SIMON'S POV
"Siiiimon." Theodore's chipper voice was the first thing I heard when I got up. It was a Saturday morning….no, wait. I took off my sleep mask, put on my glasses, and stared in disbelief at the clock. Already noon!? I had slept through half the day! I had definitely needed it though. My head was clear and my headache had eased up considerably.
"Urgh." I moaned, standing up and bracing myself against the bed. My legs felt wobbly.
My little brother took notice and helped me walk to the door. "Sorry I woke you up, but Dave wants all of us in the music room for a family meeting."
I knew exactly what the meeting would be about. I hoped my gut instinct was wrong. It….wasn't. I climbed into the chair in the music room next to my two brothers and braced myself to face the wrath of my father.
"Do any of you want to tell me why there's a huge scratch on my car!?" Dave looked directly at Alvin, who said nothing and hid his face behind a pillow. Theodore raised his hand and I hoped he wouldn't tell Dave what I told him last night. "What is it, Theodore?"
"Maybe it got scratched by a tree branch or something." The boy in green squeaked.
"No, Theodore. It was not scratched by a tree branch." The adult man put his hands on his hips.
I held my breath and weighed my options. I could say nothing….and then Alvin would automatically wind up taking the blame, and receive the harshest punishment. Or, I could tell Dave I made it, and get a lighter punishment. I could also tell him the truth, but that could land my friend in jail….and possibly me too, for being her partner in crime.
"Alvin." Dave tried to take the pillow away from Alvin. "Do you know anything about the scratch on Old Betsy?"
Alvin whispered something to Theodore, but I couldn't make out what he said. I still couldn't see his face either, since it was obscured by the pillow. What was his angle? Did he realize that covering his face and not talking made him seem even more guilty?
Fortunately, Theodore decided to translate for Alvin. "He says he doesn't wanna say anything because whatever he says will make you madder. He also needs the pillow so you don't have to look at his face. He thinks his face makes you mad too."
"Alvin!" Dave crossed his arms. "Stop this foolishness and tell me what you did to my car!"
I couldn't let Alvin take the fall for Eleanor's actions. I had let Alvin get blamed for things I did in the past. I was better than that now. "Dave, WAIT!" I held up both of my hands. "I'm the one who scratched the car." I frowned and looked as guilty as I possibly could. "I was testing an invention, and it accidentally hit the car. I'm so sorry."
"I appreciate you being honest, Simon." Dave told me, picking me up gently. Honest? Oh man. He had no idea what a big fat lie that was. Being blindly trusted by everyone meant I could just fib and mislead them and get away with it. It was power….a power Alvin would never have. I had misused that power once again. "I'll fix the scratch. I promise." I said, compelled to add a truthful statement to the end of my blatant lie.
"Alright, you three are free to go. And, Simon, next time….tell me when it happens. I'll be less mad than if you try and hide it….or hope I won't notice." Dave winked at me.
Gosh, being Dave's Golden Child sure was a thrill. I can guarantee that if Alvin or Theodore told him that they scratched his car, he would still get mad at them. Well, maybe not Theo, but Alvin….he would ground Alvin for no less than a month. I wonder what Dave would do if he were to find out his perfectly behaved son took a joyride with Eleanor "no morals" Miller.
I called up Jeanette once I left the music room. I hoped she would be able to give me some fresh perspective on my situation. She arrived at the door a few minutes later and I took her into the living room.
"How is it going?" The girl in the purple shirt that was much too large for her slender frame asked. That was odd coming from her, and almost robotic. She was trying much too hard to use typical conversation starters.
"Can we skip the small talk and cut to the chase?" I requested.
She nodded in relief. "Oh, thank goodness. Because I didn't know what to say after you told me how it was going."
I began to carefully choose my words. "Alright, so. Say that, you know, hypothetically, someone was basically forcing you to be their accomplice? Would you still go to jail for that?"
Her honey brown eyebrows raised for a second before lowering. "I...have no idea. That's a very odd thing to think about. I'll have to do some research on it. What's got you thinking about accomplices?"
Oh no. How was I supposed to answer that? I attempted to, and it was….well, it was an absolute train wreck. "Oh, you know, just, you know...things I think about when I'm super bored...and I've watched...crime dramas. Yes. You know, like, the ones where people get kidnapped and forced into helping, you know, bad people." See? I told you. Train wreck.
