Memories-Part 8
Disclaimer-- I don't own any of the original higher ground characters, including Frank. If I did I would be entirely happy. But I do own Jordan Thomas, his mom and step-dad Kendra and Jackson. His sister Hailey Jade and bother Dillion and his social Workers Max Anderson and Helen Brandon. I also own Jill Trinity, the mail lady.
In this chapter- Turmoil at Horizon after Peter and Sophie find out the admissions building has been broken into. Suspicions arise.
Jordan stepped back into the dorm room. The papers hidden under his coat. The time was now 4:15. He had been gone for 45 minutes. As he got into the dorm and put his shoes and coat away he heard Scott moan. He tensed up. After realizing that Scott was asleep he moved to his bunk. When he got there he lifted up his mattress and slipped the papers under it.
"I'll read them later." He said to himself yawning. "I need to get to sleep."
Jordan got into bed and pulled up the covers over himself. He fell instantly to sleep.
LATER THAT MORNING- BOYS DORM
Scott and Auggie woke up to the sun in their faces. Ezra was already up, they could hear him singing in the shower. Scott sat up yawning.
'What time is it Aug?" Scott asked, the clock was nearest to Auggie.
"It's almost 9:30." Auggie said as he got up and put on a pair of pants.
"Thank God for Saturdays!" Scott said. Saturdays at Horizon meant sleeping in later than usual, and all the guys enjoyed that.
"Yeah." Auggie said in agreement.
They both yawned and stretched again. That's when Scott noticed that Jordan was still asleep.
"Hey, look who's the bum today." He said pointing to Jordan.
"He must be sick." Auggie said. "J never sleeps in."
The guys looked at each other in bewilderment. It truly was unlike Jordan to sleep in. Usually he was the first one up. He would have already eaten breakfast and stuff by now. As they were looking at Jordan Ezra came out of the bathroom.
"What's up guys. Why are you all looking at Jordan?" he asked.
"Look Ez, he's still asleep and it's almost 10." Scott said. "Don't you see anything weird with that?"
"True." Ezra said after thinking for a few moments. "It is strange."
Scott and Auggie went to the bathroom to freshen up as Jordan woke up. It was exactly 10 at the time. He looked at the clock. When Jordan saw what time it was he jumped out of bed.
'Dude, you guys should have woken me up." He said to them hastily.
"Sorry, you were sick, we thought you should sleep." Ezra said.
Jordan moaned and made his way to the bathroom without even putting on pants. He was still half-asleep. The guys looked at him go and threw pillows at him when he closed the door. They were getting annoyed with the whole situation.
MEANWHILE IN THE GIRLS DORM-
All the girls were up. Kat was making her bed, Daisy and Juliet were both brushing their hair after getting out of the shower, and Shelby was reading a book. They were all exhausted after spending half the night talking about Jordan's attitude, and also the fact that report cards were coming up.
"This is your last report isn't it Kat?" Shelby asked looking up from her book. "The last one that the collages will look at anyway right?"
"Yeah. I just hope I did good." Kat said, still worrying about what collages would think after they saw her record. A school like Horizon didn't always look good on one.
"A's and B's like usual right Kat? You'll still be the smartest cliffhanger you know." Juliet said. Kat always had the highest grades of all the cliffhangers. Everyone blamed it on the fact she had been there the longest and knew what the teachers wanted. But everyone knew that wasn't true. Kat was just on track with it all.
"Yeah right Juliet." Kat said absent-mindedly.
Daisy saw the look and changed the topic. "When's Peter coming back?"
"Um..." Shelby said thinking. "I think Sophie said noon. Why?"
"I need to know when our next quest is. Remember my boots got trashed last time and I need a new pair."
"You could barrow mine." Juliet offered. "Then I wouldn't have to go."
Juliet hated hiking. Ever since she got lost in that cave the one time, she hated to go and would use any excuse not to.
"No that's okay." Daisy said. "I don't mind using Daddy Dearest's money." She said bitterly.
Shelby laughed and Daisy shot her a wicked look from her side of the room.
"I'm hungry" Kat finally said.
"Me too." Daisy and Shelby said at the same time.
