"Hey, what were you doing last night?" Cameron asks his best friend, Maddie. She's got her head stuffed in her locker, trying to get organized, as usual. "Have you seen Chase yet?"
"I was just studying for today's Chemistry test. You didn't forget did you?" says Maddie, turning to Cam.
"Of course I didn't forget. I've been studying all week. Have you seen Chase?" he repeats.
"No, I haven't seen him. Why do you keep asking me?"
Cam laughs, "You've got your nose too deep in the books, Maddie."
"What are you talking about, Cam?"
"Well if you had answered my texts last night, or even just turned on the TV for two seconds, you'd know that your boy is bionic."
Maddie raises an eyebrow, not buying it.
Cam nods, pulling a smirk, "It's true. Chase, the older brother and sister. The three of them are bionic. There was a live press conference on TV last night and you missed it."
Maddie sighs, "Stop playing games. I don't need any distractions from the Chemistry test. If I score below a 93, my average will drop to an A-. I checked." Maddie and Cameron have been best friends since third grade, and they don't really have any other friends. They're brainiacs that no one but the teachers pays much attention to.
"I'm being serious, Maddie," Cam laughs again since she won't believe him. "It's all over the news."
Maddie looks past Cam to see a bunch of students suddenly crowding the entrance. Cam turns too when he hears the commotion. "Oh, look. It's probably them now."
Maddie hugs her books to her chest and shuts her locker, looking ahead in confusion. They finally see Adam, Bree, and Chase Davenport push through along with Leo Dooley.
"Listen up, delinquents," Principle Perry hops on the bench by the stairs and shouts. "If anyone has a problem concentrating because of these three, you can go straight to AE and concentrate there. Understand?" She doesn't wait for an answer, "Good! Now get to class."
"This is crazier than I thought it would be," Chase says to his siblings.
"Whatever. It's not that bad," Bree shrugs, obviously in denial.
"I could barely breathe trying to get in here, Bree," Leo says.
"I'm going to class. See you guys later," she says, already walking away.
"Wait up," Chase says, catching up to her. Chase is of course in advanced science, so they both have Chemistry together.
When they walk in, some students are already there. Bree leaves Chase behind and rushes over to take her seat next to Caitlin. They don't have assigned seats, but everyone usually sits in the same spot each class. Chase goes to his regular spot in the front of the room, where he normally sits by himself.
"Hey, Caitlin," Bree says as she slides onto the stool.
"Bree," Caitlin looks a little alarmed. "Hi."
"I was surprised you didn't call me last night."
"I was just, uh, busy." More people are coming into the classroom. The late bell must be about to ring any minute now.
"Go ahead and ask me anything you want to. You're my friend, and I'm sure you want some explanations."
"Uh, okay. Would you be mad if I sat with Mackenzie today? No? Great! See ya later, Bree," Caitlin stands quickly and moves across the room to sit with Mackenzie. She seems a bit scared of Bree.
"Caitlin," Bree complains as she walks away, but Caitlin doesn't acknowledge it. "Fine! There are plenty of other people who want to sit with me!"
Chase hears it and turns around to look at his sister. She looks disappointed as she holds her chin in her hand. But someone almost instantly comes and fills the space next to her. Chase's view of Bree is quickly blocked by some girl standing in front of him. He looks up at her face to recognize that it's Jessica. He's had to do a lab with her before, but she didn't do any of the work or pay any attention whatsoever.
"Hey, Chase," she sits. "I never noticed how cute you are before."
Behind them, where Maddie and Cameron have always sat, Maddie's heart just about breaks into a million pieces when she sees Chase smile and blush at this. The late bell rings. The test is about to start soon.
By lunch, among the three of them, Adam, Bree, and Chase have been given 63 cell phone numbers, 14 invites to hang out after school and 32 offers to sit with them at lunch. Thankfully, there are only four chairs at the round lunch table, so no one can come and sit with them.
"I don't know about you guys," says Chase, "But it's gotten old."
"Well, it's kind of flattering," Bree states.
"Yeah, once you set aside the fact that the only reason they're doing all this is just because we're bionic. They just want to use us for fame. I'm over it. I'm fine with being homeschooled after just half a day here."
"Seriously? You want to be homeschooled now?" Adam asks.
Chase nods, "I did some research on it last night. I could graduate early if I did it online. And you know what? I really thought about it. I won't have to deal with P.E., I won't have to deal with Perry, and I won't have to deal with the hooligan students who like to cause trouble in class. After today, I now know I won't have to deal with these fake people either."
Bree shakes her head. "You're probably right."
"Why are you so against it though, Bree?" Leo asks.
