The Case of the Manila Envelope--Chapter 20
by HA
"I can't believe you guys went without me," Parker said as he tagged along behind Stink and Alicia as they left the dorm building.
Alicia rolled her eyes as she did her best not to look at Parker, who was trying to stay by her side. "Look, it's not like we planned to be together Saturday night."
"Not to mention that we really didn't need you around," Stink said.
Stunned momentarily in his tracks, Parker recovered and continued after his friends. "But I could've helped. Besides..." He stepped out in front of Stink and glared at him. "If anything happened to Alicia, I would've..."
"Oh, come on!" Stink said, glaring back at Parker. "This wasn't all about you and Alicia! This was about something more important--my future with Molly!"
"Oy vey..." Alicia muttered.
Stink's voice rose as he spoke. "I swear that I will be with Molly, no matter what!" he declared as he shook his fist upward. "No one will stand in my way, not even Blake Hewitt!"
With that declaration of his dedication to a singular, almost impossible goal, Stink marched off to the main school building with his arms swinging at his side. Behind him, Parker shook his head.
"Poor deluded soul," he remarked, and then he looked at Alicia. "So, are you busy this weekend?"
Willing herself not to smack Parker with her backpack, Alicia frowned and kept facing forward as she walked at a quick pace after Stink. Meanwhile, Parker continued to follow Alicia as if she was dragging him along like a kite.
* * * * *
When Bo woke up Monday morning, he was determined to do it. Even while handling smelly fish after smelly fish on Sunday, he couldn't get her out of his mind, especially the warm feeling of her lips against his cheek. Sometimes, he found himself standing behind the counter for good lengths of time when that happened; he really didn't want people to know how good he was feeling at that moment. The events of Saturday night still persisted in his memory, and various possibilities kept dogging him and threatening to drive him mad. Finally, as he went to bed on Sunday, he decided to talk to her about it. Not how he felt, of course, but he wanted to know why it happened. Then, maybe afterwards, he could tell her. Besides, she was probably still hurting, right?
His parents had stared at him when they found him fully awake in the kitchen wolfing down a breakfast of cereal and toast with butter smeared on it. As he mounted his bike and left home, he wondered if they knew anything about his current problem. However, the further away he got from his home, the more his doubt increased. Soon, he found himself at the Holmes residence, and as he laid his bike next to the front door, he noticed a familiar bike there as well, and he felt his heart sank. Just when he reached for the doorknob, the door opened, and he saw Shirley fully dressed for school. The sight of her almost brought a smile to his lips and the question he wanted to ask her almost leapt off of his tongue and out of his mouth, but when he saw him standing behind her, he stopped himself.
"Hi, Bo," Shirley had said.
"Hi, Bo," Blake had said with a smile and a wave. In response, Bo had raised his hand, and after suppressing the urge to make a fist or a rude gesture, he simply waved back and forced himself to smile.
The bike ride the three friends had to school proved to be quiet. Riding behind Shirley and Blake, Bo frowned as he watched them look at each other from time to time. The smiles they occasionally exchanged made him grip his handlebars even tighter, and he barely avoided crashing into a parked car.
When they arrived at Sussex Academy and parked their bikes at the bicycle rack, Bo spoke first. "So, Blake, you're looking well."
"Yeah, I guess I do, huh?" Blake said from a kneeling position as he locked up his bicycle chain.
"Considering what Molly did to you, I'm amazed you're still okay," Bo said.
"I managed to handle things," Blake said.
"I never should have doubted you," Shirley said.
"So, how was your big date with Molly?" Bo asked as they entered the main hallway, which was now filling up with students who were either eager or not eager to fill their heads with knowledge that would more likely be stored for future use or dumped to make room for more important things like purchasing more video games, clothes, and other pleasures of life.
"Yeah, how did it go?"
All three turned around to see Stink standing there. His eyes were fixed on Blake as if was a cancereous tumor ready to be expelled forcefully from the human body, and his hands were curled into fists at his sides. Behind him, Alicia was pointing at Stink silently while looping her finger besides her head, and Parker looked ready to grab his friend before he did anything rash.