The girls got up and looked at Juliet for a reply. When Juliet made no attempt to move, Kat and Daisy went over and got her,
"You're coming to." Kat said.
"But I'm not hungry." Juliet said almost whining.
"Come on Juliet. Calories remember." Daisy said, not that she really cared at the moment, she just didn't want to hear a lecture given my Peter or Sophie to anyone right now. No matter who it was.
DINING HALL
Sophie waited anxiously for Peter to come back. She had been freaked out ever since she had stepped into the door of her and Peter's office. The place had been thoroughly trashed and she didn't dare go in. No one else was there at the time and she didn't want anyone else to know except for Peter.
She saw Juliet, Kat, Shelby, and Daisy coming into eat. She looked back and saw the guys were right behind them, minus Jordan that is.
"Hello guys." She said somberly.
"What's wrong Sophie?" Kat asked.
"Nothing." Sophie said facing the cliffhangers. "Where's Jordan?" she said looking at Scott.
"He um... He didn't feel good still and didn't want to come and eat." Scott said. "He looked pretty tired. I think he went back to sleep."
"I'll check on him in a bit." Sophie said a bit out of it.
'Are you sure you're okay?" Daisy said.
"Yeah, I'm fine." Sophie said not believable. "Why don't you go and eat."
The cliffhangers just nodded. They knew something was up but they were hungry. And seeing that it was Horizon, nothing stayed secret for long. They'd find out soon enough.
They all got their food and sat at their table. No one talked for a few minutes. It was an awkward but necessary silence. One that they all needed to get their thoughts settled right. Auggie was the first one to actually talk.
"What do you thinks up with Sophie?" he asked concerned.
"I don't know, she looks kind of freaked though. Something serious." Kat said.
The group looked at each other. "Another suicide?" Juliet said almost whispering.
The group hated hearing that word. Ever since Isaac committed suicide and Frank had made such a big deal about it cause it was one of their own. Sure other students had done it in the other groups, but never a cliffhanger. It had scared them all.
They looked out the window where Sophie was. She was talking to Frank. Rubbing her hands through her hair nervously. The Cliffhangers were freaking out.
"What do you think they're talking about?" Juliet said kind of scared.
"I don't know." Scott said. "But do we really want to know?"
"We'll find out soon enough." Kat said taking a sip of milk her eyes still fixed on the window.
OUTSIDE
Sophie stopped Frank as he was walking over to the Supply shed to see if the school needed anything new.
"Frank, can I talk to you." Sophie said, with urgency in here eyes and her voice.
Frank jogged up to Sophie slowly. He wasn't as young as he used to be. That's why he let Peter take over. But he knew what he needed to help these kids. He was the founder.
"Sure Sophie. What's on your mind?" he asked as he got up to her.
"I need to talk to you privately." She said in a hushed voice.
"Of Course." He said guiding her to a spot near the edge of the building.
"Frank..." she said almost solemnly. "Someone.... Someone." She stuttered, she was so shaken up.
"Some one what Sophie?" he asked putting his arm around her, bracing himself for whatever the news may be.
"Someone broke into Peter and mine's office last night." She said to him, brushing her hand through her fingers.
"Are you sure." Frank said, almost too loud.
"Yeah," Sophie said, trying to keep her composure. "I'm sure. I went into the office to do the reports this morning, to start them, and I got there and the place was trashed."
"Was anything stolen, do you know who could have done it?" Frank asked.
"I don't know who did it, I have no idea who would. And I wasn't there long enough and look hard enough to see if anything was missing. I mean nothing big. Peter's Paperweight, the rock, was missing. I found that near the statue. But other than that nothing was noticeable. Files and stuff were all over. I just couldn't tell." She said.
Frank looked at Sophie for a moment, contemplating what to do. He ran his hand over his beard. Things like this weren't highly usual at the Horizon Campus.
"Is Peter back yet?" Frank said. He had a plan, or thought he did anyway.
"No, he and the Trackers are still on quests." Sophie said.
"That rules them out at least." Frank said trying to lighten the mood, but it couldn't be done. "Any way. When Peter gets back tell him what happened. Then we'll call an emergency meeting of everyone. Faculty and Staff and tell them what happened."
