Chapter 2, yay! I hope you like it. And please review. I want to know what you think.
Chapter 2: The Plan Unfolds
As the school hours passed, the three teens waited patiently for sixth period, enjoying the last day festivities. Most teachers didn't mind if they talked loud or even had food, and made it like a party. But the three were separated come sixth period. Jamie was an office aide while Ken and Alexa had study hall thanks to the fact that they had no sixth period.
Most of the classes where shortened since the last day was a half day, so they had about twenty-five minutes in each class; our three characters were going to take full advantage of that.
Ken and Alexa sat in their usual seats, and after ten minutes they looked to each other and nodded. No one seemed to notice or care that they both got up and went to the front of the class, and both asked, "May I go to my locker?"
The panther teacher looked up from his book, and gave them a puzzled look, "Both of you need to go your locker?"
"Well, I have something else to take care of, sir," she looked down at her feet, looking embarrassed.
The teacher's eyes went wide as he processed what she said, "O-oh. Ahem. I see. Then you may go. And Ken, you can go to your locker, too. You both have ten minutes."
"Thank you so much, sir," they said as they walked through the door and down the hall to Alexa's locker.
"You have no shame," Ken retorted. "You nearly gave that man a heart attack. He has two girls who go this school, too, you know."
"I do know. That's why it was a good excuse." She quickly did her combination and grabbed her bag. "I thought I was a pretty good actor. And besides, he was going to ask questions if I didn't say that."
Ken sighed, "I guess."
"Good. Now here," Alexa gave him an ear piece as she put hers in. "Jamie? You there?"
Jamie's voice came over the earpiece in a whisper, "Yeah, I'm here. I see you guys on my surveillance cameras too."
"Do you see the target and the principal?" Alexa asked as she waved to the cameras.
"Yes, she's on schedule, as usual."
"Good," she replied. Then she turned to Ken, "See back at class."
Ken nodded, and ran off down the hall. Alexa shut her locker and ran the other way, down to the girls' restroom. She went into the stall with the air vent right above, putting on her thieving shoes, and gloves, then grabbed her tools.
Alexa began unscrewing the air vent cover and gently put it down on the toilet seat. "Jamie, I'm ready and I'm headin' up the vent."
"Good, you have seven minutes. You may want to get a move on."
"Got it. How's Ken doing?" she asked as she made her way through the vent to the target.
"Well, to keep the principal happy and slow from getting to the target, he's asking her the story about the Golden Claw," Jamie laughed.
Alexa chuckled softly, "Like we haven't heard that story a million times. She's so obsessed over that thing."
"Is that why we're snatching it?" Jamie asked.
"No," Alexa replied as she unscrewed the air vent cover above the Golden Claw case. "We're doing it so that we can give her a little scare, prove we're good, and get Miss Margot in trouble." She removed the cover and gently dropped down onto the ground near the case.
"Yes. After what that witch said about your father, she completely deserves it," Jamie agreed.
Alexa got out her lock pick, and easily picked the case lock. "And don't forget all the other stuff she's done this year." She grabbed the Golden Claw and put into her bag. "There we go. All set." But then she heard the sound of foot steps and voices coming down the hall. "Crap!"
"Get out of there!" Jaime nearly yelled.
"What do think? I'd just stand here," Alexa muttered as she scrambled up the glass case and quickly put the air vent cover on after her. "Phew." She then headed back to the girls restroom.
And at that exact moment Mrs. Melba, their lioness principal, and Ken came walking down the hall. Mrs. Melba was just shocked to see the glass case that held the prized Golden Claw to be empty. She stood there for a moment until Ken took her out of it, "Mrs. Melba, are you alright?"
"Someone has taken the claw. I can't believe someone actually stole it. That lock was supposed to be unable to open by teens," she muttered.
Yes, well she is dealing with the daughter of a master thief, Ken thought. "Mrs. Melba, I'm sure they couldn't have gotten far."
"Oh, I know they haven't gotten that far. And not about to let them, either," she proclaimed angrily as stomped off back to her office.
Once she went behind the corner, Ken put a finger to his ear piece and said, "Good job, Ally. I didn't think you'd have enough time. Mrs. M was movin' faster than ever."
"I almost didn't. She probably wanted to make sure no one was out in the halls on the last day to pull pranks," Alexa laughed over the ear piece as she quickly went back through the air vent.
"Yeah, most likely. Well, hurry and get back to class," Jamie called over the earpiece. "You only have three minutes."
Alexa was already out the restroom door with her bag on her back and changed in her flip-flops. "Listen, I'm out and heading to the witch's locker. Ken, you got it open, right?"
"Duh, like I wouldn't?" Ken replied.
"Good. Then I'll place the bait. Ken you head back. I'll be right there."
"Roger that, good luck," Ken then turned off his ear piece, placing it into his pocket and left for the classroom.
Alexa ran up the stairs. Upon reaching the top she saw the one only locker open, and quickly, but gently stashed the claw in it. "I've done it. How much time do we have left?" she asked as she ran back to the stairs.
"Two minutes," Jamie recited.
"Enough time, with the rail slide," Alexa then did a fast rail slide down the stairs to the bottom easily. "I love the Cooper line smarts."
"Hurry! You only have a minute and thirty seconds to go," Jamie called worriedly.
"Calm down. I'm almost there," Alexa said. She could almost swear she just sounded like her father telling Bentley to relax. She began to run faster, knowing quite well that her time was almost up. She turned the corner so quickly that she nearly slid down the polished floor. "Whoa," she let out as she grabbed the corner of the wall to keep her balance. "Phew." Then she began running again.