"Hey, Stink," Blake said in a friendly manner. "How was your weekend?"
Stink narrowed his eyes at the American. "Don't play innocent with me, Blake. I saw you with her."
"I know," Blake said. "I was just wondering how you and Alicia did at the restaurant."
Parker gasped and shot Stink a dirty look. "You ate out with Alicia? You never said that to me."
Stink returned the look to his redheaded friend. "It's not like we had a choice. We either had to pretend we were going to eat there or get kicked out."
"We did have another choice, you know," Alicia said. "We could've just left."
"And leave Molly with him?" Stink said, pointing to Blake. "Not on your life!"
"Speaking of Molly," Shirley said, looking back.
All eyes soon beheld Molly at the other side of the hallway talking to a small group of girls. As soon as Stink saw her, he yelled, "Molly!"
Everyone watched as Molly looked up from her conversation, and as soon as she laid eyes on them, she quickly excused herself, bowed her head, and exited the scene as quickly as she could. Shirley noticed how she held her books close to her stomach.
Stink frowned at Blake. "Look what you did!" Without another thought, he walked as quickly as he could before bolting down the hallway. "Molly!" he yelled as he nearly knocked down a teacher and some of his peers.
Alicia sighed. "I'll be trying to rein him in if you need me," she said to her friends right before she walked off after the lovestruck Stink. Parker followed her while muttering "They ate together?" to himself in a low voice.
"That was rather amusing."
"I must admit it was, Rika," Shirley said, turning around and finding the Stranger standing behind her. However, she froze upon seeing who was next to her.
"Hello," Yume Miraino said with a big smile and a little wave. Like Rika and Shirley, she was dressed in the standard Sussex Academy uniform for girls, a green blazer with the school emblem on its breast pocket, a white blouse, a striped tie, and a plaided skirt. Her long hair was down, and her eyes weren't yellow.
Bo narrowed his eyes at the girl who had only recently tried to strangle him. "Okay, don't tell me that..."
"My uncle's letting me stay here in Redington," Yume said cheerfully. "Arthur arranged my transfer here."
"I bet," Bo grumbled as he glared at Yume. "Me and my fists would like to talk to Arthur about that and other things," he added as he curled and uncurled his hand.
"Bo..." Shirley shot him the look he had gotten used to during the time they have known each other.
Much to everyone's surprise, Yume threw back her head and laughed, but not in a sinister way. Rika simply shook her head as everyone stared at her old friend. "Oh, Bo, you are so funny!" she said as she wiped tears from her eyes.
Bo raised an eyebrow as he stared incredulously at the new student. "Okay, did I miss something here?"
Yume let out a little giggle as she looked at Rika. "Rika-chan, can you believe what he said?"
"Not exactly a good thing to do, Bo," Rika said solemnly.
"And why's that?" Bo asked.
Rika simply frowned in response, and no one said anything until Yume piped up. "Well, I must see someone about my classes. I hope to see you later," she said before dragging away Rika and merging with the student population currently crowding the hallway.
"So that was the infamous Gamer of the Dark, huh?" Blake remarked. "She really didn't look that evil."
"You weren't there," Bo said to him as he recalled the hellish ordeal Tomie Uzumaki put them through the past weekend.
"True, but Shirley filled me in over the weekend," Blake said.
Bo gulped. "She did?"
"I did," Shirley said.
Bo trembled. "You told him everything?"
Shirley nodded, and Blake smiled. "You were there for her, Bo, unlike me." His hands fidgeted, and he looked down. "Had to be otherwise preoccupied that night."
"Speaking of which, how was your date with the evil one?" Bo asked.
"Not that bad, really," Blake said. "Poor girl. You really have to pity her."
"Sure you do," Bo remarked.
"Aside from information Blake has yet to divulge due to some odd oath he took with her," Shirley said, "I would have to say that he survived the whole ordeal unscathed." She raised an eyebrow at Blake. "Still, did you have to kiss her good night?"