He said urgently in a direct voice. "We'll decide everything from then on."
"Okay." Sophie said to Frank and turned to walk away. That's when she saw Peter coming with the Trackers, who looked tired and ready to rest.
Seeing Sophie and Frank together Peter got nervous. He called to Drew, the head of the Trackers to take the group to the supply shed to unload their packs. Then he came up to Sophie and Frank on the stairs.
"What's Wrong Soph, what happened?" He said as he got up there.
Sophie and Frank looked at him and Sophie opened her mouth to tell him.
LATER ON...
Peter and Frank had called the emergency meeting for after dinner that night, in the lodge. Everyone except the Trackers were to attend it. The mood was somber in the lodge. None of the students now could remember being called together for an emergency, other than the night of the big storm. But this was totally different.
The cliffhangers all sat together, Kat, Juliet, Auggie, Scott, Shelby, Ezra, Daisy, and Jordan. Jordan was feeling a bit better now. They looked up as Peter started to talk.
"You are probably wondering why we called you all hear tonight." He said addressing everyone.
There was a murmur from the crowd, everyone wanted to know. Sophie hushed everyone down so Peter could start talking again.
"Some one broke into my Office last night. We don't know who and we aren't placing any blame yet. We aren't exactly sure of what was taken, if anything but this is still a very serious offence." Peter said pausing for emphasis.
The students all looked at each other wondering who it could be that had done it.
"The place was a mess when Sophie got there this morning. To say the least it gave the entire faculty a scare. We pride ourselves on our record. This has never happened before. And we hope it never happens again." He said and paused, to look at Frank, who went up to address the students.
"Due to the severity of this issue, the campus and the whole student body, minus the trackers who are deemed innocent due to the fact that they were on a quest, is on lock down. That means no one is to go near Peter or Sophie's office unless they have an appointment. This will go on for a week. No one will be allowed off campus either. All quests for the time being, until the middle of this month have been postponed. We do not want to involve any outside authorities at this time but if push comes to shove, we'll have to. I would suggest that who ever is to blame come out and say so." He said pausing. 'Not now but in private, to Peter, Sophie, or I. You may all go."
The students hurried out to get back to their dorms and gossip probably. They didn't want to be in the lodge anymore with each other. Only the cliffhangers remained. They were supposed to be having group next. They stood there looking at Peter and Sophie, waiting.
Finally after a few moments of talking in private they came up to the cliffhangers.
Peter looked at them.
"I heard you had a couple of problems while I was gone." Peter said to them all.
The group looked down embarrassed. There was a chorus of mumbled 'I'm Sorry's.
"So we're going to talk about that right now." Peter continued. "I don't want you guys to start falling apart on me now. Shelby, Daisy, I need you guys to get along with everyone. Juliet, I heard you're not following your calories, do it please. Jordan what ever has been bugging you lately, Talk about it if you need to. Auggie and Scott, you guys have been good, you to Ezra. And Kat, fill out those college apps. Okay everyone?" he said in a hurry, getting all the problems on the table. "Now you can all go to your dorms, it's been a long evening.'
They all nodded their heads and started to get up. Jordan was the last one to get up and as he got to the door Peter and Sophie called to him.
"We'll catch up with you later J." Auggie said giving a sympathetic nod."
"Sure, whatever." Jordan said as he trudged back to the couch.
"Jordan sit down." Sophie said as she went to sit on the coffee table.
Jordan sat obediently. He could sense something was up. "Oh God, they know. I'm dead." He thought to himself. "They'll kill me." He swallowed hard.
Peter stood next to Sophie, his hands on her shoulders. "Do you know anything about what happened last night Jordan?" Peter asked nonchalantly.
Jordan's face turned white and his eyes dropped to the ground. "Lie... Lie..." he told himself in the back of his mind. But he couldn't decide if he should listen to it or not. Lying could get you in more trouble than before.
"Wha... What do you mean?" Jordan asked innocently enough.
"Do you know what happened to Sophie and mine's office last night?" Peter asked. "We aren't accusing you of anything, don't get us wrong, we just think you might know something." Peter said.
