Wowee what's this? A chapter?
oh yeah thanks for the reviews you guys :)
Chapter 7
Leah woke up to the sound of someone knocking hard on her door. She groaned, rolling over and burying her head underneath her pillow, waiting for the knocking to stop. It didn't.
"Leah! It's way past eleven and I know it's summer but you've never slept this late in your life. And Annabelle's on the phone."
Way past eleven? The latest Leah had ever slept was a little past nine. Well, she had never stayed up all night at a train wreck, either. And it didn't help that she had to shower for an hour afterwards to get the majority of the soot and ash off her. She was pretty sure that there was still a layer lingering on her skin and hair.
"One second," she groaned, rolling out of bed and padding over to the door, which she opened and was met by her mother. She looked slightly amused and was holding the telephone.
"Here, honey. Breakfast – or lunch, whichever you prefer to call it – is on the table."
Leah smiled and took the phone. "Thanks. I'll be down in a sec." She then closed the door with a smile.
The moment the door was closed, Leah rocketed onto her bed, holding the phone to her ear. "Annabelle? It's Leah."
"Leah, hey!" Annabelle said in a hushed tone. "Sorry, I can't talk very loudly – my sister is still asleep" – Annabelle shared a room with her older sister, who tended to sleep way past two – "but there's a plan to meet at Martin's house around one. You know," Annabelle paused for dramatic effects, "to discuss the incident."
"Okay," Leah said, trying to process it all. "Meeting at Martin's house at one. Got it. Is everyone going to be there?" She was doubtful that Alice would feel compelled to come when her last outing with them ended in a near-death situation. Two, actually, if you included Woodward, which Leah did.
"Everybody is invited," Annabelle said. "Not sure if Alice will show." She obviously had the same doubts as Leah.
"That's too bad," Leah said, running a hand through her hair. "Alright, I'm going to get dressed and have some food, then I'll meet you guys there. Sound good?"
"Perfect. See you then!" Annabelle hung up before Leah had the chance to say goodbye.
Leah put down the phone and paused for a few seconds, trying to decide on what to wear. It was warm out – no, it was hot. Summers in Lillian were always hot.
She quickly changed into white shorts and a navy blue tank top, quickly ran a brush through her thin brown hair and leapt out of her room.
"Mom!" She called as she ran down the stairs into the kitchen, "I'm going to Martin's in, like, an hour, maybe less."
"Who's Martin again?" Her mother asked. "Oh, and I made you some toast. And cut up some strawberries. They're in the fridge."
"Thanks," Leah said, sitting down and biting into her toast before leaping up and opening the refrigerator, relishing the cool breeze that hit her. As she grabbed the strawberries, she said, "and Martin is the boy with the glasses. Remember? You've met him, like, fifty times."
Leah's mom nodded. "Of course," she said in a way that made it clear she still had no idea who Martin was. "Well, Dad's at work and I'm going to be out" – she checked the clock – "from now until six, so can you get yourself to Martin's?"
Leah rolled her eyes, sitting back down. "Of course, Mom. I'm not helpless, you know."
Her mother laughed, said a quick goodbye, grabbed her purse and left, leaving Leah alone in the house. She finished eating her toast slowly, trying to waste the time, but it was only twelve twenty by the time she was finished. Leah anxiously drummed her fingers on the old wooden table. Time always passed too slowly when Leah was waiting for something – her impatience was one of her worst qualities.
At twelve thirty, Leah gave up waiting and headed outside, where she jumped onto her bike. Martin didn't live too far away – it was about a five minute bike ride, but Leah figured if she did some loops she wouldn't get there too early.
She set off down the road, enjoying the warmth and the nice breeze. She glanced at Cary's house as she glided by – there was no car in the driveway. Maybe Cary's dad was driving him over.
She arrived at Martin's house ten minutes early, even though she did twelve pointless loops around the neighborhood. She was just anxious to discuss, to see what the others thought about what had happened.
It turned out she wasn't the only one who was focused on getting there. Joe hopped off his bike, having just pulled in the driveway, and ran up to Leah.
"Hey," he said breathlessly. "I'm glad I'm not the first one here. I've been doing loops for the past twenty minutes."
"Me too!" Leah exclaimed. "Should we go inside?"