Bo's eyes almost shot out of their sockets, and his jaw looked like it was going to fall to the ground. "Whoa whoa whoa," he said in a whisper. "You had to kiss her?"
"On the lips," Shirley clarified, and Bo noticed that her hand was curling into a fist.
"I really wasn't in the position to argue with her," Blake said.
Bo looked over his friend. "Hmmm, you don't seem to be poisoned or anything..."
The three friends made their way to the lockers. "Did you hear from her regarding...?" Shirley asked as Blake approached his.
"Not yet," Blake answered as he unlocked his locker. "She never did call me over the weekend."
"Too bad," Bo said as Blake opened his locker, and his thoughts returned to holding Shirley in his arms as she cried. "Care to tell us why...?"
Bo stopped talking as a manila envelope fell to the floor. As he and Shirley watched, Blake quickly snatched it up into his arms. "Thank God," he said softly with a sigh of relief, and he bent down and swung his backpack onto the floor.
Both Shirley and Bo watched as Blake unzipped his backpack and immediately stuffed the envelope inside. "So, what exactly is it?" she asked, still staring as he got up from the floor.
Blake smiled at her, and Bo felt his fist slowly forming again. "Don't worry, guys," he said. "I'll tell you during lunch."
* * * * *
When lunch came, the three friends agreed to meet in the science lab. As they settled down at a table, Shirley asked Blake, "Okay, show us."
Blake nodded and unzipped his backpack. His two friends watched as he pulled out the manila envelope and opened it carefully. He reached inside it, pulled out its contents, and showed them to everyone present. "There you go," he said.
Shirley and Bo beheld a notebook with a paper cover on it. "So, this was what Molly had on you?" Shirley asked.
"Yep. Can you believe it?" Blake said.
"So what's the big deal about it?" Bo asked as he looked over the cover, which had the word "Sherlock Notes" written in black marker.
Shirley also noticed the title, and then she realized what it all meant. "Does this contain all the programs you designed and used as Sherlock?"
Blake grinned and nodded. "You got it, Shirley." He handed the notebook to her. "Feel free to look through it, but hold the paper cover tightly, and don't blame me if you don't understand a single word of it."
Shirley opened the notebook carefully and noticed that the paper cover was being held in place by a mix of yellowing and fresh transparent tape. With Bo looking over her shoulder, she began to skim through the pages of mathematical formulas, notes, program drafts, and actually working programs. "Fascinating," she remarked.
"Uh, yeah," Bo said, but the contents of the notebook were all in a foreign language to him. In addition, he was so close to Shirley that he could smell her hair, and that effectively distracted him from understanding Blake's programs and notes. Once again, his nose picked aloe, and he had to fight the urge to get a better sniff. Unfortunately, he felt himself feeling good yet again, and he retreated to the other side of the table.
Shirley looked at her best friend, who was deliberately standing behind the table. "Are you all right?"
"Um, yes, sure, I'm fine," Bo answered as he tried to focus on other things.
After raising an eyebrow at Bo, Shirley closed the notebook and handed it to Blake. "Interesting stuff. No wonder Molly could make you do what she wanted."
"Yeah," Blake said as he put the notebook back into the envelope and stuffed it into his backpack. "I don't think Dad would like it if he ever found this." He began closing his backpack. "Being thrown in jail for hacking into various computer systems won't endear me to the police, either. They'd figure out a lot of stuff that happened in California and more if they ever got my notes."
"Then why keep it?" Bo asked, feeling a lot better, but still keeping himself behind the table.
"Sentimental value," Blake said as he zipped up his backpack. "Plus, I keep procrastinating on transfering everything to a computer disk, although the notebook's easier to destroy." Putting his backpack next to his feet, he looked at his lunch and flashed a grin. "So, now that my big secret's out, can we eat now?"