Luckily, my nervousness and obvious deceit went right over Jeanette's head. "Ohhhh. That explains it." She put a finger on her chin. "Well, I will get back to you with an answer as soon as possible so you don't have to wonder anymore." She told me cheerfully. Research has always been very fun for her.
"Thank you, Jeanette." I replied. I wanted to add that she was a lifesaver, but...I didn't want to push my luck. She might ask me whose life she was saving.
"You're welcome! Is that all you need?" She blinked her eyes.
I nodded. "Yep. That'll do it."
"Oh cool!" She started to walk out of the room.
"Hold on!" I shouted, at a medium volume. "Can you also look up aiding and abetting? And what makes a victim a victim?"
She smiled. "Will do."
I watched her walk away and brushed a hand across my forehead. "Thank goodness she can't tell that I'm about to pass out." I whispered to myself.
I was still rather jumpy as I decided what to do next with what was left of my Saturday. I decided to make good on my promise to Dave and take care of the scratch. I hummed to myself as I stood on a stool, rubbing scratch repair gel all over the nasty scar. Eventually, the humming became singing.
"Well I don't really know her
I only know her name
But when she gets under your skin
You're never quite the same
And now I know...
She's got something you just can't trust
Something mysterious
And now it seems, I've fallen, fallen for it."
I hit the chorus and smeared the gel in a little harder, while singing with force.
"She seems to have an invisible touch
She reaches in, grabs right hold of your heart
She seems to have an invisible touch
It takes control and slowly tears you apart."
I jumped off the stool and walked over to the garden hose to wash off my hands, still singing along the way.
"Well, she don't like losing
To her, it's still a game
And though she will mess up your life
You'll want her just the same
And now I know
She has a built in ability
To take everything she sees
And now I fear, I've fallen, fallen for it.
I walked back over to the car, using a rag now instead of my hands to buff out as much of the scratch as I could.
"She seems to have an invisible touch
She reaches in, grabs right hold of your heart
She seems to have an invisible touch
It takes control and slowly tears you apart."
"So what really happened to Dave's car?" A somewhat raspy, yet high pitched voice startled me from behind.
"YAHHH!" I yelped as I fell off the stool and into the grass.
I had to shield my eyes some, but I could recognize the face looking down at me. The sunlight glinted off his glasses, obscuring his eyes and making him look much cooler than he usually looks. There were hints of the irresistible, charming ladies man he once was. Don't get me wrong, he's still irresistible….but now he's irresistible to a different crowd of ladies. As he approached closer, the effect faded and his eyes came into full view. I was left staring at my geeky older brother. He used to tease me constantly and claim I was the geeky one. Now, he's twice as geeky as I ever was, maybe even THREE times. Let this be a lesson to you. You reap what you sow.
"Didn't anyone ever tell you it's not nice to sneak up on people?" I asked Alvin as he helped me to my feet.
"Sorry, bro." He pushed his long red hair out of his face. "I tried to get your attention like 1,000 times, but you kept singing."
"And now you know how I feel when I want YOUR attention." I retorted. It might sound mean, but this was casual banter for the two of us.
"I know you're lyin' about the car." He said, leaning against the car's tire.
I tried my best to stay calm. "What makes you say that?"
"It's obvious." Alvin, or Alvin 2.0 as he prefers to be called these days, came closer and invaded my personal space. "You weren't even awake when Dave found the scratch. It couldn't have been you." He paused momentarily. "Unless, like, the car got scratched during the night. But again, you were SLEEPING." He stressed the word.
Shoot! Darn it to heck! Why does he have to have such iron clad reasoning skills? "Uh…." I didn't know what else to say.
Alvin loves talking, and that was working to my advantage. "Thanks for covering for me, by the way. I did not want to spend this weekend grounded. No siree."
"You're welcome." I choked out.
"So do you know what happened?" He looked at the scratch closer, trying to deduce what made it. He'd never stumble upon the answer. Would he?
"Uhhh…." I was at a loss. What could I say to talk him out of digging for answers?
"And why were you singing that song?" He raised a pumpkin spice colored eyebrow and grabbed my shoulders. "Did aliens take the car? Did you wake up last night and see them? Have they sworn you to secrecy?"