"I don't know." He said flatly, with not a trace of believability. He couldn't tell them and risk getting in big trouble.
"Are you sure?" Sophie said edging on.
"YES!" he yelled, maybe a bit to defensively. Then he slouched in the couch.
"Okay, calm down Jordan." Peter said comfortingly.
Jordan put his head in his hands. "Fine, I did it okay?" he said, "I broke in there. Last night when everyone was asleep."
"Why?" Peter asked stunned, well almost.
"I..." he said he needed an excuse cause he knew he couldn't tell them the right one,. "I wanted the letter from my mother and Jackson." He said bitterly, it was as good a lie as any, and believable too. "I felt sick when I woke up and I wanted to find you Sophie to ask if I could have the letter."
He looked at Peter and Sophie to see if they believed him. They looked like they were buying it. So he continued.
"But It was late and I couldn't find you. And I was thinking what if the letter said something important about the family. Than I should read it right?" he said pausing. "So I went to the office hoping the door would be open, and all that. But it wasn't so I opened a window and crept in hoping no one would find out."
"What about the mess?" Sophie asked.
"Well I couldn't find the letter and had to search for it. But everything was all over. So I had to move a bunch of stuff." He said "And about the paper weight, sorry about that. I thought it was just a rock, and that it was supposed to be outside. I'm sorry I was sick at the time, and tired." He breathed deeply and loudly.
Sophie and Peter looked at each other and than at Jordan.
"Thanks for telling us Jordan, you can go now." Peter said.
"What's my punishment?" he asked suddenly and sharply.
Sophie and Peter looked at him again, not exactly the reaction they thought that they were going to get from him.
"Um, you'll have shuns for a day, but that's about it. That and kitchen detail with some of the sunchasers cause it's their week." Peter said thinking off the top of his head.
"Okay." Jordan said and left.
When Jordan had been gone for a few minutes Peter and Sophie looked at each other and plopped on the couch.
"I don't think I fully believe him Soph." Peter said.
They both sighed. 'Me either." Sophie said and laid her head on Peter's shoulder.
Disclaimer-- I don't own any of the original higher ground characters, including Frank. If I did I would be entirely happy. But I do own Jordan Thomas, his mom and step-dad Kendra and Jackson. His sister Hailey Jade and bother Dillion and his social Workers Max Anderson and Helen Brandon. I also own Jill Trinity, the mail lady.
In this chapter- Turmoil at Horizon after Peter and Sophie find out the admissions building has been broken into. Suspicions arise.
Jordan stepped back into the dorm room. The papers hidden under his coat. The time was now 4:15. He had been gone for 45 minutes. As he got into the dorm and put his shoes and coat away he heard Scott moan. He tensed up. After realizing that Scott was asleep he moved to his bunk. When he got there he lifted up his mattress and slipped the papers under it.
"I'll read them later." He said to himself yawning. "I need to get to sleep."
Jordan got into bed and pulled up the covers over himself. He fell instantly to sleep.
LATER THAT MORNING- BOYS DORM
Scott and Auggie woke up to the sun in their faces. Ezra was already up, they could hear him singing in the shower. Scott sat up yawning.
'What time is it Aug?" Scott asked, the clock was nearest to Auggie.
"It's almost 9:30." Auggie said as he got up and put on a pair of pants.
"Thank God for Saturdays!" Scott said. Saturdays at Horizon meant sleeping in later than usual, and all the guys enjoyed that.
"Yeah." Auggie said in agreement.
They both yawned and stretched again. That's when Scott noticed that Jordan was still asleep.
"Hey, look who's the bum today." He said pointing to Jordan.
"He must be sick." Auggie said. "J never sleeps in."
The guys looked at each other in bewilderment. It truly was unlike Jordan to sleep in. Usually he was the first one up. He would have already eaten breakfast and stuff by now. As they were looking at Jordan Ezra came out of the bathroom.
"What's up guys. Why are you all looking at Jordan?" he asked.
"Look Ez, he's still asleep and it's almost 10." Scott said. "Don't you see anything weird with that?"
"True." Ezra said after thinking for a few moments. "It is strange."