Joe looked around and shrugged. "Probably. I mean, he could be looking through the window and watching us and waiting for us to come inside." At that, they both started scanning the windows. Nobody was watching them.
"Come on," Leah said, walking up to the door and ringing the bell. She and Joe waited for the door to open. Leah tapped her foot impatiently.
Finally, Martin pulled the door open. "Guys, your finally here!"
"What do you mean?" Leah asked. "We were invited over at one!"
Martin shrugged. "Everybody came before that. Except for Cary and Alice, but there's still time."
"Alice isn't here?" Joe said, sounding disappointed.
Martin shook his head and stepped back. "Come on in."
Leah and Joe entered the quite house. "Everybody's in my room. Just try to be quiet, because my parents are sleeping."
"Sleeping?" Leah said incredulously. "It's after noon!"
Martin shrugged as the trio climbed the stairs. "They're late sleepers."
"Obviously," Joe muttered, and Leah laughed.
"Follow me," Martin said, leading the two into his room. His room wasn't to big to begin with, so Leah wondered how everyone was going to fit in it. Charles was sprawled out on Martin's bed, Preston was sitting on the ground, his legs out in front of him, and Annabelle was curled in Martin's chair by the window, which was wide open. They all looked to hot to function.
"You guys okay?" Leah asked. "It's not that hot in here."
"Just try sitting here for an hour without doing anything, then you'll see," Charles groaned.
"You guys have been here for an hour?" Joe said in disbelief as Martin sat on the floor next to Preston, leaning against his bed.
"We couldn't wait to get here," Annabelle said, fanning herself with one of Martin's mathematical magazines.
"You should have called," Leah said, sitting against the wall. Joe moved over to Charles and pushed him over, making room for himself on the bed.
"Yeah, well, we didn't want to move," Preston said. "It's too hot."
"God, your so lazy," Annabelle said, throwing something from Martin's desk at him, resulting in immediate protestation from both Martin and Preston.
"Annabelle, don't touch my stuff!" Martin exclaimed. Annabelle made a face at him.
"Do you guys know where Alice and Cary are?" Leah asked. Everybody shook their heads.
"Cary is pretty unpredictable – he's probably just blowing something up in his backyard and forgot about this meeting," Charles said. "Because I did call him."
"Did he answer?" Joe questioned. Charles nodded.
"He sounded pretty weird. Maybe he was sick."
"Moving on," Annabelle exclaimed loudly. "We can explain to them later. Right now we have more pressing matters on our hands."
"What?" Martin asked. Annabelle stared at him, an eyebrow raised.
"Did you already forget about last night?" Preston asked incredulously. Martin blushed and mumbled something unintelligible.
"What are we going to do about it?" Joe asked in a half-whisper.
"Why do we need to do something?" Charles exclaimed, his voice low and hoarse.
Joe shrugged. "We were there," Leah supplied. "We witnessed it. We should try to figure out why Dr. Woodward did what he did."
"I don't care why he did what he did!" Preston exclaimed loudly, while Martin shushed him. "I just want to forget about it!"
"Well, we can't," Annabelle said fiercely. "Sorry, but I want to know what's going on. It's not some coincidence that Woodward drove onto the tracks while that train was coming."
"But if it wasn't a coincidence, then what was it?" Joe asked.
"Maybe," Martin said slowly.
"He was trying to stop something!" Preston finished, looking pleased.
"Well, what did he want to stop?" Charles asked.
"How am I supposed to know that?" Preston responded, sounding cross.
"Maybe there was something on the train he didn't want getting to the destination," Leah said quietly, thinking.
Everybody paused for a second. "Wait," Annabelle said hurriedly, sound excited. "Where was this train going?"
Everybody stared at each other for a second before jumping to their feet.
"Me and Martin and Joe will go into town and look for last night's train schedule," Annabelle said breathlessly. "Charles, go get your camera fixed, and Preston, go get Alice, and Leah, go find Cary. We're going to need everybody, whether or not they want to be here."
"What?" Leah protested. "Why do I have to find Cary?"
"Because you live right next door," Annabelle snapped. "Alright everybody, let's move! We've got a mystery to solve."
"God, this isn't an episode of Scooby Doo," Charles grumbled, but even so, everybody followed Annabelle out the door. Leah hopped on her bike with instructions to be back at Martin's in an hour, and with that they all headed in different directions.