Immediately, everyone dug into their food. As she ate, Shirley looked at Blake and recalled the call he had made to her Saturday night. She had wanted to scream at him, but once he had started off with asking how she was in a calm manner, she had regained her self-control, and from there, they had discussed what had happened to each other hours earlier. When she had admitted how her emotions had led her to kiss Bo on the cheek, she had become genuinely puzzled when Blake had let out a little laugh on the other line. Even when she had gone to bed, the moment was still playing in her mind, and she could still feel Bo's skin against her lips. When Sunday came, she resolved to not let the incident bother her in the least. For one thing, Bo was definitely just a friend, and whenever he held her in his arms, it was just him being a good, caring, concerned friend and nothing more. For another, she was definitely sure that she wasn't his type. She had spent most of her time telling herself these things, and when Monday came, she was pleasantly surprised by Blake's early arrival at her house. She had invited him in for breakfast with her family, and when Bo had arrived, they were almost done eating.
Shirley's blue eyes shifted to Bo, and when he noticed her looking at him, he looked down at his food tray. The young detective sighed and saw that her assumptions were correct. She found herself actually considering that perhaps that there was more to her relationship with Bo, but the logical part of her dismissed it immediately to he back of her mind, and she returned her attention to her food and Blake, who returned her gaze with a smile.
Feeling that it was safe to look up, Bo saw Shirley and Blake looking at each other. He felt a churning in his stomach, and the grip he had around his fork started to tighten. Frowning, he returned his attention to his food, and when his two friends started talking, he kept it there and tried to chew as loudly as he could.
"So, um..." Blake scratched the back of his head. "I know I put you through a lot on Saturday, so I was wondering if you'd...um...er...see a movie with me or something like that on this coming Saturday, or Sunday if you're busy..."
"Blake, I'd be glad to go out with you," Shirley said.
Seconds later, a loud snap pinged through the room. Both Shirley and Blake looked at Bo, who was holding one half of his fork. "Er, sorry about that," he said sheepishly.
Shirley gave her best friend a look, and Blake had a feeling about the cause of what just happened. "Bo, you can come along with us. You've been through a lot, too."
"Working over the weekend," Bo said firmly, and he proceeded to drink up all his milk loudly, which effectively ended the discussion. However, when Shirley and Blake began discussing their plans for the weekend, he looked at them and began to regret everything he had just said, among other things.
* * * * *
When he got home, Blake found a note from Rosa telling him that she would be out buying ingredients for dinner. After helping himself to a few homemade peanut butter cookies and some milk, he went to his bedroom. Quickly, he threw his backpack onto his bed and unzipped its main pouch. Without a word, he yanked out the now opened manila envelope, and he dug out the notebook that had been the cause of the past Saturday night's events. Holding it in his hands, he looked it over and said, "Man, that was close."
Without a word, he opened the front of the notebook and reached carefully into the space between the paper and hard covers. Seconds later, he pulled out an old photograph, and as he settled down on his bed, he looked at the two kids standing next to each other in it. One looked like him except he was much younger, and the other was a girl with long red hair and a faceful of freckles. Her clothing made her stand out in the photograph; she was wearing lavender overalls decorated with stars over a blue shirt with multi-colored sparkles and a rainbow on it, and a Greek fisherman's cap with a yellow plume adorned her head. The boy was smiling as if on cue, and the girl was winking at the camera while sticking out her tongue and using her hand to make two bunny ears poke out from behind the boy's head.
Blake sighed and touched the image of the girl. "Wish you were here, Court," he said with a small chuckle, and he turned over the picture to look at the handwriting on the back, which read "Blake (just turned 6) and Courtney posing for the camera."
Replacing the photograph back into its hiding place, Blake looked at the envelope. Silently, he reached into it and fished around. Finding something, he quickly pulled it out, and to his surprise, he found himself holding one of the pictures he had taken with Molly at the pizza parlor. Even more surprising, he noticed the smile crossing Molly's face, and when he turned the picture over, he found something written in pencil on the back. Despite the faintness of the writing, he made out the words, "Thank you. Nothing happened."