"Maybe I'm not anymore . . . but what are you going to do, Chase? Call all of our new fans fake?"
"No, it's not like that. People around the world who are supporting us obviously aren't trying to use us because it's not like they have gone to the same school as us for the past year and are now suddenly trying to befriend us. Not one person today has actually asked me about what we do. They're just all trying to be friends with us. That's it. All they care about it the fact that we're famous now."
"Chase is right, Bree," Adam says. "And I wouldn't normally admit something like that."
"Can we please stop talking about all this like it's a negative thing, though? We're finally being appreciated, even if it's not by the other kids at this school."
"We know, Bree, that's not my point. I realize you don't want to leave Mission Creek, but it's time to face reality," Chase says a bit harshly.
Bree puts her head in her hands, "This is just all happening so fast."
"Guys, maybe thing will die down. The effect could wear off, you know," Leo inputs.
"Leo, you could be right too," Bree says.
"I guess we're just going to have to wait and see," says Chase.
The bell rings, ending lunch. "See you guys later," Leo says standing. "If I'm late one more time for geometry, I'm going to get detention for a week."
"I've got study hall down there," Chase stands up too. "I'll walk with you."
After they both toss their garbage and get out into the hallway, Leo finally starts talking. "Chase, I'm starting to get worried about Bree. I think this whole thing is starting to get to her."
"You don't say," Chase replies with sarcasm.
"Come on, Chase, seriously."
"Don't worry, Leo. She'll get used to it. I'm sure she'll be fine," Chase's easy tone about it eases Leo a bit, but he doesn't say another word until they reach the geometry room.
"See you later," he says.
"Yeah, bye," Chase answers before going into study hall just two doors down from there. He's the second one there. Other than Mrs. Talbot, the only other student in there is Maddie, a girl from Chase's chemistry class. Maddie makes eye contact with him, but then quickly looks down. The fast jerk of her neck caused her glasses to slip down just a little, so she pushes them back up from the side.
Surprised at Maddie seeming shy instead of eager to get Chase to sit with her, he actually desides to go sit with her. Chase figures that if he goes and sits alone someone will surely come and sit next to him. When he takes the seat next to her, she looks up.
"Uh, hi, Maddie," Chase says awkwardly.
"You know my name?" Maddie asks. She's a smart girl, her tone of voice doesn't suggest otherwise.
"Yeah," Chase laughs a little. "We have chemistry . . . I mean the class, obviously," he looks away now.
More people are coming into the study hall as Maddie pulls out her homework. Inside, her heart is beating pretty fast. She's had a stupid crush on Chase Davenport for a while now, and has never even had a real conversation with him. The root of her admiration comes from how smart he is. She could never like someone who doesn't value school as much as she does.
Come on, Mad, she thinks to herself, say something. This is your chance. He sat next to you.
" . . . Are you going to do the chemistry homework?" Maddie asks Chase as he sets a binder up on his desk.
"Yeah, do you want to do it then see if we get the same answers?"
Maddie smiles, "Sure."
A short fifteen minutes later, Chase is finished. "Alright, I'm done."
Maddie is just writing down her last answer. She looks up, "Me too."
Chase leans a few inches closer so that he can see Maddie's paper, and he holds his so that Maddie can see his too.
After looking over the whole thing front and back, they find that they, of course, got all the same answers as one another.
"Good job," Chase says.
"You too," Maddie replies with satisfaction.
" . . . What did you think of the test today?" Chase asks as he slides his finished homework back into his binder.
"I'm sure I did well, but there were at least a few questions that were tricky with the word play."
"I know, right?" Chase looks at her. "It's so pointless when the questions are written to make you think twice. The point of the testing is to see if you really know the information, so why do they try to trick us?"
Maddie can't help but smile at this boy's opinion. "I couldn't agree more. Some students are already poor test takers, and I feel it's highly unnecessary to make it even harder on them and even everyone else."
"I feel the same way," Chase's facial expression changes from a smile to raising an eyebrow. "What's your opinion on modern technology in school?"
"I think it should only be used as a second source, and not your immediate go-to."
"Because your work is for you," Chase says.
"Not the internet," they both say at the same time and let out a laugh.
"Chase, Maddie," Mrs. Talbot says. "Let's keep it on low volume, shall we?" she smiles.
"Sorry, Mrs. Talbot," Maddie says. She then looks at Chase again, the smile not fading off either one of their faces.
"We should . . . text, I guess," Chase says looking away, shyness overwhelming him. He rips a piece of loose leaf paper off and quickly writes his cell number down on it. He slides it across the desks to Maddie.
She picks it up and slides it into the inside pocket on her binder. "I'll text you, then."
