CHAPTER 4

CHAPTER 4

"Geezum, I thought for sure Isabel heard everything we were saying." Maria said, laying down on Liz's bed. She rolled over on her stomach and looked out at the balcony, then got up off the bed and stepped out of Liz's window and settled down on one of the lawn chairs.
"Yeah, I can't believe it either." said Liz.

"To think that the boys that we're head-over-heels for are, one day, going to have to leave, and they're gonna be up there looking over us." Maria said softly as she wiped a tear from the corner of her eye. She was, obviously, thinking about Micheal.

Did he really mean those things he said to her? Did he really mean that he didn't love her? Or did he mean to say, once again, that he loved her TOO MUCH?

*Why does love have to be so complicated*
"So what are we going to do about those letters?" Liz asked, trying to get her friend's mind off of her sadness. After Maria left, Liz was planning to ask her parents about the conversation that they had had with Ms. DeLuca.
"Well my mom could've stashed those letters and the trunk any where by now. For all we know she could have shipped all the stuff to Ethiopia".
"Well, first off, I don't think your mom had time to or strength to haul a 100 pound trunk down the stairs, to the post office, and somehow manage to still come to the Crashdown to talk to my parents.... wait, maybe that's it. Maybe your mom and my parents hid it together! That's gotta be why she was talking to them"
Maria had a blank look on her face for a second, as if she was in a trance. Then she nodded.

"Yea yea that has to be it. Where would your parents hide a four by four, 100 pound trunk?"
Liz looked overwhelmed for a second. "We could try the attic, but I doubt they'd put it somewhere so obvious".
"Yeah you're probably right", said Maria, "But it's worth a try".
***

After searching every nook and cranny in the attic with no results, they gave up and went back to Liz's room. They decided they needed more help.
Neither wanted to involve the Pod Squad just yet.

Their friends had enough worries on their shoulders without having to deal with Liz and Maria's problems too.

They called Kyle and Alex. Both guys came over about half
an hour after Maria called tem.

Both were very tired and rumpled looking.
"Girls are crazy. You know it's one in the morning", said Kyle as he tried to hold back a yawn, "You're lucky my dad sleeps like a log, or he would've waken up when the phone rang".
Alex leaned his head on Liz's pillow and slowly drifted off to sleep.
"Alex! Wake up. I called you over for help, not for a slumber party." Maria whispered dramatically.

He sat straight up.

"What? What? I'm awake! Chill woman". Maria rolled her eyes.

"Ok, we're gonna tell you something and we need your help, but you have to promise not to tell Max and them just yet". Alex and Kyle just stared at her.

"I take that as a yes. Anyway, something's been weird. Yesterday Liz and I were in my attic looking for candles because the electricity went out, you know. So I pulled this old trunk out and inside was this little box with some letters in it from a place called Hogwarts. They were addressed to me. I know, I know. Hogwarts? What kind of name is that? But moving on… I was just about to read the first letter but my mom came in, totally freaking out over the letters, saying something about my safety or something." Kyle nodded.

"My interest has difinetly peaked, go on".
"Yea, well Liz and I think that maybe my mom's given the whole trunk and everything to Liz's parents to hide. Only problem is we have absolutely no idea where to start looking".
"Well maybe we could start by trying to figure out what and where this Hogwarts is." Alex volunteered. "I could try to go on my computer and find some information about it".
Both Liz and Maria leaped up and grabbed Alex in a huge double bear hug.

"Oh Alex thank you, thank you!" both whispered loudly giving him kisses on his cheeks.
"Hey so what am I, chopped liver?" asked Kyle pretending to be offended.
They all looked at him.

"Well you can help us go through Maria's house and
my house to find all this stuff".

He grinned, "I guess it pays off to have a big, strong guy around." He began flexing his muscles.
"Yeah ok, muscle man." said Maria.

creak, creak...
All four heads whipped around towards the door.

"Oh shit, out, out, out!" cried Liz quietly, trying to push Kyle and Alex out her window. She and Maria
jumped into bed and pulled up the covers.

"Oh Oh! Turn off the lights!" Maria hissed.

Liz jumped out of bed and switched off the light. The room
was plunged into instant darkness.
Liz's father cracked the door open. Maria tried to appear as if she'd been sleeping for hours as a beam of light escaped from the hallway and ran across her eyes. Mr. Parker stood there for what seemed like hours. Finally, he shut the door and Maria and Liz could hear the flooring creaking as he walked away.

A/N: I just want to quickly thank all the reader's who've been giving me great feedback! Thank you!

And an extra thank you to the BEST BETA READER in the world, ZONKOFRED! (even if she's a little slow!) :)