Scott and Auggie went to the bathroom to freshen up as Jordan woke up. It was exactly 10 at the time. He looked at the clock. When Jordan saw what time it was he jumped out of bed.
'Dude, you guys should have woken me up." He said to them hastily.
"Sorry, you were sick, we thought you should sleep." Ezra said.
Jordan moaned and made his way to the bathroom without even putting on pants. He was still half-asleep. The guys looked at him go and threw pillows at him when he closed the door. They were getting annoyed with the whole situation.
MEANWHILE IN THE GIRLS DORM-
All the girls were up. Kat was making her bed, Daisy and Juliet were both brushing their hair after getting out of the shower, and Shelby was reading a book. They were all exhausted after spending half the night talking about Jordan's attitude, and also the fact that report cards were coming up.
"This is your last report isn't it Kat?" Shelby asked looking up from her book. "The last one that the collages will look at anyway right?"
"Yeah. I just hope I did good." Kat said, still worrying about what collages would think after they saw her record. A school like Horizon didn't always look good on one.
"A's and B's like usual right Kat? You'll still be the smartest cliffhanger you know." Juliet said. Kat always had the highest grades of all the cliffhangers. Everyone blamed it on the fact she had been there the longest and knew what the teachers wanted. But everyone knew that wasn't true. Kat was just on track with it all.
"Yeah right Juliet." Kat said absent-mindedly.
Daisy saw the look and changed the topic. "When's Peter coming back?"
"Um..." Shelby said thinking. "I think Sophie said noon. Why?"
"I need to know when our next quest is. Remember my boots got trashed last time and I need a new pair."
"You could barrow mine." Juliet offered. "Then I wouldn't have to go."
Juliet hated hiking. Ever since she got lost in that cave the one time, she hated to go and would use any excuse not to.
"No that's okay." Daisy said. "I don't mind using Daddy Dearest's money." She said bitterly.
Shelby laughed and Daisy shot her a wicked look from her side of the room.
"I'm hungry" Kat finally said.
"Me too." Daisy and Shelby said at the same time.
The girls got up and looked at Juliet for a reply. When Juliet made no attempt to move, Kat and Daisy went over and got her,
"You're coming to." Kat said.
"But I'm not hungry." Juliet said almost whining.
"Come on Juliet. Calories remember." Daisy said, not that she really cared at the moment, she just didn't want to hear a lecture given my Peter or Sophie to anyone right now. No matter who it was.
DINING HALL
Sophie waited anxiously for Peter to come back. She had been freaked out ever since she had stepped into the door of her and Peter's office. The place had been thoroughly trashed and she didn't dare go in. No one else was there at the time and she didn't want anyone else to know except for Peter.
She saw Juliet, Kat, Shelby, and Daisy coming into eat. She looked back and saw the guys were right behind them, minus Jordan that is.
"Hello guys." She said somberly.
"What's wrong Sophie?" Kat asked.
"Nothing." Sophie said facing the cliffhangers. "Where's Jordan?" she said looking at Scott.
"He um... He didn't feel good still and didn't want to come and eat." Scott said. "He looked pretty tired. I think he went back to sleep."
"I'll check on him in a bit." Sophie said a bit out of it.
'Are you sure you're okay?" Daisy said.
"Yeah, I'm fine." Sophie said not believable. "Why don't you go and eat."
The cliffhangers just nodded. They knew something was up but they were hungry. And seeing that it was Horizon, nothing stayed secret for long. They'd find out soon enough.
They all got their food and sat at their table. No one talked for a few minutes. It was an awkward but necessary silence. One that they all needed to get their thoughts settled right. Auggie was the first one to actually talk.
"What do you thinks up with Sophie?" he asked concerned.
"I don't know, she looks kind of freaked though. Something serious." Kat said.
The group looked at each other. "Another suicide?" Juliet said almost whispering.
The group hated hearing that word. Ever since Isaac committed suicide and Frank had made such a big deal about it cause it was one of their own. Sure other students had done it in the other groups, but never a cliffhanger. It had scared them all.
They looked out the window where Sophie was. She was talking to Frank. Rubbing her hands through her hair nervously. The Cliffhangers were freaking out.