Chase taps his pencil on the desk. "I've got to say, you seem like a pretty awesome person, Maddie. It sucks we haven't talked until now."
"Yeah," Maddie says with another smile, "you too."
Later when Adam, Bree, Chase and Leo are home from school, they're all hanging out in the lab—as usual. Bree happened to be looking through the Tiger Beat magazine that came in the mail today and saw a picture of herself with Adam and Chase!
"Guys," she interrupts their childish game of 'monkey in the middle.' "Check this out! We're in Tiger Beat!"
"Seriously?" Chase asks as he walks towards her.
"Yeah! This is crazy, I've been getting this magazine in the mail for ages and now we're in it!"
"Get used to it, guys," Adam says with a smile as he catches the ball Leo just tossed to him.
"Listen to what it says. 'Meet our real life super heroes: Adam, Bree, and Chase Davenport. For the past couple years they've been going on missions, secretly protecting us. Each one of them are bionic,' Yada, yada, yada, they're saying what each of our abilities are, 'We don't know about you, but we just might be kicking Batman out of the top spot for favorite super hero!'"
"That's pretty cool, guys," Leo says.
Eddy appears on one of the screens on the wall and tells the four of them to go upstairs for a family meeting.
Once they get upstairs, Mr. Davenport and Tasha are waiting for them in the living room. "What's going on?" Bree asks making her way over to them. Her brothers are right behind her.
After everyone sits, Mr. Davenport finally starts speaking. "Before I tell you what this family meeting is about, I just want you to know this is all completely up to you."
"What is? Tell us," Leo says.
"Alright. Today, I was contacted by Karen Ballinger, who works for MTV. She emailed me, and then we talked on the phone for a while and basically, MTV wants to give you four a reality TV show."
"What?!" Chase says.
"I know, surprising that it's going to be about you four and not me, I know."
"Are you being serious?!" Adam asks.
"It's true," Tasha says. "Is this something you guys want to do?"
"I'm for it," says Adam smiling.
"If everyone else wants to, I guess I will too," Chase states.
"I'll do it," Leo says, shrugging his shoulders like it's not a huge deal. "Bree?"
She's silent for a couple seconds, thinking it over. She remember how the day was at school, causing her to feel a little anxiety, then she remembers all of the positive things people say to her on Instagram. Last time she checked, she had 418k. Close to double what it was yesterday. What's the worst that could happen? She thinks. "Okay," Bree nods. "It's worth trying."
"So should I call Karen and tell her it's a go?" Davenport asks.
"I guess so," Leo replies happily.
"While we're all here," Chase says. "Let's talk about the homeschooling thing."
"Let's."
"I want to do it too now. School was crazy today."
"So do it you guys," Bree says. "I want to see if things die down, like Leo said, it's possible.
"And what if it doesn't?"
"Then I'll be homeschooled too, Chase. Obviously."
"I don't think so," says Mr. Davenport. If Chase sat it was crazy, I don't want you to go."
"Donald, let her see how things go," Tasha intervenes. "It's possible the students will get used to it and things will get normal."
"At lunch, when I said that, I thought that it was possible, but now that we're doing this show thing," Leo says, "I think you need to be homeschooled with the rest of us."
"Well, Leo, I don't care what you think I need to do," Bree says in a bratty tone.
"Would you stop?" Chase chimes in. "We're saying this stuff 'cause we care."
"Your brothers are right, Bree," Tasha says.
"Maybe I shouldn't tell Karen we're going to do this. I'm not sure you can handle it, Bree."
"Yes, I can," Bree retaliates. "The reason I'm on edge is because I want to keep going to Mission Creek! Call Karen, and tell her we're doing this," Bree calms down a bit at the end.
"Fine," Mr. Davenport answers in a few seconds. "But if you don't get yourself in a check, I'll pull the plug."
"Fine."
Mr. Davenport looks at the guys. "Did you guys think about whether you want to do online school or get a tutor?"
"I want to do it online," says Chase.
"Me and Leo want a tutor," says Adam. "We already talked about it."
"Okay, maybe we can do both then. I'll figure it out for next week. Chase, I can probably get you enrolled right now," he stands. "Tasha and I already picked out a school."
"Wait. Don't enroll me yet," says Chase. "If Bree's going to see how things go for the next week or whatever, I'll do it with her."
"Good idea. I don't think I want her there alone while it's crazy anyway."
Chase nods and looks away from Davenport to make eye contact with Bree. She looks at him emotionless before pulling out her phone and going on it.
Notes: I hope you guys are liking it so far! It was kind of weird for me watching Armed & Dangerous on Monday! Haha I liked it though. Anyway be sure to review and let me know what you think! :)