END OF CHAPTER 20
by HA
"I can't believe you guys went without me," Parker said as he tagged along behind Stink and Alicia as they left the dorm building.
Alicia rolled her eyes as she did her best not to look at Parker, who was trying to stay by her side. "Look, it's not like we planned to be together Saturday night."
"Not to mention that we really didn't need you around," Stink said.
Stunned momentarily in his tracks, Parker recovered and continued after his friends. "But I could've helped. Besides..." He stepped out in front of Stink and glared at him. "If anything happened to Alicia, I would've..."
"Oh, come on!" Stink said, glaring back at Parker. "This wasn't all about you and Alicia! This was about something more important--my future with Molly!"
"Oy vey..." Alicia muttered.
Stink's voice rose as he spoke. "I swear that I will be with Molly, no matter what!" he declared as he shook his fist upward. "No one will stand in my way, not even Blake Hewitt!"
With that declaration of his dedication to a singular, almost impossible goal, Stink marched off to the main school building with his arms swinging at his side. Behind him, Parker shook his head.
"Poor deluded soul," he remarked, and then he looked at Alicia. "So, are you busy this weekend?"
Willing herself not to smack Parker with her backpack, Alicia frowned and kept facing forward as she walked at a quick pace after Stink. Meanwhile, Parker continued to follow Alicia as if she was dragging him along like a kite.
* * * * *
When Bo woke up Monday morning, he was determined to do it. Even while handling smelly fish after smelly fish on Sunday, he couldn't get her out of his mind, especially the warm feeling of her lips against his cheek. Sometimes, he found himself standing behind the counter for good lengths of time when that happened; he really didn't want people to know how good he was feeling at that moment. The events of Saturday night still persisted in his memory, and various possibilities kept dogging him and threatening to drive him mad. Finally, as he went to bed on Sunday, he decided to talk to her about it. Not how he felt, of course, but he wanted to know why it happened. Then, maybe afterwards, he could tell her. Besides, she was probably still hurting, right?
His parents had stared at him when they found him fully awake in the kitchen wolfing down a breakfast of cereal and toast with butter smeared on it. As he mounted his bike and left home, he wondered if they knew anything about his current problem. However, the further away he got from his home, the more his doubt increased. Soon, he found himself at the Holmes residence, and as he laid his bike next to the front door, he noticed a familiar bike there as well, and he felt his heart sank. Just when he reached for the doorknob, the door opened, and he saw Shirley fully dressed for school. The sight of her almost brought a smile to his lips and the question he wanted to ask her almost leapt off of his tongue and out of his mouth, but when he saw him standing behind her, he stopped himself.
"Hi, Bo," Shirley had said.
"Hi, Bo," Blake had said with a smile and a wave. In response, Bo had raised his hand, and after suppressing the urge to make a fist or a rude gesture, he simply waved back and forced himself to smile.
The bike ride the three friends had to school proved to be quiet. Riding behind Shirley and Blake, Bo frowned as he watched them look at each other from time to time. The smiles they occasionally exchanged made him grip his handlebars even tighter, and he barely avoided crashing into a parked car.
When they arrived at Sussex Academy and parked their bikes at the bicycle rack, Bo spoke first. "So, Blake, you're looking well."
"Yeah, I guess I do, huh?" Blake said from a kneeling position as he locked up his bicycle chain.
"Considering what Molly did to you, I'm amazed you're still okay," Bo said.
"I managed to handle things," Blake said.
"I never should have doubted you," Shirley said.
"So, how was your big date with Molly?" Bo asked as they entered the main hallway, which was now filling up with students who were either eager or not eager to fill their heads with knowledge that would more likely be stored for future use or dumped to make room for more important things like purchasing more video games, clothes, and other pleasures of life.
"Yeah, how did it go?"
All three turned around to see Stink standing there. His eyes were fixed on Blake as if was a cancereous tumor ready to be expelled forcefully from the human body, and his hands were curled into fists at his sides. Behind him, Alicia was pointing at Stink silently while looping her finger besides her head, and Parker looked ready to grab his friend before he did anything rash.