"What do you think they're talking about?" Juliet said kind of scared.
"I don't know." Scott said. "But do we really want to know?"
"We'll find out soon enough." Kat said taking a sip of milk her eyes still fixed on the window.
OUTSIDE
Sophie stopped Frank as he was walking over to the Supply shed to see if the school needed anything new.
"Frank, can I talk to you." Sophie said, with urgency in here eyes and her voice.
Frank jogged up to Sophie slowly. He wasn't as young as he used to be. That's why he let Peter take over. But he knew what he needed to help these kids. He was the founder.
"Sure Sophie. What's on your mind?" he asked as he got up to her.
"I need to talk to you privately." She said in a hushed voice.
"Of Course." He said guiding her to a spot near the edge of the building.
"Frank..." she said almost solemnly. "Someone.... Someone." She stuttered, she was so shaken up.
"Some one what Sophie?" he asked putting his arm around her, bracing himself for whatever the news may be.
"Someone broke into Peter and mine's office last night." She said to him, brushing her hand through her fingers.
"Are you sure." Frank said, almost too loud.
"Yeah," Sophie said, trying to keep her composure. "I'm sure. I went into the office to do the reports this morning, to start them, and I got there and the place was trashed."
"Was anything stolen, do you know who could have done it?" Frank asked.
"I don't know who did it, I have no idea who would. And I wasn't there long enough and look hard enough to see if anything was missing. I mean nothing big. Peter's Paperweight, the rock, was missing. I found that near the statue. But other than that nothing was noticeable. Files and stuff were all over. I just couldn't tell." She said.
Frank looked at Sophie for a moment, contemplating what to do. He ran his hand over his beard. Things like this weren't highly usual at the Horizon Campus.
"Is Peter back yet?" Frank said. He had a plan, or thought he did anyway.
"No, he and the Trackers are still on quests." Sophie said.
"That rules them out at least." Frank said trying to lighten the mood, but it couldn't be done. "Any way. When Peter gets back tell him what happened. Then we'll call an emergency meeting of everyone. Faculty and Staff and tell them what happened."
He said urgently in a direct voice. "We'll decide everything from then on."
"Okay." Sophie said to Frank and turned to walk away. That's when she saw Peter coming with the Trackers, who looked tired and ready to rest.
Seeing Sophie and Frank together Peter got nervous. He called to Drew, the head of the Trackers to take the group to the supply shed to unload their packs. Then he came up to Sophie and Frank on the stairs.
"What's Wrong Soph, what happened?" He said as he got up there.
Sophie and Frank looked at him and Sophie opened her mouth to tell him.
LATER ON...
Peter and Frank had called the emergency meeting for after dinner that night, in the lodge. Everyone except the Trackers were to attend it. The mood was somber in the lodge. None of the students now could remember being called together for an emergency, other than the night of the big storm. But this was totally different.
The cliffhangers all sat together, Kat, Juliet, Auggie, Scott, Shelby, Ezra, Daisy, and Jordan. Jordan was feeling a bit better now. They looked up as Peter started to talk.
"You are probably wondering why we called you all hear tonight." He said addressing everyone.
There was a murmur from the crowd, everyone wanted to know. Sophie hushed everyone down so Peter could start talking again.
"Some one broke into my Office last night. We don't know who and we aren't placing any blame yet. We aren't exactly sure of what was taken, if anything but this is still a very serious offence." Peter said pausing for emphasis.
The students all looked at each other wondering who it could be that had done it.
"The place was a mess when Sophie got there this morning. To say the least it gave the entire faculty a scare. We pride ourselves on our record. This has never happened before. And we hope it never happens again." He said and paused, to look at Frank, who went up to address the students.
"Due to the severity of this issue, the campus and the whole student body, minus the trackers who are deemed innocent due to the fact that they were on a quest, is on lock down. That means no one is to go near Peter or Sophie's office unless they have an appointment. This will go on for a week. No one will be allowed off campus either. All quests for the time being, until the middle of this month have been postponed. We do not want to involve any outside authorities at this time but if push comes to shove, we'll have to. I would suggest that who ever is to blame come out and say so." He said pausing. 'Not now but in private, to Peter, Sophie, or I. You may all go."
