just like Martin maybe even more." Jenny said.

"Yeah even he probably doesn't know that. You guys are a match made in heaven." Diana said. Vanessa only blushed in response.

"Okay guys I think that is enough truth or dare. Let's have makeovers then." Darla suggested.

So for the next half hour, the girls painted their nails and faces while chatting about beauty products. Martin was bored out of his mind so he took the free time to think. Man, this is more to Vanessa than it seems. I didn't even know about the fire demons it was so obvious! She's perfect! So Martin's eyes never left Vanessa for a second.

At around eleven, the girls started to get tired. So they rolled out their sleeping bags in a straight line right under the vent and called it a night. Vanessa was directly below the vent.

Martin knew he was in trouble. The girls were directly under him and he had no idea of how to get past them without exposing himself and Billy. I had better wait until they are all asleep. Less chance of waking them up then. At around 12:30pm and Martin guessed all the girls were asleep so he woke Billy, who had fallen asleep in the wait, and asked for the rope they brought with them. His plan was to climb down the rope, step over the girls and make a brake for the door and it was working great... until they reached the door.

"Why hello Martin. Couldn't sleep?" Vanessa asked blocking the exit.

"Vanessa Billy and I were just uuhhh checking your room for bugs." Martin said hurriedly. "We did a good job there aren't any here."

"Uh-huh. And you expect me to believe that because..."

"'Cause you have a soft spot for me?"

Vanessa sighed. "Tell you what. I'll pretend all this never happened as long as you don't do this again. Alright?"

"Sure thing Nessa." Martin said relieved.

Vanessa opened the door for them to get out. As Martin was walking out Vanessa whispered in his ear, "Next time try to be a little more quiet when you spying on me. I have very good ears."

Martin just nodded at that and bolted for his room leaving Vanessa shaking her head in exasperation.