"A minute! You have a minute!" Jamie nearly yelled again.
Alexa screeched to a halt in front of the classroom door. "It's okay. I'm here. Mrs. M should be making the announcement soon," she finally took off her gloves and put them back in her bag.
"Phew. Thank goodness you made it. I thought we were gonna have to come up with a new plan," Jamie was nearly panicking out of her fur.
"Don't worry about it. The job's done so relax, okay? You don't need to have a stroke. In fact you're sounding like Bentley."
"Just get into the classroom," Jamie snapped.
"Alright, take care of the rest. Signing off," and with that Alexa turned off her earpiece, stuffed it in her bag, and stepped into the classroom.
The teacher looked up from his book with relief, "Ah, Miss Alexa, you're back. It took you a little longer than expected."
Alexa nodded apologetic, "I'm sorry," she pointed to her backpack, "But I had some last minute stuff I had to get out of my locker, too."
The panther smiled and replied, "Just take a seat. We still have five minutes of class left."
"Yes, sir," Alexa moved quickly to take her seat next to Ken. "This day went pretty well, don't ya think?"
Ken nodded with one of his great smiles, "We should be able to get through the rest of it."
Then after two minutes, over the blaring intercom came Mrs. Melba's voice, "Teachers. I'm sad to report that the Golden Claw was just stolen. I want all students to be at their lockers for an inspection. Teachers, be sure to watch your students also. If they refuse to open their lockers they will be suspected. That is all." All went quiet.
Soon the students began to whisper among themselves. "Can you believe it?" one asked. "I know, someone actually pulled it off," someone replied. "But they had such little time to do it," another one gasped. "Yeah, this has to be one of the greatest pranks ever," one nearly shouted. "Yeah," the others agreed.
The teacher stood up from his desk and said, "Alright, everyone. Let's go. To you're lockers."
They all filed out, still whispering disbelief, as they went to their lockers. Alexa was trying her best to seem surprised and so was Ken. But they both felt more like laughing than staying quiet.
As they headed up stairs they met with Jamie, who was also trying her best not to give them away, also. "Hey, guys. Can you believe it?" she asked, trying to sound shocked.
Ken smiled but quickly dropped it and said, "No, Jamie. It's so unbelievable."
Alexa ran ahead, saying, "Come on you two. I want to see who has it. We definitely don't want to miss it."
"Right," they recited together.
They stood by their lockers that ran right next to each other. Margot's was just across from theirs and so they waited patiently for the teacher to come by with a list of approved students. He stopped right in front of Margot's locker, "Alright, Miss Margot. Could you please open your locker?" he asked in a monotone voice.
"Of course," she replied in her high pitch voice. Margot began putting in the combination, "But I assure you. You won't find it in my locker." She opened the door and gasped. The Golden Claw was indeed in her locker. "That's… that's impossible!" she shouted.
Alexa quickly took out her camera and snapped a picture of Margot's shocked face, no flash of course. Then she put it behind her back before anyone saw it.
The panther looked inside her locker and grabbed the Golden Claw. He examined it to make sure it was the real thing, then turned back to Margot, and said, "Miss Margot, time to come with me."
Margot's shock only grew more on her face, "What? No! I didn't do it! I was framed!"
Alexa took another picture of her shocked face. This is gonna look so good in next years school paper, she snickered to herself.
The teacher grabbed hold of her hand and calmly stated, "I'm sorry, but you must go to the principal's office."
"NO! I was framed! I didn't do it! Let go!" she screamed as the teacher dragged her around the corner to the stair case.
Alexa looked up to her two best friends and asked, "Well?"
"Perfect," said Jamie.
"Wicked," replied Ken.
All three of them busted out laughing and began to high-five each other. Then a different teacher came by, telling all students to head to their next classes.
Alexa took her seat between the wolf and fox, leaning back, all relaxed. She yawned and looked up to the ceiling, "I can't believe it. It all went so smoothly."
"I know," Ken said in the same disbelief.
"Well, the calculations were correct, so it should have worked just as it did," Jamie stated.
"So true," Alexa smiled but it then turned to a frown, "Still, I wish it was more of a challenge."
"How come?" questioned Ken.
"'Cause, compared to my dad's old jobs, this was only a millimeter."
Jamie yawned too and said, "At least everything went right."
"Yep," Alexa agreed. "And now summer will be satisfying."
"Mm, hm," Jamie and Ken nodded in agreement.
Minutes went by and the class still discussed the nabbing of the Golden Claw. Then over the intercom came Mrs. Melba's voice, "Will Alexa Cooper, Jamie Canon, and Kenneth Belenus come to my office now. Thank you."
Crap! All three of them thought as everyone turned their attention to them. They stood up and quickly went out into the hall before anyone could question why they were being called up.
"That little witch must have said something," Alexa muttered angrily. "I'm sorry guys. I thought for sure we'd make it."
"Don't worry about it," Ken said calmly.
"Yeah, she has no proof that we did it," Jamie agreed.
"I suppose so," Alexa replied. They stopped in front of the office door. Alexa turned around to her friends and said, "Whatever happens, I got your backs."
"Same," the fox and wolf replied.
Then they went inside to see what trouble they've gotten themselves into.
Ooo. Another plot unfolds. The next chapter will come up soon I promise. But please review. I want to know if you guys like it or not. And I want to know what I can do to improve it.
Thanks for reading : )