The students hurried out to get back to their dorms and gossip probably. They didn't want to be in the lodge anymore with each other. Only the cliffhangers remained. They were supposed to be having group next. They stood there looking at Peter and Sophie, waiting.
Finally after a few moments of talking in private they came up to the cliffhangers.
Peter looked at them.
"I heard you had a couple of problems while I was gone." Peter said to them all.
The group looked down embarrassed. There was a chorus of mumbled 'I'm Sorry's.
"So we're going to talk about that right now." Peter continued. "I don't want you guys to start falling apart on me now. Shelby, Daisy, I need you guys to get along with everyone. Juliet, I heard you're not following your calories, do it please. Jordan what ever has been bugging you lately, Talk about it if you need to. Auggie and Scott, you guys have been good, you to Ezra. And Kat, fill out those college apps. Okay everyone?" he said in a hurry, getting all the problems on the table. "Now you can all go to your dorms, it's been a long evening.'
They all nodded their heads and started to get up. Jordan was the last one to get up and as he got to the door Peter and Sophie called to him.
"We'll catch up with you later J." Auggie said giving a sympathetic nod."
"Sure, whatever." Jordan said as he trudged back to the couch.
"Jordan sit down." Sophie said as she went to sit on the coffee table.
Jordan sat obediently. He could sense something was up. "Oh God, they know. I'm dead." He thought to himself. "They'll kill me." He swallowed hard.
Peter stood next to Sophie, his hands on her shoulders. "Do you know anything about what happened last night Jordan?" Peter asked nonchalantly.
Jordan's face turned white and his eyes dropped to the ground. "Lie... Lie..." he told himself in the back of his mind. But he couldn't decide if he should listen to it or not. Lying could get you in more trouble than before.
"Wha... What do you mean?" Jordan asked innocently enough.
"Do you know what happened to Sophie and mine's office last night?" Peter asked. "We aren't accusing you of anything, don't get us wrong, we just think you might know something." Peter said.
"I don't know." He said flatly, with not a trace of believability. He couldn't tell them and risk getting in big trouble.
"Are you sure?" Sophie said edging on.
"YES!" he yelled, maybe a bit to defensively. Then he slouched in the couch.
"Okay, calm down Jordan." Peter said comfortingly.
Jordan put his head in his hands. "Fine, I did it okay?" he said, "I broke in there. Last night when everyone was asleep."
"Why?" Peter asked stunned, well almost.
"I..." he said he needed an excuse cause he knew he couldn't tell them the right one,. "I wanted the letter from my mother and Jackson." He said bitterly, it was as good a lie as any, and believable too. "I felt sick when I woke up and I wanted to find you Sophie to ask if I could have the letter."
He looked at Peter and Sophie to see if they believed him. They looked like they were buying it. So he continued.
"But It was late and I couldn't find you. And I was thinking what if the letter said something important about the family. Than I should read it right?" he said pausing. "So I went to the office hoping the door would be open, and all that. But it wasn't so I opened a window and crept in hoping no one would find out."
"What about the mess?" Sophie asked.
"Well I couldn't find the letter and had to search for it. But everything was all over. So I had to move a bunch of stuff." He said "And about the paper weight, sorry about that. I thought it was just a rock, and that it was supposed to be outside. I'm sorry I was sick at the time, and tired." He breathed deeply and loudly.
Sophie and Peter looked at each other and than at Jordan.
"Thanks for telling us Jordan, you can go now." Peter said.
"What's my punishment?" he asked suddenly and sharply.
Sophie and Peter looked at him again, not exactly the reaction they thought that they were going to get from him.
"Um, you'll have shuns for a day, but that's about it. That and kitchen detail with some of the sunchasers cause it's their week." Peter said thinking off the top of his head.
"Okay." Jordan said and left.
When Jordan had been gone for a few minutes Peter and Sophie looked at each other and plopped on the couch.
"I don't think I fully believe him Soph." Peter said.
They both sighed. 'Me either." Sophie said and laid her head on Peter's shoulder.