Chapter 6

"And so ends another track meet…" Simon spoke aloud to his brother before sitting upon his blue comforters that spread across his bed. "You seem more pleased than the last one, Alvin."

With the gleaming medal of gold resting on his chest, the proud teenager fell to his bed and heaved a sigh, the weight of the meet lifted from his shoulders. "Well, of course I'm happy!" he exclaimed with a wide smile plastered on his face. "After twenty-something years, Westmont wins first place, and I have the medal to prove it!" With each glance he took at the medal dangling from the red, white, and blue ribbon, he felt superior to the rest of the runners, his smile growing wider, and his muscles growing weary. "I thought I wouldn't be able to beat the guy from Jewel…"

"But you did," Simon replied with a smile. "You should have seen Mom!" he mentioned suddenly. "She cried her eyes out…"

Hearing this, Alvin shot his blue-eyed gaze to Simon in confusion, his eyes narrowing tight. "She cried?" he asked in disbelief. "Why?"

All Simon could do was shrug. "If you ask me, I'd say she was proud of you; I mean, she knew how much you wanted to win, and actually seeing you defeat all of those runners, I would assume she was honored!"

Alvin's head fell back to the pillow as he looked to the white ceiling above, chuckling under his breath. "Si, you wouldn't believe the things she told me this afternoon."

Simon rolled his eyes and chuckled along. "Like what; twenty-something years ago, she was the one that brought home the gold for Westmont?" His chuckling soon turned into hardy laughter, however, for Alvin's case, his chuckles subsided into silence, his eyes wide.

"Dude, that's exactly what she told me…" he replied in a hushed whisper.

"No way," Simon replied, a stern look gradually appearing on his face.

Alvin kicked his feet over the side of the bed and locked gazes with his brother, who was obviously stuck in the stage of disbelief, but Alvin was determined to change Simon's mind. "I love track just as much as Mom loved it!" he spat. "She never got anything lower than second place when she raced, and it was twenty-five years ago when Mom and three other people ran the relay for Westmont and won first place!"

Simon then stroked his chin in curiosity and let a single huff escape his lips. "How come she has never told us before?"

"We never been curious enough, I guess," Alvin took a stab in the dark. He shrugged it off and kicked off his cleats underneath the bed and stretched his shoulders. "You know, it's only six o'clock," he suddenly brought up, "what are you gonna be up to?"

Simon shrugged before falling back to his pillow, his hands tucked behind his head. "Jeanette wanted me to go and check out the honor's night our school offered a couple of weeks ago."

All Alvin could do was scoff as his face crumpled in displeasure. "Really; on a Friday night?" he asked in disbelief. "Well, I guess nerds have to do something too, right?"

Simon rolled his eyes and shook his head about before rising in his spot and heading for the bedroom door. "And what are your plans?" he asked slickly.

The victorious Alvin heaved a heavy yawn and carefully slipped the medal over his head, settling it delicately on the nightstand. "I'm exhausted! My head's hitting the pillow!"

Simon chuckled. "Yeah, and I have nothing to do…" and with that, he exited the room, leaving Alvin chuckling about.

~7~7~7~7~

"In your face, you young bastards!" the geezer cheered as he happily clicked his heals together, making a circle around his partners who were once skeptical about the race. All they could do was watch in disbelief as Jack enjoyed his gloating. As the men stood outside the track field as audience members exited, people couldn't help but to watch and stare at the strange display of a man suffering from arthritis jumping around as if her were a hyperactive child escaping confinement of the time-out corner. "This kid succeeded in winning the race, which proves my point! He's apart of Maxwell's everlasting bloodline!"

"Hey," Darrell quickly called above his cheering, "If it weren't for my research, you guys would've never found this boy!" He crossed his arms across his chest and glared sharply at Jack, who had a slap-happy smile smeared across his face. "My research brought us here, Jack! You denied it!"

Jack scoffed and uttered a, "So? But… seeing him race tonight is not our only proof, sadly," he reported to the men.

"DNA," Craig replied with wide eyes. "Without stone-cold proof, we're just picking and choosing out the mystery box! This case is inconclusive!"

"And," Jack began as he went into his shirt pocket to retrieve the brown piece of hair concealed in a plastic baggy. "We have more DNA to worry about."

"Jack, I highly doubt that that little girl's Larson's daughter!" Darrell spat with haste. "I mean, think of the possibilities! How likely it is that she's here and not in Australia right now? Research shows that she has no intermediate family in America."

All Jack could do was shake his head, his nostrils flaring in frustration. "I know more than you guys will ever know…" his hissed coldly. "Go ahead, you don't have to trust me, but we need more generations desperately and these two can be that missing piece we have always been looking for…" he paused accompanied with a heavy sigh. He went into his shirt pocket, pulled out rolled-up pieces of paper and began to rifle through them one by one until he found one in particular with information that was crucial for the second assignment. At that top of the page next to Name: was J. Larson and a basic description: brown hair, green eyes, followed by a more vivid description underneath. "There's no picture of her, but in my heart, I can feel it's her," he gazed up from his reading and glanced at his partners, who were once again doubtful with the looks of it plastered on their faces. "It even says here that she would be in this general area, and that-"

"Jack," Craig began in a whisper before taking him by the shoulder, "We'll try, alright? Let's just get this Alvin kid tonight and find her later. How's that sound?"