"Hey, Stink," Blake said in a friendly manner. "How was your weekend?"
Stink narrowed his eyes at the American. "Don't play innocent with me, Blake. I saw you with her."
"I know," Blake said. "I was just wondering how you and Alicia did at the restaurant."
Parker gasped and shot Stink a dirty look. "You ate out with Alicia? You never said that to me."
Stink returned the look to his redheaded friend. "It's not like we had a choice. We either had to pretend we were going to eat there or get kicked out."
"We did have another choice, you know," Alicia said. "We could've just left."
"And leave Molly with him?" Stink said, pointing to Blake. "Not on your life!"
"Speaking of Molly," Shirley said, looking back.
All eyes soon beheld Molly at the other side of the hallway talking to a small group of girls. As soon as Stink saw her, he yelled, "Molly!"
Everyone watched as Molly looked up from her conversation, and as soon as she laid eyes on them, she quickly excused herself, bowed her head, and exited the scene as quickly as she could. Shirley noticed how she held her books close to her stomach.
Stink frowned at Blake. "Look what you did!" Without another thought, he walked as quickly as he could before bolting down the hallway. "Molly!" he yelled as he nearly knocked down a teacher and some of his peers.
Alicia sighed. "I'll be trying to rein him in if you need me," she said to her friends right before she walked off after the lovestruck Stink. Parker followed her while muttering "They ate together?" to himself in a low voice.
"That was rather amusing."
"I must admit it was, Rika," Shirley said, turning around and finding the Stranger standing behind her. However, she froze upon seeing who was next to her.
"Hello," Yume Miraino said with a big smile and a little wave. Like Rika and Shirley, she was dressed in the standard Sussex Academy uniform for girls, a green blazer with the school emblem on its breast pocket, a white blouse, a striped tie, and a plaided skirt. Her long hair was down, and her eyes weren't yellow.
Bo narrowed his eyes at the girl who had only recently tried to strangle him. "Okay, don't tell me that..."
"My uncle's letting me stay here in Redington," Yume said cheerfully. "Arthur arranged my transfer here."
"I bet," Bo grumbled as he glared at Yume. "Me and my fists would like to talk to Arthur about that and other things," he added as he curled and uncurled his hand.
"Bo..." Shirley shot him the look he had gotten used to during the time they have known each other.
Much to everyone's surprise, Yume threw back her head and laughed, but not in a sinister way. Rika simply shook her head as everyone stared at her old friend. "Oh, Bo, you are so funny!" she said as she wiped tears from her eyes.
Bo raised an eyebrow as he stared incredulously at the new student. "Okay, did I miss something here?"
Yume let out a little giggle as she looked at Rika. "Rika-chan, can you believe what he said?"
"Not exactly a good thing to do, Bo," Rika said solemnly.
"And why's that?" Bo asked.
Rika simply frowned in response, and no one said anything until Yume piped up. "Well, I must see someone about my classes. I hope to see you later," she said before dragging away Rika and merging with the student population currently crowding the hallway.
"So that was the infamous Gamer of the Dark, huh?" Blake remarked. "She really didn't look that evil."
"You weren't there," Bo said to him as he recalled the hellish ordeal Tomie Uzumaki put them through the past weekend.
"True, but Shirley filled me in over the weekend," Blake said.
Bo gulped. "She did?"
"I did," Shirley said.
Bo trembled. "You told him everything?"
Shirley nodded, and Blake smiled. "You were there for her, Bo, unlike me." His hands fidgeted, and he looked down. "Had to be otherwise preoccupied that night."
"Speaking of which, how was your date with the evil one?" Bo asked.
"Not that bad, really," Blake said. "Poor girl. You really have to pity her."
"Sure you do," Bo remarked.
"Aside from information Blake has yet to divulge due to some odd oath he took with her," Shirley said, "I would have to say that he survived the whole ordeal unscathed." She raised an eyebrow at Blake. "Still, did you have to kiss her good night?"