Blasted! He was almost correct! If he replaced "aliens" with Eleanor, he'd have it figured out and then I would be TOAST!
"I dunno….I'm on an 80s music kick lately." I answered, worried that wouldn't stop his interrogation. Alvin 2.0 had a habit of asking extremely tough questions….when he wasn't acting like a complete maniac.
His face broke out into a grin. "Does my little bro have a giiiiiirlfriend?" He poked my cheek with his finger.
I grabbed his hand and forced it away from my face. "No. Okay, I was singing the song about….a friend, who is a girl, who is not my girlfriend."
"But do you want her to be?" I wanted to punch that dorky smile right off his face. I have no romantic feelings for Eleanor. She's compelling, sure, but not in that way.
"No." I shoved Alvin away from me. "Now can you leave me alone?"
"Sure, sure…." He jumped up on top of the car and sat down, looking at me with an even cheekier grin. "As soon as you tell me what you really know."
"Absolutely not." I went back to buffing out the scratch with the rag.
"But we're brothers! Brothers shouldn't keep secrets from each other." He slid down to the car hood and hung upside down from the front of the car. "If you tell me, I'll tell you something really cool I found out about….uhhh….Eleanor." He might have just picked a random name. However, I couldn't take any chances. I had to tell him something that would make him LEAVE.
"Fine, fine, fine. You really wanna know what happened?" I was furious now.
"Yes! Obviously! Yes!" He flipped himself upright and then leaped off of the car hood. "And I'm not gonna stop pesterin' ya until ya spill it."
Tell me something I don't know. I began to weave a story for him that was nothing less than insane. It would have definitely fooled him years ago, but could it manage to fool 2.0? "Last night I heard a loud noise and I got up to get a drink. The noise happened again, so I followed it outside. While standing next to Dave's car, I stumbled into a vortex. I found myself on a planet where all the trees had swords for leaves."
"Whoooah." Alvin said, totally captivated. "Swords for leaves!?"
"Yes. And I drove around trying to avoid them all and find my way back to the vortex, but I must have accidentally gotten too close to one and it scratched the car. When I discovered the vortex again, it transported me and the car back. No time had passed, so I went back inside the house and fell asleep. I thought I dreamed the whole thing until Dave started grilling us about the scratch." I finished. I was proud of myself, but I also felt absolutely sick. So many lies to cover our tracks. Is this how Eleanor lived all the time?
"That is…..totally awesome!" Alvin looked at me with his mouth agape. "And absolutely…." His grin faded. "The most colossal load of baloney my ears have ever had the opportunity to hear."
I was crushed. I thought for sure that would work. "How do you know?"
"Easy." He adjusted his red hipster glasses. "The odds of you finding a vortex to another world and not telling anyone about it are exactly 0. Had that actually happened, you would have immediately woken me up and told me all about it. I would have helped you write up all your findings about the vortex and we would have made HISTORY."
I sighed. He was right. "I'm sorry. I….I just can't tell you what actually happened. I want to, believe me, I do, but I can't."
That seemed to be good enough for him. "Fine." He agreed. "Don't tell me." He looked at me with a glimmer of sympathy. "But, uh, just remember that, hypothetically, if you lose people's trust, a bad reputation is hard to shake. So, uh, you know, be careful." He scampered away, leaving me there to ponder what he said.
"How could you do this to me, Eleanor?" I thought to myself. "How could you do this?"
I spotted her, leaving the treehouse once more and I decided to follow her, to beg her to release me from this coverup.
ELEANOR'S POV
Brittany droned on and on for a long long time. I had to use all my self control not to break out the chloroform. Just kidding, haha. I would never do that….to my sister. Anyone else? Fair game.
When she finally left the room, I ventured outside again. The sun was shining even brighter now. I slid down the stair railing and raced over to the sidewalk. No sign of Officer Dangus this time. Excellent.
I moved like a panther, as stealthy as can be. No matter what, I was going to interrogate Jason today. Nothing could stop me.
About halfway through my journey, I heard footsteps behind me. I swiveled my head quickly, making my twin pigtails swish.
"Hello again, Miss. super spy." Simon quipped. I was NOT expecting him.