The elderly man snatched his shoulder away from the affectionate grasp and snarled. "It sounds as though you guys think I'm crazy," he replied, his gray eyes turning dim. "I'm not… I'm just more confident about the girl than the boy… We need DNA from him… We need DNA from her… we need DNA from the both of them…" He heaved a monstrous sigh and skimmed over the specific piece of paper once more. "She's a 'Brains'," he quickly mentioned, eyeing his partners closely.

All Darrell could do was shrug his broad shoulders and replied with, "then she has to be intelligent… And after what we saw today, that Alvin kid's a 'Brawns'."

"Right, but where the hell are we gonna find those two?" Jack abruptly spoke. "They're teenagers for Christ's sakes! They can be anywhere, hanging out with their friends at the movies, or maybe even the mall!"

With confusion plastered on his face, the dumbfounded Craig slowly raised his hand as if asking a question in school. "'Brawns and Brains'?

Jack gestured a nod. "She's listed as a 'Brains', just like her father," he informed the rooky. "Each generation is listed according to how their past generation performed. Her father was a 'Brains', meaning he had the right means of intelligence, and in Alvin's case, his grandfather was listed as a "Brawns', meaning he was physically fit."

"And as we saw on the track, so is Alvin…" Darrell threw in.

"Therefore, we must think as if were a brainy teenager!" Jack exclaimed as he pointed a mere finger in the air. "If I were one of the smartest teenagers to attend this school… where would I be?" he questioned himself as he took a look at his surroundings. It was then that his eyes slowly drifted to the enormous high school that lay across the street with almost every street light beaming upon it. Outside of the brightly lit school stood a flamboyant sign reading, 'Honor's Night! All Students are Welcome!' plastered across the white banner written in the school's colors. It all seemed too simple for Jack, but why shouldn't he give it a try? "Aye boys… check that out," he spoke as he pointed across the street.

They glanced over as directed and immediately caught sight of the overload sign whipping in the breeze. "You think she'll be there?" Craig asked quickly.

"It's a weird thought, I know… but it won't hurt to give it a shot…"

With a sudden haste, Darrell whipped out his notepad and pen and began to scribble down any notes he thought would be of extreme importance. Possible location of female target, check; DNA from female target, checked as well. "Wait!" he blurted as he gazed up from his poor handwriting. "This is all fine and dandy, but what about Maxwell's bloodline? There's no DNA! How the hell are we getting this DNA of his?"

People continued to pour out of the track field bleachers in groups, and among that group, Alvin's dearest friend, Prescott frantically walked passed with a red sweatshirt lopped over his shoulder. He ruffled his blonde hair and sighed heavily.

"Hey Pres, what's up," a boy from their team greeted as he made his way over to the frantic boy.

Prescott scoffed and rolled his eyes. "Alvin told me that he'll be back to pick up his sweatshirt, and he's not back yet! I've been waiting for twenty minutes for him!" he spat as he unraveled the apparel from his shoulder.

Just as suddenly as the conversation was brought up, Craig glanced at the boys and smirked broadly. He waltzed his way over to the group as they continued to talk;

Prescott and his friend chuckled aloud as he held out the sweatshirt in front of him. "This thing reeks of his sweat!" he blurted before pressing his nose against it, only to have him quickly pull it away, his face twisted in disgust. "Have you seen him?" he asked the boy.

"Dude, he left a while ago!" he replied with a chuckle.

"Great," Prescott replied sarcastically. "Just fabulous…"

Upon hearing this information, Craig looked over his should to his partners and eyed them tentatively. "That's his sweatshirt, guys," he mumbled to them. "He was wearing it before the track meet started! This means it has sweat, which carries DNA!"

Darrell frowned and sighed. "How are we getting it?"

The men were caught in a terribly awkward position; of course they couldn't walk up to a pair of teenagers and ask for a sweatshirt to return into it to its rightful owner. Or were the boys just that naïve? There was no harming in trying, Craig thought.

"Hold on!" the uneasy Darrel spat once again, startling his partners.

"Damn it, Darrel, what the hell is wrong now?" Jack questioned roughly, his eyes narrowed tight.

Darrel snarled as he adjusted his shirt upon his shoulders before beginning with, "Yeah, this kid has Alvin's sweatshirt, and yeah, it may have his DNA, but for all we know, this kid might have his DNA mixed in with Alvin's!"

With exasperated looks plastered on their face, Jack and Craig slumped where they stood, finding that Darrel was completely correct. "So, how the hell are we getting this DNA?"

"Let's not worry about him right now!" Jack suggested as he stormed away, making his way towards the high school. "Come on! We're checking out this honor's night to see if we can find this brunette!"

~7~7~7~7~

"Simon, you came!" the smiling green-eyed Jeanette exclaimed as she closed the front door to her abode behind as she stepped out onto the cool night.

"Once you told me about the honor's night, I couldn't say no!" he replied with the widest smile plastered on his face. He adjusted his glasses to the bridge of his nose and chuckled. "Can you elaborate on this honor's night you've been so excited to take me too?"

Jeanette sighed heavily before releasing her hair from its bun, letting it flow down her back. "Well, you see, it's similar to night school, but these classes broaden your mind of every subject possible! You'll learn things you thought you already knew! It's fantastic, and I just know you would want to come with me!"

"I can't turn down an opportunity like this! That's sounds great!"

With that, the two made their way down the brightly lit street to the high school, unknowingly having unexpected visitors waiting for them there.