Bo's eyes almost shot out of their sockets, and his jaw looked like it was going to fall to the ground. "Whoa whoa whoa," he said in a whisper. "You had to kiss her?"
"On the lips," Shirley clarified, and Bo noticed that her hand was curling into a fist.
"I really wasn't in the position to argue with her," Blake said.
Bo looked over his friend. "Hmmm, you don't seem to be poisoned or anything..."
The three friends made their way to the lockers. "Did you hear from her regarding...?" Shirley asked as Blake approached his.
"Not yet," Blake answered as he unlocked his locker. "She never did call me over the weekend."
"Too bad," Bo said as Blake opened his locker, and his thoughts returned to holding Shirley in his arms as she cried. "Care to tell us why...?"
Bo stopped talking as a manila envelope fell to the floor. As he and Shirley watched, Blake quickly snatched it up into his arms. "Thank God," he said softly with a sigh of relief, and he bent down and swung his backpack onto the floor.
Both Shirley and Bo watched as Blake unzipped his backpack and immediately stuffed the envelope inside. "So, what exactly is it?" she asked, still staring as he got up from the floor.
Blake smiled at her, and Bo felt his fist slowly forming again. "Don't worry, guys," he said. "I'll tell you during lunch."
* * * * *
When lunch came, the three friends agreed to meet in the science lab. As they settled down at a table, Shirley asked Blake, "Okay, show us."
Blake nodded and unzipped his backpack. His two friends watched as he pulled out the manila envelope and opened it carefully. He reached inside it, pulled out its contents, and showed them to everyone present. "There you go," he said.
Shirley and Bo beheld a notebook with a paper cover on it. "So, this was what Molly had on you?" Shirley asked.
"Yep. Can you believe it?" Blake said.
"So what's the big deal about it?" Bo asked as he looked over the cover, which had the word "Sherlock Notes" written in black marker.
Shirley also noticed the title, and then she realized what it all meant. "Does this contain all the programs you designed and used as Sherlock?"
Blake grinned and nodded. "You got it, Shirley." He handed the notebook to her. "Feel free to look through it, but hold the paper cover tightly, and don't blame me if you don't understand a single word of it."
Shirley opened the notebook carefully and noticed that the paper cover was being held in place by a mix of yellowing and fresh transparent tape. With Bo looking over her shoulder, she began to skim through the pages of mathematical formulas, notes, program drafts, and actually working programs. "Fascinating," she remarked.
"Uh, yeah," Bo said, but the contents of the notebook were all in a foreign language to him. In addition, he was so close to Shirley that he could smell her hair, and that effectively distracted him from understanding Blake's programs and notes. Once again, his nose picked aloe, and he had to fight the urge to get a better sniff. Unfortunately, he felt himself feeling good yet again, and he retreated to the other side of the table.
Shirley looked at her best friend, who was deliberately standing behind the table. "Are you all right?"
"Um, yes, sure, I'm fine," Bo answered as he tried to focus on other things.
After raising an eyebrow at Bo, Shirley closed the notebook and handed it to Blake. "Interesting stuff. No wonder Molly could make you do what she wanted."
"Yeah," Blake said as he put the notebook back into the envelope and stuffed it into his backpack. "I don't think Dad would like it if he ever found this." He began closing his backpack. "Being thrown in jail for hacking into various computer systems won't endear me to the police, either. They'd figure out a lot of stuff that happened in California and more if they ever got my notes."
"Then why keep it?" Bo asked, feeling a lot better, but still keeping himself behind the table.
"Sentimental value," Blake said as he zipped up his backpack. "Plus, I keep procrastinating on transfering everything to a computer disk, although the notebook's easier to destroy." Putting his backpack next to his feet, he looked at his lunch and flashed a grin. "So, now that my big secret's out, can we eat now?"