"Get lost." I said firmly. "This is my mission. You wanted out."
"I still want out." He told me, stepping forward and trying to keep pace. "But I know I'm stuck with you until we complete this mission of yours….because completing the mission is the only thing that will stop us from serving lifetime sentences."
I tilted my head up to look at the taller boy. "You finally get it, don't you?"
"I'm sorry about what I said last night. For what it's worth, I am….somewhat enjoying this mystery." He stuck his hands in his pockets.
"And I'm sorry I blamed everything on you. I slowed us down too, with the extra dumpster diving and by not checking the fuel." I admitted, looking away from Simon. "I get a little overbearing sometimes."
"We were both exhausted." He added. "I think that was the main factor."
"So you don't think I'm a moral-less heathen?" I asked hopefully.
He shrugged. "You could be. I still don't know you that well. But, but, that's why I'm here too. I want to get to know you better. You gave me a taste of something amazing and I want more."
"I have morals." I insisted. "Sometimes people have to do the wrong thing, in order to prove themselves. I feel bad about….literally every law I've broken, but I know in my heart it's for the greater good."
"I think I'm beginning to believe that." He said softly. "So where are you headed now?"
"Jason's house." I whispered as we walked past a group of random humans out enjoying the sunny day. "I have to know who those people he gave the card to are….and where they live."
"Do you think he'll tell you?" Simon looked worried again.
I raised a fist. "I'll make him tell me."
"So you plan to add assault with intent to do bodily harm to your list of misdemeanors?" He said with his usual Simon snark. "Fantastic."
"Do you want to come with me or not?" I couldn't figure out why on earth Simon was still tagging along. Did he think he could keep me from breaking more laws in my quest to stop the heist?
"I'll come, but…..can you please spare this Jason fellow the black eyes?" He requested quietly as we passed by another group of people.
"Alright. Alright. No black eyes. I'll just tie him up." I patted my pocket where I was keeping my unbreakable ribbons. Another question rose to the surface of my mind. "How long have you been following me?"
Simon cracked a half smile. "Since you left your house."
I was beyond impressed. "Gettin' better at bein' sneaky, aren't ya?"
"I….I suppose." His smile faded as quickly as it had appeared.
"That's a good thing, Simon." I reached up and patted his shoulder.
He was silent for the rest of our walk. I wonder why saying he was good at being sneaky set him off so much. Was it because he didn't think he could ever be as sneaky as me? I mean, nobody can. I literally have a superpower that makes people ignore me. Was he worried that he'd take being sneaky too far? Was he still worried about that whole "perfect son" reputation that I'm not sure how he got in the first place? The dude's inventions have almost leveled this town and the world at least a dozen times. Dave must not know a thing about any of it, otherwise Simon would be grounded as much as Alvin.
We arrived at Jason's house and Simon finally spoke again. "What's your plan? Ring the doorbell and hope he lets us in?"
I scoffed. "That's not what a secret agent would do."
"What would a secret agent do?" He bit his lip and nervously looked up at the roof. I could tell he had discovered the route I wanted us to take inside. "Oh you have to be kidding me."
I started to climb up the side of the house and motioned for him to follow. "Come on, Simon. We're chipmunks. We're built for this."
He muttered to himself as he followed me up to the roof.
"Now what? We shimmy down the chimney like Santa Claus?" His snark was annoying, but I was glad to have him here again. I never realized before how lonely it can be working alone.
"Ho ho ho." I climbed into the chimney and crawled my way down, the soot clinging to my mint colored shirt.
Simon followed suit and we both climbed out at the bottom near the fireplace. "You're lucky the fireplace wasn't on." He told me with a fierce and protective tone.
"WE'RE lucky." I replied. "And who would have their fireplace on when it's 90 degrees outside?"
He brushed the soot off his dark blue shirt. "True true. Now, let's find our suspect."
We creeped up the stairs together and heard heavy metal music coming from what we assumed was Jason's room. Simon covered his ears and I bobbed my head to the infectious beat. I guess we both have very different taste in music. Interesting.
"Should I let you go in first? And I'll be your….backup?" It seemed like my partner was finally fully on my side.
I nodded and then rolled across the floor to the door. I jumped up and opened it, causing Jason to climb on his bed in fear.