Immediately, everyone dug into their food. As she ate, Shirley looked at Blake and recalled the call he had made to her Saturday night. She had wanted to scream at him, but once he had started off with asking how she was in a calm manner, she had regained her self-control, and from there, they had discussed what had happened to each other hours earlier. When she had admitted how her emotions had led her to kiss Bo on the cheek, she had become genuinely puzzled when Blake had let out a little laugh on the other line. Even when she had gone to bed, the moment was still playing in her mind, and she could still feel Bo's skin against her lips. When Sunday came, she resolved to not let the incident bother her in the least. For one thing, Bo was definitely just a friend, and whenever he held her in his arms, it was just him being a good, caring, concerned friend and nothing more. For another, she was definitely sure that she wasn't his type. She had spent most of her time telling herself these things, and when Monday came, she was pleasantly surprised by Blake's early arrival at her house. She had invited him in for breakfast with her family, and when Bo had arrived, they were almost done eating.
Shirley's blue eyes shifted to Bo, and when he noticed her looking at him, he looked down at his food tray. The young detective sighed and saw that her assumptions were correct. She found herself actually considering that perhaps that there was more to her relationship with Bo, but the logical part of her dismissed it immediately to he back of her mind, and she returned her attention to her food and Blake, who returned her gaze with a smile.
Feeling that it was safe to look up, Bo saw Shirley and Blake looking at each other. He felt a churning in his stomach, and the grip he had around his fork started to tighten. Frowning, he returned his attention to his food, and when his two friends started talking, he kept it there and tried to chew as loudly as he could.
"So, um..." Blake scratched the back of his head. "I know I put you through a lot on Saturday, so I was wondering if you'd...um...er...see a movie with me or something like that on this coming Saturday, or Sunday if you're busy..."
"Blake, I'd be glad to go out with you," Shirley said.
Seconds later, a loud snap pinged through the room. Both Shirley and Blake looked at Bo, who was holding one half of his fork. "Er, sorry about that," he said sheepishly.
Shirley gave her best friend a look, and Blake had a feeling about the cause of what just happened. "Bo, you can come along with us. You've been through a lot, too."
"Working over the weekend," Bo said firmly, and he proceeded to drink up all his milk loudly, which effectively ended the discussion. However, when Shirley and Blake began discussing their plans for the weekend, he looked at them and began to regret everything he had just said, among other things.
* * * * *
When he got home, Blake found a note from Rosa telling him that she would be out buying ingredients for dinner. After helping himself to a few homemade peanut butter cookies and some milk, he went to his bedroom. Quickly, he threw his backpack onto his bed and unzipped its main pouch. Without a word, he yanked out the now opened manila envelope, and he dug out the notebook that had been the cause of the past Saturday night's events. Holding it in his hands, he looked it over and said, "Man, that was close."
Without a word, he opened the front of the notebook and reached carefully into the space between the paper and hard covers. Seconds later, he pulled out an old photograph, and as he settled down on his bed, he looked at the two kids standing next to each other in it. One looked like him except he was much younger, and the other was a girl with long red hair and a faceful of freckles. Her clothing made her stand out in the photograph; she was wearing lavender overalls decorated with stars over a blue shirt with multi-colored sparkles and a rainbow on it, and a Greek fisherman's cap with a yellow plume adorned her head. The boy was smiling as if on cue, and the girl was winking at the camera while sticking out her tongue and using her hand to make two bunny ears poke out from behind the boy's head.
Blake sighed and touched the image of the girl. "Wish you were here, Court," he said with a small chuckle, and he turned over the picture to look at the handwriting on the back, which read "Blake (just turned 6) and Courtney posing for the camera."
Replacing the photograph back into its hiding place, Blake looked at the envelope. Silently, he reached into it and fished around. Finding something, he quickly pulled it out, and to his surprise, he found himself holding one of the pictures he had taken with Molly at the pizza parlor. Even more surprising, he noticed the smile crossing Molly's face, and when he turned the picture over, he found something written in pencil on the back. Despite the faintness of the writing, he made out the words, "Thank you. Nothing happened."
END OF CHAPTER 20