"What's going on!? Who are you?" He shrieked.
Of course he'd have no idea who I was. Of freakin' course.
"Who I am is none of your business. Now, I have some important questions to ask you. We can do this the easy way, or we can do it the hard way." I pulled out my ribbons in a threatening manner.
"Get away from me, you little freak!" Jason made a run for it, so I was forced to tackle him to the ground and bind his hands and feet with ribbon. He tried hopping away, but I quickly added more ribbons to my assault and tied him to his desk chair.
I took a flashlight off his desk and shined it into his face. "Tell me about those people you gave that baseball card to!"
Simon entered the room and stood by my side. "Yeah." He added. "Who are they? What are their names? Where do they live? How long have you been talking to them?"
"How do you know about that!?" Jason shouted in surprise.
"We're secret agents. That's how. Now, answer our questions!" I ordered with a no nonsense tone. "Or we'll tell your parents you've been making deals with shady people on the internet."
"You guys are NUTS!" He struggled in his restraints. "My mom's not going to believe a couple talking weasels over her own son."
Simon cocked his head at Jason and smirked. "What if those talking weasels happen to have proof of your sketchy endeavors?"
Jason's face turned as white as a ghost. "You're bluffing. You have no proof."
"Not right now, but we can get it." The chipmunk in blue seemed more confident than I have ever seen him before. "I don't know if you know this, but your phone has quite a bit of incriminating evidence on it."
"No, it doesn't! I deleted those messages!" Jason spat angrily.
"Did you know that you can recover deleted text messages by contacting your cell phone service provider?" Simon was on a roll!
"Okay, fine! Fine! I'll tell you!" He struggled against the binds once more. I could see him break out in a sweat. "I don't know their names, or where they live. They called themselves Mr. and Ms. Anninomouse or something like that."
"Anonymous." Simon and I chorused together.
Jason nodded. "Yeah, that was it. I only talked to them for a week. They sent me an offer for a thousand dollars! I knew it was probably a scam, but I tried it and they were actually serious. They gave me a thousand dollars and I blew it on some new videogames and a new stereo and a bunch of phone apps."
Simon turned off the stereo system, probably because he couldn't take the music anymore.
I untied Jason. "So you really know nothing else about them?" I questioned. "You don't even know what they needed the baseball card for."
"Nope. No I don't." He scratched his head. "Wait a sec. I heard one of them say they had to go back to headquarters, whatever that means."
"I can't believe I'm saying this, but….thanks for the help, Jason." I pulled Simon toward Jason's bedroom window.
"Uh…..okay….so are you gonna tell me who you are?" The teen looked at me, trying to remember if he had ever seen my face anywhere.
"Nope!" I opened up the window and prepared to jump.
"Wait a minute…." The burly kid's gaze landed on Simon. "I know you. You're Alvin's brother!"
Simon coughed and then sputtered. "No, I'm not. Really. I get that a lot though. There's an uncanny resemblance."
He didn't look completely convinced, but he had a really dumb look on his face.
I grabbed Simon's hand and together we jumped out the window. We landed on our butts and I helped him up.
"That was….exciting." The chipmunk in blue rubbed his head.
"Sure was." I rubbed my hands together. "I love a good round of good cop bad cop….or in this case snarky cop and sassy cop."
"What's our next move?" He adjusted his blue specs.
We walked back to the sidewalk and I let out a sigh. "I don't knooow. I was so sure he would have answers, but we don't have any way of tracking down the card now."
Simon, who rarely is the optimist of the group, put his arm around me. "We'll think of something. I'm sure of it. After all, we….we do make a great team."
It seemed super weird that he had gone from hating my guts to wanting to be my crime solving partner in less than a day. I chalked that up to poor judgment and being super mad that I stole the car he was napping in. Simon being upbeat and cheery and positive? That was a whole new ballgame. Had I done this to him? Theodore hangs around me the most and he's always upbeat and positive. Maybe I have that effect on people. Or maybe, just maybe, Simon was fully discovering his thrill seeking and adventurous shadow personality….and he LIKED it. Whatever it was, no matter what happened next, I knew he had my back and I had his. We didn't know it then, but were going to uncover more secrets and schemes than we bargained for.
